Refugees all over the world are in the headlines these days, in dire need of shelter, food and raiment.
On top of the ongoing huge demands placed upon nations and NGOs, now come the life-wrenching diseases accelerated by the Ebola virus in some parts of Africa.
The developed Western nations are finding it difficult to meet demand after demand being placed upon them. Good intentions alone are not able to carry them through.
How far can we go to help people in dire need or crisis in life?
The Gospel of Mark, in chapter two, relates an incident about four men engaged in a challenging act that rehabilitated a buddy of theirs from a life of uselessness to one of all-round productivity.
While Jesus was speaking in a crowded home one day, a listener jumped to his feet and interrupted him in the middle of the sermon.
He pointed an angry finger at a wooden stick poking through the ceiling of the home.
Other leaders, aggrieved by the interruption, rose angrily to watch the drama taking place in front of their eyes.
The sticks of the roof were breaking and an ever-widening hole appeared in the ceiling, spraying wood chips and dust over the people below as they moved for cover.
Within minutes, the onlookers watched four pairs of hands come through the opening, starting to remove roof tiles.
Soon those hands lowered into the room a stretcher bearing a man who lay motionless and hurting in more ways than one.
He was suffering from severe paralysis resulting from damage to the brain or spinal cord, incapable of doing anything for himself and was utterly dependent on the friends.
But his need for wholeness went beyond his physical problem.
As the Gospel account proceeds, it reveals that he was also hurting spiritually, as a sinner in need of forgiveness.
A closer look at the four men who brought their friend to Jesus reveals that they were just ordinary men who had a friend in need of help from Jesus.
How can these men inspire us in the work of bringing our friends to Jesus?
First, these friends had high-visibility faith. They really believed Jesus would do something for their invalid friend.
And Jesus rendered the help they were seeking. He began ministering to the sick man when he saw his friends’ faith.
Their faith didn’t have any halo or a large “F” written on their foreheads. It was much more down-to-earth than that.
Jesus looked at the hole in the ceiling, the chunks of clay and dust covering the floor, four sweat-stained faces staring down at him, and a man in need of wholeness at his feet.
Now that’s faith.
Jesus associated faith with doing something, not just sitting still and mouthing sweet-sounding promises.
We find the same idea in James 2:26, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
Secondly, we learn from these men that their love for the sick friend cost them something.
It cost them personal time, and perhaps money to repair the damage to the roof of the homeowner. They also ran the risk of being ridiculed for their actions.
Busting the ceiling in the middle of a high-level religious discourse is not generally acceptable behaviour either.
In spite of the costs involved, the men viewed their friend with compassion and must have reckoned: “It’s worth it to get him to Jesus.”
Finally, notice that Jesus rewarded their faith and love by ministering to their friend.
To the astonishment of the self-righteous scribes, Jesus pronounced the invalid’s sins forgiven.
Then he underscored his words of forgiveness by restoring the man’s physical health.
Faith and love, which paid the price, resulted in wholeness for a man who could boast of four faithful friends.
All of us have at least one friend who needs deliverance from Jesus, either physical or spiritual, or both.
Maybe our friend is not paralyzed or living a life of gross sin. But even people in best of health, living moral lives, need wholeness that only Jesus can give.
As we think about our desire to bring our friends or family members to Jesus, let’s ask ourselves two questions:
Do we really believe Jesus can make them whole?
Am I willing to pay the cost to bring my friend(s) to him?
Wouldn’t it be great if Jesus could see our active faith and minister to our friends as he did for the four men?
Let us stand in the gap, ready to bust a hole over some roof to make it happen.
Narayan Mitra is the pastor of Merritt Baptist Church.
