I want to start by telling you a story that you’ve probably heard before, and that’s the story of a man I’m going to call Joe. Joe was a man living in Capernaum, and for a long time, he had been paralyzed so that he could not walk. He couldn’t get a job or go out with his friends, and you can imagine that after a while, he was just feeling so discouraged. 

Well, one day, Joe hears about this man named Jesus who’s staying in Capernaum. Joe has heard a little bit about this man and how He’s done miracles and healed people, but he thinks that it’s probably just rumors. Besides, even if it is true, how is Joe supposed to get to Jesus for healing? He can’t walk.

While Joe is thinking about this, four of his friends come in, and they’re so excited about a plan that they have, and Joe’s wondering what’s going on. Finally, one of them tells him, “Joe, we’re taking you to see Jesus.”

They take out a mat and place Joe onto it, and together, the four of them lift him up and start walking to the house where they have heard Jesus is staying and teaching, and Joe is starting to feel some hope that maybe he will get to see Jesus today and he will get healed.

You probably recognize this story by now, so you know that when they get to that house, things do not look good for Joe’s hope. Jesus is in this house, and all these people are crammed around Him, so many people that the crowd is spilling out of the door and into the street outside. So many people are here to listen to Jesus’s teaching that it is absolutely impossible to get one more person in there, especially a man lying down on a bed.

Now, we don’t know anything about Joe’s faith, because the Bible doesn’t really talk about it. When his friends carried him up to this house and saw that it was too crowded for them to get to Jesus, it’s very possible that Joe just gave up. He saw the crowd and realized that there was no way his friends could get him to Jesus, so he just sighed and said, “Let’s just go back home. There’s no point in staying here.”

We don’t know what his faith was like, but we do see his friends’ faith. When they walked up and saw the crowd, they could have said, “Now what are we going to do? We can’t even get in. Sorry, Joe, but we just can’t get to Jesus today. Maybe He will show up somewhere tomorrow and we can take you then.” But they didn’t say that. No, these men are so full of faith, and they are not going to bow to this obstacle of not getting in.

So there they are with Joe and they talk for a little bit, and they decide, “Well, we could go up the stairs, tear off the roof, and lower him down to Jesus.” Can you imagine? Who thinks like that? Only people with faith, friend.

They start up the stairs, carrying Joe, and I’m sure they’re saying, “Don’t drop him, guys! Don’t drop him,” and Joe’s saying, “Don’t drop me! Don’t drop me!” Finally, they’re on the roof, and they don’t even hesitate. They put Joe and his mat down and start tearing a hole in this roof.

Inside of the house, Jesus is preaching to the crowd, and everyone’s just so delighted to hear every word that comes out of His mouth, but then something starts dropping on their heads. People start muttering and looking around, and they see it’s these little bits of the roof that are falling on them. This dust and straw is even dropping down on Jesus, and He looks up and to see what’s happening too.

The next thing everyone sees is four men looking down from above. Everyone is talking and wondering what is going on, and then they watch as these four men begin to lower a bed with a rope, and on this bed is Joe. The whole crowd can see Joe now, and they start shifting around, trying to make room so that these four friends can finally lay him down on the floor before Jesus.

Now, this is the part I want you to pay attention to, friend. Jesus looks at Joe, and then He looks up at those four friends. You can imagine they’re probably all gathered around the hole they had made trying to see if Joe’s going to get healed, and Jesus sees them, and the Bible says that He saw their faith. That’s what I want you to think about today. We don’t know what Joe’s faith was like, but we know that there was faith in his four friends, because Jesus saw it, and He did some amazing things for Joe because of it.

The first thing Jesus says to Joe after seeing the friends’ faith is “Son, your sins are forgiven you” (See Mark 2:5).

The crowd is probably thinking, “Jesus, his sins are not the problem here. It’s that he’s crippled. He’s very crippled.” But Jesus sees past the surface. He sees into Joe’s heart. Like I’ve said, we don’t know much about Joe’s heart, but Jesus did. He knew everything, and maybe He knew about the guilt in this man that prevented him from receiving healing. Maybe Joe had hurt someone before he got paralyzed. Maybe he was ashamed of his paralysis or of how it happened. Maybe he was just bitter from all the years of paralysis, and he’d snapped at his friends and family who were trying to take care of him. We don’t know, but Jesus saw Joe’s heart and saw that he needed to be forgiven, so that was the first thing He said.

Well, some of the scribes were in the crowd, watching and listening, and they started thinking to themselves, “How dare Jesus forgive sins? Only God can do that.” But the Bible says that Jesus perceived in His spirit that they were thinking this, and He starts answering them. He asks them this amazing question:

 “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’?”

—Mark 2:9

This is such an incredible thing that Jesus is talking about. He’s asking, “Which is easier?” but He already knows the answer. He knows what He was sent to do, and He’s telling them that forgiveness and healing are a package deal. He’s saying to those scribes, “It’s the same. I am the Messiah, and I was sent to do both, and I’m going to show you right now.”

And then, friend, I’m sure you remember what He said to that crippled man:

“I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 

—Mark 2:11

And the Bible says that immediately, Joe got up and picked up his bed, walking, just like Jesus said, his sins totally forgiven and his body totally healed, and it all started with those four friends.

Who is Your Joe?

This is an amazing display of Jesus’ knowledge, power, and love, friend, and it started with four friends and their great faith. When they met the obstacle of Joe not being able to walk, they carried him. When they couldn’t get in the room, they took the stairs. When the roof was in their way, they opened up a hole in it, and they got Joe in through that hole. Their faith was speaking so loud to Jesus that it opened a way for God to do an amazing miracle for their friend.

I want you to understand that this is what your faith can do. Sometimes, we have friends or family who are struggling, and they might not be able to ask Jesus for help. Maybe they just don’t know Him yet, or maybe they feel like they need to hide something from Him. Maybe they just don’t know how to ask or don’t think they’re very good at it. Well, friend, the good news is that you can help them. Joe wasn’t able to get to that house by himself, and maybe he didn’t think he could get a miracle; maybe he didn’t even want his friends to bother with taking him to Jesus. But they weren’t giving up. They decided to go up and make a hole in the roof!

When I read this story, I think, What am I willing to do for my friends who are in trouble? What kind of faith am I willing to exert so that they can receive from Jesus? Let me ask you that question: What kind of faith would you exert for someone else? Can you pray for them? Can you just keep on meeting and talking with them, even though they refuse to come to Jesus? These men had so much faith, and they exerted it to carry their friend across town and lower him through the roof. Can you do that? Can you just walk or drive your friend to where they need to go?

When you exert your faith through words or actions or prayers, you are doing the same thing as these friends, putting someone in a place that they couldn’t get to on their own, a place where the Holy Spirit can come and work in their hearts. Thanks to your faith, they can be put right in front of Jesus, right in the place they need to be to receive the healing and forgiveness of God.

Maybe you don’t think you can. You might be thinking, ”How can my faith affect someone else’s life? If they don’t have faith, how am I supposed to help?” Well, if you ever doubt that God can use your faith to put someone in the just right place, I want you to remember this story, and I want you to remember that it started with four friends who got together and said, “Let’s take Joe to Jesus.”