In Luke 5:17-26 a room full Pharisees and Scribes were listening to Jesus, when up on the roof they heard such a clatter. What could be the matter? Dirt and debris rained down on their heads.  Then, through the hole in the roof a man on mat descended from above.  But Jesus took no notice of the deliberate destruction nor, it seems, of the man’s disabled condition.  He saw only faith and he said the most surprising of things, “Your sins are forgiven.”

“What?” thought his audience, “Does he think he’s God?  How deluded can he be, for all of us know only God forgives sin.”

“Ah, yes,” said the Lord, “I know what you’re thinking.  You see, its as easy for me to forgive sins as it is to tell the man to get up and walk.”  So that you see that I’m not just talk, “Sir, pick up your mat to home you will walk.”  And man did just that, picked up his mat and went home.

People were amazed, to God they raised praise, and no one asked, “What about the roof?”