The Man Who Went Through The Roof

The Man Who Went Through the Roof

The poor man had been sick for years and years There wasn't a doctor in the world who could heal him. He couldn't even move. Other people had to care for him. Every day was just like every other day. Nothing ever happened.


	And then-


	one day-

the whole town was all astir. Up one street and down another, people were passing the word along. Jesus was in town!

The friends of the sick man thought, "How wonderful it would be if Jesus would make this poor man well." Then they got busy.

They tied a rope to each corner of his mat-bed so they could carry him. They-hup!-lifted him up and started off to find Jesus. And then they ran into-

TROUBLE.

Jesus wasn't in the market square. He was in a HOUSE - and the crowd was so great they couldn't get in. The men squiggled and they squaggled to try to get through the crowd. No use. They asked people to let them through. Nobody budged. There they stood, with their poor sick friend on his mat-bed, without a chance of ever getting in. There was nothing they could -

WAIT A MINUTE!

There WAS something they could do! It was daring. It was RISKY. But they decided to do it anyhow. They worked their way to the side of the house - to the outside stairs that led up to the roof. And-hup!-up they went, mat-bed and all. The men-oops made their way carefully across the roof. They made an opening in the roof- and THEN -

They carefully, c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y let the sick man down-


	d-o-w-n -


	into the room.

The people in the room looked up. They could hardly believe their eyes! They reached up to grab the mat-bed and backed up to make room for it. And the next thing the poor sick man knew-he was lying right there at Jesus' feet, looking up into Jesus' blessed face! And Jesus looked down at him and said, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Pick up thy bed - and walk."

WALK!

Everybody waited. Jesus had told the sick man to WALK! And that's exactly what the man did. He got up with wonder and rolled up his bed with amazement, and with tear-filled eyes he thanked Jesus. Then as the crowd parted to let him through, he walked right out of that house.

His good friends came leaping down the stairs. And they all met in front of the house and laughed and cried together and probably even hugged each other! How wonderful it was! It was almost too good to be true!

The sick man was now well and oh so happy. Because Jesus, the Son of God, healed him. And because he had friends who CARED enough to BRING him to Jesus!

THINK!

Is there any way you can think of that the sick man could have got to Jesus without his friends? Was there any time along the way that they could have given up? Aren't you glad they didn't? Can you think of any friends who have gone out of their way to take you to Sunday School or Bible School? Have you gone out of your way to take anyone else to where they could learn about Jesus?

A VERSE TO LEARN

"By love serve one another" (Galatians 5:13).