This week we will take a look at four amazing friends who risked it all to get their friend the help he truly needed.

 

Mark 2:3-4

Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. (NIV)

 

• Four men carried a paralytic to Jesus
• They cared for him deeply
• They could not get to Jesus
• The crowd was enormous
• They dug a hole in the roof to get their friend to Jesus

 

APPLICATION:

• We should care enough for others that we are willing to carry them
• We should do everything we can to get them to Jesus
• No obstacle should stop us

 

Can you imagine? These five friends, one of them is paralyzed and can’t get himself around. They hear that Jesus is coming to their town in Capernaum. They take him on a stretcher, carrying him all over town, searching for the one called Jesus. They finally locate the house that He is meeting in and the crowd is too large. There are people everywhere, and they can’t get anywhere near Jesus, let alone into the house. One of them has a crazy idea, and so they climb up the outside stairs onto the roof. They begin to pick through the roof with knives into the dried mud and straw. Stuff begins falling down on to the people inside the home, and there is dirt and dust falling everywhere. A large opening begins to appear in the ceiling, and then four faces appear in the gaping hole. They tie their sashes to the stretcher and begin to lower the young man to the floor below.

 

Mark 2:5 says “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralyzed man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven’”. The man was healed completely. He took up his mat and he walked through the crowd and met his friends outside. They were joyous, slapping one another on the back, celebrating the miracle that they had just witnessed.

 

Michael Slater in his book, Becoming a Stretcher Bearer says, “One of the biggest obstacles in developing a strong community with in a church is a false Christian Philosophy. This philosophy says we don’t need one another that everything is going great and that it’s the ‘other person’, never ourselves, who has needs.” It is for this very reason that we as believers need to become Stretcher Bearers.

 

This story in Mark chapter two is our first glimpse at stretcher bearers in scripture. The basis of this story is that this young man truly needed his friends to carry him and his problem to the feet of Jesus. And because of their faith, he was healed!

 

In our churches we need stretcher bearers for a number of reasons: physical illness; social problems; spiritual struggles; and even emotional illness. We need to be prepared to lift someone else’s stretcher. It is never convenient, but the need is still very real.

 

Michael Slater later goes on to explain what destroys individuals. “What can destroy people, and often with suicidal results, is when people find themselves on stretchers and they feel no one cares.” One actual suicide note from a Christian man read: “Life isn’t worth living. No one cares for me. No one will care if I live or die. Because of this I choose to die.” The author goes on to say, “What destroyed him was not just being on the stretcher, but feeling that no one would carry his stretcher and help him through this very troubled time.”

 

Several years ago there was story in a newspaper of a young boy who drowned in a lake while bystanders looked on. The article goes on to explain that no one volunteered to help. When questioned, several of them replied that they “thought that someone else would jump in to save him”. No one even tried to help him, and when they did, it was too late. How can people see someone in need and not respond?

 

The question for us is “Who’s going to get wet?” Much of humanity seems to be drowning in whole lakes of misery and distress, and they need someone to grab their stretcher and to take them to the feet of Jesus! Who will be the one to come alongside and lift? It takes a team of individuals. Pastors can’t do all the lifting on their own. It takes a community of caring followers of Christ to bear the load.

 

Galatians 6:2 says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

 

If we are going to be the kind of churches that God has called us to be, then we need to learn to be Stretcher Bearers.

 

Pray that God will give you a heart of compassion. Pray that He will help you to see people and needs in your community and church with His eyes.

 

If you would like more information on how to be a stretcher bearer in your church or community contact your church or us at (928)636-2949