Have you ever wanted to meet someone so badly that you were willing to do just about anything to meet them? When Jesus walked the earth, people traveled from great distances and fought enormous crowds to get close to the Savior. Some—such as the paralytic man in Mark 2—put even more effort into it.

There are several things that we can learn from this incident. First, we learn that Christ “preached the word to them” (Mark 2:2). Jesus was compassionate and healed many people, but that was not His main purpose here. His primary goal was to teach truth. Likewise, we can do all the good deeds in the world, but if we’re not teaching people about God’s love and His grace and our response to that, and trying to lead others to Him, we’re not doing enough.

Another valuable lesson here is the importance of friendship. Friends help each other achieve their goals, no matter what obstacles are placed before them. They came to this house and there was a tremendous crowd, but they were determined to get the paralytic man before the Lord. They uncovered a portion of the roof and lowered their friend down to be near the Lord.

A third important lesson is the power and authority of the Son of God. Jesus upset the scribes when He told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” The reasoned, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

James Burton Coffman writes, “The declaration of Jesus had profound implications: (1) it was an assertion of his deity…(2) It was an indication that he had read the hearts…and that he had determined the spiritual attitude of the man to have been fully consistent with the reward bestowed. (3) It proved that Jesus understood the man’s greater need as forgiveness, and so that was given first.”

The people who witnessed this miracle glorified God. Likewise, we should recognize the good things that happen today and give praise to God.