Rise Up

Rise Up
Mark 2:1-12

The residents of Capernaum were excited in this passage because Jesus had returned home! Once word spread of His arrival, His neighbors invited themselves over to His house. In fact, so many people showed up that they packed His house to the point it was standing room only. These people really wanted to be in the house of the Lord!

In the midst of all the excitement, five more men show up at Jesus’ house unannounced carrying their paralyzed friend. The paralyzed man could not move on his own; he required help and support. Many people would have left him behind, but these good friends of his carried him to Jesus.

Aren’t you glad someone brought you to Jesus?

It may have been your parents, another relative, one of your friends, a Sunday School teacher, a preacher, or someone else, but someone came along and led you to Jesus. Praise God for this person!

Clearly, these men cared about their friend. Here's a suggestion: Surround yourself with at least four people who truly care about you.

So these men carried their friend to Jesus. At least that’s what they tried to do. They carried him as close as possible, but they couldn’t get inside because of the overflowing crowd of visitors. Most people would have been discouraged at this point and returned home. They would have decided to come back and try again later. But these were good friends! They hadn’t carried their paralyzed friend this far to turn around and carry him back home. Instead, these crazy friends of his decided to climb on top of the house while carrying their paralyzed friend.

Once they got on the roof, they found the exact spot over where Jesus was standing and tore a hole in the roof to get inside. Then they lowered their friend down to Jesus using ropes. I believe they dropped the ropes after the man was safely on the ground at Jesus’ feet. After all, why would they hold onto them when they didn’t plan to carry him home?

When they dropped the ropes, Jesus saw their faith and told the paralyzed man that his sins were forgiven. We don’t know the full extent of this man’s sins; he may have been a homosexual, rapist, or murderer. That didn’t matter to Jesus. He forgave the man anyway.

This upset the religious leaders who were present. While they didn’t dare say it out loud, they thought, “but only God can forgive sins.” Jesus perceived their thoughts and asked them if it was easier to say “your sins are forgiven” or “rise up and walk.” His point was that He is God and could “forgive” someone’s sins because it doesn’t require proof. But if He said “rise up and walk,” people would expect to see results.

Then Jesus did something that astonished everyone. To validate His power to forgive sins, Jesus commanded the paralytic to rise up and walk and the man stood up, picked up the mat he had been lying on, and walked out of the crowded house.

“Rise up”

How was Jesus so confident that He commanded the paralyzed man to arise?

Because He knew that He was about to rise. Jesus was about to rise up out of the grave.

“Rise up”

To rise means to stand, to get up, to wake up.

It is time for you to rise up and create, build, start, finish, and go forward into your destiny.

You are paralyzed no more, because Jesus said “rise up.”

Rise up from death to life.
Rise up from sickness to health.
Rise up from poverty to prosperity.
Rise up from hurt to whole.
Rise up from doubt to faith.
Rise up from despair to hope.
Rise up from darkness to light.
Rise up from mourning to dancing.

“Rise up” like Jesus commanded.

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