Out on a limb, down through a roof

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, 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 by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “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 this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 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!”

When was the last time you felt like you had gone WAY out on a limb? When did you last feel like you were in completely unfamiliar territory, frightened by the unknown, afraid of being attacked from some unseen direction, but resolute no less? I’ve been hanging out there for a couple days now. A gut-churning series of events in my life has led me to consider a course of action I’ve never considered before. I’ve been working on an idea that feels like lunacy to me, but I can’t think of a good reason NOT to do it. I know that’s vague but I’m not ready to publically commit to the idea.

I imagine that’s where the paralytic and his 4 friends were. I imagine them getting to the crowded house and feeling crestfallen. There’s no way they were going to get to Jesus. They looked at each other wondering what to do, then at their paralyzed friend, who looked up with desperate eyes. Please…. Please… Get me to Jesus. More looks and someone has an idea. We’ll dig our way to Jesus. Of course, that would involve vandalism, hard work, and lots of presumption. But considering their dedication to their friend and what they’d heard Jesus could do, they couldn’t think of a really good reason NOT to do it. So through the roof they went!

Jesus could have denounced them for this, but he recognized their hope-galvanized vulnerability and admires them for it. I wonder though, given his experience with the leper a few days earlier if he wasn’t hesitant to heal the paralytic. The reason people are crowding to see him was that they had heard he was a miracle-worker and now he was hesitant to pander to their expectations. So he was only “preaching the word to them.”

But seeing risk and vulnerability in the 5 men, he seems to narrow his eyes and look around the room at those present, gauging their responses. Looking at the Pharisees, he makes a decision. “Son, your sins are forgiven.” I’m sure the crowds were confused. The religious folks were enraged. But then, to demonstrate his authority and identity, Jesus heals the man and sends him home. The people were amazed. The religious folks were still enraged, though culled for now.

Here’s a couple quick take-away bullet points for me:

1.    Jesus likes to challenge people’s assumptions.

2.   Jesus likes to demonstrate his authority and identity, especially to those who question it.

3.   Jesus is really into vulnerable people.