When you look up, who do you see?

“Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’” (Mark 2:3-5)

Healing often happens in the gospels as a matter of faith.   That is to say that the way to wholeness lies in trust.  In trusting our well-being to God we become well.  Thus the continual gospel theme, ‘your faith has made you well.’  Trust is an important part of healing, peace, and well-being.  We have to have some trust with a doctor and nurse, we have to have some trust in our pastor or counselor, we have to have trust in those with whom we journey – that they have our well-being in mind, and reciprocally that we have their well-being in our mind.

What is a wonderful blessing to this text is the reminder that it is not our faith (our trust) alone that matters to us.  Here the faith of the paralytic is not measured at all.  “When Jesus saw THEIR faith…”  Jesus is enamored by the faith of the friends; it is their trust that getting this man before Jesus was worth any time and expense, even the destruction of a roof that enables well-being.  Our faith is never a matter for us alone.  Our faith really is a public action.  And I do mean action.  Faith is active, or it means little.  And it does not belong to us – it is an aspect of us that we share with all around us, and with our community.

So the question I have for today is: who are those people whose faith is a part of your faith.  If you were being lowered into a room to see Jesus, who is it that you would see peering down from the roof and lowering you into the room having spared no expense to get you well?

One more step…  Have you thanked them for the way their faith is part of you and your well-being?

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