Today's story is about a man who was paralyzed. Being paralyzed meant that he couldn't walk and probably couldn't use his legs. He had to sit or lay down all the time.
Just think for a minute about how hard it would be to do things if you couldn't walk around. How would you go to the bathroom? What kind of games would you play? How easy would it be to make friends?
Jesus entered one of the homes in Capernaum and many people quickly gathered around him. So many people came at that time. There was no room left; not even outside the door.
People were pushing each other a little bit to squeeze everyone in, plus there were people gathered outside to see or hear Jesus when he came out.
There were four men who heard that Jesus was in town who decided to carry their paralyzed friend on a mat to him, to see if he could be healed. They realized that they wouldn't be able to get through to see him, as soon as they got to the house where Jesus was.
Someone decided to take him to the roof of the building where Jesus was!
So, these four men decided to take mat, with the paralyzed man lying down, to where Jesus was.
These men were so sure that Jesus would be able to heal him; otherwise they wouldn't have gone through so much trouble.
The first thing Jesus said, when He saw that they believed was: "Son, your wrongdoings are forgiven." Then, before He was finished Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."
The man got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all.
Jesus always respected whatever wrongdoing we could make. Actually, he is always there to help us to understand the meaning of the real love.