When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.
~Mark 2:1-2
I’m a sinker more than a swimmer. Maybe you can relate to this. To challenge myself and overcome my fear of the water I decided to get Scuba certified with my son, Darby. I’ll never forget that day on December 30, 2016, in Washington’s Puget Sound. It was snowing that day, the water was a chilling 44-degrees, and water visibility was about ten feet. It was miserable yet memorable.
I’ll never forget the two most important rules of Scuba I learned that day. Rule 1: Never stop breathing underwater! Duh. Rule 2: Always have a diving buddy, and I was sure glad I had Darby on that day!
It’s refreshing to know that there’s always someone who has your back underwater, as well as in life. In the book, No Man Left Behind Morley, Delk, and Clemmer shared the alarming statistic that only 1-7 men in the church (only 1-18 outside the church) are connected to some kind of men’s group. Men lead lives of quiet desperation as because they live in isolation. We need diving buddies, a band of brothers—men on the roof.
Men, we need to be connected, and we need to be connected now! Mark 2:1-12 unpacks some key ingredients to what it means to be a man on the roof. The first clue is in verse 2, “and He (Jesus) was speaking the word to them.” Mark never records that the motivation of these men was for their paralyzed buddy to get healed. In fact, Jesus forgives the man (5) before finally healing him (11). Luke 5:17-25 implies that healing was the primary motivation but Mark strategically leaves it out to prove a point. These men wanted their paralyzed bro to hear this Jesus teach the Word.
Look for men on the roof who love the Word of God more than they love you. No one will watch over you better than fellow brothers in Christ. It takes guts to be this kind of friend. It takes guts to be a man on the roof who’ll speak the brutal truth (in love) no matter how much it hurts. The writer of proverbs penned, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend. (Proverbs 27:6)”
A man on the roof will do whatever it takes to bring me to the truth of Jesus. What kind of man are you with your friends—a man of guts or cowardice, a man who loves Jesus or pleasing people? Only you can answer that.
A man on the roof will do whatever it takes to bring me to the truth of Jesus. What kind of man are you with your friends—a man of guts or cowardice, a man who loves Jesus or pleasing people? Only you can answer that.
