A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered 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 paralytic, 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 and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
I read that this morning and couldn’t help thinking about about each of those five individuals in the story. For the four men who carried the paralytic, what love they have for a man who has provided very little to them. He could offer no income or care for the household. He could offer no care or future children to look after what he was unable to accomplish, and yet they took him to a man reported to have the ability to heal. There is no doubt that if this report were false, they would have taken him home and cared for him the rest of his life. They would have continued to feed him, clean him, provide for him, and pray for him.
And the man on the mat. He was a man lying on a mat with no functionality, value, or usefulness to the world. He had nothing to offer them in the way of payment for their action. He didn’t ask to be taken to see Jesus, at least that we know of in the story, and doesn’t say a word in either of the three accounts of this miracle. How he came into contact with these four men is a mystery, and I don’t know if history with them is really that important. Interestingly, Jesus heals him because of the the faith of those who carried him. Is it possible that the man on the mat had become disenfranchised with faith, for him a word that has meaning in its definition only?
Strangely, no one asks or says anything in this story. Jesus sees this man dropping through a roof and forgives him his sin. What sin does a paralytic have? Would it be fair to say, bitterness, frustration, anger, or resentment that he feels useless? That he cannot provide anything to society and has no value to the community, maybe? I wonder what that man felt when he was told, by Jesus, that his sins were forgiven. Which was greater for that man on the mat, being forgiven or being healed from paralysis?
I think we go through seasons of being one of the mat carriers and being the paralytic. The question is,
When you are the paralytic, are you surrounded by people with faith who will take you to Jesus?
