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THERE’S NO STOPPING US

Do you remember the story about the love-struck boy who wrote a note to his girlfriend, and said: “Baby, I love you more than any man has ever loved any woman. I’d swim the deepest ocean for you. I’d climb the highest mountain; I’d cross the driest, most arid desert. P.S. I’ll come see you Thursday evening if it isn’t raining.”

I contrast that with stories where someone has a goal in mind . . . and simply will not be denied. Nothing can get in the way; nothing can stop them. Maybe you recall the famous Post Office line penned by William Mitchell Kendall: Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. That actually goes back, by Kendall’s own admission, to the writings of Herodotus, and describes how dedicated the Greeks were in their conquest of the Persians clear back in 500 B.C.

Some of you may be familiar with a marvelous story making the rounds recently about a family named the Aamirs, living in Sherpur, a neighborhood that was part of Kabul during the reign of terror of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The spies were everywhere; the dreaded religious police from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice had informants and telephone bugs everywhere you turned. But this simple family had an interest in learning more about the Christian faith; they were eager to watch a clandestine DVD of the “Jesus” film which had been translated into the Dari language, or Afghan Farsi. And they were willing to take a chance on having the two girls from Texas come in a taxi from their own neighborhood, Wazir Akhbar Khan, and show them the film. They were willing to have their children learn the song, “God Made the World,” as the young missionaries taught them the hand motions. A visiting girl was sick with an infected cheek, and the family was determined to have the two missionaries from SNI — Shelter Now International — pray for her “in the name of Jesus.” They were willing to take a chance and accept a smuggled, photocopied edition of a storybook about the life of Jesus. And, as the world now knows, it was at the conclusion of that secret meeting — August 3, 2001 — that Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer were picked up by the Taliban and held as prisoners until well after the September 11 terrorist attacks on America. But here was a family in Afghanistan who wouldn’t let anything stop them from hearing about Jesus, and two incredible heroines in the cause of Christ who REALLY wouldn’t let anything or anybody keep them from taking the gospel to someone who needed to hear it.

By the way, if you haven’t yet read Prisoners of Hope, the story of their experience in Afghanistan, it is absolutely a breathtaking adventure. By all means, get a copy and enjoy it.

But back to our story in the ancient city of Capernaum, where there was a Taliban of sorts at work as well. In fact, as we’ve studied this tale in Mark chapter two, it seems like the secret police of Jerusalem were right there in Peter’s house where Jesus was teaching. And outside, standing in the bleachers, were five men — four of them holding a stretcher and one man riding IN it — who faced a barrier. Jesus was inside the house. Healing was inside the house. Spiritual wellness and peace were inside the house. But standing in the way were the priests and the secret police. Plus just plain crowds — an innocuous mass of humanity that simply wouldn’t budge. It was like a Tokyo subway car at rush hour; you just couldn’t fit one more sardine into the can.

And what did they do? Since this man’s paralysis wasn’t immediately life-threatening, we would say today that he could tell his four ambulance attendants to take him to another hospital. Or get on the Internet and find another Urgent Care center in the next town. But somehow these five men knew that there is only one Jesus. It was going to be THIS Healer in THIS crowded house on THIS day . . . or nothing. And, praise the Lord, these five men simply were not going to be denied. But rather than say, “Excuse me, excuse me, coming through” five hundred times, they did something rather unique. You already know the story, but here’s Luke five, verse 19:

“When they could not find a way to do this [get in through the front door], because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.”

The great Christian writer Alfred Edersheim, in his monumental classic, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, paints the picture for us this way.

“What was to be done? Access to Jesus was simply impossible. Shall they wait till the multitude disperses, or for another and more convenient season? Only those would have acted thus who have never felt the preciousness of an opportunity, because they have never known what real need is. Inmost in the hearts of those who bore the paralyzed was the belief that Jesus could, and that He would, heal.”

The Bible commentary used by many ministers in my own Adventist faith community hits the nail right on the head. Notice this:

“Their tearing of a hole through the roof spoke eloquently of their urgent sense of need, and of their faith that only Jesus could satisfy it. Such consciousness of need and such faith are essential before the healing power of Jesus can be applied to either body or soul.”

You know, we’ve had experiences here at the Voice of Prophecy where searching people really arrived — in a manner of speaking — in an ambulance. “Can you help me to know God’s Word . . . and I mean right now?” they ask. Sometimes we invite someone to study our Discover Bible Course, and they literally almost ask us to Fed Ex them the first ten lessons. I don’t know what kind of ache drives their desire, or what kind of spiritual paralysis they’ve been feeling, but listen, that is a good ache, a healthy desperation! They just have a sense that Jesus is in the next room, that healing is five minutes away, but they need to climb through the wall, go down through the roof, tunnel through under the barbed-wire fence or whatever. And friend, that is absolutely the way you and I should feel about any opportunity to get to where we feel the healing touch of the Master Physician.

Back to our Capernaum caper — and in all fairness, we should observe that it was probably easier to come in through the roof back then than it is today — with all the shingles and fiberglass insulation and sheet rock and cable TV wires we have now. The New International Version text notes have this architectural news for us:

“A typical Palestinian house had a flat roof accessible by means of an outside staircase. The roof was often made of a thick layer of clay (packed with a stone roller), supported by mats of branches across wood beams.”

That same scholar, Albert Edersheim, agrees that they could have just climbed up the outside stairs to the rooftop, but gives us an interesting Plan B:

“They may have ascended in this wise, or else reached it by what the Rabbis called ‘the road of the roofs,’ passing from roof to roof, if the house adjoined others in the same street.”

Isn’t that a fascinating picture? Four men carrying a stretcher, and maybe climbing awkwardly from one rooftop to the next one, maybe having to lift their friend over three or four retaining walls separating one house from the next one. In any case, I love that idea of the “road of the roofs.” Listen, friend, you and I need to be willing to take any road, smooth or bumpy, that will lead us to the feet of Jesus. If the pathway to Calvary has potholes in it, then so be it. Even Jesus admitted, in Matthew 7, that the road to eternal life might be a very tight squeeze.

“Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

And for this desperate man, the gate wasn’t just small — it was nonexistent. His four friends had to literally make the gate, by pulling a few tiles loose and then making their move. How many other people that day, in that city, at that moment, were equally sick? But because of the crowd, or because of their own inertia, or their own doubts and fears . . . stayed home? And missed the healing?

Even more troubling, how many people were there in Capernaum, right within walking distance, and turned left instead of right – didn’t even go over to Peter’s house with their two good legs and their two good ears so that they could hear the saving gospel message from the lips of Jesus Himself? That’s a much deadlier detour than to simply fail to get your body well. And how is it for us right now, right here, today — October 28, 2004 — when the door to the Savior is standing open this very moment?