Jesus demonstrated His ability to heal people physically and spiritually by healing a man with palsy (paralysis) and forgiving his sins. This lesson can help increase your understanding that the Savior can heal all kinds of infirmities.
Student preparation: Invite students to think of a time when someone they know received a needed blessing from God. How did this person’s blessing affect other people, such as friends and family members? Ask students to consider what they learned through seeing what the Savior did for that person.
Possible Learning Activities
What would you be willing to do?
For the following scenario, consider adding specific details to better engage students. These details could be what the sickness is, how soon the treatment needs to happen, or what will be required for treatment.
Imagine that someone you love is suffering from a life-threatening illness that requires specialized treatment and that there is only one doctor that can save her. What would you be willing to do to get help? What would you do if the doctor’s schedule was full or if the doctor lived in a different country?
People may be willing to go to great lengths to obtain healing for themselves or their loved ones. While physical sicknesses can often be treated by skilled professionals, there are spiritual infirmities that can only be fully healed by Jesus Christ. List in your study journal what you believe some of these are.
As you study this lesson, ponder what you can do to help loved ones and yourself come unto Christ to receive help that only He can give.
“One sick of the palsy”
A skill that can help you learn more as you study scripture accounts is to read from the perspective of different characters in the story. As you do, pause frequently to try to imagine what that person may have been feeling or thinking at different points in the story.
To practice this study skill, choose one of the following people to focus on as you study this account of Jesus teaching in Capernaum:
To help students learn from multiple points of view, consider dividing them into groups of three and asking each student in a group to focus on a different person in the story.
A paralyzed man (“sick of the palsy” as used in this account means he was paralyzed)
One of the four people who carried the paralyzed man
One of the people in the house listening to Jesus
Read Mark 2:1–3, imagining that you are the person you chose to focus on.
Consider inviting students to answer the following questions in their groups of three.
What challenges, if any, do you think this person might have faced?
What do you imagine this person was seeing, hearing, thinking, and feeling?
What might this person have hoped to receive from their time with Jesus Christ?
Read Mark 2:4, looking for what those who carried the man did to get him near Jesus Christ. You may also want to watch the video “Jesus Forgives Sins and Heals a Man Stricken with Palsy,” available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org, from time code 0:00 to 1:07.
Invite at least three students, one for each person in the story, to answer the following questions aloud.
What do you imagine the person you chose was thinking and feeling at this moment in the story? Why?
What do you think they were expecting Jesus to do or say?
Read Mark 2:5 to find out what Jesus said to the man.
Invite students to answer the following question in their groups of three.
Why might the Savior’s words in verse 5 be surprising to the person you focused on?
Some of the people present at this event questioned the Savior’s authority to forgive sins. Read Mark 2:6–12, looking for what the Savior did to demonstrate His authority to forgive. The phrase “Son of man” in verse 10 refers to Jesus Christ being the Son of “Man of Holiness,” who is God the Father (see Moses 6:57). You may also want to continue watching the video “Jesus Forgives Sins and Heals a Man Stricken with Palsy” from time code 1:07 to 2:57.
Think of the person you focused on in the account. How do you picture this person reacting to what the Savior said and did?
What did you learn about the Savior as you focused on someone specific in the story?
Jesus Christ’s power to heal
One truth you may have identified as you studied this account is that Jesus Christ has power to heal us physically and spiritually.
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, then of the First Presidency, testified of the Savior’s power to heal spiritual illness.
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Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Sometimes spiritual illness comes as a result of sin or emotional wounds. …
Even the deepest spiritual wounds—yes, even those that may appear to be incurable—can be healed.
My dear friends, the healing power of Jesus Christ is not absent in our day.
The Savior’s healing touch can transform lives in our day just as it did in His. If we will but have faith, He can take our hands, fill our souls with heavenly light and healing, and speak to us the blessed words, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk” [John 5:8].
What are examples of spiritual wounds the Savior can heal?
Consider writing Only Jesus Christ can completely heal on the board and inviting students to fill in the blank.
How does it bless your life to know that He can heal spiritual wounds?
Ponder the following questions related to this truth. Consider recording your thoughts in your study journal.
Are there any spiritual wounds in your life that need to be healed?
How can you seek the healing power of Jesus Christ?
Do you know someone else who needs the healing power of Jesus Christ? What could you do to help them access it?
Bear testimony of the love Jesus Christ has for each of us and of His power to heal us.
Share what you learned
As you study other accounts in the scriptures this year, consider using the skill of focusing on specific characters. It may be helpful to read a passage multiple times, pondering each time what different people in the story may have learned.
Imagine that the person you focused on as you studied this account wanted to describe to a friend what they witnessed and felt that day. Take some time to write in your study journal how you picture them describing the experience in detail. Include what you think they learned and felt about Jesus Christ.
Commentary and Background Information
Can my faith influence my loved ones?
Elder Chi Hong (Sam) Wong of the Seventy taught:
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Elder Chi Hong (Sam) Wong
May I share with you one more hidden treasure found in this scripture account. It is in verse 5: “When Jesus saw their faith” (emphasis added). I had not noticed this in the past—their faith. Our combined faith will also affect the well-being of others.
Who were those people that Jesus mentioned? They could well include the four who carried the man with palsy, the man himself, the people who had prayed for him, and all those who were there listening to the preaching of Jesus and cheering quietly in their hearts for the soon-to-come miracle. They could also include a spouse, a parent, a son or a daughter, a missionary, a quorum president, a Relief Society president, a bishop, and a faraway friend. We can all help one another. We should always be anxiously engaged in seeking to rescue those in need.
(Chi Hong [Sam] Wong, “Rescue in Unity,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2014, 16)
What did Jesus prove to the scribes by physically healing the man?
Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained:
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Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Both Jesus and the “doctors of the law” who were then present knew that none but God can forgive sins. Accordingly, as a pointed and dramatic witness that the power of God was resident in him, … Jesus did what no imposter could have done—he proved his divine power by healing the forgiven man. To his query, “Does it require more power to forgive sins than to make the sick rise up and walk?” there could be only one answer! They are as one; he that can do the one, can do the other.
(Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary [1973], 1:177–78)
Supplemental Learning Activities
Bringing others to the Savior
Consider inviting students to follow the example of the four people who were determined to bring the paralyzed man to Christ. Invite them to think of specific loved ones who need help coming to the Savior and to make a plan to help them. They might consider including others in their plan, just as the man sick of the palsy was helped by more than one person. The statement by Elder Wong in the “Commentary and Background Information” section of this lesson (or his entire talk) could help students understand the importance of uniting their faith with others’.
Helping others
Consider showing the video “Dayton’s Legs” (3:02), available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org. This video shows the story of a 13-year-old boy who helped his friend with cerebral palsy participate in a triathlon. After playing the video, invite students to ponder the importance of helping others do what they are not yet strong enough to do for themselves. They could think of examples of helping others, such as inviting friends to church or to the temple who may not go on their own.