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Monday, August 20, 2012

Go Extreme







A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered 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 paralytic, 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 and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins  are forgiven." (Mark 2:1-5, NIV)
So these guys could have decided to wait for the group to go away, or to go to Jesus when he comes out. But they didn't, they climbed up on the roof - which was flat - and started digging a hole for the paralyzed man. The hole must've been huge because they lowered the bed with the man on it. Talk about a serious skylight!They did it because they had faith in Jesus.
Now here's an example that happened to me. One night, I wanted to get some pizza. This pizza wasn't ordinary pizza, it was Pappa Johns pizza.So anyway, when I got there, the line was HUGE, so I go away thinking that the line would shrink. But the second time I went back it was still long so I went away the second time. The third and final time I went back and it was closed. So I didn't get any pizza. If I just waited I would've got pizza, but it would be cold. What I should've done was taken the initiative and been in the front of the line.
So the guys that brought the paralyzed man wanted Jesus right then and there. So they took the initiative and dug a hole in the roof. They didn't wait because chances are they wouldn't have did what they came there to do. Jesus might have been gone when they came back.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." Immediately he bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touches my  clothes?"
This lady who was really ill walked up behind Jesus in a huge crowd and just... touched him? She had so much faith that she knew that she would be healed. And she was healed. Did you notice that Jesus looked for her? He was being touched by a bunch of people but he looked for her. Why? Because of  her faith and that some of his power left him and healed the lady. He felt that because when that lady touched him, she had faith.
The men and this lady both went to the extremes to get to Jesus. Would you? Or would you go and wait in line for him, or let the line get shorter?

1 comment:

  1. Very well written. I love your example about waiting in line for pizza.

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