Time to climb rooftops
When Jesus saw their faith (Mark 2:5).
A brother was asked to preach the gospel at a small hall in the absence of the pastor. He was even given a key to open up the room, ready for the small congregation on the Sunday evening. When Sunday evening arrived there was a storm, and the brother was pretty sure no one would turn up. However, he felt responsible and so made the journey. He arrived at the hall soaked to the skin and opened up its doors. As the minutes ticked by, not one person showed up. But just as he got ready to leave, an old lady arrived with a young girl. They smiled and sat down at the front of the hall. The brother started the meeting and preached the gospel from his heart. Afterwards, he went across to speak to the old lady and discovered she was almost entirely deaf! They said their goodbyes and the brother returned home with a heavy heart. Some days later, the pastor called him and reminded him of his visit. Then he told him that, when the old lady got home, the young girl, her granddaughter, had spent the rest of the evening painstakingly explaining to her grandmother everything the brother had spoken about. That night the old lady, in her mid-eighties, opened her heart to Jesus Christ.
In Mark 2, the house Jesus visited in Capernaum was full to the brim. People could not get near the door as He preached the word to them. Four men arrived carrying their paralysed friend. They found there was no way into the house to see Jesus. True faith overcomes disappointments and challenges, and love finds a way through. I don’t know how difficult it was to take a paralysed man onto a rooftop, but that was the easy part. To remove the roof of the house and let their friend down on his bed to the Saviour was the tricky part. But they did it, and we read, “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven you.’”
Some of the scribes had managed to get into the house early to occupy the best seats from which to express criticism of anything Jesus would do. They were astonished at His words, asking, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” They didn’t realise they were in the presence of God. Jesus dismisses their critical minds and, responding to the faith of the man’s friends, spoke again to the paralysed man: “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Immediately he was healed, picked up his bed, and walked into a new life, leaving the onlookers amazed and praising God, for something they had never seen before.
Several years ago in London, some sisters broke through the fencing of a derelict church. Over a period of time, they met inside the church to pray that God would start a work of grace in the building. When I read of this church, it was no longer derelict but had a congregation of around 300 Christians.
As a new week opens out, the Lord encourages us not to despair when our service appears fruitless, and to carry in prayer those we care for into the presence of the Saviour; to have faith to overcome smallness, storms, deafness, blocked entrances, rooftops and fences; and to expect to see what we have never seen before.
