by Rose Murdock

"And when He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.  And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.  And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men.  And being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying." Mark 2:1-4 NASB

Here we see the people of Capernaum hearing that Jesus is in the house and they came over and filled the house to overflowing.  Of course we know it happened everywhere He went that people crowded around Him.  Some were true followers, some were curious spectators and some were trying to find fault with Him.  Whatever the reason, we see these people filling the house and we see the man who needed to be healed being let down through the roof because there was no other way for him to get close to Jesus.  Bishop Clarence McClendon said it well when he said that "Spectators will keep those with true needs away from Jesus."  We need to ask ourselves if we are one who is keeping those with true needs away from the Lord, or are we one that is doing whatever is necessary to bring the sick and hurting to Him?  Is our attitude of skepticism or faultfinding keeping others away from Jesus?  Or are we finding a way to get those who need a touch from Jesus close to Him?

The love of God will compel us to help those who need a touch from Jesus get close to Him.  But in order for us to be able to help those who are hurting we’ve got to come to a place where our own doubts are dispelled and our criticism is replaced with praise.  Then, armed with faith and praise we will be able to reach out to a world in need and bring them to a place of receiving a touch from the Lord.  Let’s look at these three groups of people, faultfinders, spectators and true followers.

The faultfinders were those who were looking for a way to bring Jesus down.  Sadly, they were the religious leaders of the day.  They were the ones who didn’t want Jesus to be exalted in any way because it would take away their own positions of respect and honor.  They were supposed to be the ones who were most knowledgeable of the scriptures and the ones who should have been able to recognize the Messiah when He came, but in reality they were the ones who opposed Him the most.  And of course they had their own following.  Jesus didn’t have many kind things to say to them calling them hypocrites and serpents.  The very ones who were supposed to be leading people to God were in fact leading them away from Him.

If we consider ourselves to be true followers of Jesus, we need to remain on guard against becoming a faultfinder.  It’s very dangerous for us to think that we are not in danger of becoming a faultfinder or a hypocrite.  The Apostle Paul said if anyone thinks he stands then he should take heed lest he fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).  The minute we think we have it all together enough that we would never become a religious hypocrite is when we need to repent of pride and put an attitude of humility back on.  The danger here is when we think we are working for God but in reality through our own critical attitude we are opposing Him.  Whenever we criticize our brothers and sisters in Christ who are we opposing?  We are opposing the body of Christ, which we are a part of! We are opposing the Lord Himself (See Matthew 10:40).

The faultfinders thought they were serving God when in reality they were serving their own selfish interests and ambitions.  The solution here is to submit our will to the Father’s and ask Him to reveal His truth so we can recognize the moving of His Spirit.  If we are always looking for fault, we most definitely will find it, but if we are looking for God then we will find Him.  Whatever we are seeking for, we will find so let’s spend our attention looking for God and what He is saying and seeing the value in our brothers and sisters instead of looking for all of their faults and errors and how we can ‘fix them.’

The spectators were those who were curious about Jesus.  They may have believed He was from God but there were doubts there.  They were in a place of saying, "tell me more, show me more and then maybe I’ll believe."  They were looking to be convinced through rationalization and intellect.  In order to come to a place of faith in Him we need to get past the doubts and respond with faith from our hearts.

The biggest problem with those who remain in a state of perpetual doubt is fear.  They are afraid of what taking that step of faith to believe will cost them.  It’s a painful thing to continue to ride the fence!  These are also people who want to enjoy the benefits of the Kingdom of God without committing to it.  These are often those who happily follow Jesus until a difficult choice comes up and then they choose the easy way out instead of what they have been hearing the Lord teach.  Like the seed sown on stony ground, they spring up joyfully but when trouble comes and the choice is there of whether to do it God’s way or not they make the wrong choice.  They are unwilling to allow the Lord to change their stony heart into a soft, pliable heart that will give the Word of God room to take root and grow.

We may, unknowingly, have stones in our own heart that need to be removed in order for the Word of God to have free course in our life.  Again, the solution is to ask the Lord to show us the truth concerning our own heart and make a decision to trust Him and put Him first.  It’s a choice that we can make when we understand that His love for us is great and it’s a pure love.  Perfect love casts out fear and any fear we have that’s causing us to waver and doubt will be cast out as we receive His love (1 John 4:18).

The true followers of Jesus were those who were listening to the teachings of Jesus and accepting what He was saying as the truth.  They were those that began to pattern their lives after Jesus rather than trying to see if Jesus could fit somewhere into their previous beliefs.  These are the ones who would listen to their heart and were able to recognize a move of the Spirit of God.  And even if they didn’t have a great understanding of the scripture, they could see that there was nothing Jesus did that violated the intent of scripture.  They knew of God as a good God and could see the goodness of the Father in what Jesus said and did.  These were people interested in truth over and above self.

Those who tore up the roof to bring the paralyzed man down were interested in one thing—getting their friend to Jesus who they knew would heal him.  They had discovered Jesus as the Son of God and, motivated by love, were bringing others to Him to be healed.  They didn’t stay there as a part of the crowd, remaining skeptical or looking to find fault.  They heard, they believed and their life was changed so much by His powerful words that they had to share their experience of deliverance and freedom to someone else.

Let’s follow the example of those who simply believe.  Do we really want to follow Jesus, or do we just want Him to accompany us as we go down our own path?  Once we experience the joy of His presence, we know we want Him with us.  But it is a true follower who will allow Him to lead.

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