Read Mark 2:1-12
The paralytic’s needs drove the four men’s action.
I’ve always see the four men as the subject of the story, no, the paralytic is the subject. He had needs that only Jesus could meet. The four friends acted off those needs. If they hadn’t, the man would have been left there, alone in his desperation, while Jesus walked by outside and right past him.
The man would have died a cripple, taking his last breath in that same bed that was his only companion. He would have died in that bed, a cripple, and gone to burn in Hell.
But that’s not what happened. Four people cared. They cared so much that they took that very bed that the paralytic would one day die in and picked the whole thing up and used it to carry him to Jesus. And his world was changed.
There are people you know who are chained to their beds, their beds of depression, of feelings of unworthiness and loneliness, of a hard home life, of past haunting sins, of past abuse that was thrust upon them, of social disorders, eating disorders, of nagging and repetitive sin. There are people chained to these beds, not even knowing Jesus is outside. They need someone to pick them up and bring them to Jesus. And just as the guy’s legs were healed, their depression and loneliness and cutting and false self-perception will be healed. And as the paralytic’s soul was healed, their soul will be as well. And they will die…one day, not chained to that bed, dying to live forever with the God that freed them and saved them.
But this would never happen if the four men didn’t carry their friend to Jesus. And this won’t happen if you don’t carry yours.
Jacob Haywood 