MAKE FRIENDS AND KEEP THEM “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has none other to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they are warm: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevails against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12) The scriptures we just read above compare two men, one has friend(s) while the other man is alone without a friend. So let us continue by comparing two men worth comparing, one has friends but the other has no friend. Our illustration includes the two different instances of men who were paralyzed, and later healed by Jesus Christ: One was that paralyzed man that had four friends who opened the roof of the building where Jesus was to gain his healing for the man (Mark 2:1-12), and the other was the paralyzed man who laid by the pool of Bethsaida, who told Jesus ‘I have no man to help me gain my healing’ (John 5:1-16). What they had in common includes that both of them were having paralyses and both of them were healed by Jesus speaking the same word to them, “Rise, take up your bed and walk”. However, the crucial difference between the two includes: 1. One had four friends who carried him to the healer himself, and they were practically rugged in their approach in order to pave the way for their friend to meet his healing: They made way where there seems to be no way (through the roof) on behalf of their impotent friend. 2. The other had no man because he had no friend; so even though he managed to be laid near the pool of healing water, he had to wait for as long as thirty-eight years for his healer to come to him: For he had no man that will help him to get into the pool first after the stirring of the water by the angel. His friendlessness caused him thirty eight years of waiting. Now another thing that is common between the two men who were healed by Jesus of the paralyses was that both of them got into that condition because of their sins or their sins were factors to their impotent condition: however, 1. Jesus first addressed the sin problem of the one who had four friends before he healed him, but Jesus was criticized by the scribes or religious men of that day for forgiving the sins of that man saying it is blasphemy against God. 2. Jesus later addressed the sin problem of the second man who was alone after healing him, saying to him, “Now you are healed, run away from sin or else something worse will happen to you” (John 5:114); but that same man went and gossiped against Jesus, which made the Jews or religious men of that day to criticize him for healing that man on the Sabbath day and breaking the law of Moses. You may see why that man had no friend in the first place, seeing that he could do such thing as going to report Jesus to the Jews after Jesus warned him against sin, and he caused Jesus persecution for doing good to him: From the antecedence of that man, I could list three things that kept that man alone without friends or family to help him: 1. He was poor in Communication – Meaning he is such a man who finds it difficult to speak out or to talk to people about his problem; he is shy to relate to strangers in public, and so he cannot initiate a conversation, but he can respond to it. “If Nobody talks to him, he will never talk to somebody”, so he only talks back to somebody when somebody first talks to him. He is an introvert, and not very social. Jesus knew his condition for thirty eight years, and Jesus also understood his psychological problem which was why Jesus initiated the conversation with the man in the first place by asking him a question; and to show that the man share some similar psychological characteristics which some women have, that man began to pour out all the thoughts he had being storing in his heart which were waiting for the opportunity to be voiced out, and to tell stories just to answer a simple question Jesus asked him. 2. He was poor in Recognition: Even in the second time when Jesus met the man again in the temple and warned him against sin, it was Jesus who initiated the conversation: for that man did not even know Jesus who healed him; to show you that he was so preoccupied with himself and his thoughts, that he was not really conscious of the people around him: he was truly self-absorbed which is self-centeredness. How can he forget the face of the man who healed him? How can he not even know the name of the man who delivered him from thirty Eight years old paralyses? Although he lost sight of Jesus in the multitude after he was healed, which was why he did not recognize him (John 5:13); however, if he was not too self-absorbed or introversive, he would have fixed his eyes more on the face and features of Jesus while he was talking with him. Remember, Jesus was so popular then, so the man should had atleast heard the news about Jesus to know his name, since he was neither blind nor deaf. 3. He was not Appreciative: When Jesus met the man the second time, and the man knew who he really was, he neither appreciated him with thanks nor worshipped him for the healing he received: even the follow-up warning Jesus gave to him, was met with the man going all the way back to report him to the critics that it was Jesus who made him whole on the Sabbath, which made Jesus to be persecuted by the critics and the Jews wanted to kill Jesus because of that man (John 5:15-16). It was obvious that the man appreciated the critics more than he appreciated Jesus who made him whole, seeing he could afford to go back to the critics, but he never thought of going back to Jesus. These three vices including his sins were the jinx that kept the man from having friends or even family close to him before in his wretched condition for about thirty eight years. Before these two paralyzed men were healed of their paralyses as we compared above, the first man to be healed of paralyses was a servant to the centurion: That man who advocated for his servant to be healed by Jesus was the centurion, and the paralyzed man was his servant (Matthew 8:5-13). Now if the centurion, who said he is a man under authority, having soldiers under him, sought Jesus on behalf of his servant; it shows that the servant has a good relationship with his master the centurion or there is also a friendship bond between him and his master which was why the master left everything he was doing to seek for the healer on behalf of the servant. God wants us to make and keep good friends in the faith: Jesus himself taught his people saying, “Use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves, so that when you fail, they will receive you into their everlasting home” (Luke 16:9).
Posted on: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 06:37:31 +0000
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