Healing the Friend

Miracles of Jesus

Healing the Friend

Mark 2: 1-12

In our last lesson we learned how Jesus healed the centurion's servant.
Ask:

Did Jesus have to go to the servant's home? (No)

How did Jesus heal the servant? (Jesus just said that the servant would be healed, and he was healed right away)

Tonight we are going to learn about how some men brought their friend to Jesus for healing:

Have someone read Mark2: 1-12 out loud.

First of all we see that Jesus is in Capernaum which basically became Jesus' headquarters for the rest of his earthly ministry.
Word had gotten around that Jesus was in town and that he was at Simon Peter's house and a large crowd had gathered to see Jesus.
Our attention is then drawn to five people and how they looked. One man is sick with palsy and four of his friends have brought him on a stretcher to see Jesus.
What is palsy? (it is when someone is paralyed)

What does the word "paralyze" mean? (not able to move or walk)

The group of five (four men carrying the stretcher and one on the stretcher) can not get into the house because it is so crowded. People are standing in the doorway and looking in the windows. The four decided eventually that they could go down through the roof. As you can see they were really determined for their friend to see Jesus. They had faith that Jesus could heal their friend so they were determined to do what it took so that he could see Jesus.

We all need Jesus. Even those who don't need healing, need to know His love and His forgiveness. How can we bring our friends to Jesus? (we can pray for them, invite them to church, tell them some Bible stories about Jesus, love them the way Jesus loves them and if they do something to hurt us, we need to forgive them like Jesus does)

The friend on the stretcher was really lucky to have such good friends. Do you have friends that would stick by you no matter what?

Let's read Proverbs 18:24b

What does this verse say about a really close friend? (they stick closer than a brother)
If you were really sick or sad, how would you feel to have a friend that stayed with you no matter what? (happy, safe, encouraged)

Jesus can be that type of friend for us. He sticks by us, no matter what. He is closer than a sister or a brother because He is with us wherever we are, all the time!