Do What You Can Do

This is one of the more colourful events in Jesus’ ministry.

• We hear of it in the SS when we are young. We have a picture of four men on top of a house, breaking up a hole in the roof and letting their friend down. We are asked to colour the picture.

• We read here of a man in need, and four men carried him to Jesus. A big crowd has already gathered at the house, even outside the house.

• There is no way for them to get near to Jesus. So they went up the roof, open up a hole and lower him down from there.

Jesus had just entered Capernaum. Why so many flocked to hear Him?

Chapter 1 gave us some clues.

• He had earlier visited Capernaum – Mark 1:21 the people heard Him preached with authority [read 1:21-22, 27). He speaks His very Word.

• He demonstrated that authority, when He commanded evil spirits to leave.

• 1:29-31 He was at Simon and Andrew’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law had a high fever and He healed her.

• 1:32-34 “the whole town gathered at the door…” They brought the sick and demon-possessed.

He re-enters Capernaum in 2:1. No wonder the people flocked to see Him.

• People are hungry for the truth. People are in need of His healing touch.

• There is something that is lacking that only Jesus can fill.

• Nothing has changed today. We may be >2000 years after the events of Mark 1-2, but nothing has changed.

• People are still lost without the truth of God’s Word. People are still struggling in sickness and in bondage.

Can a miracle take place in their lives? Yes, if only they know Jesus is here.

We thank God this paralysed man got to Jesus. We thank God he did.

• Not only was his body healed, his life was transformed.

• He could very well be left on the street, or still lying motionless at home.

• But today he is walking, probably for the first time in his life.

Thanks to the four men who carried him. We need the stretcher bearers!

• Without Jesus, the healing will be impossible. But without them, the healing will never be possible.

• The sick, the demon-possessed, the paralytics will never get to see Jesus if not for the stretcher bearers.

• We saw that in chapter 1 (the people BROUGHT the sick and demon-possessed) and now the four men BROUGHT the paralytic to Jesus in chapter 2.

They BROUGHT those who cannot get to Jesus.

• They become the bridge that connects them to Jesus.

You want to see a miracle? Introduce them to Jesus. Be a stretcher bearer!

• This man’s life is forever changed because of four willing souls.

• That is the little they can do for this poor man. They cannot heal him; they cannot change his condition, not even the doctors.

• But they did what they can do, carry him. And given the opportunity [Jesus is in town], and this is what they did.

Don’t undermine the impact of your small act.

We must DO WHAT WE CAN HUMANLY DO. That’s the spirit of these four men.

• They may not necessarily be his friends. They could well be strangers who happened to notice a paralysed man in their midst. They saw this man’s needs.

• So they decided to take on a journey together, and that journey changed a man’s life forever. They saw a miracle!

In fact, this town has been see miracle after miracles, because the people have been doing their part – bringing the sick, the paralysed, and the demon-possessed to Jesus.

• Have you seen a miracle lately? Could it be that nothing has been happening because we have be disconnected from Jesus?

• Could it be that no miracle is taking place, because no one has been brought to Jesus?

• We have not been praying for anyone, not for the sick, not for the hurting…

• There aren’t any answers because there aren’t any requests.

The four men aren’t going to let that chance slip by.

• They wanted desperately to get this man to Jesus. And they were very determined to succeed.

• Their selfless act is admirable, considering the fact that everyone wanted to get to the house to listen to Jesus. They could have gone to the house themselves. It would be so much quicker than to carry an extra burden with you.

• They might have beaten the crowd to the house. They could have gotten into the house and sitting up front before Jesus, listening to Him right now, in the house and not up on the roof. And they missed the first part of His sermon!