Friday, 1/16/15
Today we have one of
the most delightful stories in all four Gospels; and we can do no better than
to picture it from the beginning.
There were four men
in Capernaum who had been part of the crowds on a previous Sabbath evening when
Jesus cured all the sick people who came to him. They had a buddy who was
completely paralyzed, and so they were on fire with the scheme of bringing him
to Jesus.
The trouble was that
Jesus had become so popular that when the four brought their buddy on a
stretcher, not only was the synagogue packed, but people were ten deep
surrounding it.
The four friends of
the paralytic were not lacking in resourcefulness. Pushing their stretcher through
the crown, they forced their way up a stairway to a roof garden above the
synagogue. Then, with no worry about the laws against such behavior, they one
by one removed the floor tiles, and from below them, the ceiling tiles of the
synagogue.
We still have the
foundations of that synagogue. It as a little bigger than a good-sized
classroom, and it had a divider down the middle, separating the men from the
women.
Jesus was standing, addressing
the assembly, as the dust and straw began showering the people in the front
rows. As the man on his canvas descended on its four ropes, Jesus had the
composure to continue with his words to the assembly.
Then, he looked the
paralytic in the eyes. Perhaps Jesus there saw deep remorse for the sins of
youth that had brought the paralysis on the man. Responding to that, Jesus
said, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”
For the four friends
those five words were an unsatisfactory reward for the trouble, and for Our
Lord’s enemies those words were great evidence they could use against Jesus in charging
him for acting like he was God.
To silence both
groups, Jesus told the man to hop down, to fold up his stretcher, and to carry
it home. The joyous man made his way out, with everyone touching him.
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