The Roof Rippers!! Pt. 2 of 3

Roof Rippin' kind of Friends

This is an awesome story. I am glad this one--out of the countless number of healings Jesus did--was selected to be recorded. For this entry we’re going to refer to Mark’s record.

Mark 2:3-12 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4 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. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, 11 "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

The reason I went with Mark’s record for this entry is because he gives us an idea of how many men were this guy’s friends. Both Matt and Luke tell us that “some men” brought the paralytic, but only Mark tells us that it was four of them that carried him. I never really thought that it could have been more than four guys that accompanied this dude to Jesus’ meeting. But now that I really, really look at this story I see that it must have been more than four guys that were there for their buddy. Look at Mark 2:3 again: “Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.” Interesting! At least it’s interesting to me. I went to the Greek so I could get a better understanding of how many men there were. I looked up what “Some men came” was in the original text. It did not give me a number but rather something different, something that is already found on the surface of this story. Now the Greek word for “some men” in Mark 2:3 was not a particularly moving word. What Mark originally wrote was the Greek word “erchomai” and its meaning is exactly what was translated. But what was used in Matt 9:2 is awesome. Matt used the word “prospherō” and it means “to bring to, lead one to a person who can heal him or is ready to show him some kindness, one to a person who is to judge him.” Maybe I should have gone with Matt’s story. Nonetheless, that brings me to my next point. As I meditate about the paralytic’s friends it reminds me of what James said in his epistle. In James 5:19-20 it states: “My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.” Sorry sisters, you are left out; kidding, it’s just the translation. Here is the Message version of James 5:19-20: “My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God's truth, don't write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.” This Gospel story of the Paralytic and his boys is a perfect example of what James is talking about. They, the 4+ or however many, brought the paralytic to Jesus’ feet; Jesus forgave him and then healed him. This dude must have had some sins in his life that needed to be dealt with. Notice that Jesus did not say sin, singular which in the New Testament represents the flesh nature; Jesus said sins. I wondered if the sins may have caused him to be paralyzed. Maybe that is why Jesus forgave him of the sins first. I went digging into the Greek to see if there might be some kind of indication of what made this guy sick. I really didn’t find anything. I went to one of my favorite commentators and his note really didn’t give more on what sins may have caused this sickness. I went to Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words and found this: “being enfeebled by a paralytic stroke, palsied.” So it seems to be this guy could be paralyzed because of a stroke. Well there are all sorts of things that can cause a stroke. Strokes usually seem to be less common in younger people and I don’t know why but I always imagined this guy to be young. . .

Going back to what one of my favorite commentators stated--that commentator is Andrew Wommack by the way. In his note for Matt 9:2 Andrew stated the following: “Why did Jesus minister forgiveness of sins to this man instead of to the obvious need he had of healing? Probable reasons for this would include: (1) God is more concerned with the spiritual health of a man than his physical health (1 Sam. 16:7; Mt. 5:29-30). (2) Jesus, through a word of knowledge (1 Cor. 12:8), may have perceived that the real heart-cry of this man was to be reconciled to God.” That really hit home with me. In my entry “Peter’s Ma-in-law pt.1” I talked about pulling back and looking at the whole picture. I like details but, at times, I get lost in them and I forget the big picture. So I’m going to pull back in this entry and look at the whole picture. It was pretty obvious that this guy was sick but Jesus first words to him were "Son, your sins are forgiven." By saying this Jesus did heal this dude, but Jesus healed his inside first. Before this guy received his physical healing Jesus dealt with his spiritual sickness. This caused the Pharisees to go into a holy uproar, but Jesus didn’t care about the religious crowd. What was more important to Jesus was guy’s spiritual condition instead of putting on a show for the crowd. Jesus cares more about our spiritual health than about our physical health. Really what good is it to go to hell healthy? If you need scripture to back that up then look at Jesus’ teaching on “causing to sin.” It’s found in Mark 9:42-50. Also you can reference Jesus teaching on adultery found in Matt 5:27-30. The end of Matt 5:30 states “It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” It’s not that Jesus doesn’t care about our health, if He didn’t care then His body would never had been broken at the crucifixion. The bigger picture is that He wants us healthy on our insides first, then he’ll work on the outside. Earlier I talked about James 5:19-20. I'll quote it again for you to see: “My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.” The 4+ friends are a perfect example of what James 5:19-20 is talking about. Notice in the story Jesus never says what this guy’s sins were. He didn’t openly judge this guy by listing the sins out, He just forgave the paralytic. I imagine the 4+ friends may have had an idea of the sins this dude committed, but they didn’t yell from the roof what the sins were. Instead what those 4+ friends and Jesus did was “save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”

Whenever I read/hear this story I think to myself that I want to be a friend like that. I want to do whatever it takes to get my friends to Jesus feet for that forgiving/healing touch.

I was originally going to do 2 entries on this subject but I can’t skip mentioning the faith that caught Jesus' attention. Part 3 of the Roof Rippers will be here in a week.

Stay blessed y’all, it’s your choice.
jimmy