Carry someone to Jesus today.

What it meant then

After Jesus healed a man with leprosy, the news spread so widely that he could no longer enter a town openly (1:40–45). Now he is back in Capernaum, where he had already healed many (1:29–34), and the house is packed past the door. Houses there usually had flat roofs of wooden beams covered with branches and packed earth. So four men get onto the roof, open it up and lower the man down. Jesus’ first words are not about the man’s legs at all. The healing comes only after some scribes silently object (2:6–12).

For today

Mark says Jesus saw “their faith.” Not only the faith of the man on the mat, but of the four who carried him, found the way blocked, and went through the roof instead. Some days you can walk to Jesus on your own. Other days you are the one on the mat, and someone else’s faith has to do the carrying. Today’s word is for the days you have strength to spare: take a corner.

Nothing here says the man was paralyzed because of his sins. Jesus simply begins with forgiveness and then gives the healing everyone could see (2:11–12). This kind of love is not tidy, either: someone’s roof was torn open. Bringing a person to Jesus is not always polite or convenient. That never means dragging someone where they do not want to go. It means not letting a crowd, or your own busyness, be the reason they never get close.

Think of who is lying on a mat near you: a friend in the hospital, a neighbor who stopped coming to church, a coworker whose marriage just fell apart. You may not be able to fix anything. But you can carry a corner: drive them to an appointment, sit with them in a waiting room, mention them by name when you pray with others. Four people, one corner each. Nobody has to carry the whole weight alone.