“And when they could not get him to a place in front of Jesus because of the throng, they dug through the roof above Him; and when they had scooped out an opening, they let down the [thickly padded] quilt or mat upon which the paralyzed man lay.” Mk 2:4 (Amplified)
It is quite uncommon to have an individual display a singleness of purpose as did our previous two examples. It is however rarer to have this same quality displayed by a group and this unity and cooperation was the secret of their success. The bible says that one shall chase a thousand and two ten thousand. Only heaven knows what the Church is capable of accomplishing if we would choose to act as God designed us to. This story is very similar to that of the tower of Babel, although their motives couldn’t have been more different. The latter built the tower solely for their glory, while the former tore off the roof primarily for God’s glory (see text Mark 2:1-12).
These men, by their action, modelled for us what we need to do whenever our faith reaches the buffers and it seems we can go no further to realise our faith objectives. For many of us our possibility thinking process and state of mind simply shuts down because we conclude that that is the end of the line, but for those who would not be denied, it is the cue for creative thinking that is borne of faith. When they reached the edge of the crowd that had formed to listen to Jesus preach, they realised that they were hours late. The crowd was just too much and they faced the choice of having to return another day or resort to the unthinkable in order to gain audience with Jesus so that their paralyzed friend can be healed. It seemed that they had jointly decided that they would not return home with their friend still in the same paralysed condition, so they resolved to find a way to reach their goal, whatever the cost. This is the supreme quality that is particular to indefatigable and audacious faith – it just must find a way to realise its stated objective. So they decided to brainstorm and find a way forward. One man offered the suggestion that if it was not possible to get to Jesus by the front door, why not try scaling the wall? Then another suggested breaking through the flat roof that was characteristic of the houses in the land. The mischievous glint in their eyes showed that they knew they were on to something, but there was still the small matter of getting their friend onto the roof. With hard work and perseverance, they did it. Then they started attacking the roof. They were committing criminal damage in the name of faith. They must be out of their minds. The reception they received from Jesus after they finally broke through and lowered their friend however showed that as far as He was concerned they were in their right mind – their faith mind.
Once again we see those three attributes – desperation, determination and dependency at play again. They knew Jesus was the only answer to their question and were desperate and determined enough to do whatever was necessary to gain His audience. They knew and possessed the necessary ingredients for a miraculous success. They knew that unity plus the 3Ds equals success. So, if you have an important goal that can only be reached with the active cooperation of likeminded people, ask God for such covenant friends and believe God together for the impossible. It is time we break some roofs limiting our potential so that God’s glory can be shone in our world
Prayer:
Amos 3:3 asks, “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” Father, bring across my path today covenant people with whom we can do exploits together in your name.