There were 4** guys who couldn’t get to Jesus.
Jesus had returned to Capernaum, where he made his home.
Wall to wall people came to see Jesus. Mothers with babies , old men with canes, probably a blind woman or two and maybe a man crazed by demons. They came to hear their hometown hero Jesus taught. People listened. The crowd buzzed. Children ran. Teachers of the law whispered to each other about Jesus’ teaching. Moms shushed children. Other people talked out loud.
But four guys couldn’t get to Jesus. And they had a crippled friend who needed Him.
The friend was a street beggar who had given up hope of ever walking again. Living off the kindness of people, he begged, “Hey buddy can you spare a shekel?”
People reacted like we do to the homeless on the streets. They shake cans for coins, sometimes we drop in a handful of change; just so get rid of them. Sometimes we look right through them as though they are invisible.
Four guys, but they couldn’t get to Jesus. They were ok but their friend wasn’t. He needed healing and forgiveness.
Then someone had an idea. Who knows how or what the discussion was but the next thing they are chopping a hole through the roof.
Plaster dust, chunks of clay tile, mud and thatch, all came down. Whose house was it?
“Hey, don’t do that…Insurance won’t cover it? This is expensive. Stop! “
It would take a pretty big hole to get a stretcher through don’t you think?
Expensive to fix. Would you have paid the bill? Would you have taken four guys to The kingdom of God costs. It cost God his Son. It cost some guy a roof. It cost creative audacity. I probably would have been polite and gotten permission. Not these guys. Forget permission, they were on a mission. They had a friend who needed Jesus.
Four guys couldn’t get to Jesus. But they saw to it their friend did.
In the man’s healing Jesus did an unusual thing. When He saw the men’s faith, He healed their friend. Did you catch that? Because of 4 guys faith, the paralyzed man was healed.
Is there a lesson for us? Maybe when we have friends struggling, with illness or troubles, they need us to have faith for them.
Not to stretch a point but do you have a friend who could use someone to have faith for you? A faith strong enough to help someone get through her troubles? I know I have been in some rough spots when people have had faith to get me through.
Sometimes when we are sick we just don’t have the energy or the presence of mind to pray and we need someone to stand in our stead in the throne room.
Do you have four friends like that? Are you a friend like that? “Rejoice when they rejoice and weep for those who weep.” We need each other, Along The Way.
*The text does not tell us that there were four friends, that is my imagination that it would take four to manage a stretcher.
