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Luke 5.17-26; Mark 2.1-12; Matthew 9.1-8
The power of story. There is nothing quite like it.
Especially to enable us to see hearts of men—
their faith, motives, risks and then, ultimate actions.
Indeed the accounting of Jesus’ healing of the paralytic has three protagonists – the crippled man, his friends, and Jesus--three elements that go together well actually.
In the last Morning Briefing, “Forgiveness-à Healing?” (http://pastorwoman.com/ReadArchive.aspx?id=1614), we looked at how forgiveness of sin, healing of inner woundedness and bitterness, allows for physical healing of dis-ease. He who created us in his own image knows that well.1
And then there was the band of brothers who carried the crippled man to Jesus. What shall we see about them? First, may I ask—don’t you want friends like these guys? How long the four had known the man, we do not know, but it must have been for a while, for them to take such action. Just carrying the guy would have been awkward as heck—at first glance, we might picture the stretched canvas mat, with poles extending on either side, sort of like the kind they carried the wounded off the battlefield on the television show M.A.S.H., or in real life. Not so. This would have been a thin mattress, just large enough for a man to lie upon, as basic as a sheepskin.2
Who are your people?
You know, if you were struck down, if you were downcast, if life did a 180-degree turn on you, who would be there for you? I have a few people who would be there for me; really, I believe, that if I were the paralytic man, they would carry me, cut open the roof, and get me to Jesus! Not just because they love me, but because of something else.
Read Luke’s account of the powerful story: “One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 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.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”3
So, what was the ‘something else’ about these four friends? It was in the very first line of this passage:
These friends had a strong faith in Jesus Christ.
Because of their love for their friend + their strong faith in Jesus, they knew what to do with the broken man—take him to Jesus. Further, they were willing to carry him there, though it was not easy; and they risked much. They risked being drug off that roof by the eager crowded in and around where Jesus was teaching, and getting the tar beaten out of them. They risked being mocked if Jesus scorned them, or somehow, did not come through with a healing.
These are the best kind of friends,
the strongest kind of friends to have—
those who have faith in God,
those who are selfless,
have intimate love for one another,
and are willing to ‘put it out there’ on behalf of one of their fallen brothers.
A prayer: Dear Father, grant us the wisdom to seek out friends who believe in you, and put their trust in you. Grant us, we pray, your favor in finding a community of people, of friends, for whom we may love much and risk much—for this is living as you meant it to be.
Christine
1 – Genesis 1.26-27
2 – “Jesus Heals a Paralytic at Capernaum” http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/the-fourfold-gospel/by-...;
3 – Luke 5.17-26, NIV |
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Comment by Nicki Morero on July 19, 2015 at 6:42pm
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