“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man,
"Son, your sins are forgiven." ”
Mark 2:5 NIV
Let's Revisit This... If you've been around MD5 very long (and you have been if you're reading this), you've heard Roger or another leader discuss the pallbearer challenge. Do you have 6 men that you'd trust to lower you in the ground? Another Step Further Today I'd like to take it a step further. Do you have 4 corner men? "4" is a smaller number, but as your circle gets smaller it also gets tighter. In Mark 2, we see an example of the kind of friend we should strive to be/have. "They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven." " Mark 2:2-5 These friends carried a man some distance on a mat because they knew he needed something only Jesus could provide. Are you willing to pick up a corner and "carry" your friend to Jesus? When the 4 men met resistance they didn't give up. They climbed a roof, hoisted their friend on the roof, and then tore a hole in the roof. Do you have 4 men that would carry you on a roof and then dig a hole in the roof for you? Story Details What's not mentioned in the story, but certainly would have happened, is the resistance those men must have met. There would have been people telling them to stop and trying to pull them down. Once the roof was being torn open, we can only assume that the opposition to their mission would have reached a fever pitch. Do you have 4 friends that will stand with you against opposition (more important today than many years) in your time of need? Determined Faith Finally in verse 5, we see the fruit of being a / having "4 corner friends." Jesus saw their (the friends) faith and told the paralyzed man, "your sins are forgiven." The paralyzed man was blessed through the faith of his "4 corner friends." There will be times in our lives that we will be needed to carry the man and times we will be the man on the mat. I hope and pray that you carry that mat when called upon and that you've invested in "4 corner friends" so that you can be carried when needed.
Thad Hardin MD5 Lab Facilitator