I quickly darted into the house unannounced as the downpour started. Inside I found a man sitting on the floor in a large, vacant room looking up at the ceiling.
“I’m sorry,” I said to him. “I just needed to get out of he rain.”
The man acted like he didn’t hear me. He just continued to stare at the ceiling. I took a step closer to him. That’s when I noticed water dripping onto his face. I looked up at the ceiling and saw water seeping through some of the tiles in the ceiling.
“You oughta fix that roof,” I told the man. “And why are you sitting under the dripping water?”
“It was repaired,” he replied with a smile as water trickled on his face. “But I kinda like it like that.”
I shook my head not understanding the appeal. “But why?”
“Well the other day a man stopped by and helped repair the hole. But honestly he wasn’t very good at patching roofs.”
“So why did you let him patch it?”
“Well, the man said he felt responsible.”
“Responsible?”
“Yeah, the other day that guy everyone is talking about, Jesus, was in town in this very house.”
“Jesus was here?”
“Yeah, the place was packed. So this group of guys made a hole in the roof and lowered a paralyzed man down on a mat in front of Jesus.”
“So the guy who did the repair was one of the guys who tore the hole in the roof?”
“No, it was the paralyzed guy who repaired the roof,” the man replied.
“Wait a minute, are you saying the paralyzed man fixed the roof?”
“Yeah, Jesus healed him. He came back because he felt bad about the hole in the roof.”
“Jesus actually healed him?”
“It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” the man said as he stared at me intensely. “I was there. I watched them lower this helpless man on a mat down from the roof. I watched Jesus heal him. I watched the man pick up his mat and walk away. Then a few days later I watched him climb a ladder and fix the roof.”
“So it’s true?” I asked. “He was healed?”
“It’s true,” he replied as he looked up at the ceiling again. “It’s true.”
I watched him sitting under the leaky roof as water dripped on his face. He smiled again as he said, “You know what’s even more amazing?”
“No,” I replied.
“Jesus said his sins were forgiven before he healed him.”
I stood a moment and watched the water dripping on his head and streaming down his face. It was hard to tell if he was crying.
#WednesdayWalk Through the Bible — an exploration of what unknown people might have seen or felt when they witnessed the events in the Bible. This post is from the perspective of someone who witnessed Jesus healing the paralyzed man in Luke 5:17-26.
© 2019, CGThelen
140 Character Christian 
A tender and touching look at truth. Thank you
Thanks for reading.
I love this!!!!!!!! I have a blog I no longer write on where I did stories like this. I need to grab them at some point and share them on this one on Friday when I talk about Faith and fitness!! Thank you for sharing this!!
Thank you. I often think about what it would’ve been like to be there at the time of Christ. I have read this passage many times, but the last time I read it I started wondering about the hole in the roof — wondering if it was ever repaired; that maybe it kept leaking as a reminder of what occurred that day.
I love that way of thinking! I have a piece I wrote about a child who was sitting near the paralytic by the pool. I couldn’t help but wonder what it must have been like to see this man walk after such a long time. I love to look at scripture and think of the people around those for whom miracles happened. What it did for their faith or were they stuck in “Why not me?” as we do often allow ourselves to become. Scripture comes alive to me this way!!
Love it! Especially the ending.
Very interesting
Very interesting. I have wondered what it would have been like to be a fly on the wall in the time of Jesus, seeing and hearing the things He did and said. Would I have been one who left all and followed Him? I like to think I would have been.
I like it! You know, John said that, if all the stories written about Jesus were written down, the whole world would not be enough to hold them all. This would be such an example.
Wonderful story. This adds a different perspective to the story. Not only was the paralized man healed but he was able to touch the lives of others around him. The Lord is truely amazing.
Interesting new look at an unchanging story