When I taught a kindergarten Sunday school class, the kids loved to act out Jesus’ healing of the paralytic. Four children became the four eager friends of the “volunteer” paralytic whom they carried around the room in the middle of a blanket, each holding a corner. With great determination, they broke through the roof (usually a barricade of chairs) to bring their friend to Jesus, Who was surrounded by other people. When Jesus saw the faith of these devoted friends, He told the paralytic that his sins were forgiven, and the paralytic was healed.
I had always assumed that was the main message of this story—because of the faith of a few good friends, this paralytic was healed—until last year when our eighteen-year-old daughter Kendall suffered a baffling auto-immune disease that caused her to lose her hair. In her depression and discouragement, she seemed paralyzed in her faith, so her father and I began to “carry” her to Jesus in our prayers. We prayed fervently for the healing of her disease, but we seemed to hit a barrier: Her condition worsened.
That’s when I found another message in this passage. It’s not uncommon to pray for physical healing first, but Jesus has something greater in mind. He healed the paralytic’s heart first by forgiving his sins, because when a heart is healed, a person receives the strength and trust to endure, whether physical healing occurs or not. We “acted out” this Scripture with our daughter, carrying her to Jesus with the faith that He would heal her heart. Our prayers were answered.
Now when I read this passage about the miracle of Jesus healing the paralytic, I see a greater message: Because of the faith of a few good friends (or family members), healing can happen. Especially when our prayers are for healing first in a person’s heart.
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