GOOD FRIENDS AND A PARALYZED MAN

“They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”  – Mark 2:4-5.

A well-known miracle performed by Jesus is the healing of the paralytic in Capernaum. The miracle itself is extraordinary, but what makes it even more interesting is what it took to get that man to Jesus. This was not a token effort. Because they went the extra mile, this man’s life was radically changed.

Obviously, the paralyzed man could not walk or crawl to Jesus. He had to have help. Mark describes that help as “as four men.” Driven by compassion and faith, the four men carried the paralyzed man to the site. However, they did not find a way to go in to meet Jesus. “… “he house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room even outside the door” (Mark 2:2). But the four men persevered. To overcome the difficulty, they decided to lower the paralyzed man in through the roof. They took him up onto the roof, made a hole in the roof, over where Jesus was, and lowered him to Jesus through the hole: “They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus” (Mark 2:4).

The crowded house was an obstacle, but the four men in the story did not let the crowds stop them from bringing their friend to Jesus. They could have made excuses, but instead, they came up with a plan to get their friend on the roof and dig through it to lower him to Jesus. They decided that bringing their friend to Jesus was worth all the effort.

Houses in Israel at this time often had an exterior staircase that led to a flat roof. Unable to get through the door, these five men make their way up the stairs to the roof. The people in the house likely would have heard the noise of heavy feet clanking around; but Christ continued teaching, and the five men likely strained to listen to where Christ’s voice was coming from to discern where to open up the roof. Roofs back then would have been made of rough rafters with branches or tiles plastered together with something like mud that had dried. It might not have been that difficult to break them apart; however, it would have been unusual and messy to do so while Christ was in the house teaching: imagine pieces of baked mud falling from the ceiling. yet they carried on.   

The four men’s decision to take the paralyzed man to Jesus was motivated by compassion and faith. They had compassion on the paralyzed man, recognized his need, and committed to doing what they could to alleviate the need. They also had faith, believing that their paralyzed neighbor would be healed if they took him to Jesus.

The four men didn’t quit, and neither should we. They didn’t throw up their hands and say, “We gave it the old college try,” and neither should we. They didn’t accept that the door was closed, and neither should we in our efforts to care about people and bring them to Jesus.

Discussion Questions:

1. Is it easy or difficult to see others’ needs? Is there a reason we don’t?
2. How do you become someone who cares?