The beginning of Mark 2 is one of the greatest events in Scripture. The people involved are the Lord Jesus, the disciples, the crowd inside a house, the religious leaders attempting to shelter the people from this rabbi from Nazareth, a paralytic, and four men. Each has a vital role to play, but this short column does not lend itself to exploration of each life.
Let’s stick to the paralytic and the four:
He sat by the city gate for years. Every morning, his father, a brother, a cousin, and possibly a friend of the family, rose before sun up and carried him to the designated place just outside the city gate. As he lay on the ground with his outstretched, unusable legs, the dirt, dust, and camel refuse collected on his feet and clothing.
Mark doesn’t take time to unpack who suggested that he go to see this one called Jesus. We aren’t privy to the conversations. Was it him, the guy with the paralyzed legs and the open sore on his rump who begged his family to take him to see this prophet of Nazareth that had returned to Capernaum?
Was it a family-orchestrated idea? A brother who used to run and play with him until the accident happened. Maybe he was part of the events surrounding the accident. Two boys playing and one falls off the roof. One is paralyzed physically. The other is paralyzed by guilt.
Was it mom’s idea? Tears have stained her pillow. She bathed him, carried him until she was no longer physically capable. She applied ointment to the sores on his hip and legs. He was her baby and would always be her baby. She loved him.
Could it be a friend? An acquaintance that experienced a personal encounter with Jesus, and now he wants everyone who has a need to meet this one from Nazareth. Even while he was walking on the road in the crowd that followed Jesus, he thought about his friend who could not walk, who lay by the gate every day, begging for a few shekels. His friend that made others laugh. His buddy who never complained, even though he could smell the infection that was setting in on the man’s back side. His friend needed help. His friend needed to meet this Jesus of Nazareth.
The motivation for the four men who brought the paralytic to Jesus is not as important as the fact that they worked together to bring him to the place where Jesus was teaching. This was obviously a team effort. Each man, carrying one corner of the same blanket on which their friend laid by the city gate. It was the pallet his mom had crafted with her own hands. It was strong enough for each man to grab a corner and whisk him toward the house where Jesus was teaching. They were on a mission to bring their friend to Jesus.
Now, they arrive with the paralytic only to discover that the place is full. They can’t get in. What will they do? The leader of the quartet, perhaps the one most desperate to bring the paralytic to Jesus, had seen Jesus heal others. Now it was his friend’s turn to meet the Master.
He examines the situation and, without hesitation, says, “To the roof.”
As they lift the tiles, can you fathom how much mess they made inside the room where Jesus is standing? Just imagine the clutter that falls inside the room. The dust from the arid climate whisks around the room. The people inside begin to feel a cool breeze on the backs of their necks and the backs of their legs. The open roof has created a ventilation loop from the door way and out the hole in the roof.
Then, as the beams of light burst into the darkness of the room, you can see someone lowering something that looks like a large sack through the opening and the rafters and on to the floor. As the sack unfurls, you discover it’s a man—a man wrapped in a pallet.
Once on the floor, the man sits up on his arms but he can’t seem to sit straight up. Something is wrong. He is paralyzed.
Imagine how the crowd looks at the man, then looks at Jesus, then looks back at this man whose body is dirty, smelly, and broken. What’s Jesus gonna do? The room is silent.
Jesus’ words crack the thick air, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”
Gasp! Can you believe he said that? Doesn’t he know about all the rabbinic scholars in the room? They begin to question Jesus in their minds. However, he turns their contrarian arguments upside down by exposing their religious mental gymnastics.
Then he turns to the paralytic. Looking right at the paralytic, Jesus says, “Arise, take up your pallet and go home.”
This man probably knows everybody in the room. But can you imagine what he feels as the muscles and tendons begin to engage. Imagine the feelings in his joints, begging to move.
He stands up like he has the freshest legs in the house. He rolls up his pallet, puts it briskly under his arm, and begins to walk toward the door—toward the bright sunshine and fresh air of a new day. God’s incredible, ever-strategic presence and power show up in the house.
The people “marveled.” I, too, long for a day when, with the people of God, I once again marvel because God’s Spirit showed up to transform lives and communities in gospel power. Come, Lord Jesus.
Perhaps it’s time for us to begin our worship with an invitation—an invitation to welcome Him, our blessed Redeemer, into the church house, our homes and our lives.