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." (v. 3-5 NIV)
I think of being one of the other people in the room having dirt and debris from the roof falling around them. The sun was creeping in to the packed room through the expanding hole. And yet one of the things I love the most is this man's friends simply knew they had to get him to Jesus. After lowering the paralytic through the hole they didn't give Jesus instructions or tell Him what their friend's need were. They just got him there. And Jesus's response was a greater need than maybe the friends knew...He forgave the man's sin. And then after knowing what the others were thinking Jesus told the man to take his mat and walk as well.
Well, if this room were really crowded and as the verse states, the man took his mat and made his way through the wall to wall crowd to go home. He probably had to maneuver through the amazed crowd just to get out the door!
But here is the part that sticks with me! Sometimes I don't know exactly what my friends need prayer for at the time. Sometimes prayer requests can deter as our humanness may block out of fear what is really going on. So what I am doing in particular for a friend of mine is just praying to put her in front of Jesus. I have no idea what exactly is going on in her heart, but I know Jesus has the answer. I'm not going to lie, she has been through a lot these past few months. So I pray and do what I can to dig through that roof and lower her at His beautiful feet. And as she is lowered through the hole and presented before Him, I pray she looks up and sees Him as well.
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