The Pharisees were the most influential of the three major Jewish sects

Luke omitted Mark’s description of the crowded house and doorway that necessitated lowering the man through the roof.

Jesus had quite a reputation by now, for Pharisees had come even from Judea and from Jerusalem, as well as locally.

Because of the crowd they could not lay him before Jesus, so they took him up to the roof.

The paralytic was unable to come to Jesus himself, but he was fortunate enough to have four friends who were able to get him to Jesus.

Luke’s point here seems to have been to focus on Jesus’ dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit (4:18).

Undoubtedly, wherever Jesus went the professed teachers of the law sought to oppose and hinder His exposition of the law, and seem to have gathered at Capernaum to counsel with the leaders from Judea and Jerusalem as to the course of action they should pursue with respect to the popular sentiment in Christ’s favor.

Into the house, although it has not yet been stated that Jesus was in a house. Mk. tells us that there were four bearers, and that the place was thronged even about the door.

The paralytic was being carried on a bed or a small couch, probably with a friend on each corner.

The four men had to drag the cot up the stairs, tear up the tiles, and dig through the thatch

St. Luke (5:18) tells us how they sought means to bring the paralytic into Christ’s presence.

They carried him on his bed up the flight of steps outside the house, and reaching to the roof

Four men brought a paralytic (paralyzed man) on a mat (poor man’s “bed,” KJV), hoping to get him to Jesus.

It was noised. Literally, “It was heard.”

That. Gr. hoti, “that,” which implies that the following words, literally, “he is in the house,” are a direct quotation of what was being reported by people generally.

Borne of four. A detail given by Mark only. This and other details not only reflect the factual nature of the account but also mark it as the account of an eyewitness, in this case probably Peter (see p. 563)

Luke here “contextualized” the tradition for Theophilus and provided a thought-for-thought translation, whereas Mark in his description (cf. Mark 2:4) provided a word-for-word translation.

Mark, however, portrayed a typical Galilean home with a mud-thatch roof that must be dug through, whereas Luke portrayed a home such as that in which Theophilus lived, which had a tile roof.

Houses usually had flat roofs, often with external staircases leading up to them. So the crowd did not stop these men from reaching the roof. There they let him down with his bed through the tiles.

These four men are examples of how friends ought to minister to one another and help needy sinners come to the Saviour.

Their love for the man united them in their efforts so that nothing discouraged them, not even the crowd at the door.

If they could not carry the paralyzed man on his pallet through the crowds to Jesus, they would make their own doorway to the Master Physician.

Luke’s word choice may be an accommodation to his audience’s normal experience of Greco-Roman architecture, which included roof tiles, and only meant to express the idea that the men dug through the roof.

But the crowds prevent access, so the friends must scale the ladder on the side of the house to get up on the roof, where they can cut through the roof and lower the man in front of Jesus

We need not infer from ἐξορύξαντες that under the tiles was clay or mortar to be “dug out.” But, if there was anything of the kind to be cut through and removed, this could easily be done without serious consequences to those who were in the crowded room below.

But they could not … because of the crowd. Like many Palestinian dwellings, this house probably had an outside stairway leading to a flat roof. So the men went onto the roof. After digging through it (a composite of grass, clay, clay tiles, and laths), they made an opening … above Jesus and lowered the paralyzed man before Him (probably using fishing ropes that lay at hand).

It is advocated by most commentators that, in this instance, the sticks, thorn-bush, mortar, and earth, that comprised the roofing plaster, were actually broken up and set aside until an aperture was made large enough to let the sick man through.

Greek, dia tōn keramōn, literally, ‘through the [clay] roof tiles’. Often the roofs of ancient buildings were flat

Uncovered the roof. Literally, “unroofed the roof.” Luke (ch. 5:19) records that they “let him down through the tiling.”

This unusual method of reaching Jesus was the desperate suggestion of the paralytic himself, who feared that, though now so close to Jesus, he might yet lose his opportunity (see DA 268).

and when they had dug an opening

The faith of the paralytic and the men was manifested by their “works,” i.e., their removal of the tiles to lower the paralytic.

The Greek perfect tense of “are forgiven” emphasizes the abiding state of this forgiveness.

First, the unqualified plural their seems meant to include the whole party, the sick man as well as his friends, and secondly, it is impossible to think that the man’s sins were forgiven if he had no faith of his own.

what the incident is intended primarily to bring out is that the authority of Jesus in religion starts with the forgiveness of sins

To begin with, they had faith that Jesus would heal him (Luke 5:20); and it is faith that God honors

The healing of his body was an outward evidence of the spiritual healing within. Jesus

Persistent faith moves us to overcome every obstacle and come to Jesus.

The faith of the man and of those who brought him.

Probably the reference is to the faith of the four who went to such lengths to get the paralytic before Jesus, although the faith of the paralytic himself should not be excluded.

The four who came in faith were anxious to obtain physical healing for their friend; it was granted

The paralysed man himself, to judge from Jesus’ dealing with him, was not so much conscious of his physical need as he was of his spiritual burden

It is simplest to assume that Jesus worked the miracle in response to the active faith of the four others, who brought a helpless friend and laid him at Jesus’ feet.

Whose faith did Jesus see? The text says “their faith.” He certainly saw the faith of the four men who would not let any barrier stand in the way of their friend’s need.

Jesus claimed first a special relationship with the man—a relationship of love and care.

While not all physical infirmity is the result of personal sin (John 9:3), it seems in this case that it was. Jesus looked past the physical disability and saw the man’s deeper need.

Some of the Fathers, as Jerome and Ambrose, think that this faith was in the bearers of the sick man, and in them only.

Jesus viewed the determined effort of the four as visible evidence of their faith in His power to heal this man. He did not rebuke this interruption to His teaching but unexpectedly told the paralytic, Son (an affectionate term), your sins are forgiven

That is, of the four stretcher bearers and the paralytic. Their tearing of a hole through the roof spoke eloquently of their urgent sense of need, and of their faith that only Jesus could satisfy it.