His Mat

Last week I was driving home in our van.  Ella and Eliza were sitting in the back and Eli was asleep in the middle.  All was quiet and I was in the zone (paying attention to the road of course).  Ella said from the back, "Mom, can we hear some music?"  I flipped on the radio which was set to our local christian station.  Focus on the Family was coming on.  It is funny how their broadcast can instantly take me back to my childhood days spent sitting in the backseat, while my mom listened in the carpool line.  So funny and strange that I am now the mom.

The broadcast was about Moms in Touch, a program in which moms meet solely to pray for their children.  The founder of the program said something that really stood out to me.  She referenced the passage of scripture found in  Mark chapter 2  where a paralytic man was lowered down from the roof of a crowded house by his friends.

 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. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
⁶ Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ⁷ “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
⁸ Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ¹² He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

I am sure many of you are familiar with this story as I was.  The friends out of love and faith carried and lowered the paralyzed man down to where Jesus was.  The scripture says that Jesus forgave the man's sins due to "friends" faith and he also healed him physically.  I am not sure why this story brought such new meaning to me...maybe it was because the man was paralyzed, maybe because Jesus healed the man, but it has been on my mind over and over throughout the past few days.

I keep thinking about these very loving friends.  Friends who cared enough to do the hard work of carrying someone who was perhaps heavy or uncomfortable.  Who knows how far or how long they had carried this man in order to get him there.  They were friends who obviously sacrificed their time and their own agendas to get their friend to Jesus.  They were diligent.  They didn't turn around when they saw the room was already crowded.  They were both persistant and creative.  They showed great love.  

I think this story resonated so much with me because I honestly feel like there have been so many carrying our little Eli's mat.  It is evidenced by the line that forms at church of  both men, women, young and old, who just want to seek a peek at our new little guy.  It is evidenced in the eyes filled with tears of those who have lifted our little guy to the Lord over and over throughout the past few months.  It is evidenced on the palm tree in our church's children's building.  It is filled with prayer request sheets on which many have the name Eli, written in sweet little kid handwritting.  It is seen when a child sees him at church and says, "Mom, there's baby Eli" or when they ask me about his legs and how they are doing.  I know they and their families are praying for him in their homes.   It is evidenced by many from all over...some we know and some we have yet to meet who have been so faithful to carry Eli's name faithfully before the Lord. 

When I listened to this story the other day, I was reminded that there are many who have faithfully lifted Eli to the Lord in persistence and diligence.  So many friends who have exercised faith on our behalf.  So many sweet friends who have carried Eli's mat.