For the love of their friend

For the love of their friend

SCRIPTURE:

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² They gathered in such large numbers 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 paralyzed man, 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 by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶ Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves,⁷ “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸ Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 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!”

OBSERVATION:

After a period of teaching, preaching and healing to several villages around the area, the Lord and His disciples return to Capernaum. News soon spreads that the Lord had returned and quite soon, a huge multitude gathers to hear His words at a house. The crowd is so large that there is no room left, even outside the door of the house. Therefore, when four men come carrying a paralyzed man to seek healing from Jesus, they find it impossible to get anywhere near the Lord. At this point, one of them comes upon a desperate but brilliant idea, and the faithful four friends bring the paralyzed man up the roof, dig a hole in it, and lower the man down through the hole, right before Jesus.

In those days, roofs were typically flat and people could sleep on top of it on a hot night. They were made of clay and sticks, and some effort would have been required to make the hole, which would also have drawn considerable ire from the house owner! The four friends risked being beaten up or having to pay damages because of their deed, but their priority was their friend and they went to extraordinary lengths to bring their friend to Jesus. What effort have we spent to bring our friends to Jesus? Most of us shrink back at just a little inconvenience but these men went the extra mile and risked much to bring their friend to Jesus!

The Lord was impressed by their faith. Here again, we are reminded that faith must be followed by action. Because the friends believed Jesus could heal their friend, they took such extraordinary trouble to bring him to Jesus.

Now, interestingly, Jesus did not straight away heal him but said “Son, your sins are forgiven”. Why did Jesus say that? Which is more important? For a man to have his sins forgiven or to be healed? Or is healing linked to the forgiveness of one’s sins? Elsewhere, Jesus corrected the wrong perception that a disabled man was in his present condition because of his sin or the sin of his parents. However, in the parable of the unmerciful servant, the Lord also warned that those who refused to forgive others would be handed over to tormentors. And even non-Christian psychologists and researchers have seen a link between unforgiveness or resentment with disease. Besides that, guilt has also been seen as an instigator of sickness and ill-health. The mind affects the body, and a troubled mind will eventually wreak havoc on one’s health. King David described the effect of his unconfessed sin as having his bones wasting away as he groaned all day long.

An interesting point we should note here is that Jesus simply asked the man to get up, take up his mat and walk. The Lord did not even have to rebuke the paralysis or say “be healed”. The truth is, the moment the Lord has told him “your sins are forgiven”, the man had already been healed. He just didn’t know it, but when Jesus asked him to get up, he realized he had already been healed and got up in faith!

Just as salvation in the Greek sense is all-encompassing – mental, spiritual, physical, emotional, so too forgiveness is all-compassing, even synonymous with healing. We don’t know for sure whether it was resentment or guilt that brought the paralyzed man to his condition, but the moment he believed his sins were forgiven, he experienced a release and this was manifested when he physically got up and walked!

Through the ages, many have testified how they were healed once they forgave, or once they believed they had been forgiven, and released from guilt. This is an important principle for us. We need to forgive, and find forgiveness in Jesus.

APPLICATION:

Just like the four friends who went to such extremes to bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus, we need to likewise be willing to take more effort to bring our friends to the Lord. We need to pray to God to give us such a sacrificial heart like they had.

We also need to remember that true faith is expressed in action like the friends who went to such troubles because they believed Jesus would heal, and the paralytic man who acted on faith that Jesus had healed him when he got up and walked.

Another lesson we need to remember is that unforgiveness or guilt can be a cause of terrible sickness, and we need to believe in Jesus to have our sins forgiven and to be set free from our guilt. If we are holding on to unforgiveness or resentment, we need to realize that it harms us most of all, and only in releasing our debtors can we find true freedom and forgiveness and restoration in Christ Jesus!

PRAYER:

We praise You and bless You Father Lord. You are our great King, our marvelous God, our perfect, Heavenly Savior. We thank You, Lord, for coming down to earth to save us, to show us the way, to lead us to Your salvation. Give us a sacrificial heart we pray, that loves our friends so much that we will go to great lengths to bring them to you.

Increase our faith we pray, to trust in Your healing, Your miracles, even as You continue to work today as You did so long ago. Forgive our sins we pray O Lord, release us, and set us free from every bondage and sickness in Jesus name! Even those who have hurt us so much, we release them to You O Lord. We forgive them in Jesus name! Help us O Lord, we pray. Blessed be Your name O Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.