A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, 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 by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat 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 man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” Mark 2:1-12 NIV
We can learn a lot from the four friends of the paralyzed man. First they cared enough about him to carry him to Jesus. They didn’t just tell him about Jesus, they “carried” him there. He was paralyzed, unable to get there on his own. He needed their strength and diligence to get to Jesus. That may sound simplistic, but how many times do we have friends who are paralyzed in life, but for one reason or another, we don’t carry them to Jesus?
After carrying him that far, they could have easily gotten discouraged when they realized “they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd.” Have you ever tried to carry a friend to Jesus but found that the crowd got in the way? They could have stopped short, rationalizing it with the thought, “Well, we tried.” I imagine they were already tired, and maybe a bit disheartened, but they did not give up. They were determined to lay him before Jesus, to see Jesus touch his life; and they were willing to do whatever it took on their part to get him there!
Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us that “when Jesus saw their faith” he touched the man, and forgave his sins. I love that! They don’t say when Jesus saw “his” faith, but rather “their” faith, he forgave him. We all have friends who are “paralyzed”, unable to get to Jesus on their own. Maybe they don’t have the strength they need, or maybe they simply don’t have the faith. May we be willing to go the extra mile to carry them to Jesus…to lend them both our strength, and our faith, until he touches them, forgives their sins, and gives them enough strength to walk on their own.