Faith That Jesus Sees

How visible is your faith? Do you see it? Does anyone else? Or more importantly, does Jesus? What does your faith look like? Other than going to church, what are the signs that show that your faith is visible? I ask myself these questions. And truthfully, I really don’t like the answers I toss out.

 

In Mark 2:1-5, we find the story of Jesus healing the paralytic. Now that is certainly amazing, no doubt. Jesus was in a house doing Jesus kind of things; you know, preaching and healing, and the crowds were standing room only! So much so that there wasn’t any room left in the house, and people were standing outside the house, hoping to hear and catch a glimpse of the Great Teacher. Can you imagine the excitement and the sense of expectation that filled the air?

 

But what really stands out to me in the story is the story behind the story. The Bible says that four friends brought their paralytic friend to Jesus. Obviously, they were hoping that they could get him in front of Jesus. But how could they? The place was packed like a Dunkin Donuts on Police Appreciation Day! There was absolutely no space anywhere near the door to see what was happening inside, much less to get in. 

 

So the four friends got together and put their thinking caps on, and came up with an absolutely crazy idea! One of them had to say, “I know, let’s take the roof off the place!” And so they did. And they “lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on” into the house, presenting him to the King of Kings! I wonder if they were familiar with that saying: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Or maybe this is where that saying started!

 

What really grabs me about the situation is in verse 5 where Mark writes, “When Jesus ‘saw their faith,’ he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’” It’s those three little words that grab my heart; “saw their faith.” Wow! It wasn’t just that Mark noted the friends heroic actions, and their over the top efforts to get their friend to Jesus. It was that Mark gave us insight into how Jesus interpreted their actions on behalf of their paralyzed friend.

 

Jesus saw what they did for their friend as evidence of their faith! That is just awesome! Jesus

knew that it was the FAITH of the four that caused them to tear the roof off the place! They just HAD to get their friend to Jesus, even if they had to tear the roof off, which they did! Their actions were a sign not only that they had faith, but of how much faith they had. They were willing to destroy a house that wasn’t theirs so that their friend could get in front of Jesus so he could be healed. And Mark records that Jesus ‘“saw” their faith!

 

A second wonder in these verses is that the paralytic was the recipient of this tremendous gift of healing BECAUSE OF his four friends faith! That’s just stunning! We are told nothing about the paralytic man’s faith at all, but he walked out of that place as a healed man precisely because his friends had faith! We all need friends like that! We all need to be a friend like that!

 

And so I wonder, does He “see” my faith? Other than going to church and being a decent guy occasionally, what else am I serving up with my life so that Jesus can see my faith? What is my faith compelling and propelling me to do that will take any risk at all, much less a big risk? How does my faith so move me that it puts me in positions that may cause me risk and discomfort? How is my faith calling me to go above and beyond the normal, everyday faith that seems rather comfortable, though sometimes useless, if I was to be honest? Where is my faith challenging me to do something out of the ordinary, or something so radical that people would look at me like I was crazy? Where does my faith call me outside of my own comfortable version of Christianity, that costs me very little? When did my “outside of the box,” type of faith (or my rip off the roof type of faith) have huge benefits for someone besides myself? When did one of my friends find any kind of healing because of actions that I took because of my faith?

 

How about you? Does Jesus see your faith? How so?

 

6-5-23