VISIBLE FAITH
MARK 2:1-5
MARK 2:1-5 NKJV
1 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. 2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. 3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. 4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."
OBSERVATION:
This is a classic story of the faith of five men.
Jesus was in Capernaum, which was the city He lived in according to Matt 4:13. So it may not be a stretch to conclude that this was His house. The scriptures say He was in the house.
A big crowd had gathered to the point that fire codes were being broken, and the crowd had spilled out of the door. If you did not get there early, there would be no way to get to Jesus. Everyone wanted to get to Jesus.
Five guys show up at the house. One is sick with a palsy. He was paralyzed and could not walk on his own. So the other four men carried him.
Arriving at the house, they realized there was no way to get through the crowd to get to Jesus. And so they chalked it up as a good effort and went back home.
No, that would have not made it into Mark's gospel for us to read over two thousand years later. They found another way in.
Climbing and carrying their paralyzed friend up on the roof, they started to break through the roof to create a hole. This is much easier to read now than it was done then. Breaking through the roof was disruptive and destructive. These guys had to have some boldness about them because they were obviously not worried about what anyone thought.
Then they lowered their friend down in front of Jesus. Jesus saw their faith, all five men. And the paralyzed man was healed and walked off under his own power.
APPLICATION:
The faith of these five men was visible. And faith is still visible today.
To keep serving the Lord when it's not convenient is visible faith. To stay true to Him when others you know have walked away is visible faith. To give Him praise, to read your Bible, to give to His kingdom all of these are acts of faith.
To not worry what others think of your trust and devotion to God is visible faith. To live differently from a world's system that does not acknowledge God is visible faith.
But remember, faith pleases God, and ten thousand years from now, that is what matters most.
PRAYER:
Dear Lord I believe You and I trust You regardless of how I feel or what it looks like. May my faith be pleasing to You.