A Faith Story

   There is no telling how many times I have read or heard the story that is the message in today's reading. Mark 2: 1-12 carries the episode in Jesus' ministry.

   A man, a paralytic, lowered down from a roof above the spot where Jesus was teaching in His own home, is healed, both from his sins and his inability to walk.

   The sequence of my thoughts as I read it this morning had to do with the healed man himself. Since there is no dialog from either him or his friends in this narrative, what had gone on before to get them to this point?

   Who had heard of the arrival of Jesus in this city? Who had initiated the plan to carry this man to where He was? Did one of the men get the idea that maybe their friend on the bed could be healed and get the other three together to carry him there? Did the man himself ask them to do it or did he just agree to be carried there? What was the anticipation of the five men as they hurried to the house and, what was their disappointment when the house was so full that they could not even get close to the Master? Who came up with the plan to use a hole in the roof to get the man down to Jesus? What were the feelings of the man as he was lowered to the floor below?

   The emotions of the man who was paralyzed must have been a roller coaster. Hearing that Jesus was in town, formulation of a plan to get where He was staying, the anticipation while being carried there, the realization that he could not get close, the new plan using the roof, the lowering to the floor, then the words, "Son your sins are forgiven". What must he have thought then? After all the action that he and the other four men had been through, now was he just a passive participant in a greater story?

   The religious leaders then question Jesus' words, and Jesus answers their doubting minds with another question, one that they had not thought of; "Why doubt, which is easier, to forgive sin, or to heal? Just so you will know what the Son of Man is about, I'll do both." Then, as the man on the bed looked from Jesus to the scribes and back again, Jesus told him to get up and go home. As the man heard this, he must have felt the strength returning to his legs, and he obeyed, no doubt an amazed and happy man.

   This is a great story, a problem solved, a miracle healing, an amazed crowd, and five happy men, but why did it all happen? Probably not for me to just speculate about, and probably not for the shock effect in that room that day.

   Back toward the first of the story, Mark writes that Jesus saw their faith. The faith of the  four who lowered and the faith of the man on the pallet. The faith that Jesus could do something in this situation. They took a risk of being hooted out of the place and forever ridiculed for their actions. They were desperate for a miracle, and so they all acted. Their faith had made the miracle of a changed life possible.

   What kind of faith do I have? Will I attempt to do some God sized things, actions that I can take that I can't possibly do on my own? Will I take a risk of failure to follow where God is leading?

   The men in the story were committed to the job in front of them. They were "all in". The question for me becomes the same: Am I?

   There are areas in my life where I need to be fully committed: at home, at church, in the prison and just living life in the world. Half-hearted, 'just to look good' efforts are not enough. My faith does not manifest itself in my ability to see the challenges, it is how I carry them out that matters.

   Recognition, then commitment, then action, all leading to a "Well done good and faithful servant", That is where I want to go.