Friends

Luke 5:17-20

“17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” 

Everyone needs a friend.  Nothing is better than knowing that if you needed help at two in the morning there would be someone you could call and count on.  Good friends are a blessing given to us from God.

The paralyzed man in the scripture above had good friends who were willing to go to great lengths for him.  They were willing to carry him on a mat to Jesus to be healed.  Arriving at the house where Christ was staying, they found that the crowds were so great that they could not get near Jesus.  

Instead of giving up, they regrouped and thought of a very unorthodox way of approaching Jesus.  They went up on the roof, moved some of the tiles,  and lowered their friend down inside the house to very the feet of Jesus.

We need friends on our spiritual journey; friends who will be there when we need them; friends we can talk to about our faith; friends who will keep us on the straight and narrow… 

friends who will keep us at the feet of Christ.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)