Been thinking.....

I have been reading a wonderful book by Gregory Boyle. He reminded me of the story of Jesus healing the paralyzed man …. You know, the one whose friends picked him up and brought him to Jesus only to find the place so incredibly crowded there was no way they could get in. That one.  The utterly amazing thing in this story is not that Jesus healed the man – that was normal for him.  Astonishing to the onlookers but so normal for Jesus. Lots of people apparently had faith --- they came and stood in line, they asked and received.  (Jesus healed all who came to him.) I am quite sure the friends of the paralyzed man had faith, else they would not have made the journey, carrying their friend. But what happened next is the extraordinary part of the story. These guys looked at the crowd and knew there was no way they were going to get in carrying their friend.  It just wasn’t going to happen.  So, what did they do? Push, shove, shout, apologize to their friend for failure? Have a prayer meeting?  No, they quickly had a committee meeting!  In unity they arrived at a solution, risky as it was. Sure, it might make the homeowner angry; yes, there were safety issues; someone might fall; the ropes could break; they’d make a mess; people would criticize, the Pharisees would likely be very offended. None of this really mattered more than getting their friend to the Healer. 

So, they ripped up a roof.  

Faith? Faith got them there but sheer determination and willingness to risk much got the job done! 

Is it possible that sometimes our faith is actually “enough” but our willingness to do the work, take the risk, maybe even look foolish, is not?