Wednesday, February 11
Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay.
—Mark 2:3-4
Re-reading this story reminded me of a time when I was almost paralyzed myself. A number of things had befallen me, and I had undoubtedly contributed to the problem by making some unwise choices. Finally, one late summer weekend, my friend Lucy took matters into her own hands.
Over my protests, she arranged for me to attend a weekend silent retreat sponsored by Roman Catholic nuns. Lucy invited my two children to spend the weekend with her; then she picked me up, drove me to the retreat, and left me there. “This is what you need,” she told me. “It will save your life.”
I don’t know how she knew that it would “save my life” nor how the paralytic’s friends knew that Jesus would heal their friend. But both they and Lucy were right, on many levels.
That retreat began a healing process in me that is still taking place.
Friends can be catalysts for healing. Jesus certainly knew that; the paralytic learned that…and so did I.
Thanks be to God for friends who put our interests ahead of their own, and who bring us, sometimes kicking and screaming, to healing, and wholeness. Amen.