Today’s story is told from Anna’s perspective. Anna has lots of guests in her house who have come to listen to Jesus.
Anna stuck a finger through the hole in her skirt.
“How did that get there?” she wondered.
She would have to run to her mother to have it mended, but her mother was on the other side of the house, and the house was full. Packed full. Jammed full. Chock-a-block full.
Why? Because Jesus was visiting.
Jesus was a lot like her father. They both taught people about God.
Suddenly something dropped on Anna’s head. Anna looked up. There was another hole – a hole in the roof!
Anna stepped back. The hole got bigger. The crowd stepped back too, and the hole got bigger still.
“What’s going on up there?” shouted Anna’s father.
Instead of an answer, a man dropped through the hole. A man lying on a mat with a rope on each corner. A poor, sick man who could not even move. His friends lowered him carefully to the floor, and Jesus gently laid a hand on his head.
“My friend,” Jesus said, “the wrong things you have done are now forgiven.”
“Wait a minute!” growled Anna’s father. “Only God can take away someone’s sins. Just who do you think you are?”
“Oh dear,” thought Anna. Her father often got angry when he talked with people about God. But Jesus wasn’t angry at all.
“Which is easier?” he said calmly. “To forgive a lame man’s sins, or to make him walk?”
It was all Anna could do not to giggle. “What a silly question,” she thought, “one is just as hard as the other.”
“Well,” Jesus continued, “to show you that God has given me the power to fix what is wrong in this man’s heart, I shall fix what is wrong with his legs.”
“Stand up!” Jesus ordered the man. “You can do it.”
And the man did! What is more, he rolled up the mat, slung it over his shoulder and walked out through the front door. His friends climbed down from the roof to join him. The crowd followed behind, cheering.
But all Anna could do was stare up though that hole and smile.