4 Friends and a Mat

In Bible Study Tuesday morning we were discussing the story of Jesus healing the paralytic as told in Mark 2:1-12.

I have heard this story countless times through the years, but something struck me this time that I haven't spent much time pondering before. This isn't just the story of a paralyzed man. It is really a story about the lengths four faithful friends were willing to go to in order to get their needy friend in front of Jesus.

Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Mark 2: 3-5 NIV

In his book Incredible Moments with the Savior, Ken Gire writes the following:
"There is no record that they said anything. So it wasn't what Jesus heard that captured his heart; it was what he saw. And what did he see? Four sweaty men willing to put a shoulder to their faith...scraped hands willing to burrow through any obstacles...dirty faces hungering for a miracle. Breathless with excitement...These children dared what no adults with any sense of etiquette would ever have done. They tore up somebody's property, interrupted someone else while he was speaking, and inconvenienced all the rest who were listening. Just like children. But he who said, 'suffer the children to come unto me,' didn't look at these children of faith as an interruption."

I know it seems obvious, but in all the years of familiarity with this story, I had never pondered the lengths these friends went to on behalf of their friend. I never stopped to think about the fact that as Jesus was speaking inside the house, they climbed up on the roof and purposefully damaged it. The specifics aren't clear, but it is not a stretch to imagine that they literally clawed through the roof with their hands--with no guarantee that their friend would be healed. They were fueled purely by faith and hope.

It caused me to stop and think about the people in my life over the years that have gone to great lengths on my behalf. Specifically, the names Jennifer, Stacey, Gina, Anne and Dee Dee come to mind. Each of these women (two were only teenagers at the time) were instrumental in my soul being brought before the Lord. In their own ways, they each got dirt under their fingernails digging through the barrier between me and Him. They did not give up until I was at His feet.

My remembrance of the faith, pursuit and commitment of others also challenged me to think about what roofs I might need to climb, how dirty I might need to get, what obstacles I may need to cut through on behalf of people in my life. I am all too often far too easily deterred by obstacles. Do I have a faith that would move Jesus towards someone else?

The man in need in this story was a paralytic, but there are plenty of people in my life struggling with different types of paralysis--of faith, of hope, of circumstances.

Thank you, Lord, for fresh perspective of familiar texts. Give me wisdom to know how you might want me to apply it in my life and the courage and strength to follow through.