Mark 2:1-5New King James Version (NKJV)
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralytic
2 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.2 Immediately[a] many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. 3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. 4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
As Adam Hamilton pointed out on pages 61-62, it was not the paralytic's faith but the faith of his friends:
"It's interesting to note that it wasn't the man's faith that got Jesus' attention. In fact, the man on the stretcher never said a word. We don't know if he had any faith. But his friends---who carried him, hoisted him onto the roof, tore the roof open, and lowered him to Jesus---they had faith. Because of THEIR faith, Jesus healed the man.
. . . .we all need stretcher-bearers.. . Who are the people who would pick you up, tear off the roof and lower you to Jesus? We all need friends like that, whose faith is strong even when ours is weak, who are friends not just in word but in deed. These friendships don't just happen; you have to invest in them. Often the way this happens is through small groups in local churches. . . Who are your-stretcher bearers? Whose stretcher-bearer are you?"
This led to us wondering, what about all of the people at church who don't have a small group, circle or Sunday School class? How can we help them? Who do they turn to? Comments are welcome---follow up will appear on Monday.
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