Four Friends and a Roof

This story has four friends, one crowded house, and a big hole in the roof!

Jesus had come home to the town of Capernaum, right beside the Sea of Galilee. News spread fast that Jesus was home, and people came from all over to see him. So many people crowded into the house that there was no room left, not even around the door. They were squeezed in tight, like fish in a net. And Jesus was teaching them God's word.

Meanwhile, four friends were coming down the street, carrying a mat. On the mat lay their friend, who couldn't walk at all. His legs just wouldn't work. His friends believed that if they could just get him to Jesus, Jesus could help him. But when they reached the house, oh dear. They couldn't even get near the door!

They could have given up and gone home. But these friends did not give up. One of them looked up, and had an idea. The roof! In those days, many houses had flat roofs made of wooden beams, branches, and dried mud, with stairs up the outside. So up the stairs they went, carefully carrying their friend on his mat.

Then they began to dig. Scratch, scratch, scrape. They made a hole, right through the roof! Down below, little bits of dirt and straw began to sprinkle onto people's heads. Everyone looked up. What was going on? Sunlight streamed in through the hole. Then, slowly and carefully, down came a mat, with a man lying on it.

His friends lowered him with ropes, right down in front of Jesus.

Jesus looked up at the four friends peeking down through the hole. He could see how much they believed in him. Then Jesus said to the man, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." That means all the wrong things he had ever done were forgiven. Jesus was making his heart clean and new. But some teachers of God's law were sitting there, and they grumbled inside their heads.

They thought, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" They were right that only God can forgive sins. What they didn't understand was that Jesus is God's own Son. Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking. And he wanted them to know that he really did have the power to forgive sins. So he turned to the man on the mat and said, "I tell you, arise, take up your mat, and go to your house."

And the man got up! His legs were strong. He picked up his mat, and walked right out, in front of everyone. Can you imagine his four friends up on the roof, cheering and laughing for joy? Everyone was amazed. They praised God and said, "We never saw anything like this!"

And I wonder who fixed the roof afterward!

This story teaches us that a kind friend keeps on helping, even when it's hard.

And one of the kindest things we can do for a friend is to bring them to Jesus, by praying for them.