Luke 5:17-20 (NIV) One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
All of the people who came to Jesus for healing had faith that Jesus could heal them, or they would not have come in the first place. But these men who were bringing their friend to Jesus had grit as well.
As they approached the house in Capernaum (Mark 2:1) where Jesus was teaching, they found the narrow street clogged with people. The crowd was milling around more than moving forward, because people weren’t simply getting healed and leaving. Instead, those who had received healing from Jesus then wanted to stay and hear Him teach. So the crowd in and around the house was becoming more dense with the passing of time, not less.
But these men were determined to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus. They developed a plan, and pushed through the crowd to put it into action. Roofs in that part of the world were flat with a low wall or parapet around them, composed of mud and clay packed between rafters, then covered with tile. There was often an outside stairway that went up to the roof as well, and these friend carried their friend up it on his sleeping mat. Then they removed the tiles near where Jesus was sitting ,and dug through the clay until an opening had been made.
Everyone inside was stunned when a shower of dirt fell to the floor, and hands were seen rapidly digging through the ceiling above them. Then they broke into laughter when the man on the mat was lowered down through the hole that had been made. Several men nearby rose to their feet and reached up, helping to lower the paralytic to the floor in front of Jesus.
Jesus looked down at the man lying on the mat, looking hopefully back up at him, then up to the hopeful faces peering down at Him through the hole in the ceiling, and was genuinely impressed. It was easy to see that all of them had a lot of faith in Him.
But as He looked back down at the man, and listened for what it was that the Father wanted Him to do in this situation, He suddenly understood the deepest need that this man had, and that was to have his sins pronounced forgiven. Many had told this man that his disability was punishment from God for some sin he had committed, and so he had been carrying an enormous load of guilt.
So, since that was what was most necessary, that’s where Jesus focused first. The man’s body would be healed, too, but the first thing needed was to rid the man’s mind and soul from its burden of guilt and shame by pronouncing forgiveness.
Father, it’s really easy to see what doctors call “presenting symptoms” and then make the assumption that that is the primary need that must be addressed when we interact with broken people. But Jesus always listened first, observing with His heart more than with His eyes, and so was able to address the real issue, even if it wasn’t immediately evident to human eyes. Help me to listen, too, Lord, so that I can help people where they really need help , and so that their whole body, soul, and spirit can be made whole in You. Amen.