John Lightfoot on Mark 2:9

[Whether is it easier to say, &c.] He that observes the use of the word it is easy and it is hard, in the Jewish schools (and the schoolmen were now with Christ), cannot think it improper that is it easier should be of the same import with it is easy, which word denotes the thing or the sense plain, smooth, and without scruple; it is hard, denotes the contrary. As if our Saviour had said, "Were not the sense plainer, and more suited to the present business to have said, 'Arise and take up thy bed,' than to say, 'Thy sins are forgiven thee?' But I say thus, that ye may know that the Son of man hath power," &c. He does not speak of the easiness of the pronunciation of the words, but of the easiness of the sense. And I should thus render the words, "It is easier to say to the paralytic, Thy sins are forgiven thee, than to say," &c. 'Whether to say,' as it is vulgarly rendered, hath a sense not to be disapproved of; but, 'than to say,' hath a sense more emphatical. Is not the sense easier as to the present business to say, 'Thy sins are forgiven,' than to say, 'Rise up and walk?'