The Faith of Others

From today's bible reading:

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”   — Mark 2:5

The quote comes from the story of the man who was let down to Jesus through the roof by four of his friends, who had not been able to get to Jesus through the crowd around the door of the house.

Often times the gospels say that Jesus will offer forgiveness or healing to a person with a comment like, “Your faith has made you well.” Here, though, Mark says that Jesus responds, not to the faith of the paralytic, but to the faith of the man’s friends. Here is an encouragement:

1. to continue to bring those we love to Jesus in prayers of faith, believing in God’s goodness, and
2. to depend upon the faith of others if there are times when our own seems to falter.