25 Mar Carried to the Place of Healing

While [Jesus] was preaching God’s Word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat.

…bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men.
–Mark 2:2b-3

I’ve been thinking about this Bible story for quite some time.
It’s one of my favorites in the Gospels.

A quick refresher:
Jesus is surrounded by a giant crowd in a tiny house.
There appears to be no way inside.
Four friends are desperate for their paralyzed friend to be healed.
Four friends get creative.
Four friends rip a hole in a roof, making a mess.
Their paralytic friend lands right in front of Jesus.
Jesus forgives the paralytic man’s sins.
Jesus heals the man to prove a point.
The once paralytic man walks home.

The part I want to focus on is how the four friends refuse to take “no” for an answer.

They see an impossible situation and decide to turn everything upside-down.

They had to dig away the mud and thatch that sealed off the roof from weather. They made a scandalous mess. They left a hole in some random guy’s roof. Not sure if even Allstate would cover that kind of “mayhem.” Four friends then lower their paralytic friend “Mission: Impossible” style with ropes (and pulleys? Was there an engineer in the group?).

And get this—Jesus wasn’t even mad about the interruption. He was impressed with their faith, their friendship, their sincere act of compassion.

So, Jesus couldn’t help Himself. Like healing on the Sabbath, Jesus couldn’t just do a “normal healing”—whatever that would mean. Jesus forgave the man’s sins before he healed his body.

God often needs to heal our soul, long before he heals our body.

But, that healing often involves people to carrying us TO the place of healing. We usually need help getting healthy (self-help is such a deceptive term). Our western isolationist and loner mentalities really let us down.

Individualism is such a roadblock to human flourishing.

Instead, the best and most lasting transformation happens in community, surrounded by a godly band of brothers and sisters. We are healed in community, by community, and for the greater good of the whole community. For when one of us is ailing and suffering, we all suffer together (1 Corinthians 12:26).

So, let’s turn inward: How do we need healing in our lives? Where has “hugging our cactus” made us weary and wanting to give up? Where could we use four friends crazy and loving enough to gurney us to healing, gurney us to a higher power? Who might be those close friends that you could lean on right now? And let’s not stop with our own growth.

Is there someone in your life that needs spiritual or emotional healing? How can you do whatever it takes and be an answered prayer? How can you carry your friends to a safe haven of wholistic health and healing too?