The Faith of Friends

At Encourage Church, we have just finished re-roofing the church. As the roofers were taking the old tin off, it reminded me of the four men who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus to be healed (see Mark 2:1-11 and Luke 5:17-26).

Jesus was preaching in a house and there was such a crowd that the four men could not carry their friend close enough to Jesus. So, they went up onto the roof (the houses in those days had a flat roof and stairs to get up there) and dug a hole in the roof, letting their friend down through the roof into the crowd right in front of Jesus.

I’m not sure how I would react if people cut a hole in our newly done roof (hopefully with grace), but what is most striking is the effort the friends went to in helping their friend. When a difficulty arose, they came up with an innovative solution and one that wasn’t easy to do. Mark 2:5 says “when Jesus saw their faith…” – the faith of friends.

I was recently listening to Lucy from LightFM talk about a difficult time in her life when she was depressed and suicidal. One of her close friends would ring her daily, and sometimes hourly, and then had Lucy move into a granny flat on her property. That’s the modern-day equivalent of cutting a hole in your roof for your friend.

If you are thinking that you don’t have any friends like that or like those of the paralyzed man, we’d love to become your friend. Come and visit us at 10am on a Sunday morning at 7 Mitchell Court in Romsey.