That's Incredible!

The LORD bless you and keep you!  The LORD let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you!  The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!

“We have seen incredible things today.” (Luke 5:26) “They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this.’” (Mark 2:12) “When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to human beings.” (Matthew 9:8)

Healing the paralytic at Capernaum is one of the miracles of Jesus in Synoptic Gospels; in Matthew (9:1–8), Mark (2:1–12), and Luke (5:17–26). 

The power Jesus received from His Father in Heaven to forgive sins on earth is certainly at the core of these Gospels.  But the power of faith also teaches that the bigger our faith, the better a friend we make!  When a paralyzed man's unwavering friends couldn't get him in front of Jesus because the stretcher was too unwieldy to bring through the crowd, they carried him up to the roof and lowered him through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd right in front of Jesus!  What a struggle that must have been!  While this act of love isn't as astonishing as Jesus healing the man and forgiving his sins, we must ask ourselves – would we go that far for one of our friends?

Sometimes when we need them most, our friends seem to be turning away.  But we can be assured they're actively learning the same lessons we are, just not at the same time.  Today they might not have the capacity to help a friend in need, but tomorrow, or even a year from now, we may find them at our side, acting on God's grace.  And so it is with us.  Then we should try to remember that friendship works both ways, and hopefully we'll discover that our friend was always a friend, and that growing in faith brings greater love, which helps us to see “incredible things” that “we have never seen” before and be “struck with awe”.

A couple of things for further contemplation:

What are friends for, if not to risk a danger of falling through the roof or incurring the cost of repairing the same, simply to help another human being know the joy of being whole in God's presence?

And, which was greater--the cure of the paralytic or the forgiveness of his sins?  What greater love can we show one another than the love of forgiveness?