The image of four men tearing up a roof in order to let down an occupied cot seems deliberately contrived to make them appear to be foolish. Is the message that the Judeans are too stubborn and cowlike to make way for someone to enter the house? Or that they’re deliberately destructive and delight in destroying the homes of others? What’s the hurry anyway? It’s not like they couldn’t have waited outside – the guy was paralytic, not in danger of death.
Perhaps the implication is that the paralytic might not have normally been granted access due to cultural gatekeeping, or a literal gatekeeper – perhaps both. Maybe this is because the paralytic is from a conflicting niche group and would not normally be allowed to be in the House of Jesus. Note that at the end of the story, the paralytic is not accepted into the House of Jesus or the community of Jesus, but is instead told to go home. This would seem to argue that the pallet-rider was not already friends with Jesus.
Ok, here’s another thought – what if there was some kind of sexual connotation? What if the person on the pallet was being presented as a kind of sexual favor? Maybe it’s a kind of bribe, or maybe as an attempt to discredit him. If so, it makes more sense for him to be “forgiven” and sent away, and no reason to assume any sort of magical healing.
“2 Jesus”: Some of the questions above are resolved cleanly with the 2 Jesus solution. The paralytic carried by four men is quite plainly Rebel Jesus, hoisted by the four men we’ve met so far: Simon, Andrew, James, and John. A few possible reasons for this unorthodox means of entry is also clear after the prior episode: perhaps the zealot wanted a confrontation with the anointed, and already being persona non grata had to find his own way in. It’s also possible that the joke is that he heard the place was really crowded, so he didn’t even try the door, but instead chose to enter in the most destructive way possible.