People today usually get paralyzed because of a stroke ~ something that often happens to older people. Or they may get paralyzed because someone was careless driving a car and they were in an accident.
There was a man who was so paralyzed, the only way he could move around was for someone to put him on a cot with log handles on each side and carry him.
The paralyzed man heard Jesus was in town and was healing people. He wanted healed too. So he asked his friends to carry him to Jesus.
But there were so many other people who wanted to be healed also that he couldn't get into the house where Jesus was.
So somehow the man's friends got him up on the flat roof of the house. They probably used two ladders ~ one for each man carrying him.
Once on the roof, they began taking it apart. They made the roof hole large enough that they could lower the paralyzed man still on his cot down into the house.
Everyone in the house wondered what all the noise was up on the roof. Do you think Jesus had to quit preaching because of the noise?
Jesus waited for the man to be lowered down to him. He knew who this man was because Jesus could read minds, just like God can. That's because Jesus is the Son of God.
Jesus knew this man was not very nice. Maybe he did one big bad thing, or a lot of little bad things. But Jesus did not turn the man away.
The first thing Jesus did was to tell the paralyzed man he forgave him of his sins. There were some religious leaders there that heard Jesus forgive the man. They became angry because only God can forgive sins.
Jesus said he had the same power from God equally ~ to heal and to forgive. Then he healed the man so that he could get up and walk and be like other people again.
Do you know someone who is paralyzed? Maybe an older person who had a stroke? Or someone who was in an accident? Maybe you've heard of a famous person who is paralyzed. Write a note to one of them and say that God loves them.