The Paralytic in Matthew
6th century
Mosaic
Church of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna
This is one of the 13 mosaics of the life of Christ along the upper band of the left wall of the nave. A young and beardless Jesus tells a paralytic to "rise, pick up your bed,1 and go home." This occurs in Matthew 9:1-8.
Another panel in the same series pictures the similar episode in Mark 2:1-5 and Luke 5:17-26, where friends of the paralytic lower him through the roof into a room where Jesus is teaching. But the accounts in Mark and Luke occur in a crowded room, where the paralytic is lowered in from the roof. This panel is outdoors, so it is most likely the cure in Matthew, which occurs as Jesus enters Nazareth.
As so often in this series, the fingers of Jesus' right hand are arranged in the "Old Believers" configuration.
See also a view of the entire left wall with commentary on the iconography of Jesus and the apostles in these mosaics.
View this image in full resolution.
See more images and commentary on Jesus healing the paralytic.
Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.
1 The Vulgate and KJV have "bed" (lectus). Some modern translations have "mat" or "cot."