This article (and the next one) are from Mark 2:1-12, where four men brought a paralyzed man to Jesus, but because the house where Jesus was teaching was so crowded, they had to dig through the roof and lower the paralyzed man down to Him. You may have heard this account before in a church setting. After all, there’s a lot here, including the theology of Jesus’ authority to forgive sins. If you’re not familiar with this account, I encourage you to read all of Mark 2:1-12 on your own before we get started.
Specifically, I’d like to consider the paralyzed man getting to Jesus from two perspectives (one covered in this article, and one in the next). First, let’s consider the effort that was made by those who brought the paralyzed man to Jesus.
A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 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.
Mark 2:1-4 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.2.1-4.NIV
For one thing, it takes work to haul someone around. Even larger toddlers who want to be carried around can get heavy, but can you imagine carrying another person for any distance? Maybe you’re a rescue worker or in the military, where you’ve learn how to carry people out of danger; still, though, that’s got to get tiring after a while!
Having said that, while we don’t know the entire picture of what motivated these people who helped the paralyzed man (although we do learn that they had faith), we can appreciate that the paralytic couldn’t get to Jesus by himself. He was unable to do so and, if someone hadn’t helped transport him, he’d probably be stuck where he was.
Just like followers of Jesus like me had no hope of getting back to God after choosing to sin (when we needed God to reach out to us and make a way for us to return to Himself), those of us who have been delivered from the penalty of sin need to be Christ-like ourselves and – when God directs us to – help those who can’t help themselves.
You probably know that the phrase “God helps those who help themselves” is not from the Bible. More than that, though, it’s often non-Biblical. Sometimes, God helps those who cannot help themselves. And, He often helps the helpless through people in the body of Christ.
So, in addition to sharing God’s material blessings with those who need them, what does it look like for those in the modern era to bring people to Jesus, especially when others can’t get to Him on their own? For one thing, it might mean bringing the example of Christ-like service to others, where we find people in places like:
- On the streets,
- In prison,
- In a school, workplace, or marketplace where they spend their days, or
- In the bars, chat rooms, and other lonely places where they spend their nights
In addition to service, bringing people to Jesus might also include bringing the gospel of Christ to others, without requiring them to come to church to hear it. It’s perfectly fine to learn a summary of the gospel, like the “Romans Road” (a set of passages from the book of Romans that describe the problem of sin and the solution of Jesus Christ). However, your own testimony – how God changed your life for the better – can be just as powerful of a starting point. Could you tell someone today what difference Jesus has made in your life? If not, I encourage you to spend some time thinking about that this week. Once you know that answer yourself, you can share it with other people who are interested.
And, one more thought: Do you suppose that the those helping the paralyzed man had been taught not to destroy others’ property? Hopefully, a parent or teacher once explained to them that breaking other people’s stuff wasn’t right. Yet, if they had allowed a “rule” to override their friend’s needs and never dug through the roof of that house, this event could have turned out quite differently, and their friend might have been taken back home without ever having met Jesus (and, without being healed!)
Similarly, we all know that you shouldn’t go around breaking people’s car windows arbitrarily. However, when someone sees an infant left in a hot car, sometimes it’s necessary for them to break a window to save that child. (By the way, if you must do so, be sure to break a window located away from the child, to protect them from broken glass.) That doesn’t mean someone won’t have to fix things later, but even with general guidelines for a civilized society, there are also things that are more important than a “rule”.
So, what “rules” might be keeping you from telling lost people about the cure for their worst illness (i.e., sin), and sharing good news about the one relationship that can make things fundamentally better for them?
- Are these rules about what is socially acceptable to bring up in a particular environment?
- Are these rules about where “good Christians” can’t go, even when someone needs the love of Jesus there?
- Are these rules about what “good Christians” can’t do, even when there’s no sin involved and a lost friend needs the gospel?
While I’m not suggesting that we sin intentionally, maybe it’s time to let the righteousness of Jesus supersede some of our rigid – and often human-developed – “rules”.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for September 14, 2025
References:
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Mark, by Allen Black. © 1995 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 