Through the Roof: Mark 2:1-12

The house was suffocating. Bodies packed the doorway three deep, faces pressed against windows, voices straining to hear. Somewhere inside, Jesus was teaching, but most of the crowd could only catch fragments. The religious scholars had claimed the best seats, of course—Pharisees and teachers of the law who had traveled from Jerusalem to investigate this Galilean phenomenon.

Outside, four men arrived carrying their friend on a mat. The paralytic had not walked in years. His legs were withered, useless; his arms could barely grip the pallet's edge. But his friends had carried him through the streets, certain that if they could just get him to Jesus—

The crowd would not move. They begged. They pleaded. No one budged.

So they went up.