In Mark chapter 2 we read the story of the paralytic, “A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 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.” Matthew begins the same story, but abbreviates to get to the points he is making, “Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat.”
The man Jesus is being presented with is a paralytic. Simply put, he is paralyzed. He cannot get up, he cannot move from where he is. He is alive and thinking, but unable to help himself escape the condition he is in. The paralytic in this story was a real man, just as there are tens of thousands of paralyzed people today. But within the context of story, he is also symbolic of all of us who are laden with our sin. As Ephesians tells us, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.” There is no more hope for any of us to escape our sin without Jesus then there was for the paralytic to escape his immobility without Jesus.
Praise God, the paralytic in this story does encounter Jesus – so we know there is hope for him, as there is for all of us sinners when we look to Christ! But praise God too for the four friends who carry their friend to Jesus!
We tend to overlook them, focusing (rightly so) on the paralyzed man and Jesus. Yet he could not have made it to Jesus without those four very determined friends. In a way, the four men are symbolic of the effort needed to bring some people to Jesus. It is true that many come to Christ just on hearing of Him, or on hearing from Him – just as the apostles did. But many more will only encounter the living Christ only when people work together to bring them to Jesus.
That is because for most to hear the Gospel, there are obstacles in the way. In this case, not only is the man paralyzed (requiring coordinated effort in transportation), a crowd blocks the way. They have to assess the situation. Apparently they find they can get close to the house, but not where the window(s) may have been. No doubt the crowd stands many deep wherever they can hear Jesus’ words. So they find some ropes, climb up to the roof, peel away the thatching and lower the man – still on his mat – right in front of Jesus. That is a lot of effort, and a lot of teamwork!
Getting the Gospel to remote villages, into closed access nations, and across the stiff barriers of opposing worldview(s) is a great challenge. A challenge that cannot be met through the efforts of a single individual. Going to remote places takes much planning, equipment and teamwork. Pushing the Gospel into closed access nations takes satellites and radio stations and couriers willing to risk much. Getting the Gospel across worldview barriers takes much prayer, patience and repetition.
Modern Christ-followers are the four friends to the unsaved. Working together, the lost find themselves being spoken to by Jesus, being ministered to by Jesus, being healed by Jesus and most importantly – being saved by Jesus. We only need to be as determined to help them encounter Jesus as these four friends were.
Amen.
It takes great humility to work with others, but theologically it is absolutely necessary that we work to express our missiology as one.
Scott W. Sunquist
APPLICATION: Intentionality
Who are you partnering with to bring others to Christ?