Choose Your Friends Wisely
Adapted from a sermon by Adel Magdy
One of the most interesting stories in the Gospels is the story of the paralytic man that was lowered through the roof by his friends seeking his healing. Typically when Jesus heals someone, it’s through the personal faith of the one being healed. For the man born blind, Jesus said to him, “do you want to made well?”
In this story we hear a very different sentence. We read of a man being lowered through a roof by his friends and then Jesus says something quite different to him than in the other miracles of healing.
When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
Mark 2:5
It was because of the faith of the four friends that this paralytic man was able to walk again. Not because of his own personal faith. His healing came from the faith of his friends.
There is Biblical basis for the concept of receiving healing from the faith of those we surround ourselves with. When St Paul visits the town of Lystra, he begins preaching and is loved by the people. The Jews from other surrounding towns come and they turn the crowds against St Paul. They compelled them to stone him almost to death.
However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city.
Acts 14:20
St Paul rose when the disciples gathered around him. Similar to the story we read about the paralytic man, for it wasn’t his faith that made him well, but the faith of his friends that brought him to Christ.
We can rely on the faith of others when we feel weak. At times when I have felt distant from God and in extreme need, I have confided in my father of confession and as soon as I go home to pray, I pray not for my sake, but for the sake of the faith of my confession father who I know is praying for me. Almost always, this is a prayer that is answered.
What these four men did for their friend was incredible. They had every reason to give up; the crowd was huge, they couldn’t reach the Lord, they could have said it was too hard to lift the man above the roof, they could have said this is not our house to remove the roof.
Yet, none of this stopped them from seeing the Lord. These are the kind of friends that I need in my life. The ones that will do whatever it takes and come to the Lord no matter what it takes. These are the people I know will always look out for me.
Sometimes, even in a non-spiritual sense. In my second year of university, I got really sick and I missed the majority of the semester. I was constantly going back and forth from the doctors.
When I finally got back to my studies toward the end of the semester, I had an assignment due the next day. I had missed so much that I barely knew anything about the subject. I didn’t know what to do. I spoke to a good friend of mine and he said do what you can when you get home. This didn’t work very well for me so I was planning to explain my situation to the Dean the next morning.
As I walked into the office, I got a call from my friend who asked me where I was. I told him I was at the Dean’s office to make an appointment. He told me to meet him outside. I walked outside and saw him there holding an assignment that he had spent the whole night writing. He told me that he made mine very different to his and to submit it as my own. When we got our results, the assignment he had done on my behalf received a higher mark than the one he did for himself.
Imagine this on a spiritual level. Who did I consider to be my closest friends? Are they the ones that draw me away from the Lord? Or the ones willing to carry me to meet the Lord? These are the friends that I need.