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. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Mark 2:3-5.
I’ve heard it said, we become the sum of the five people we spend the most time with. We are shaped and influenced by the people around us. As Jesus shows in this Gospel, we can be defined by the people we surround ourselves with.
Can you imagine digging open the roof of a house? In a public setting? Surrounded by a crowd? To lower your sick friend down to a man who may be able to heal him? What sort of anticipation and thrill and fear must go into that?
What sort of dedication must the paralytic’s friends had?
Over the years of adulthood, I’ve seen my friends do sad things. Whether it’s unwisely refrain from marriage or leave the Catholic Church, we are not college kids anymore. We were thick as thieves for four years, but now we’ve drifted apart from our life choices. Some of us have moved forward while others walked backwards. It’s hard to approach friends and counsel them towards God. Somehow, leading someone back to the Church seems more intimidating than cutting open a roof.
But, thinking of the friends I am closer with now, I do feel I could counsel them back if they strayed. I am in a new stage of life, surrounded by a new set of five people. There isn’t anything wrong with that. We all grow up. Everyone changes. Life moves in one direction and we find others moving the same way. In each stage of life, we need to find our new five people who will carry us to Jesus.
The paralytic’s friends knew he was sick, and they took him to healing.
Are we crippled in some aspect of life? Do we have a crippled friend, or need to seek healing ourselves? Or bring a friend to it? Who we surround ourselves with matters, because we may need them to bring us to Him.