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MARK 2:4 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Mark 2:3Mark 2:5
“And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.”
Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on — the action of digging through the roof is more violent than the image of gentle tile-removal sometimes suggests. Palestinian houses of the period had flat roofs of earth and branches; making an opening required real physical effort and created real mess. The crowd inside the house would have experienced soil and debris falling as the opening was made. The determination of the four men to reach Jesus for their friend is absolute: no obstacle, not even the physical barrier of a crowded house, is sufficient to stop them.

Church Fathers on Mark 2:4

Because the compassion of God deserts not even carnal persons, He accords to them the grace of His presence, by which even they may be made spiritual. After the desert, the Lord returns into the city.

Bede · 8th century · in Marc., 1, 10

But Matthew writes this miracle as if it were done in the city of the Lord, whilst Mark places it in Capernaum, which would be more difficult of solution, if Matthew had also named Nazareth. But seeing that Galilee itself might be called the city of the Lord, who can doubt but that the Lord did these things in His own city, since He did them in Capernaum, a city of Galilee; particularly as Capernaum was of such importance in Galilee as to be called its metropolis?

Augustine · 4th century · de Con. Evan., ii, 25

He saw the faith of the sick man himself, since he would not have allowed himself to be carried, unless he’d had faith to be healed.

Theophylact · 11th century
Read all 17 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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