Through The Roof

Most everyone has had a "through the roof" moment.   Sometimes our emotions are through the roof, sometimes our workload is through the roof, sometimes it's our expenses, our taxes, our....  Whatever it is, it is generally heading up through the roof not the other way.

However there was one time recorded in the Bible when coming through the roof meant coming down, literally down through the roof of someone's house because the possibility of one someone's physical healing was barred by the crowd at the door.  It has been said that when the door is shut, go through the window - these folks took it a bit farther:

Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 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" (Mk 2:3-4).

To say they got radical is an understatement.  They pulled out the stops of conventionality and did what normal folks would deed unthinkable.  But this was not a time for normal, it was a time for through the roof action.  Their friend had one chance of being healed and they were willing to take one very big chance to get him to the Healer, Jesus Christ.

While the ran the risk of being criticized by all, by being charged with destruction of property, being dismissed by the Healer and thrown out by the crowd, they were determined to do whatever they could for this man.  It tells me two things: 1) They loved this guy and 2) they had great faith in Jesus.

Their act of faith, driven by their love, was received and rewarded by the Lord: "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, 'Son, your sins are forgiven'" (Mk 2:5).  If there are two things that warm the heart of God, they are love and faith - especially when they are through the roof.

So, go ahead and be extravagant in your display of love and faith.  Give the shirt off your back and turn the other cheek (cf. Luke 6:27-31), do what only great love and faith will compel you to do.  You may appear a little out there, others may say you are off your rocker but you will know that you are only going through the roof and straight into the heart of God.  Jus' Say'n.