Through the Roof

Read‍

Mark 2:1-5 "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.'"

Think

Four guys carried their friend across town and could not get in the door.

The house was packed. Mark says there was no room left, not even outside the door, which means they could not even get close enough to be seen. Every reasonable option was gone. Anybody watching would have understood completely if they had set the mat down and said we tried.

Instead they went up on the roof and started digging.

Understand what that actually involved. Roofs in that part of the world were flat, made of wooden beams packed with mud and branches, and people used them like a porch. So four men carried a paralyzed man up an outside staircase, and then they tore a hole in somebody else's house while a crowd sat underneath listening to Jesus teach.

Dirt would have started falling first. Then light. Then the ceiling opened up over the room and a man on a mat came down on ropes in front of everybody.

Somebody owned that house. Somebody had to fix that roof. These four men decided their friend getting to Jesus was worth a bill they would have to pay and a scene they would have to explain.

That is what it looks like when an invitation actually costs something.

Most of the time our version costs nothing. We think about inviting somebody. We decide it would be weird. We tell ourselves we will do it when the moment is more natural, and the moment is never more natural, and nothing gets torn open.

These men had every excuse available and they used none of them. It is crowded. He is heavy. This is embarrassing. We do not know these people. The whole passage would make sense if it ended with them going home.

Now read verse 5 slowly, because there is a phrase in it that should stop you. "When Jesus saw their faith."

Their faith. Not his. The paralyzed man does not say a single word in this story. He does not ask for anything. There is no record of what he believed or whether he even wanted to come. What Jesus responds to is the faith of the friends who carried him.

That does not mean you can believe on somebody else's behalf. Every person meets God for themselves. But it does mean this: your faith can be the thing that gets somebody into the room. Jesus noticed the four men and he did something about it.

So the effort is not wasted. The awkward text is not wasted. The ride you offered that got declined twice is not wasted. He sees it.

And notice what Jesus deals with first. Four men went to enormous trouble to fix their friend's legs, and the first thing out of Jesus' mouth is about his sins. He goes to the deeper problem before the obvious one.

Which is a good reminder about the person you are bringing. You probably know what you want God to fix in them. He is usually working on something underneath it that you cannot see from where you are standing.

Your job is the carrying. What happens in the room is his.

So what would you actually have to tear open this week to get one person close to Jesus?

Apply

Carry someone. Four men found out that an invitation and a plan are not the same thing. One Night is this Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., and some students who already said yes will still not walk through the door, because no one offered them a ride or told their parents what it was. What Jesus responded to was the faith of the friends doing the carrying. Find the one thing that would stop your friend from getting here and remove it. Offer the ride, get the details to their parents, meet them in the parking lot, and walk in with them. Make it easy for them to say YES.

Pray

God, most of what I have offered you has been convenient, and I know it. Give me friends who would tear a roof open for me, and make me that kind of friend for somebody else. Show me what it would actually cost to bring one person close to you, and help me pay it. In Jesus' name. Amen.