"And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion." (Mark 2:1-12).
Jesus was at a house teaching and many people had gathered to listen. The house was full. The paralyzed man needed to get to Jesus in a desperate way, but he could not walk to get there. I'm sure he was sad thinking about how he was missing what Jesus was saying. I can only imagine how desperately he wanted to get to Jesus.
Then it says there were four men who carried his cot to the house where Jesus was. I'm sure the man was getting more and more excited the closer they got to the house where Jesus was teaching. As they approached, they realized they could not get inside because of all the people. Imagine this man's disappointment now as he realized he wouldn't be able to get inside to get to Jesus. The story could have ended there, but praise God, it didn't! These four men were not about to give up. They had gotten this close, they were going to go all the way. Just imagine what this man must have thought as the four began to climb to the roof with him! What if they dropped him? What if they all fell off the roof? What if the person owning the house came out and made them stop? (I mean, who would want four strangers climbing up on top of the house tearing the roof off?) These thoughts may have come into their minds, but they didn't pay attention to those thoughts. They simply did what they had to do to get this man to Jesus. As they lowered him down in front of Jesus through the hole in the roof, I'm sure everyone in the house thought they were crazy. Jesus didn't think that. He saw the faith of the four men, and not only healed the man of his palsy, but saved him as well! The man picked his bed up and walked away! Everyone was amazed!
If those four men had not brought this man to Jesus, he could not have received his salvation and healing. He could not get there alone. He needed someone to help him. These four men had nothing to gain from this. We don't read in this passage of Scripture where Jesus did anything for them. However, they knew he needed Jesus, and did whatever was necessary to get him there!
We all know people who need Jesus. Some need healing, some need peace, some need direction, some need salvation. Whatever the need, they need Jesus. For most of them, they cannot get to Him on their own. They need someone to carry them to Him. They need someone who will care enough to do whatever needs to be done; no matter how silly it looks, no matter how difficult it may seem. There are many hurting, lost people out there. They need someone to help them. Are you willing to lay aside your plans to help them? Are you willing to do whatever you need to do no matter how difficult it seems or how foolish it may look in order to get them to Jesus. Their soul depends on it. They are depending on you. Will you go the distance for them?
How sad it will be to stand before God on Judgement Day and see all the people that could have come to Him but didn't, because we didn't want to go out of our way for them. We must do whatever we can to get them to Jesus. They deserve to know the love of God in the same way we do. They deserve eternal life in Heaven with Him just like we do.
Look for someone today to go out of your way for. It may make all the difference in the world to them, and may change where they spend eternity.
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