Roof Ruining Faith

Lookahead: Hello!  They created an opening by digging through roof tiles.  So there may have been prying, hammering, chiseling, sawing going on with dust and roofing materials falling, i.e., plenty of noise from the demolition—and from the people in the house who had construction remnants falling on their heads.  In other words, chaos in the house.  Plus it wasn’t a tiny opening—the hole  had to be large enough to gently lower the paralytic on his mat—actually “krabattos” which means small bed or mattress! These guys were indeed maniacs!!  How many of us can say, “I’d tear up the roof for my bestie?”

Mark 2:3 – 5 Then a paralytic was brought to Him, carried by four men. Since they were unable to get to Jesus through the crowd, they uncovered the roof above Him, made an opening, and lowered the paralytic on his mat.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

I heard an incredible testimony last week.  It was actually included in the Special Features section of a DVD documentary about a broken marriage that God had gloriously restored. 

The testimony was given by two men who looked like they were frozen in the 80’s pop culture, wearing big hair and shiny synthetic fabrics, so I wasn’t really taking them very seriously…but in the middle of some light-hearted banter, a riveting story of their healing miracle suddenly emerged.  They were identical twins whom doctors had wanted to abort.  Their mother had had rheumatic fever as a girl, and was considered high risk for pregnancy.  The birth of her first son severely weakened her heart to the point where she needed a transplant—and the doctors said, “That’s it.  You’re done!”  But she had always wanted three children, and God let her know that He wasn’t done. 

The twins were born three months premature, with massive complications that plagued them until they were seven years old.  They were in intensive care for two years—and then basically were sent home to die.  The boys were dangerously allergic to just about everything, having toxic reactions to hundreds of things in their environment.  They were allergic to every kind of food, except for one type of nut, one type of fish, and rice cakes.  They were allergic to sunlight!!  They were allergic big time to the local flora and fauna, even lawn grass—basically they were allergic to the outdoors.  They wear shiny suits today as a sign that they are 100% healed.  If they had put that type of fabric anywhere near their skin back then, they would have broken out in bumps and lumps.  

After the birth of her twins, the mother’s health deteriorated to the point that she was wheelchair-bound on an oxygen tank.  The mother was a Catholic and her chiropractor persuaded her to attend a meeting where a Catholic priest would be lecturing…a priest who had a healing ministry.  When the priest asked who needed a healing, she wheeled herself forward immediately…and took advantage of a Marvel-Op (JIC, clarified in last week’s Takeaway).  She explained to the priest that her sons needed a healing, but weren’t able to leave the house to ask in person.  She begged the priest to pray for her sons whose health was continuing to decline.  She couldn’t bear to think of her sons dying from these toxic allergies. 

If that mother’s zeal for her sons (coupled with her faith that she was in the right place) didn’t put a smile on God’s face, I don’t know what would. 🙂

Within a couple of weeks, the two sons, and the mother, all had clean bills of health from the medical community.  God is great and greatly to be praised!

The mother’s zeal was not unfamiliar to God.  It was the zeal of the Paralytic’s besties. 

These guys were maniacs!! 🙂

Mark says:  they uncovered the roof above Him, made an opening

Uncovered is ἐξορύσσω: to dig out; to dig through

One movie depiction comes to mind in which there was a thatched roof, and the four friends deftly removed some bundles of straw.  But Luke says…and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

The Interlinear translation is poetic:  through the tiles they let him down.

Κέραμος – clay, potter’s earth, anything made of clay, specifically, a (roofing) tile

Hello!  They created an opening by digging through roof tiles.  So there may have been prying, hammering, chiseling, sawing going on with dust and roofing materials falling, i.e., plenty of noise from the demolition—and from the people in the house who had construction remnants falling on their heads.  In other words, chaos in the house.  Plus it wasn’t a tiny opening—the hole  had to be large enough to gently lower the paralytic on his mat—actually “krabattos” which means small bed or mattress! These guys were indeed maniacs!!  How many of us can say, “I’d tear up the roof for my bestie?”  Their love for their friend made them desperate—and not only that, it made their faith visible.  

Jesus saw their faith.  What does that mean? 

Jesus witnessed their act of faith?  Or did He see something in the supernatural?

Greek is Horao

1. to see with the eyes: 2. to see with the mind, to perceive, know: 3. to look at or upon, observe, give attention to: 4. to see i. e. to become acquainted with by experience, to experience: 5. to see to, look to; 6. to stare at, i.e. (by implication) to discern clearly (physically or mentally);

He stared incredulously at their faith?  Or He perceived their faith with the mind?

There is a different “perceive, know” Greek word that is used three verses later in Mark, when it says that Jesus perceived the thoughts of the scribes.  Mark chose not to use that word twice.  So Jesus’ perception may not have been a cognitive or spiritual thing—it may have been empirical, based on the circumstances.  These guys were destroying a roof because they knew that if they could get close enough to Jesus, their friend would be healed.  They may have been motivated by love.  But they had a rock-solid, immutable, unmovable belief that Jesus was the solution.  Having to get past a myriad of people, or navigate the potentially steep precipice of a roof with their precious cargo, or drill through a six inch thick tile barrier were problems that they could press through—if it meant getting at the solution to the root problem.    

The twins’ mother and the Paralytic’s friends had probably tried every possible human solution that they could engineer within their respective frameworks.  And then God gave them a new framework—and a solution to the root. 

What can we learn about our triune God from this healing miracle?  At any given moment, He will give us the same—a new framework—and a solution to the root.