15 News about Jesus kept spreading. Large crowds came to listen to him teach and to be healed of their diseases.
16 But Jesus would often go to some place where he could be alone and pray.
17 One day some Pharisees and experts in the Law of Moses sat listening to Jesus teach. They had come from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem.God had given Jesus the power to heal the sick,
18 and some people came carrying a man on a mat because he could not walk. They tried to take him inside the house and put him in front of Jesus.
19 But because of the crowd, they could not get him to Jesus. So they went up on the roof, where they removed some tiles and let the mat down in the middle of the room.
20 When Jesus saw how much faith they had, he said to the man, “My friend, your sins are forgiven.”
21 The Pharisees and the experts began arguing, “Jesus must think he is God! Only God can forgive sins.”