Healing of the Paralytic
(...man sick of the palsy), (Matt. 9:1–8; Mark 2: 3–12; Luke 5:18–26)

When Christ was preaching in a house at Capernaum a paralyzed man, brought to him to be cured, was let down through a hole in the roof, bed and all, into his presence because the throng prevented any other means of approach. Christ told the man, "Stand up, take up your bed, and go home," and he did so. There are two scenes: the paralytic being lowered through the roof, and the cured man carrying away his bed. In some early examples he is shown bearing away an actual bedstead on his back, but more commonly he has a bundle of bedding or a mattress. Christ may be accompanied by two or three of the disciples. In early Christian art the theme symbolized salvation. The pool of Bethesda (John 5:1–15). John's version of the miracle lays the scene in Jerusalem at the pool of Bethesda. The place was a resort of the sick since the waters were believed to have miraculous curative powers. It was said that from time to time an angel, traditionally the archangel Raphael, came and disturbed the water and that the first person to enter it afterwards was healed. But the paralytic had never succeeded in being first. Christ came there and found him. He was ordered to take up his bed and walk and immediately found himself cured. John describes it as "a place with five colonnades", and it is therefore usually represented with some such architectural feature. An angel hovers overhead or is in the act of stirring the water. Christ is addressing the paralytic who lies at the edge of the pool. Others, sick and infirm, crowd the scene.