“Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his man, right down in front of Jesus.” – Mark 2:3-4
Yesterday, we discussed what four men were willing to do for their friend to get to Jesus. These men carried their paralyzed friend on a mat, and as Mark 2:4 says, “They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his man, right down in front of Jesus.”
This house was so crowded that they couldn’t get him in, so they had to go through the ceiling. But these homes weren’t like our homes where everyone had their own rooms with separate bathrooms and living rooms. Most homes in ancient Capernaum only had one or two rooms total, and everything that happened in the home happened in that shared space.
When it was time to go to bed, they didn’t have beds with mattresses and box springs— each person would have a mat that they unrolled and placed on the dirt floor inside the home.
The roofs were also very different than the roofs on top of our homes. They were flat and made up of common materials such as sticks and mud that would be hardened by the sun. They would make the roofs sturdy enough to walk on but not exactly durable.
Another thing to note is that the streets in the ancient city of Capernaum were extremely narrow. I have stood in the streets, and if you outstretch your arms on either side, you could touch both structures. Most ancient streets in this town were only about five to six feet wide.
So if you can imagine this scene with a little more clarity, you can imagine this house where Jesus was, packed with people. The streets were filled. And yet, here come these four men carrying their paralyzed friend on a mat.
They were willing to do WHATEVER IT TOOK to get their friend in front of Jesus. Would you have done the same? Many of us are guilty of not sharing the gospel because it can be “awkward.” We don’t know how the message will be received. But here is a picture of four men with completely adverse circumstances willing to do whatever it took to get their friend to Jesus.
If you want to be the servant Jesus desires, you need to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get them to Jesus!