The well-known narration of man bringing
a paralyzed man on a stretcher to Jesus is found in Luke, Chapter 5. The crowd was great, that they went up on the
roof and lowered him through the tiles.
Jesus cures the paralyzed man in front of the scribes and
Pharisees. It is a familiar story.
Today, the priest preached about
the faith of the stretcher-bearers. Once
they lowered their friend or relative or perhaps even master through the roof,
Jesus saw them. Luke Chapter 5 says, “When
Jesus saw their faith, he said to (the men bearing the man), ‘As for you, your
sins are forgiven.’”
I had not focused on the action of
those stretcher-bearers until today. It
took effort to bring the paralyzed man; from we do not know what distance. They so believe that Jesus could help,
that they brought the paralyzed man up on the roof, and lowered him in front of
Jesus! Because of their faith, that man was in front of Jesus when Jesus wanted
to show the scribes and Pharisees that “the Son of Man has authority on earth
to forgive sins.” He told the man to
“rise pick up your stretcher, and go home.” Than man did just that, glorifying
God.
Somehow, thinking about being a
stretcher barer is not as intimidating as being an evangelist.
Today, our pastor encouraged us to
be the ones that bring people to Jesus by our words and actions. To help them understand the important
difference in lives who have Christ as King.
We can be sure that then Jesus will do the rest. As the priest preached, I could think of two
people who have been on my mind for a while who I would like to speak to about
my faith.
My resolution during Advent is to
be a stretcher-bearer for each of them.
To bring one to church and to speak with the other about how God has
changed my life enormously. I pray that
I have the courage and wisdom to be their stretcher-bearer this Advent.
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