Bringing Your Friends to Jesus
Photo from Preserving Bible Times: https://preservingbibletimes.org.
When was the last time you brought a friend to Jesus? What did bringing a friend to Jesus look like in the first century context? What does bringing a friend to Jesus look like in our current cultural context?
Bringing your friends to Jesus can be difficult. It was also challenging for four friends to bring their friend, who was a paralytic, to Jesus in Luke 5:17-26.
Luke’s gospel account tells us, "And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus.” (Luke 5:18, ESV).
These four friends had to be persistent to receive the help they were looking for from Jesus. They had to address the complex issue of navigating the crowd, and when they could not push through, they had to design and implement another plan.
Brining our friends to Jesus requires diligence, perseverance, and tenacity. Bringing our friends to Jesus requires tolerance for adversity and uncertainty.
In his book “The Paralytic’s Amazing Friends,” Doug Greenwold wrote, “If these four friends were at all representative of the Body of Christ, the one who prompted this let’s-bring-him-to-Jesus notion (the “champion” of the idea), encountered various degrees of resistance. Less than affirming initial responses from the other friends might have ranged from “Are you sure you really want to do this?” to “Can’t we just be content with the way things are?,” to an emphatic “We can’t do that!” In an honor-and-shame based culture, there was considerable long-term reputational risk involved in being associated with such an effort.” (Greenwold, Doug. The Paralytic’s Amazing Friends. p. 14).
These four men brought their friend to Jesus under great challenge and pressure. They brought their friend to Jesus to receive healing, but he received much more than simply healing. This paralytic was healed and he was forgiven of his sin by Jesus. The paralytic received complete physical and spiritual healing from Jesus because of his friend’s love and care.
Luke tells us, “When they could not find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, “Friend, I forgive your sins!” (Luke 5:19-20, The Message).
Doug comments on this first gospel record of “raising the roof” by these four friends, saying, “Creating an access hole near Jesus in the targeted side room where He was standing would have taken a considerable amount of time. All that digging and cutting had to have fostered a growing commotion around Jesus.” (Greenwold, Doug. The Paralytic’s Amazing Friends. p. 30).
If we are going to bring our friends to Jesus, it will be challenging at times. We may even “foster a growing commotion around Jesus.” Regardless of the sometimes-difficult process of bringing our friends to Jesus, the benefit and the blessing outweigh the barricades and the barriers.
May we seek to bring our friends to Jesus every chance we get, regardless of the presence of challenging circumstances.
A Collect for the Spirit of Evangelism: "Almighty God our Savior, you desire that none should perish, and you have taught us through your Son that there is great joy in heaven over every sinner who repents: Grant that our hearts may ache for a lost and broken world. May your Holy Spirit work through our words, deeds, and prayers, that the lost may be found and the dead made alive, and that all your redeemed may rejoice around your throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (#20., Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
Begin each month with a #dailydevotional. I have created a #devotional book for each month, a devotional for every day of the year, and offering them for #free by subscribing. Get a link to #Cultivate365: #January2023—A #Daily Devotional here: www.robbiepruitt.com.
Photo from Preserving Bible Times: https://preservingbibletimes.org
