Jesus said to the man, “Get up! Pick up your mat and go on home.” The man got right up. He picked up his mat and went out while everyone watched in amazement. They praised God and said, “We have never seen anything like this!” Mark 2:10–12 (CEV)
I’ve always loved this story where the people lower their friend through the roof so he can see Jesus and be healed. I remember making a mat out of a swatch of blue gingham and pipe cleaners and playing out the scene in Vacation Bible School as a child. I didn’t remember what all those watching said though, until I recently read the story again—”We have never seen anything like this!”
My dad says that a lot when he is teasing. A jolly guy in his early seventies, he is famous in our family for quirky expressions. For instance, when a grandkid shows him something they’ve made or done that they’re proud of, he declares, “I think it is safe to say I’ve never seen anything like it.” Then he’ll laugh from deep in his belly. But when the people praising God said that, it was no joke. They never had seen anything like it. And they never would again. There really is no one else like Jesus.
Sometimes I get so discouraged by the things I see wrong with religion, and my own faith is assailed with doubt. But I find that the words of that old hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” are true. When I turn my eyes upon Jesus, “the things of earth . . . grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” Jesus is irresistible. There is nothing and no one who ever comes close.
Faith Step: Skim through the Gospels and make a word collage of things you see about Jesus. Then put it somewhere where you’ll see it often and be reminded of how amazing He is.
