“Through the Roof” conventionally means an upward direction. In our story today, it´s the other way around, it´s a downward direction. This is therefore a very unconventional story.
Our story today talks about a huge crowd of people who were surrounding our Lord Jesus Christ during His ministry in one of the towns in Galilee. It is also a story of friendship and how this friendship led to a miracle from the Lord Jesus Christ. You see God uses ordinary people to demonstrate His extraordinary power. He chooses seemingly hopeless situations like that of this paralyzed man to give ultimate hope to those who believe in Him. You life situation at present may seem unbearable and you feel helpless. Remember you may feel helpless but you are not hopeless in the Lord.
How many friends do you have? If you hold a party next week, do you think lots of people will come? Or it depends -- if it´s a buffet dinner at River Rock, maybe there´ll be a lot of people coming. When you post something important in Facebook, how many “likes” do you get? When you need help moving to a new house, how many of your friends will be there to help you carry your fridge or your king size bed? When you get sick, how many of your friends do you think will visit you in the hospital? When you´re in financial need, how many of your friends do you think will be willing to lend you some money? Let´s get a bit morbid here – during your funeral, how many people do you think will be willing to deliver a eulogy for you?
How many of our “so called” friends today will be willing to take an extra mile for us?
My high school teacher would always tell us this saying “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell who you are.” Friendships are established and strengthened through what we call a symbiotic relationship. If you expect your friends to go “through the roof” with you, you must be willing to do the same. If you expect your friends to be there for you during times of trouble, have you been there for them when they were experiencing troubles themselves?
Our story today, like what I mentioned earlier, is also about friendship of probably five men. It has a touch of humor. It´s funny but it has a very profound message to those people who lived during Biblical times and also to people during our time today.
Let us first look at the characters in our story:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The Paralyzed Man
3. Four Friends
4. Pharisees & Teachers of the Law
5. The Crowd
The spotlight is focused on the Lord Jesus Christ. The reason why all those people came was to see Him and to witness the miracles and healings that He was performing.
The second main character is the paralyzed man. In the King James Version, he was told to have palsy. It´s a sickness that leads to paralysis and uncontrolled movement or shaking. One of the most common forms of palsy is cerebral palsy which is a brain problem.
The paralyzed man may have been suffering and we can say he is in a very unfortunate situation but he is still blessed. You know why? If other people have BFF, this paralyzed man has FFF.
The Four Faithful Friends. They are the supporting characters in this story. We can also call them the Fantastic Four.
They were just on the side lights -- their names were never mentioned, their occupations were never told, they were never appreciated openly for what they have done for their friend. When we get to heaven, there will be a lot of people who were never honored or appreciated here on earth but will be receiving great rewards up there. The Bible says “those who have humbled themselves will be exalted”
The fourth group of characters were the teachers of the law, most likely they were Pharisees. The first question that you might ask is that “what in the world are they doing there -- if they have no faith and they don’t have any iota of trust in Jesus.” Well, they were there to scrutinize Him, to watch Him make a mistake so they can pin Him down. They were there to challenge Him hoping that He may openly violate the prevailing laws so they can bring Him to trial. They were there to mock Him and show to everyone that He is not who He claims to be.
The last group was the crowd. The Bible uses the term “multitude” simply because they were many. It was obvious that during this time Jesus was gaining popularity among different groups of people. The news about His healings and miracles were spreading across towns so wherever He went, a multitude of people were following Him. In this story, the Bible says that the people “gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.” In fact, if you read verse 34 of the preceding chapter, Mark described it as “the whole city was gathered around the door.”
This is the reason why it was almost impossible for the Fantastic Four to even get close to Jesus and bring their paralyzed friend. Imagine a sold-out concert of a famous singer like Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber . You probably won´t stand a chance of getting close to the singer.
This miracle is found in all three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke)
The fact that three out of four Gospel writers captured this story, it must have been very significant. For me, this story teaches one of the most important doctrine of Christianity, the deity (dēədē) of Jesus.
This story proves that even while here on Earth, Jesus is all-powerful and all-knowing
His power to forgive sins and to heal the man´s sickness prove His omnipotence and His ability to read the thoughts and hearts of the teachers of the law proves His omniscience. These are attributes of God alone so this story is proof that Jesus did not leave or give up His divinity in heaven just like what other false teachers are claiming. Jesus is 100% God and 100% man even here on Earth.
Mark stated that the miracle took place in Capernaum
LIFE LESSONS:
Let us proceed to some of the lessons we can learn from this story.
They can either bring us closer to Him or drive us away from Him.
If we surround ourselves with godly people, guess what, there´s a very big chance that we´ll be godly as well.
If we surround ourselves with crooks or people who have shady characters, then it will just be a matter of time before we become like one. “Bad company corrupts character.” “Birds of the same feathers, flock together.” “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell who you are.” The Bible says “do not be equally yoked with an unbeliever.”
Who do you hang out with?
If you hang out with smokers, you´ll probably end up smoking. If you hang out with drunkards, you´ll end up being a drunkard yourself. Students and young people - if you spend time and hang out with those who cheat in school, guess what? One day you´ll be cheating yourself as well.
On the positive side, if you hang out with respectful and honest people, or people with integrity, matured Christians, helpful, friendly people --- chances are, you´ll become like one. That´s why I hang out with the good looking men of Maple Ridge so I can become like one.
What caught my attention in this story are the four friends of the paralyzed man. They climbed up the house, made some holes in the roof and laid the man down straight right in front of Jesus. These four friends in our story did something unconventional for the sake of friendship. From the top of the roof, they laid down a blanket with their friend just to bring him close to Jesus.
It´s important to understand the culture and the structure of first century houses in Israel. Houses at that time were not made of galvanized iron or cement. They were made of wood and bricks and straw mats and hard clay. Usually, there are staircases going to the roof. The roofs of houses then were not really sloping that much, because it hardly rains anyway. So it´s not really so difficult to climb up the roof and make a hole. However, they were carrying a sick person which made the situation more complicated.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 17:17 “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.” A true friend is tested during times of adversity. I would assume that this paralyzed man have done a lot of good things for his friends and now that there is something these four friends can do for him, i.e. to bring him to Jesus.
Do you have these kinds of friends?
Do you have friends who bring you closer to Jesus? Do you have friends who are willing to go “through the roof” just to bring you to Christ? The sad thing is sometimes we stick to a friend because they flatter us, they make us feel good, and they always agree with us. They tell us what we want to hear. They tell us what we want, what we really, really want!
A true friend is one who can come to you, look you in the eye and point out your faults… right on your face. A true friend understands that sometimes “gentle rebuke” is necessary to correct a friend. A true friend is someone who can take the risk losing your friendship for as long as he can tell your mistakes and hopefully help you change as a person and help you get closer to Jesus.
However, God already gave us these kinds of friends, especially here in the church. We find them annoying, we find them offensive, we find them judgmental, holier than thou. They keep on calling us to pray, to study the Bible, to come to church, they rebuke us to quit a bad habit. We drive them away. When a friend rebukes us, we feel offended and we avoid them. Our reaction is : Who does she think she is? Is she SINLESS! Of course not – everybody sins but at this point in time, the issue is YOU! Maybe one day, you will get your opportunity to help your friend by rebuking him too
O idea of a friend is a goody goody friend, … happy happy lang tayo… no rebuke, no serious talk, chill lang. We should be friends with people who can bring us closer to Jesus.
Third point,
These four friends wouldn’t even have to climb up the roof if the multitude of people, if the crowd -- which was probably 90% uzizeras or just lookie-lous, if they gave way, it would have been a lot easier for the four men. But the multitude was there to block their way towards Jesus.
Church, in our time today, the “multitude” is still there. They are all around us. People, Things, Events, anything that blocks our way to Jesus is represented by the “multitude” in our story. Anything that takes our minds and our hearts and our attention away from God is the “multitude.” They are the wolves in sheep’s clothing. They are the false teachers and preachers. They are the so-called “fake friends.” If there is a BFF, there is an FFF – it means Fake Friend Forever. Don’t be an FFF, be a BFF! Ok?
Have you experienced having a fake friend? Somebody who just take advantage of you? Just want to borrow money from you? Lagi ka lang inuutangan (Bro. Rommel, may utang ba ko sayo?) You know, I had some fake friends too in the past. But praise God I have more genuine friends than fake friends. Jesus had a fake friend when He was here on Earth. His name’s Judas! He pretended to be somebody he is not. He just took advantage of the kindness and generosity of Christ. But sadly in the end, he got into trouble.
I know most of you have been in the same Bible Study Group for years. You have tons of stories about your past escapades and road trips and campings together. The Lord willing, new families will come to WCCC Maple Ridge. I hope and pray that you shall be willing to make new friendships and be willing open up your lives for them. Let us make them feel welcome this church. Let´s avoid cliques that turn people away and make newcomers feel uncomfortable.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Let me end with some more thoughts here about our Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, the four friends may have been disappointed that after going through all those trouble of bringing their friend to Jesus, the first thing they heard from the Lord was “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Ah, excuse me… Jesus Christ… master…bossing? We didn’t go through all that trouble for our friend here, just for the forgiveness of his sins… we came here for healing, you know, healing! We need some miracles here. But of course they didn’t say that. Why? Because the Jews believe that sickness like what this man had, was because of SIN. They believe that a person gets sick because of what he may have done in the past, of what his parents or grandparents may have done in the past. So Jesus, who is more concerned about the man´s spiritual condition more than his physical condition – He forgave the man first and then healed Him later.
This miracle proved that Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. He forgives sins. He heals the broken-hearted and by His wounds, we are healed, amen?
Jesus is our True Friend. The apostle John explained this very clearly in Chapter 15 of John´s Gospel:
Can you picture the situation? Jesus was probably teaching or healing someone. Then all of a sudden, some debris are falling, some dirt and pieces of wood and a hole is suddenly showing up from the roof. Then a man is slowly being laid down right in front of Him. If I was there, I would probably laugh my heart out. But annoying as it may, Jesus did not drive them away. If you come to Jesus today, He will not drive you away. He will forgive you and He will heal you. He will break the norm. He will do the unconventional for you.
The question now is posed back to us.
How far are you willing to go with Him?
He has already proven His love for each one of us. He has already sacrificed His love for us. The four faithful friends has gone through the roof, down to the ground. Jesus did much much much more than that. He came not just from the roof, He came from heaven, the abode of God, the holy of holies, He came all the way down here on earth just to prove His love for you and His love for me.
How far are you will to go with Him?
Prayer:
Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:
Father God, I confess all my sins to you today. Please forgive me. Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ. I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord. May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.
The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Maple Ridge during its first service on Sunday, September 10, 2017
I apologise if there are grammatical and spelling errors.
I also apologise if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any, as it is purely unintentional.
If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website at:
www.wordchristiancommunity.com
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