A Faithful Friend

"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"- Mark 2:4 (NIV).

Those men, who carried their friend, really loved him. They were willing to carry his weight both there and up to the roof of the house, faced what seemed like terrible odds for success, worked with bare hands to create the hole in the roof, and, the Bible doesn't say, but I bet they watched through the hole, then ran to the front of the house to receive their healed friend. Did they hug, laugh, cry, dance, skip...run? You bet they did! The healed man could not help his friends, he had to depend on them for each step toward Jesus, in order to encounter Jesus. His friends' blessing was to have their restored friend joyfully kicking up beside them as they went home. Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John 13:34). Like that man on the mat, powerless to heal ourselves, Jesus carries us, makes the way for us, to encounter the Father and we are healed. We can experience the same jubilation as those men did by being faithful and loving to those who can't help themselves. We take them to the feet of Jesus, behold the miracle, and then, together, we will joyfully go home.