1A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” ... 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” (Mark 2: 1-5, 11-12 NIV)
Recently I’ve heard two different ministers preach on this story. The first emphasized that we, as Christians, should—like the men in the story—seek out those whom we can help, no matter how inconvenient for us. This emphasis was about ministry to strangers.
The second minister who preached told how the paralytic man instructed the men who tended him to get him to Jesus, even suggesting to them that they lower him through the roof. In this rendition of the story, the emphasis was on the faith of the sick man.
In reading the story again for myself, and remembering other sermons I’ve heard about it, I disagree with both of these interpretations. I believe these four men who brought the paralytic man to see Jesus were friends, and I believe that Jesus saw THEIR faith and healed the man.
Often, after a drawn out period of suffering of one kind or another, a person has prayed and waited and prayed more, even with astounding faith, but nothing seems to happen. I remember many years ago now when my husband’s diabetic foot had become infected, he’d lost two toes, and the doctors told him all the bones in that foot were infected. The primary surgeon sent us to a specialized orthopedic surgeon. This second doctor looked at the x-rays and told us that he could see no hope for saving this foot except to take my husband’s leg off at the knee. We thought that recommendation would likely persuade our primary surgeon to take this drastic step.
During the same week as our next appointment with the primary surgeon, two friends of ours fasted and prayed three days for my husband. When we next saw the primary surgeon, he strongly disagreed with the orthopedist and, instead, sent us to an infectious disease specialist. This man put my husband on a strong regimen of antibiotics over a long period. My husband still has his leg today after thirteen years.
Yes, Jesus could have seen and acted in response to our faith. But, He also saw the faith of our praying friends and answered them dramatically. If God prompts us to pray for someone who has reached the end of his or her own resources, we can be sure He intends great wonders for him or her, just like He did for the paralytic.
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