[table][tr][td]One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and [color=green][b]the power of the Lord was present[/b][/color] for Him to perform healing. And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, He said, [color=blue][b]“Friend, your sins are forgiven you.”[/b][/color] The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? [color=orange][b]Who can forgive sins, but[/color][/b] [color=green][b]God alone?[/color][/b]” But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? [color=orange][b]“Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?[/b][/color] “But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—“I say to you, [color=blue][b][size=18]get up[/size], and pick up your stretcher and [size=18]go home.”[/size][/b][/color] Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. [color=red][b]They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear[/b][/color], saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.” [b](Luke 5:18-26)[/b][/td][td]After the battle, [color=green][b]Vespasian sat upon his tribunal[/b][/color] at Tarichea, to separate the foreigners from the natives, for the foreigners seemed to have begun the war. He deliberated with the other officers, [color=orange][b]whether or not to spare the natives. When they held that letting them go would be to his disadvantage, for if set free they would not be at peace, as they would be[/b][/color] [color=blue][b][size=18]homeless[/size][/b][/color] and could get those to whom they fled to join the enemy, [color=red][b]Vespasian admitted that they should not be spared since they would use their freedom it against those who gave it to them, but he pondered on how to do away with them.[/b][/color] He suspected that if he had them killed on the spot, the people of the area would thereby become his enemies, embittered that so many who had appealed to him should be violently killed, after he had assured them of their lives. His friends won him over with the claim that nothing he did against Jews could be wrong, and that anyway he should do what was useful rather than what was right, if both could not be combined. So he gave them an ambiguous permission to do as they advised and to [color=blue][b]let the prisoners [size=18]go[/size][/b][/color] by no other road than that leading to Tiberias. These believed that their petition was granted and felt secure in going with their property, in the direction allowed to them, but the Romans blocked the road to Tiberias, so that nobody could leave, and shut within the city. Then came Vespasian, and [color=blue][b]ordered them all to [size=18]stand[/size] in the stadium[/b][/color] [color=red][b]and had the old men killed, with all who were of no use, a thousand, two hundred in number.[/b][/color] [b](Wars of the Jews, 3, 532-539)[/b][/td][/tr][/table]
