Standing In For Those Who Can’t Stand - The Four Friends

While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus.

Mark 2:2-4

Mother Teresa, the Nobel Prize–winning nun who spent her life assisting the desperately poor in Calcutta, India, once said, “It is a kingly act to assist the fallen.”

Mother Teresa did more than her share of “kingly acts” in her eighty-seven years of life on earth. She became famous worldwide as an advocate for the desperately poor and helpless, and she inspired countless others to give of themselves in service to God and humanity.

Four unnamed men in the second chapter of Mark’s Gospel demonstrated this kind of compassion. They went to extraordinary lengths to assist the fallen and thus manifested the kind of compassion God asks us to extend to the world around us.

The Bible doesn’t tell us what these men might have said to one another or to the people around them. We can only imagine their thoughts as they tore a hole in a roof and lowered their friend down on a mat to rest directly in front of Jesus.

Sometimes a man’s words count a great deal less than what he does on behalf of another. These four men didn’t ask Jesus for anything for themselves. Rather, they selflessly did something extraordinary to bring a needy friend before Jesus, who gladly responded to their faith and compassion. These men acted out of a willingness to stand for someone who couldn’t stand for himself.

Who in your world needs you to perform the same kind of act on his or her behalf? Genuine faith doesn’t just think kind thoughts or feel warm emotions toward someone in need; it acts out of faithfulness to God.

You can perform no greater act of compassion than to stand for someone who can’t stand for himself or herself. Who in your life needs you to stand in the gap for them today? Perhaps it is someone living under your own roof.