Since they could not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the mat through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd before Jesus.Luke 5:19

What a wild ride. How did they even get him on the roof?

I'm imagining a litter in an old war movie, two poles grasped by his friends as he rested on the canvas between them. That works fine for carting him to the house, or maybe even for gently lowering him down through the roof, but how did they get him up there?

I see him wide eyed and terrified, clutching the sides of the litter and begging his friends to be careful as his head and feet tilted and bumped and swayed higher and higher above the ground. It's a story of incredible faith, but whose? The friends definitely. Their boundless determination to get this man before Jesus is a picture of faith in action.

But what about the man himself?

Did he go willingly? It's not like he really had any power to stop them.

Did he expect a miracle, or merely indulge their kind thoughts?

Did he trust they wouldn't drop him on that bumpy trip of the side of the house, or did he beg to be returned to the quiet safety of his infirmity?

Either way, the miracle was his; the forgiveness of God, the strength to walk, the power to someday carry another helpless soul to the one who could make him whole.