15. But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds were gathering together to hear him and to be healed of their illnesses.
16. Yet Jesus himself frequently withdrew to the wilderness and prayed.
17. Now on one of those days, while he was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting nearby (who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem), and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.
18. Just then some men showed up, carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher. They were trying to bring him in and place him before Jesus.