Faith And Removing The Roof

And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. (Mark 2:1-5)

In this passage, we read of how Jesus was preaching in the town of Capernaum. A huge crowd gathered in a house, so much so that the house was even filled up to the door. There were four men carrying one man who was paralyzed, but they could not enter the house because of the crowd. Therefore, they uncovered (i.e. removed) the roof of the house, in order to lower down the paralyzed man into the house, and into Jesus’ presence. Houses in 1^st century Palestine usually had flat roofs made of straw thatch (stege, Mark 2:4) and clay tiles (keramos, Luke 5:19), which with some effort could be broken up and removed. Jesus saw the faith of the four men, and he forgave the sins of the paralyzed man. Later on, we would read in Mark 2:6-11 that Jesus would also do a miracle by healing the paralyzed man.

Who were these four men? What was their relationship to the paralyzed man? These are questions which the Scriptures have not revealed the answers to us. However, we do know that they evidently had faith in Jesus, that He could heal the paralyzed man, and the Lord recognized their faith (Mark 2:5). They had faith in Jesus, and they carried the paralyzed man to the house to see Him. They had faith in Jesus, and instead of turning back when they saw the crowded house, they removed the roof to lower the paralyzed man down into the presence of Jesus. They had faith in Jesus: a faith that showed itself in a desire to get the paralyzed man into His presence no matter what, even to the extent of having to remove the roof.

Today, the world is paralyzed – not physically, but paralyzed with sin. It has infected and spread amongst our neighbours, friends, loved ones, and they are “sick with sin”. If nothing is done to help them, they will be bound for eternal condemnation (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). The question then is, do we have the faith to help them “remove the roof”, even at great personal cost to ourselves, to bring them to Jesus?

1. Do we have the faith to talk to them often about the God we worship and serve, even at the risk of them mocking us (Matthew 5:10-12)?

2. Do we have the faith to invite them to “come and see” Jesus (John 1:45-46), to invite them to a Bible study and discuss matters of great spiritual importance?

3. Do we have the faith to tell them an unadulterated, un-watered down gospel that teaches baptism in water for the remission of sins (Mark 16:16), a gospel that respects the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18)?

Every Christian can and must do his/her part and show his/her faith, by “removing the roof” for the world around us. Won’t it be wonderful if we spend our lives doing so, so that at the Second Coming of Christ, we will have great glory and joy when we stand in front of the Lord together with the friends and family members whom we have helped bring to Jesus Christ?

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy. (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20)