It seems that this is a passage that has been put into Scripture to demonstrate, among other things, what a few men are willing and capable of doing for a friend: Mark 2: 1-12 “… they came to him bringing a paralytic, who was carried by four friends…” (v.3)
One of the key points to grasp from this story is that those who minister to the weak and defenseless are blessed and are closer to seeing a miracle with their own eyes. Psalm 41: 1 tells us “Blessed is he who regards the weak, the Lord will deliver him in the day of trouble.” Without a doubt, we miss out on many blessings; just look at the millions of marginalized around the world today.
Jesus understood that the main key to touching people with various disabilities was to establish relationships with them, to develop friendships. This would build trust and help them open up to God’s love.
Why don’t we name these 4 friends? What did this paralytic need? What are the characteristics that make us true friends? Remember that Jesus calls us FRIENDS.
The 1st Friend: ‘Compassion’
Four true friends saw beyond the difficulty; their faith went beyond the obstacle. I think that the intention to bring their burdened friend to Jesus was already very valid; furthermore, the impossibility of the paralyzed man to have a direct encounter with Jesus was already enormous. But they did not stop. They created the possibility; they were visionaries, nothing would make them give up, they would take risks. They knew who Jesus was and the hope for healing was more real than the problems. His compassion motivated them to continue.
Likewise, as on other occasions, Jesus touching those who were affected by leprosy, cleansing them. In a context where it was impossible for someone to touch this group of people, indeed, not even approaching them and the law protected him (Leviticus 13), Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it and in several passages in his Encounters with people with leprosy, teaches us to go the extra mile that mile of compassion. The attitude of Jesus shows us many things, among them: look with mercy, before acting; take risks, the agape of God before our own love.
The 2nd Friend: ‘Accompaniment’
Jesus accompanied people with disabilities, the majority of which had been healed by Him. He walked with them, understood them and commended them. It’s incredible that most of his ministry was assisting and accompanying people with disabilities. They were important to him, because he understood the suffering that followed them, not only the visible disability, but the whole person.
And in this passage, we see friends who advocated. They did not send others, they knew that they would fulfill their mission if there were 4, taking one side of each corner of the stretcher. Their friend in need was the most important thing to them and they knew that they would not achieve it if they did not form a community around him.
The 3rd Friend: ‘Restoration’
The origin of the word restoration comes from: “return to a better state than the original”.
Once again, we see Jesus is not only concerned with restoring the physical body of the paralyzed man, attending his physical need, but also bringing healing to his soul and spirit.
But He also restores the lives of his friends. They were never the same again. They saw their faith activate before their very eyes. They confirmed the Lordship of their Messiah in the face of the most severe physical challenges and saw their friend receive salvation.
We see another case in Acts 3, where Peter and John, in the Name of Jesus, order the paralytic to walk at the entrance to the Temple called Beautiful; not only did he receive physical healing, but he entered the Temple together with them, rejoicing and praising God. This was a restricted place for those who were not considered clean, but Peter and John gave testimony before the Sanhedrin of the healing received and how in the power of Jesus he was saved.
He was restored to the path of freedom. Before, he was a slave of begging, of physical and soul brokenness of just staying at the foot of the temple door, now free to be part of the tribute he wanted to give to God.
The 4th Friend: ‘Empowerment’
The best way to illustrate “Empowerment” is in the life of David doing mercy and justice to Mephibosheth; while he was hiding from the King, fleeing for fear of his revenge, worried about being discovered, he was being sought out to be loved. He was destined to be a child of God, but was robbed and deceived by the devil and couldn’t comprehend nor embrace the love, healing and mercy of God.
This is the reality that those who deal with disabilities live; hidden in darkness, without a word about God and his ways, living in ignorance and behaving as if they were senseless. Still, God loves them and seeks them through the “David’s” of our day, to bring them home and to give them a new life.
In II Samuel 9: 9-11 we find: “But David called Ziba, Saul’s administrator, and said to him: Everything that belonged to your master Saul and his family I give to his grandson Mephibosheth. I command you to cultivate the land for him and keep the harvest for the sustenance of his house. May your fifteen children and twenty servants help you. As for your master’s grandson, he will always eat at my table”. From that day on, Mephibosheth sat at David’s table as one of the king’s sons”.
I wonder what Mephibosheth might have thought when the king’s men showed up at his door: “Well, I’ve come to my end. I’m dead! The king has found me and now he’s surely going to face me with all his wrath”. I think that’s what people who have been affected by a disability think. I’m isolated; when someone approaches me, it’s to humiliate me, or simply, I’m not even regarded as a person. And if someone comes to me it’s to instill more fear. The physical condition of Mephibosheth (his name meaning, ‘the one who spreads shame’), was linked to his soul condition. What does all of this say to you and me?
Until we know the power of God’s love and experience His great tolerance, the approach will be different. In verse 3, David tells Ziba that there is still someone in Saul’s house to whom he can show the “mercy of God.” This is the key. It’s not about our purely human good intentions or goodness, but about God’s mercy!
So, once we know and experience the true nature of God, how wonderful and admirable His grace is, and how magnificent His love is for us, we can then offer it to others. David told Mephibosheth that he would show him nothing but kindness out of love for Jonathan his father, that he was going to restore everything he had lost, that he would eat at the king’s table every day; everything he did for Mephibosheth would be to empower him.
Don’t forget that there are many Mephibosheth’s today waiting for that same blessing. They wait for the love of God, a reality that has also been hidden from them. Let’s achieve this, not with our human efforts, but with that same grace that also reached and touched us one day. Like David, we will have to take initiatives, break schemes, search until we find, and then offer others a compassionate served table.
We conclude with this passage in Isaiah 40:29 – “He gives power to the defenseless and strength to the weak”. May we be used so that the Power of God is manifest in “these the least”, the most “weak and vulnerable”, because in this way we will be fully in tune with the heart of God.