The Faith of My Friends

This summer I'm reading through the gospel of Matthew in my quiet time. It's full of very familiar stories to me, many of them brief and episodic touch points for individuals with Jesus. So to gain fresh perspective I have been asking myself, "What came next? How did these encounters with Jesus change everything?" Because it always does! 

One evening I was starting to get anxious because no one had signed up to stay overnight with me, and everyone I'd talked to had good reasons why they couldn't, and I couldn't get a hold of the rest. At about 8pm, I was stressed out and started to cry, feeling so vulnerable and helpless and wondering if this whole summer "adventure" was a foolish mistake. I went over to my desk to get a tissue for my eyes and nose, and my Bible was open right next to the tissue box, so my eye caught the passage that I would be studying the next morning ("if I survive this night!" my melodramatic mind added). It was the story of the paralytic whose friends carried him to Jesus - one of my very favorite gospel stories. I sniffed and looked away, because in that moment I was really in no mood to read it. But before I did, I saw a few precious words: 

When Jesus saw their [the friends'] faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son...” (Matt 9:2)

Instantly, God brought to my mind the smiling faces of all the precious friends who are caring for me right now, and I began to pray: "Lord, thank you for the faith of my friends. Thank you for their courage and compassion. Thank you for the way they love you and let that love spill over into my life..." 

As I was praying, my phone (which had been silent for five hours that afternoon and evening) began to buzz. It was one of my friends, texting to say that she would be here very soon to stay overnight, and that she would have a friend join her to help with the morning routine.

It's amazing to me that every time I cast my cares on Him and take heart and choose to thank him instead, that is when miracles happen. 

In the past I've thought a lot about the paralytic man in the story, and what his life might have looked like after this moment. But that evening, I started thinking about the friends - those guys who carried the man up onto the roof, dug a hole, and lowered him down to see Jesus. They saw Jesus forgive him and then heal his body; they watched him get up, roll up his mat, and make a grand exit. And then what? What happened next in their lives? 

It's clear that they were personally invested in this guy as a friend, and they not only got to see him restored but they also knew that they played an important role in that miracle. I like to think that experience made them so excited and motivated that they couldn't wait to find someone else to carry to Jesus. How many more mats did they lift? How many more roofs did they destroy? I recall the parable about the king who had the banquet, and I wonder if these guys, like the servant, dedicated the rest of their lives to searching the alleys and the highways for the blind and crippled, to bring them to Jesus. Perhaps they became known as The Brothers who Carry - Four Men and a Mat!  

It makes me wonder about my care team, and what will happen to them next, when this summer is over... What miracles will they see God do because of their care for me? How will it change them forever? Because of their faith, I take heart and know He will do even greater things, in and through them all.

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