Seeing Their Faith

The house where [Jesus] was staying was so packed with visitors that there wasn’t room for one more person, not even outside the door. And he preached the word to them. Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t get to Jesus through the crowd, so they dug through the clay roof above his head. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” – Mark 2:2-5


I love the line that Mark uses when he writes, seeing their faith. Jesus obviously had to of heard the commotion put into tearing a hole in the roof, He saw the sick man, He knew there was a needy person there, this was all happening right above His head and in front of him. But what caught Jesus’ attention, as well as Mark’s observation, was the faith of the four guys.

Four unnamed guys, four men who could have been home doing chores, hanging with the kids, at work getting more done, taking their wife out to lunch, working on their own needs.

God knows that there are hurting people, broken people, and sick people inside and outside of the church. That’s why Jesus came in the first place! What was it He said His mission was; “…to preach Good News to the poor…to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” (Luke 4:18-19)

If we want to get God’s attention, it is better suited for us to show Him our faith than to try and show Him our troubles. He already knows our hurts and pain and dysfunctions and injustices; that’s why He sent His Son in the first place. It’s when we skip placing our faith in His Son that puts us in a faithless posture and turns us into a consumer with needs. He sees our need, our sickness, our helpless state!

Apostle Paul said, “This same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

This is a given to God’s children but…

“It is impossible to please God without faith.” (Hebrews 11:6)

So, as we at Branches Church are being real people living real lives in relationship with a real Jesus, we can know our needs are being met by God who loves us and sees us and knows our need; but does He see our faith?

What we do to get others who are sick and hurting and helpless into the presence of Jesus so they can hear the Word may cause a commotion, a bit of interruption for those in the room, a bit of awkwardness as we may set someone in front of Jesus in an unconventional way…but it will get the Lord’s attention as He sees our faith so that the kingdom of God can grow!