A
simple thought hit me the other day when I was reading the story in Mark 2, about the guys who
lowered their paralytic friend through the roof of the house where Jesus was
because they couldn't get through the crowds.
These guys were ready to do whatever it takes to get their friend to
Jesus. It talks about them digging
through the roof (so, roofing in 1 Century Israel was, admittedly, a bit easier
to dig through than the shingles on my house, but still, it was hardly an easy
job), and then lowering the guy down on his mat (They must have had to haul
him, mat and all, up to the roof in the first place, another labor of
love).
The question that emerges for me from this story is, simply: "What stops you from 'getting the guy
to Jesus,' Dale? Because it didn't seem
like these friends of the paralytic were about to let anything stop
them."
And while I'm mulling that
one over, a beautiful, but kind of difficult thing stands out to me. It says: "When he saw their faith, Jesus told the man: 'Your sins are
forgiven.'" This is remarkable
because of what it doesn't say. A
salvation-by-faith-alone Evangelical like me, if I were writing it down, I'd
have said, "When Jesus saw his faith" (i.e. the faith of the man
needing healing); but it doesn't: it says their faith. This may include the faith of the paralytic,
but it also includes the faith of the guys getting him to Jesus.
Are you saying, Mark, that Jesus 'saved' this
man from his desperate condition, because the community around him (as represented
by the four friends) were so convinced you would, that they'd do anything to
get him to you? If that is what Mark's saying, then you can't help but wonder: What might Jesus start doing in our communities, if we were
filled with similar faith: a faith that says, "Nothing matters more than
'getting the guy to Jesus,' and anything might happen, if we do."?
Through the Roof, a devotional thought
Labels: devotionals, mark
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