In Luke 5, the friends of the paralytic cannot get him to Jesus, and so they lower him through the roof. As many commentators have pointed out, this situation is a sign of the paralytic’s exclusion from community. By the end of the story, though, others join with him in “glorifying God” (vv. 25-26) for the healing. The excluded paralytic is united to a liturgical community, a eucharistic assembly.
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