I Was There When They Razed the Roof

We were packed in this tiny house. It seemed everyone in town wanted to see the phenomenon called Jesus of Nazareth and the owner of this house invited Jesus for a visit. He knew there would be a crowd. There always was. But he didn't expect this many people and he surely didn't think his house would be destroyed.

Jesus was popular and he thought inviting him would enhance his own popularity among his fellow citizens. And so the word was out that Jesus would be in attendance that day. A crowd quickly assembled expecting to see him in action. They were not disappointed.

It was hot. Packed wall to wall with people, all wanting to see Jesus; to see a miracle cure; to be touched by him; to go home telling everyone he was real. There was only a small spot in the center of the room for Jesus to meet people and cure their ills.

One after another they stood before him, and he healed them all. One after another they knelt down in adoring thanksgiving while accepting congratulations from their friends. As soon as one was cured another took his spot, hoping for Jesus to heal him. Soon it was impossible to even enter the house.

People began to cough as small tufts of dust began falling from the ceiling. Mini droplets of mortar and shards of tile soon followed. Everyone looked up to see the source of the debris. Their eyes popped open as they saw a group of four men peering down at them from a hole in the roof.

"What are you doing?" they cried with one voice. The men on the roof pretended not to hear. More dust and debris rained down. The owner of the house looked anxious.

"Stop! You're ruining my roof!" he cried. They didn't stop, but kept slowly enlarging the hole in the roof. Soon everyone could see that there was another man on the roof lying motionless on a small cot.

"Our friend cannot walk. There's no way to get him into the house. This is the only way he can be close to Jesus so he can be cured." Jesus stepped back as they slowly lowered their friend on his cot until he lay helpless at his feet. Jesus looked at him and said, "Because of your great faith, your sins are forgiven."

The Pharisees went wild: "This is blasphemy! No one has the power to forgive sins except God alone!"

Jesus gave them a pathetic look: "Which is easier to say, 'your sins are forgiven', or 'get up and walk'?" The Pharisees were nonplussed. Without waiting for an answer Jesus raised his voice and said to the man on the cot, "I command you! Get up and walk! Go home to your family!" The crowd gasped and cheered as he did so.

The group thinned rapidly after this miracle. The unique circumstances made it instant news and people were eager to tell their friends all about it. Soon there were just a few stragglers still shaking their heads in amazement.

The owner of the house looked worried. There was a hole in his roof. He couldn't ask Jesus to pay for it because he had invited Jesus to boost his standing in the community. He knew his band of disciples didn't have much money and, worse yet, he would have to deal with that nasty Judas to get even a shekel. But still, it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

Timidly he approached Jesus: "Excuse me, sir, what can we do about the roof? It's going to have to be repaired."

"Is it?" Jesus asked. "What's wrong with it?"

"Don't you remember? There's a giant hole in it where some guys lowered a man down so you could cure him!"

Jesus just smiled, and pointed at the ceiling. It looked brand new. The owner of the house seemed surprised that his roof was already repaired, but I wasn't. If Jesus could cure the sick and lame and withered, he could certainly do minor roof repairs. He was a carpenter, after all.