For a friend, will I go the extra mile?

Yesterday was a Campus day of Prayer for my University, and it was really an encouragement to see so many like minded christians turn up, who dedicate their lives for the sake of Christ's sake.

I guess the take-home message of the day came from Shannon, a fellow full-time worker with The Navigators on NTU campus. The story was from Mark 2 about how Jesus healed a paralysed man, and forgave his Sins.

Perhaps if we draw away the main focus of the verse, which was about Jesus's Godly attribute (Back in Jesus's time, it was deemed that only God had the power to forgive people of sin), we can focus on the events that led up to this scene:


Mark 2 (Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man)
 ¹ A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. ⁴ Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.


I have always heard people say, that the bible does not record something that is unimportant. Every single incident described, event, people all had their purpose. In the verse above, the bible does not tell us who these 4 people who brought the man to Jesus was. Neither do we know their names or what their relationship with the paralytic was. Perhaps there were more than 4 men who brought (because it was recorded some "some men came") but nonetheless, we know there were at least the 4 of them.

However, we can deduce a few ideas to make sense of what was going on:
1) The men were desperate to get this paralytic to Jesus, as they could not wait for the crowd to disperse and had to carry him and break a hole in the roof
2) The 4 men must have been close friends with the paralytic and among themselves
3) They care for the paralysed friend and it was a common thing and believed they could do something for him.

I guess Shannon was right to ask us: "How often do we really truly care for our friends enough to go the extra mile like these 4 people did, and bring him to Jesus, even if obstacles come up?" I guess I was truly broken to know that in my heart, I probably won't go that far, even for perhaps my closest family members.

While it is not about measuring up to the "standard" just because I fall short, I want to be reminded that I truly have a place for them in my heart and if they truly meant a lot to me, I will make that effort to care for them. As much as I know I cannot do this, I pray that God gives me the strength to, for He first loved me. And now because of that, I am given a chance to learn how to love others.

Perhaps, that extra mile is just a first crucial step away =)