Faith of Our Friends

At Sunday school this past weekend we read Luke 20: 17-26, the Miracle of Jesus forgiving and healing the paralyzed man that had been brought to Him by his friends who carried him on his mat. I love that story. It makes me think of how the incident might have developed. I imagine the friends (I always think of them as four, each holding one corner of the mat…but who knows how many there were? It just says “some men”) going to their paralyzed friend saying: “well, today is the day. We are taking you to Jesus, so hang on!” And I imagine the paralyzed man looking at them with a puzzled expression, wondering, “what the heck?”

We don’t really know if this guy even wanted to go. Although he might have heard the common rumor around town, we don’t know for sure if he really knew about the healing power of Jesus. Scripture gives us no evidence of this man’s faith at the moment he got picked up by the guys who carried him to the Christ. The one thing we know is that there is no way he could have made it there if it hadn’t been in the arms of his friends. In fact, we know more about the faith of the friends than of his own. We know these friends had enough faith to stop whatever they might have been doing in their daily lives, to go get their buddy, carry him in the heat of the dessert, not be discouraged by the wall of people that kept them from being able to enter the house, climb to the roof, commit a touch of vandalism to finally be able to lower him to Jesus’ feet.

The whole thing was so impressive that we read how, when Jesus saw the faith of the friends, He forgave the sins of the paralyzed man and later healed him. WOW! Little did these guys know their actions would prove so transcendental that Jesus would use the whole event to teach a lesson to the Pharisees that lasts all the way to today! They probably didn’t even think it was a big deal. They heard about Jesus’ miracles, thought of their friend, went and grabbed him and presented him to the Healer. Simple! No super heroes here, no special people, nobody important/rich/special…just friends…

Friends carrying each other…friends bringing friends to Christ.

To think that our faith may contribute to help our friends come closer to Jesus...what a powerful thought...

I pray I can be that friend. I pray I can be the one lifting a corner of my fallen friend’s mat when he/she is in need to be carried. I pray I can be there to do what they simply cannot do in their time of struggle. I pray I can be willing to help carry their burdens when their strength fails and they cannot take another step. For I have been carried countless times, I pray when time comes for me to be NOT on the mat, that I am up to the task…I pray I don’t even waste time thinking about it, and just bend my knees to pick up my friend and lift her/him up to the fountain of all forgiveness, mercy, love, power and healing so they may thirst no more.

I praise the Good Lord for giving me faithful friends that have tirelessly lifted my heavy burdens up to the Christ when I was on the floor, paralyzed and helpless. I pray I can do as well, when it comes to be my turn.

Linking with:  Wholeheartedhome.com and www.rosilindjukic.com