Looking for a roof

Sometimes email brings good news. This week I got news of several important political victories via email. The news is significantly encouraging given the fact that so few Porcupines have made so much progress in so little time. We influenced the outcome of numerous elections in favor of liberty. We lost a few, too (a couple of biggies), but the small gains we made indicate it’s possible for a few people to have an impact.

But sometimes email brings bad news. Such was the case with a particular email from friends who live in Colorado. The bone marrow transplant didn’t work. Who knows what comes next for them, but they’re obviously … how do you describe the state of someone facing potentially terminal illness? Scared, worried, confused, disappointed, crushed…

In his reply email, he mentioned reading a passage in the book of Mark. The irony of what he included came in what he left out. He asked us (the many recipients of his unfortunate announcement) to read Mark 2:1-5. For convenience I’ll quote it here (NIV):

“1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4 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. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

He’s a fairly smart guy. And I have to think he’s thought through his choice in his passage. If you’re unfamiliar with the rest of the story, Jesus winds up healing the guy. But my friend didn’t ask for Mark 2:1-12, he specifically asked for just verses 1-5. He asked his friends to encourage him and pray for him (a reasonable request).

When I first contemplated his selection of passages I wondered, where is the roof? Should I look for some way to ‘facilitate’ his healing? He’s sought medical attention, he’s sought prayer, what else is there? How can I be one of those friends who somehow brings this guy through this situation healed and whole again (he’s far too young to die, IMO).

Then it occurred to me… I don’t even know the whole story behind his faith. I don’t know who the ‘friends’ were who, years ago, lowered him through the roof. But I do know that this man has asked for, and received forgiveness. He’s already been through the roof. The rest of the passage is about a miracle designed to demonstrate that Jesus was who he said he was. The man who was healed wasn’t the focus of the story, Jesus was. He already demonstrated who he was and that miracle lives on to this day in the form of (among others) my friend’s salvation. Whether he’s healed from this illness or not, his body will die anyway (as will mine, and yours, the paralytic’s, and everyone else’s – death is, at the moment, inescapable). But Jesus handled the single most important thing first – forgiveness.

My friend, in what must be his darkest hour, understood and embraced that. I can only hope I have that much faith, courage, and composure when I find myself in such a situation some day.

V-