Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary: Matthew
Chapter 9
Ver. 1. The cure of the paralytic (ver. 2), is generally supposed to have been anterior in point of time, to the cure of two possessed persons, chap. viii. Carrieres supposes the contrary. (Bible de Vence) --- Into his own city. Not of Bethlehem, where he was born, nor of Nazareth, where he was brought up, but of Capharnaum, says St. Chrysostom, where he is said to have dwelt since he began to preach. See Matthew iv. 13. (Witham) --- St. Jerome understands this city to be Nazareth, which was Christ's own, because he was conceived there. St. Augustine, St. Chrysostom, Euthymius, Theophylactus, think it was Capharnaum, because this miracle was performed at the last mentioned place, according to St. Mark's relation; and St. Matthew calls it Christ's own city, because after leaving Nazareth, he chose Capharnaum for the chief place of his abode. If St. Jerome's interpretation be admitted, we must suppose that St. Matthew having told us that Christ came to his own city, Nazareth, and omitting to relate what happened there, passed immediately to the history of the cure of the paralytic, which took place at Capharnaum. Such omissions and change of place without the reader's being informed of the transition, are not unfrequent in the evangelists. We must likewise observe that they frequently invert the order of facts, as to the time of their happening. (Jansenius) --- Christ may be said to have had three cities: Bethlehem, in which he was born; Nazareth, in which he was educated; and Capharnaum, in which he most frequently resided, during his sacred ministry. It is most probable, and most generally understood, that in this place of the Scripture Capharnaum is meant; though several understand it of Nazareth, and some few with Sedulius, lib. 3. carm.
Intravit natale solum, quo corpore nasci
Se voluit, patriamque sibi pater ipse dicavit.
Ver. 2. Thy sins are forgiven thee. We do not find that the sick man asked this; but it was the much greater benefit, and which every one ought to prefer before the health of the body. (Witham) --- He says this, because he wished to declare the cause of the disease, and to remove it, before he removed the disease itself. He might also desire to shew the paralytic, what he ought to have prayed for in the first place. (Menochius) --- The sick man begs for corporal health, but Christ first restores to him the health of his soul, for two reasons: 1st. That he might insinuate to the beholders, that the principal intent of his coming into the world was to cure the evils of the soul, and to let them know that the spiritual cure ought most to be desired and petitioned for. Corporal infirmities, as we learn in many places of the sacred text, are only the consequences of the sins of the patient. In St. John (chap. iii.[chap. v.? ver. 14.?]), Christ bids the man whom he had healed, to sin no more, lest something worse should befall him; and St. Paul says, that many of the Corinthians were afflicted with various diseases, and with death, on account of their unworthily receiving the body of the Lord. A second reason why Christ forgave the sick man his sins, was, that he might take occasion from the murmurs of the Pharisees, to speak more plainly of his power and divinity, which he proved not only by restoring the man instantaneously to health, but by another miracle equally great and conclusive, which consisted in seeing the thoughts they had never expressed; for the evangelist observes, that they murmured in their hearts. He afterwards cures the sick man to shew, says he, that the Son of man has power to forgive sins. (Jansenius) --- We may here observe likewise, that when Christ afterwards gave his apostles their mission, and empowered them to preach to the whole world, he communicates this same power to them, and seems to refer to the miracles which he had wrought, to prove that he himself had the power which he gave to them. All power, says he, is given to me in heaven and on earth. As the Father sent me, so I send you. ... Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven. (Haydock) --- Seeing their faith. It does not follow from hence, as Calvin would have it, that faith alone will save us. For St. Chrysostom says, "Faith indeed is a great and salutary thing, and without it there is no gaining salvation."
But this will not of itself suffice without good works; for St. Paul admonishes us, who have made ourselves deserving a participation of the mysteries of Christ, thus, (Hebrews chap. iv.) "Let us hasten, therefore, to enter into that rest." He tells us to hasten, that is, faith alone will not suffice, but we must also strive all our life by good works to render ourselves worthy to enter the kingdom of heaven: for if those Israelites, who murmured and would not bear the calamities of the desert, were not, on that account, permitted to enter the land of promise, how can we think ourselves worthy of the kingdom of heaven, (figured by the land of promise) if we will not in this world undergo the labours of good works. (St. Chrysostom) --- From hence St. Ambrose concludes, that our Saviour is moved to grant our petitions through the invocation of saints, as he even forgave this man his sins through the faith of those that brought him. Of how much greater efficacy then will not the prayers of the saints be? (Barardius.) --- Christ does not always require faith in the sick who desire to be cured, but seems to have dispensed with it on many occasions; for example, in the cases of those he cured possessed by the devil. (St. Chrysostom) --- Son, &c. O the wonderful humility of the God-man! Jesus looks with complacence on this miserable wretch, whom the Jewish priests disdain to look upon, and in the midst of all his miseries calls him his son. (St. Aquinas) --- They had read what Isaias had said: I am, I am he who destroyeth thy sins: ego sum, ego sum ipse, qui deleo iniquitates tuas, xliii. 25.: but they had not read, or, at least they had not understood what the same prophet says, liii. 6. The Lord hath heaped upon him the iniquity of us all: posuit Dominus in eo iniquitatem omnium nostrum. Nor had they remembered the testimony of the Baptist: behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sins of the world. (John i. 29.) (Maldonatus)
Ver. 3. This man blasphemeth, by pretending to have a power to forgive sins, which none but God can do; and they looked upon Jesus as a man only. It is true, and what all Catholics teach, that God alone hath power of himself to forgive sins. But Christ, who was both God and man, could, and did communicate this power of forgiving sins in his name, to bishops and priests, as his ministers and instruments in the sacraments of baptism and penance. We have Christ's clear words for it, (John xx. 23.) whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, &c. (Witham) --- And behold some of the scribes. The Jewish rulers wished to defame the character of our divine Redeemer, but by this means they rendered the miracle much more famous, and Christ turned their wicked designs to their own confusion. (St. Chrysostom) --- For Christ says, Why do you think evil in your hearts? in which words Jesus plainly evinces to them the reality of his divinity; for who knows the secrets of man's heart, but God alone? (St. Jerome)