3 "Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Notice from our passage in Mark these four men did not quit when they came to the house. They did not say, “Sorry Bill, we got you so close, but there is just too many people. We just can’t get you to Jesus. We will just take you back home now.” No. These men were committed to having their friend see Jesus.
There is only one commitment that will last through out eternity and that is commitment to Jesus Christ for He has committed Himself to you, me, and to the world. The friends were committed to bringing their friend to Christ. In that commitment they used innovation. They made a hole through the roof to let their friend down with ropes. They were so committed in getting their friend to see Christ that they did whatever it took for that to happen.
Apparently homes of that day had a unique flat roof made of wooden beams that rested on the walls of the building. These beams were placed about 3 to 4 feet apart and were covered with thick branches, brushes, reeds, mud, grass and clay. The resulting layers on top of the beams would measure from 4 to 6 inches thick. The impression that you get from this text is that on this house there may have been tiles on top of this roof that helped in diverting the water from the rain.
Are we that committed to help others? Are we that committed to seeing people come to Christ? Are we willing to do whatever it takes to see people hear the gospel? Are we willing to do unconventional things, things that people may not have tried before? It took some guts to do what these four did. They did not seem to care what the “crowd thinks.” Their commitment to bring their friend to Christ allowed them to face the obstacles whatever they might be. They used what they had to help their friend and bring him to Christ.
As Jesus looked upon the man, He said, “Your sins are forgiven you.” You could have heard some gasps. 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 that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”
Why did Jesus say "your sins are forgiven" Why not "your body is healed?" Did some sinfulness cause this illness? God doesn't always heal. Several times in Scripture we find people who weren't physically healed and it had nothing to do with whether or not they were righteous. That should never stop us from praying for healing.
We need to realize that God heals us when that is what is ultimately best and for reasons we may not understand in this life, but we trust His wisdom and power.
Prayer: Lord, we don’t always understand, but we know that You are able to heal. We pray for Your divine intervention to strengthen those in need of healing both physically and spiritually.
