WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?

Imagine the small room completely packed with people.  Some sitting on the floor, most of them standing, and there’s an overflow at the door, people spilling out into the street.  A crowd has gathered to see and hear who this Jesus-person is and what he has to say.

The four friends had planned that they would bring their paralyzed friend to meet Jesus. They had heard that he can heal.  But they saw that this was a sold-out crowd, standing room only, and their friend was stuck on a mat.

So, one of the friends says, if we can step thru the door, we’ll come thru the roof!  They carry their friend up to the roof, remove the tiling, and can you picture Jesus feeling something falling on his head, some crumbles of dry wall, mud and dirt, dust kicking up from above?

Everyone looks up, and sees these four devoted friends lowering the paralyzed friend thru the hole the ceiling to get to Jesus.

(Mark 2:5) Jesus seeing this outpouring of their faith says, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  Pause button…imagine being a paralyzed man 2,000 years ago.  He is eye level with the dirt road, nobody is giving him the time of day, I’m almost willing to say he’s treated with zero dignity.  But Jesus, before he even mentions the forgiven sin, says, “Son,” (other translations say “friend”).  That paralyzed man had to have had a moment of “what did you just call me??!”  Identity has been restored.  Jesus sees you, he calls you friend.

John 15:15 “I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.”

There are days when you feel like friends have walked away, or you aren’t worth being a friend.  Our Savior says otherwise.  You are loved, valued, and you have intrinsic value.

Jesus calls you friend.