An Act of Faith

Luke 5: Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

I’m still so intrigued by this story I’m copying another version of the same event as yesterday's post.

Again, it says this man was paralyzed and in need of someone else carrying him to Jesus.  And these men who carried him were persistent, determined to get the guy in, right in front of Jesus – through the roof.

In this story, I’m adding in Jesus’ response to these guys and their friend’s appearance from the roof.  Jesus called this act of kindness – this rescue – an act of faith.

And in response to these four men’s faith, Jesus told the man who was paralyzed that his sins were forgiven.

Now this is super interesting, as the passage doesn’t say the guy asked for forgiveness.  Is that because he was too paralyzed to do so?  Is this story saying that there are some who are in such a paralyzed state, even mentally, that they can’t comprehend their need for a savior?

It seems then to be our responsibility to tear down the roof, whatever that might represent, and present these friends to Jesus.

Faith – I want to have it for the most paralyzed of all people – for Jesus to rescue them and set them free.