Mark 2 Session 3

Well what happened next just blew me away. The word went out that Jesus was in the house, not just any house but my house. I didn't invite them but they all came. The scholars, the men, the women, the children. So much so that no one else could get in. I was getting quite worried that my home would be ransacked. After all this Jesus seemed to attract the 'no hoper's' in life, the down and outs, the opportunists.


Then I thought well I can't do anything now, Jesus is here, the house is full, just go with the flow and pick up the pieces later. I decided there and then that all that I had was of little importance compared to what this man was doing with his life and how it was affecting and changing other people's lives. He was reaching out and making a difference to anyone who was willing to come to him and ask him for his help. How he did it I do not know, he must be from another planet as none of us had seen anything like this before.


Well what happened next was audacious and beyond belief as I said they were vandalising my house. There I was standing right next to Jesus, who was delivering his message of repentance when the dust and dirt began to fall. We were surprised when we looked up and saw the beginnings of a hole in the roof. As we watched the hole get bigger, because that is all we could do, we saw these four faces peering in at us. they looked embarrassed, we looked bewildered and nobody said anything.

Then all eyes were on me, well it is my house, what am I going to do? The truth is I couldn't do anything, too many people you see, I couldn't go any where. So I just stood and watched like everyone else.

As the hole got bigger and bigger we eventually realised why the hole in the roof. These men were desperate, they had a friend who was paralysed and was on some kind of stretcher. I say a stretcher it was a Heath Robinson affair, just a flat piece of board with some temporary handles roped on to carry it. The stretcher had been put together in a hurry.

Then, as we all watched in amazement, those of us that could see what was going on anyway, the four men lowered this man down into the room right in front of Jesus. I remember thinking to myself "well these men really believe in miracles". You see whilst I had seen him heal someone, I still had doubts that he could do it again", after all he is only a man, or that is what I still thought, even though he was in my house at my invitation. I am sure I was not the only one thinking this, this Jesus surely can't keep healing people, it's not normal and not possible.

Just in that moment it all clicked, this man Jesus was the messiah, the Son of God, promised so long ago. The next question is what am I going to do with that piece of divine revelation that is now changing the whole course of my life?

Mark 2 Session 2

My house is being vandalised, or that is what it seems. There are four men on the roof with roof destruction tools. They seem to be so determined to get in I don't know what to do. I have a house full of guests well I call them guests, I invited a man called Jesus who I had met on the streets around where I live. He had been very forthright in his approach in talking about "The kingdom of God" and "Repentance". As a devout man I had been interested in what he had to say. Then one day I saw him heal someone, yes I mean heal, you know make them better. Apparently he had done this kind of thing before. Well you can image my surprise at something so radical. Anyway from that moment on I decided I needed to find out more about this guy.


In my search I found out that he was a carpenter's son from a back water called Nazareth. He apparently, at the age of 12 held some very deep meaning conversations with some very devout scholars and they had been amazed at what he had been telling them. It was as if he had been taught by some of the best scholars around yet he was only 12.

But he had something that was different and I wanted to know what made him tick.

The more I searched, the more interested I became in this man, who seemed to be more than just a man. I mean he can heal people.


I decided that I would try and get to know this man, something in me had come alive, I suppose you could call it 'a thirst for the truth', so I started to follow him around and observe his lifestyle when he was in town. You see, he was a bit of a nomad you were never sure where he was going to turn up next. Anyway just by chance I happened to be near him and I had the opportunity to invite him back to my house, don't ask me how it happened I don't know but there I was talking with him and asked if he would like to come back. This over whelming desire to know the truth about this man and his teachings were beginning to overtake me and, rightly or wrongly I was becoming consumed with a desire to know this Jesus and where he got his 'powers'. To my surprise he agreed. In hind sight I found out that if anyone asks they will receive and that he had said "All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them". (John 14:23)

It was at that moment when he agreed to come to my house that I realised that this man was more than a man and that he just maybe the messiah that we had all been waiting for. I was so excited, this Jesus was coming to my home, at my invitation. I did not know what was going to happen next but my journey had begun.