Down Through the Roof

We often hear the "pitter-patter of little feet" above our heads as squirrels scamper across the roof. Then there are the times when my husband is pounding on something on the first floor and debris is falling into the basement. Both came to mind today as our pastor was preaching on the healing of the paralytic man in Matthew 9 and the companion passage in Mark 2. First, he said that there was standing room only at the house where Jesus was. The houses in Israel at that time often had a flat roof, where people would sleep at night during hot weather. Often the roof was accessed by an outside stairway. We don't know whether this house had an outside stairway, or whether the men carrying the man's bed stepped over from a neighboring roof, but they were determined to remove any obstacles that stood between them and Jesus' presence. They knew Jesus could heal their friend if they could just get him to Him. Pastor said the roofs were made by placing beams 2-3' apart, putting branches across to fill in, then putting a lot of clay over the top, which would harden.

Pastor mentioned who was there that day--a lot of people, and some scribes and doctors of the law from many different areas who, though it was standing room only, were sitting down, trying to find fault with what Jesus was doing--preaching the gospel. Then he read from a commentary that was imaginatively picturing the scene. Here were these religious leaders sitting there, plus the other people, listening to the commotion overhead, then having pieces of the roof falling down on them, seeing a shaft of light, then more light as the hole got bigger till it was big enough for the bed. You can almost see the religious leaders brushing/shaking the dust and debris from their robes in righteous indignation. Finally the man is beside Jesus; his friends probably watched anxiously from their perch on the roof. Then Jesus has the audacity to say the man's sins are forgiven! The religious leaders are almost beside themselves as they think, "Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?" PRECISELY! Jesus was unequivocally claiming to be God. Then we see His divine omniscience as He speaks aloud what they were only thinking, for the entire crowd to hear. Certainly it was easier to say someone's sins are forgiven; how could anyone disprove that? But to tell someone who was paralyzed to get up and walk, that would be easy to see. The religious leaders may have watched in consternation as the man did just as Jesus told him--got up, picked up his bed, and went home. Can you picture the friends on the roof dancing for joy? Can you imagine the looks the people gave the religious leaders as they sat there embarrassed and angry? It is harder to imagine the man's joy as he walked (and perhaps danced, leapt, ran, etc.) home that day, and the joy of his family as they saw him made well.

Jesus was the only one who could meet this man's need for physical and spiritual healing. While his physical need was great, the spiritual need was even greater, and no one but God could forgive his sins. Our pastor put it this way in his outline: The Son of Man effects man's full healing. We are helpless before Him. We are hopeful in coming to Him. We are made holy as we submit to Him.

One thing that really stood out was that the man immediately obeyed Jesus' command. He didn't make excuses as to why he couldn't. The gospel writers don't record him as saying anything, only as hearing the Lord's command and obeying. What a lesson for us!