Can You Imagine?

I went to church the other day and something happened that absolutely blew my mind!

It happened that there was a speaker there who was talking with an authority that caused my heart to quake inside my chest.  This guy had quite a reputation and people were flocking to hear what he had to say.  It was so crowded that it was standing room only and people were actually lined up outside just to get a glimpse of this man.  It was rumored that through his ministry in the previous days, he had prayed for people with serious diseases and they were healed!  There was no explanation for it--the facts just seemed to speak for themselves.

The place was electric--everyone was wondering what would or could happen.  It was as though the words that came from this man's mouth cut to the core of those who were listening.  His ideas either brought about impossible hope for those who believed him or abject despair and anger for those who couldn't accept his message.  This was not a man who seemed too concerned about people's opinions.

But, in the midst of all this energy, the din of the crowd and the palpable anticipation, something else happened:  right in the middle of the sermon, bits of the ceiling started to fall down into the crowd.  It was small at first but then bigger chunks started to break away!  I didn't really know what was going on, so I looked up and I doubted what I was seeing, but as I strained my eyes I could see hands poking through the roof!  These were obviously not just curious hands, there was purpose in their movements.  They were there to do a job and nothing was going to stop them from accomplishing their task.  So the hole grew bigger and bigger until it was quite large--large enough that a full-grown man could fit through.  Then, and my eyes were not deceiving me, a man was lowered through the hole--right above the Speaker giving his sermon!  Right in the middle of the service!!

Can you imagine?

I thought everyone was going to be angry, especially the man on stage, but as the guy being lowered down from the roof came into view it was obvious that he was not in good shape.  Just by the way he laid on the stretcher you could tell that he couldn't walk, maybe hadn't walked for many years.  The thought went through my mind: I really can't believe this is happening!  I mean these guys had just destroyed the roof of the church and had disrupted what was going on in the service.  What would happen next?

And then it happened!  The Speaker saw this helpless man, and the effort that his friends had exerted to try and get him there, and he was moved.  You could see it on his face: his heart was touched by this show of care and love, and he was going to do something about it.  But what could he do?

He looked at the man suspended by ropes in front him, in front of the whole crowd and said two words "get up".  I couldn't believe that he would say that when it was so obvious that this man was crippled--but he did and what happened next is simply astounding--against all reason, the man stood.  He stood up right in front of us all.  There was no doubting what just happened.  The Speaker said two words and the man who couldn't walk all of a sudden could.  Just like that.

There was a hush that fell over the crowd.  What they had just experienced had stunned them to the point that they couldn't utter a single sound.  The newly healed man on the stage was looking at his newly strengthened legs with shock and awe in his eyes; the Speaker had a grin on his face that was almost comical in its childlike joy.  And then I heard a sound--it was faint, almost like it was coming from outside.  I turned my head to try and pinpoint the source and it sounded like it was above me so I turned my head upward and I could see men jumping up and down on the roof shouting at the top of their lungs with joy that just couldn't be contained.  Their friend could walk!  Their friend could walk!  It worked!

Can you imagine?

By now you have probably caught on that this is a story recorded in Scripture.  Although I have taken some creative license, the essence of it remains true.  But I want to ask you a question:  can you really imagine something like this happening in your church?  Where the Kingdom of God is there is freedom--radical freedom, roof shattering freedom, leg healing freedom, gloom-busting freedom, joy-proclaiming freedom!

I long for Jesus to take center stage where His Kingdom captures my heart, my mind and my imagination, because I want to imagine that what happens in this story in the Bible is something that the King loves to do for his children.  I don't think there is a magic formula that is available to us that we can use to create this kind of "Kingdom moment".  But I do know that the longing in my heart is kindled when I read about Jesus doing this kind of thing and then saying to us: 'Oh and by the way, you will do even more'.  More?  Really?  Is that the kind of God you are?  The kind that loves to heal and bless and restore and rejoice among those that are in your presence?

Lord Jesus, great and mighty God; lover of lepers and parapelegics.  Create in me a pure heart that can have the faith to imagine you doing what good Kings do--and the faith to believe that you really will do them now.

BT