Some men came carrying a paralytic 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." (Lk.5.18-20)
I have often heard preachers offer snappy formulas for how to get your sins forgiven. And there’s nothing wrong with that I suppose. Many folks have begun a relationship with Jesus by praying a certain kind of prayer, etc…
Yet the verse above is one of those that doesn’t lend itself to formulas. It’s strange. Sure, you can try to turn it into a ‘tract’ to hand out at the mall. But in the end you may wind up sounding a bit silly.
“So you want to be forgiven…Here’s how…
Step One: Get on a mat.
Step Two: Find some friends to hoist you through a hole in the roof.
Step Three: When Jesus sees the faith of your friends (Lk. 5.20) He’ll forgive you.
The end.
Some verses just don’t lend themselves to pamphlets.
Yet here’s the takeaway for me today.
It seems from this story that Jesus intervenes in this man’s life not just for his own sake, but on behalf of his friends. He saw their faith - the love they had for him - and it was their faith that tore at the heart of Christ.
May we provide that kind of friendship to one another.
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