The Faith of Friends

When Joel and I were in Kenya this past summer, we had the privilege of attending a worship service at a downtown Nairobi church plant. We had been there before and had loved the vibrancy of both the music and the preaching. This time was no different. There's just something profound about worshiping your God half way around the world, in both English and Swahili, with people you've never met yet share a deep spiritual bond with. I don't think I'll ever tire of it. And if I do, please...someone...slap me. Because it's beautiful and awe-inspiring and makes me want to throw my arms around the world (shout-out to my fellow U2 fans!).

The sermon that day was about Jesus healing the paralytic. You know the one where the four friends carry their paralyzed buddy to a house where Jesus was chillin', doin his thang...healing, teaching and putting the nay-sayers in their places (I seriously love this guy's style). The friends arrive with their buddy on a stretcher only to be blocked by the crowd. Instead of waiting in line, or turning around to go home, these friends managed to climb to the roof of the house, remove the covering over the atrium ceiling, and lower their paralyzed buddy down to Jesus. Upon seeing the shear determination and faith of these friends, Jesus forgave the paralytic of his sins and healed him.

Whenever I've read this passage in the past, I have always focused on the miraculous healing of the paralyzed man and the myriad of emotions he must have felt when he rolled up his mat and walked home. Seldom did I dwell on the role of the friends. But that Sunday in Nairobi, the pastor enthusiastically reminded us that it was the faith of the friends that led to this man's healing. It was their compassion, their perseverance, their love for their suffering friend. But ultimately it was their faith in Jesus. They so deeply believed he could make a difference in this man's life that they scaled the walls and ripped off a roof just to be seen. The paralytic in this story does and says nothing. Nothing! It was not by his faith that Jesus took notice and acted. It was by the faith of his friends. Ah-mazing. Needless to say, I wept through the last 15 minutes of that service. At least. I was so starkly confronted by the fact I have an obligation as a Christ follower that goes beyond understanding: To pray for my friends and loved ones in their times of need, to act boldly on their behalves. And to do so even when especially when I know they are doing nothing to help their own situations. I knew I had failed miserably at this task. I knew I had given up on certain people or situations because I didn't see God intervening in the way I thought He should. It was a defining moment for me.

Fast forward to this past Sunday at my in-laws' church. Different location (by several thousand miles). Different pastor (by about 100 pounds and 10 shades of skin color). Same passage from the Bible. Same basic message. This time I fought back tears because I am the paralyzed friend on the stretcher. I am the one who's grown tired of praying for the same thing day after day. But you, my dear friends and family members. You are the ones carrying me to the roof and lowering me to the feet of Jesus. You are the ones holding me up with compassion, with perseverance, and with faith. And it's because of you this journey through infertility and adoption hasn't crushed my spirit and left me hopeless.

But since they found no way to carry him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down on the stretcher through the roof tiles right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
-Luke 5:19-20