Tuesday March 19, 2024
Luke 5:18-19
And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed,
and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus,
but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd,
they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed
through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.
Mr. Hartley in his Travels says: ‘When I lived at Aegina I used to look up not infrequently at the roof above my head, and contemplate how easily the whole transaction of the paralytic might take place. The roof was made in the following manner:- a layer of reeds, of a large species, was placed upon the rafters; on these a quantity of heather was strewed; on the heather earth was deposited, and beaten down into a solid mass. Now, what difficulty would there be in removing first the earth, next the heather, and then the reeds? Nor would the difficulty be increased, if the earth had a pavement of tiling laid upon it. No inconvenience could result to the persons in the house from the removal of the tiles and earth; for the heather and reeds would stop anything that might otherwise fall down, and would be removed last of all.’ To let a man down through the roof was a device most strange and striking, but it only gives point to the remark which we have to make here. If we want to have souls saved, we must not be too squeamish and delicate about conventionalities, rules and proprieties, for ‘the kingdom of heaven suffered violence’. We must make up our minds to this: ‘Smash or crash, everything shall go to pieces which stands between the soul and its God: it matters not what tiles are to be taken off, what plaster is to be dug up, or what boards are to be torn away, or what labor, or trouble, or expense we may be at; the soul is too precious for us to stand upon nice questions. If by any means we may save some, is our policy. Skin for skin, all that we have is nothing comparable to a man’s soul.’
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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