The Relentless Pursuit of Jesus

When we pursue relentless faith, the miraculous can happen.

I recently heard a sermon about the four friends and the paralytic, found in Mark, Chapter 2. It’s a familiar story to most people raised in church. I have vivid memories of it playing out on the black flannel board at Sunday school. Quite honestly, I never gave it that much thought. Whenever we talked about Jesus, there were miracles. This one was one of the many.

I suppose that can happen when you get comfortable with the Gospel stories, which is why we need to celebrate Easter every year, to truly remember what exactly it is we believe. There’s nothing comfortable about the Gospels. The stories in them are lifechanging both for the people in them and for those of us who have the privilege of reading them and who really try to wrap our hearts and minds around the miraculous and bold love that God has for His children.

In the story of the paralytic, four friends decide to take their sick friend to Jesus. They are carrying him. He must have been dead weight, because it took four of them. The story doesn’t say how long the man had been paralyzed or how far the friends had carried him, but these friends were relentless. They were determined to get this man to Jesus.

They believed Jesus could heal him.

Interestingly, the text doesn’t tell us what the man believed.

When the house was too crowded to get him to Jesus, they carried him to the roof and dug a hole, relentless in their pursuit of getting their friend to Jesus. They lowered the mat in front of Jesus and here’s the part I can’t stop thinking about, “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.'” Mark 2:5

There were some religious people in the room who were thinking that Jesus didn’t have the power to forgive sins, but Jesus read their minds  and called them out. He then told the man still lying on his mat, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Mark 2:11

The man got up, took his mat and walked out.

It’s a familiar story, yet there’s a twist. The paralytic was made well because of his friends’ faith.

I wonder how long they had carried their friend around. How long had they hoped for healing?

I am reminded of the power of praying for healing for my own friends and family. Sometimes we pray and pray and we don’t see results. Sometimes the person we are praying for looks way too far gone for healing or redemption, but are they more far gone than a paralyzed man being carried on a mat by his friends?

The truth is no one is ever too far gone for the grace of Jesus. If they are still breathing, there is still hope and if we are still breathing, we are called to pray relentlessly because that’s how we bring people to the feet of Jesus.

A paralyzed man who was healed because his friends had relentless faith, reminded me to be relentless in prayer for the people in my life who need it. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂