Let's Dig a Hole in a Roof

And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
Mark 2:4-5

I love the story of some friends who go to the extreme to get their paralytic friend to Jesus in Mark 2. The summary of the story is that Jesus was teaching in a home, and there was this huge crowd. So much so that there was standing room only. There were these guys who had a paralytic friend whose only hope for healing was Jesus. However, because of the crowd, they could not get even close to Him. They were not deterred. Picture this: they hauled their friend to the roof, then began digging a hole in someone’s roof big enough to get this guy through and lowered him down at the feet of Jesus. When Jesus sees this, he tells the man that because of his friend’s faith, his sins are forgiven. The rest of the story is great because Jesus also heals the man physically but makes the point that this man’s greatest need was the forgiveness of his sins by Jesus. And it was his friend's faith that brought him to faith.

What amazes me most about this is the lengths that these friends went to just to get this guy to Jesus. They knew that their friend’s only hope was to bring him to Jesus. They hauled this guy to the home, and seeing the crowd and blocked door, they could have given up. They could have looked at the task of hauling him to the roof and given up. They could have considered the damage they would do to the home by digging a hole in the roof and given up. But they didn’t. They dug a hole in the roof, disrupted the meeting, all to bring this guy to Jesus.

These friends did not have a passive faith but an active faith that led them to physically do something. They didn’t merely believe Jesus could help; they acted on that belief.
What if we had a more active than passive faith? What if we as believers were this committed to bringing our friends and neighbors to Jesus? What if we were as persistent as these guys and did not give up even when inconvenienced? Bringing people to Jesus is often not as dramatic as what we read about in Mark 2. Often it is getting to know our neighbors and being open about our faith in Jesus with friends and neighbors. It means being consistent in pointing others to the hope of the gospel even when there seem to be obstacles. After all, Jesus is our only hope, and true faith always moves people toward Jesus.