Luke 5:18-19 "Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to
take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the
crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles
into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus."
Mark recounts this same story. The story
goes on to say that Jesus told the man that his sins were forgiven. Then the
self-righteous people of day - basically said each other , "who does this guy
think he is, saying 'your sins are forgiven' ". Well, Jesus knew what they were
thinking (ooo, scary thought) and basically said, "so that you will know that I
have the power to forgive sins, I will do even more than that." He tells the
man to get up and walk. More about this within the next couple
days.
Now, the NIV version of the Bible doesn't
really say that these men were his friends, but I would call them friends for as
much work as they did. Really now - who else would take the time to carry a
paralyzed man to the door of the house, decide that they can't get in and devise
a way to get on top of the roof of the house. Not to mention, getting their
hands dirty from digging through the roof... I'm not sure what the roof was held
together with, but I'm sure it wasn't a very clean job. The people below
probably didn't appreciate the act a whole lot with anything that may have
fallen down... I'm sure of one thing though, I'm sure Jesus was smiling -
because he knew what was happening.
They
finally make the hold big enough to lower their friend down right in front of
Jesus. I can almost hear the people saying, 'Hey, he 'jumped' the line,
Jesus... we were here first.' I can imagine Jesus looking up at the man's
friends and smiling because he knew how hard they worked physically and how much
faith they had that He would heal their friend, if they could just get the
man to Him.
The man himself may or may not have had
any faith or hope of getting healed. He was paralyzed - He could never get to
where Jesus was by himself. He needed help. Maybe at first, he resisted their
help saying that it was impossible or he's been close to Jesus and He hasn't
even given him a second glance or maybe his condition had gone on for so long
that he had lost hope. Going up to the roof, he may have had thoughts of 'what
if they drop me' - 'maybe this was a bad idea'. Maybe he even voiced his
concern and wanted to turn back out of fear.
But his friends, they had love for him -
they had trusted that if they could just get him in there somehow, someway,
Jesus would heal him. I can see it now, as they are carry him up to the roof
and digging out the hole - their faith is rising by the minute. They just KNOW
this is going to work.... AND IT DID WORK! Their faith in what Jesus could do
and maybe that little spark of faith once the man saw Jesus caused Jesus' heart
to swell and pour out not only the blessing of forgiveness, but of healing. I
believe, He healed a whole lot more than His paralyed body. He healed his
paralyzed mind, will, and emotions. He healed his soul also.
All because the man allowed his friends to
take him all the way to Jesus. They carried him on their shoulders to Jesus
when there was no way could make it himself. Their faith carried him through,
then when he saw Jesus - his faith was fanned into a flame. Not only did Jesus
forgive everything he'd ever done or thought that was wrong. By the time, Jesus
told him to take his bed and go for a walk - he may have hesitated, but if he
did - it wasn't for long. He was up and out of there!
We aren't meant to go through life alone -
especially the hard stuff of our lives. When our faith is at it's weakest and
our pain keeping climbing that is when we need to ask for help - for prayer -
for encouragement - and let Jesus prove His strength through those He's placed
in our lives. Trusting that He knows what He's doing and who He's using and
resting in their care as we're resting in the care of Jesus.
I Need You To Survive - Hezekiah
Walker
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