In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

A man was brought to the Lord Jesus Christ, paralysed, by four of his friends. And Christ, seeing their faith, said to him that he could be healed.

There are two things in this story which I would like you to think about. The one is that this man was ill, he was in need; perhaps he was unable either to express his need, or to express the faith that he had in the possibility of healing; but his friends had faith: faith in Christ, faith in His power to heal, to make whole. And they took this man and brought him to the Lord.

But their faith would not have been sufficient; many were paralysed, many were sick who did not find friends who would bring them to the healer. It is not only their faith in Christ; it is also their love to their friend that prompted them to act. And again, it is because this man, in the years when he was whole, was able to call out love, friendship, devotion, faithfulness in their hearts that in the hour of need they came to his rescue.

Here are two lessons for us. The one is that we can bring forth the needs of people - physical, spiritual and other needs; we can bring forth their needs to God if we have faith in His healing power, and our faith can open the gates of salvation for those who perhaps have not enough faith, who might not even be able to say, ‘I believe, Lord, help my unbelief - those who doubt, those who hesitate, those who are uncertain that we can bring them to the Lord. But this is possible only if the person in need has created in us, called out in us love; a love so personal, so faithful that we prove capable of acting. Or perhaps, if our life in Christ is deep enough that God has sawn into our hearts so much of His own compassion, of His own love that we can turn to the unknown, turn to whom we have never heard of, prompted by nothing but by his or her need, and bring him or her to God unto salvation, unto healing.

We must remember both the necessity for us to become capable of love and capable of calling out love around us. And also we must learn to have the daring of faith when we see need around us, and bring it to the Only One Who can resolve it, Who can heal, Who can make whole not only bodies, and minds, and souls, but the complex relationship between people.