Jesus Heals the Paralytic Man – Meet 4 Crazy Friends
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In one of my favorite stories in the Bible, we learn about these 4 crazy friends who literally tear the roof off of a house to get their friend to Jesus and how Jesus heals the paralytic man because of such great faith. But the 4 crazy friends often take a backseat in the overall story so I want to bring them to the foreground because we have a lot we can learn from them!
Mark 2: 1-5 tells us about how Jesus heals the paralytic man:
When He returned to Capernaum after some days, it was heard that He was at the house. So many were gathered that there was no longer room for them even outside the door. He kept proclaiming the word to them.
Some people came bringing to Him a paralyzed man, carried by four men. When they couldn’t get near Yeshua because of the crowd, they removed the roof where He was. After digging through, they lowered the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying. Yeshua, seeing their faith, said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
TLV
Jesus gave forgiveness of sins first. He said nothing about physical healing until he knew what was being uttered by the Pharisees. We read in Mark 2:6-12:
But some of the Torah scholars were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this fellow speak like this? He blasphemes! Who can pardon sins but God alone?”
Immediately Yeshua, knowing in His spirit that they were raising questions this way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you questioning these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and take your mat and walk’? But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority to pardon sins on earth. . ..” He tells the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home!”
At once the man got up, took his mat, and walked before them all. They were all astonished and glorified God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this.”tlv
When reading this story, we tend to focus on the healing of the paralytic and the reaction of the Pharisees to Jesus’ words. But I want to stop for a bit and focus on those 4 crazy friends of his!
4 Crazy Friends – Jesus Heals the Paralytic Man
The room was packed full with such large numbers of people coming to see Jesus. It was beyond standing room only! There was not even room at the door. Everyone turned out to see Jesus and to hear what He had to speak!
But these crazy friends had a mission; they needed to get their friend in front of Jesus! The paralytic man needed healing and they just knew Yeshua would provide it! They faced a challenge though! There was no room to get their friend inside the home to reach his healing!
Many would have given up. They would have said ‘maybe next time’. Maybe they would have just waited outside in the hopes Jesus would see them as He came out of the house.
But these weren’t just any friends! These were 4 crazy friends…radical friends!
These were dedicated and good friends but they were also friends of radical faith. They needed Jesus now! They didn’t care who was in the room with Him or the barriers that stood in their way. The paralyzed man, their friend, needed Jesus now!
These crazy friends had a mission; they needed to get their friend to Jesus! Click To TweetLuke 5:17 tells us:
Now on one of those days, Yeshua was teaching. Pharisees and Torah scholars were sitting there, who had come from every village of the Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem. And Adonai’s power to heal was in Him.
TLV
As we read in Mark earlier, the room was filled with Pharisees. These were the religious leaders, the educated, the elite.
But when you have 4 crazy friends they have no regard for the status of the people in the room. The faith of the men in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ meant they had no care for religious teachers. Their friend needed help. Their friend needed the Son of man, not teachers of the law.
And so the roof of the house was their only option and these great friends and their faith in what Jesus could do helped see that a lame man walked.
This was not just some “good deed ” on their part. This was the love they had for a sick friend and faith in the miracles of Jesus that brought their friend physical healing but the man’s sins were forgiven.
They led their friend to Jesus, body, and soul.
We All Need 4 Crazy Friends Like These
The paralyzed man was blessed beyond measure.
Jesus healed the paralyzed man because he had the blessing of friends who cared so much that they would stop at nothing for him!
I mean think about this! This group of friends tore up the roof of someone’s home to lower their friend in the middle of a large crowd! That is pretty radical stuff!
We all need crazy friends who will do whatever it takes to carry us to Jesus!
Proverbs 18:24 says:
Some “friends” pretend to be friends, but a true friend sticks closer than a brother.
CJB
Proverbs 17:17:
A friend shows his friendship at all times — it is for adversity that [such] a brother is born.
TLV
Proverbs 27:17:
Just as iron sharpens iron, a person sharpens the character of his friend.
CJB
A friend is a great blessing! Having a friend who will do whatever it takes to carry you to Yeshua is beyond value!
BEING a friend who will do whatever it takes to carry your friends to Yeshua, the way these crazy friends carried the paralyzed man, is even better!
How do you carry a friend to Yeshua? Well, you don’t have to tear any roofs apart!
Pray for Your Friends and Family Members
Pray! Carry their needs to the Lord in prayer! Stand in faith with them and stand in the gap FOR them!
They may have specific prayer needs for health, finances, relationships, etc., or it may be they are not yet saved and you can bring that to the Lord as well!
Fervent prayer for a friend is the best thing you can do for them! Praying for your friend’s needs without ceasing, and asking others to pray with you, is the equivalent of tearing off the roof!
Show Them Jesus
Don’t just tell them about Yeshua, show them Yeshua!
I have said it before in other posts…you may be the only Bible someone ever reads!
Always conduct yourself in a way that does not cause your friend to stumble or fall! Aside from ensuring his healing, these friends demonstrated great faith to the paralyzed man! If his faith wasn’t as strong as theirs beforehand, I am sure it increased dramatically afterward!
Telling your friends about Jesus is important! You should absolutely witness to your friends. But, showing them Jesus can do more than mere words ever could. If you tell them about the Lord but then act in a way that contradicts that, you can do serious harm.
Never Give Up!
Never stop praying for them! Don’t stop showing them the love of Yeshua! Never think they are too far gone! Never stop having faith in their healing, their marriage, their job, their salvation!
Jesus is right there…just waiting for you to tear off the roof like those 4 crazy friends!
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CJB – Taken from the Complete Jewish Bible by David H. Stern. Copyright © 1998. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Messianic Jewish Publishers, 6120 Day Long Lane, Clarksville, MD 21029. www.messianicjewish.net.
Tree of Life (TLV) – Scripture taken from the Holy Scriptures, Tree of Life Version*. Copyright © 2014,2016 by the Tree of Life Bible Society. Used by permission of the Tree of Life Bible Society.
Great. Wonderful friends. I always love this story especially as it always serve as a motivation for me to tear out obstacles to achieve godly projects.
Amen to that! Thank you!!
I have learned a lot about being a true friend. May the Almighty Lord empower me into being one and may I also have such friends
The very fact you seek to be one gives me the confidence to say you WILL be! Bless you!
I have a friend who is seriously ill. Her name is Barbara. She has stage 5 cancer of pancreas. I have been praying for her and i introduced Jesus to her. Please pray with me for her. She lives in Canada. Thank you and God bless!!
I am praying for your friend. Thank you for sharing that with me and thank you for being such a good friend to her in sharing Jesus with her and seeking prayer for her. Bless you!
Hello how is your friend ? I pray all is well rather here or with the Father . God is able to do exceedingly abound above all we can even ask .. have a blessed day
For many months I was very ill with liver disease and would soon die without a liver transplant. Before my transplant I felt as if I had a strong faith but during my illness my faith became unimportant to me. I still believed there was a God but I thought about God very infrequently and prayed almost never. My faith just didn’t matter anymore to me. But my wife, daughters, friends and church prayed for me. After my transplant I knew how gracious God had been to me and I continue to be thankful that God spared my life. My faith was renewed. I have often thought how all of those who prayed for me are just like the friends who brought this man to Jesus. I am very grateful to those who had faith for me when I had none. I want to be like those friends in my relationship with those God allows me to know and influence.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and what a blessing to have all those people praying for you and standing in the gap for you. And yes, now you can do the same for others!! Bless you!
I love that. Glad you are better
Amen! Glad you are better and most of all you have Faith back activated. God bless you ! Would you like for me to pray about anything right now ? If so please email me . Have a great night
Thank you so much!!
This was a blessing to me. I’ve been feeling The Lord leading me to start a women’s prayer group where we bare each other’s burdens and pray over each other/families/ whatever each woman needs and so I’m thankful for this post. It really highlights the fact that we need to be and have those true dedicated friends that will point us to Jesus in every situation and take us there themself if we are in a place of brokenness where we can’t seem to go to him ourself. Thank you for this ❤️
I am so glad it was confirmation for you! And if you start a group on Facebook for prayer, let me know so I can help promote it! I wasn’t sure if you meant an in-person group or an online group!
I assume this was a great devotional… the ads in, over, and around it are so ridiculous that I’m not going to try to read it. It’s overkill.
Jason I am sorry the ads were overwhelming. I do have this in ebook form and would love to send it to you. If you email me at diane@worthbeyondrubies.com I will send you a coupon code to get it for free.