Two Types of People

Several days later, he returned to Capernaum, and the news of his arrival spread quickly through the city. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there wasn't room for a single person more, not even outside the door. And he preached the Word to them. Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher. They couldn't get to Jesus through the crowd, so they dug through the clay roof above his head and lowered the sick man on his stretcher, right down in front of Jesus.

When Jesus saw how strongly they believed that he would help, Jesus, said to the sick man, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Mark 2:1-5 (TLB)

Early in Jesus' ministry, he was preaching at a home. A large crowd gathered to hear him, many of whom had been healed of sickness by Jesus in the weeks before. Now they and many others returned to hear him preach. It was so crowded that a group of people who brought a friend to be healed could not get anywhere near Jesus. So they climbed up to the roof of the house, cut a hole in it, and lowered the friend down to Jesus.

As Jim Weems, from Mississippi, considered the story, it seemed to him that there were two types of people in the story. People who wouldn't get out of the way so a man who needed Jesus could get to him and people who would do any thing to get their friend to Jesus. Which one am I? Jim wondered. He thought of the times he noticed people that need Jesus - at work, on the street, friends, family. God doesn't always ask us to cut a hole in the roof. Maybe we are called to offer a kind word, a meal, a listening ear, or sometimes just to get out of the way. Now when Jim comes upon a need, he asks Jesus to open his eyes and his heart so that he is helping and not standing in the way.

Prayer: Dear God, open our eyes to those in need around us so that we can offer help in your name, in Jesus' name. Amen.