Luke 5:19 “But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.”

We always concentrate on the healing that took place in this story. Of course, that is the point, right? But what about the poor homeowner? I mean, come on, there is a 6 foot by 3 foot hole in his roof now. It would have taken a hole about that big to let the man down on his pallet without dumping him out on top of the Savior.

How about the mess on the floor? All that roof top material had to go somewhere. People were crowded into the house to hear Jesus and all of a sudden stuff starts falling. What do you think they were thinking? And the poor house servant or wife! What a mess to clean up!

Our children need to know that sometimes faith can be messy. It’s not all about dressing up in our Sunday best (not that many people do that anymore –that’s a whole other lesson) and going to church to show our faith. Sometimes when we exercise our faith we can get dirty. Sometimes when we show Christ’s love for others we can get dirty. Sometimes when we reach out to lend that helping hand we can get dirty.

In fact, let me encourage you to get dirty. Take your kids out and do a mission project somewhere in your neighborhood that requires you all to get dirty. Then tell them this story. Those men who lowered that pallet got their hands dirty digging through that roof. But their friends healing meant more than clean hands. The servant or wife who saw the dirty floor didn’t care when she saw that man get up and walk. So get dirty for Jesus! Bet you haven’t heard that before!