Hole in the Roof

Around the 2nd chapter in the gospel of Mark is a story that starts off with, “Now Jesus was in the house.…” Earlier Mark describes how Jesus healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law in Simon’s house in Capernaum. I am deducing that this was the same house that Mark was referring to here.

The house was so packed that four guys carrying their lame buddy couldn’t get in, so they came up with a brilliant plan – tear a hole in the roof and lower him down to Jesus from above. It was a very bold plan indeed, and Jesus commended the faith of the lame man’s friends. He healed the man both of his sins and his lameness and off he went, happy as a lark.

There had to be a point some time in the night when someone said goodbye and shut the door on the last visitor. Simon must have been so excited! It was such an unforgettable night! I can just imagine the amazed look on his face! That’s probably when Simon’s mother-in-law chimed in and said, “Now, Simon, first thing tomorrow you’re going to have to get up there and fix that roof!” Yep, she was definitely her old self again.

The next day up on the roof, I just wonder if Simon pondered, “Jesus, can do anything – should I have asked for the roof to be miraculously repaired, too?” I don’t know that he thought it, but I just know that someone had to repair the hole in the roof. And I know that whenever I repair things, it is a great time to think. I think about how Jesus was a carpenter and how he did a lot of repair work, too. Did Jesus help Simon repair the roof? We don’t know, but it could have happened that way.

Whatever the case, someone had to get up there and fix that roof. Isn’t that just like life? You’ve got a perfectly good roof over head and then someone comes along and tears a hole in it and leaves it for you to fix. But God grows us and changes us into something new and beautiful when we have to fix the broken things in our lives like screaming dishwashers, dead driers, and unplanned sky-lights. He is a repairer of people and we can focus on how He repairs us when we have to deal with all the things that need repairing that interrupt our normal daily lives. So every time you have to repair that broken whatever, remember that God is only one that can truly repair our relationship with Him. All the tedious time and energy spent making things all good again reflects our heavenly Father’s compassion on our broken lives.


--Johnie