His bicycle landed on top of him, and the light on his handlebar went dark. He struggled to get his head above the water, but his feet became stuck in the deep mud at the bottom of the ditch. He was trapped. As he fought to stay alive, he screamed for help, for anyone nearby to come and rescue him.
That's when an older boy came to Eric, used his cellphone as a flashlight, and pulled the frightened, wet 12-year old out of the ditch. He then asked if Eric was okay, and upon receiving an answer to the affirmative, vanished into the night. Eric never even got to ask the boy who saved his life for his name.
Stories like this can be thrilling to hear and to tell. An anonymous passer-by saves someone's life. There's something captivating about it.
Our country recognizes such heroes, too. Consider the "Tomb of the Unknowns" at Arlington National Cemetery. Their markers stand in place as a reminder of the soldiers who fought and died for our country, yet whose bodies could never be identified. They are "unnamed heroes," but heroes nonetheless.
Bible Heroes
Really, I think what makes the story of an unnamed hero so compelling is that we can focus on the glory of the deed, instead of the glory of the person. The action is the focus, not the actor.
We've all gotten to know men like Noah, Abraham, David, and Paul. Their faith and actions inspire us, and give encouragement and good examples to follow. Along with their names and their faith, we also know of their mistakes and frailties. But I don't want this lesson to be about them. I want to spend some time looking at the example of some men who we read about in the Bible, yet never get their names.
Four Heroes
Our text for this lesson will be Mark 2:1-12. Before we begin there, though, let's go back in time a little, to Mark 1:39. Jesus had been traveling throughout the region of Galilee, teaching and performing miracles. At this time, though, he had made his way back to Capernaum, which appeared to be his "base of operations."
While he had been out teaching, though, it appears that he had attracted the attention of people from various parts of the country (Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem; cf. Mark 1:28; Luke 5:17). These people were "teachers of the Law." It's likely that many of them had questions about Jesus, who he was, and what he was really doing.
Word gets out that Jesus is in a certain house in Capernaum (Mark 2:1). Mark 2:2 tells us:
"Immediately, many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door." (Mark 2:2a, NKJV)
It was at this time that Jesus began to "preach the word" to them. Imagine the scene: Every square inch the house full of human body, and people pressing in to the door, and likely any windows around, hushed, listening intently to the words of the master teacher.
And then the roof begins to fall apart.
Mark 2:3-4 records for us that four men came bringing a paralyzed man on some kind of stretcher, obviously seeking for Jesus to heal him. Unfortunately, with the press of people around, they were unable to find any (normal) way to get the man to Jesus (cf. Luke 5:19). But they weren't about to give up yet.
Houses in Galilee had exterior access to the roof, either by a staircase or a ladder. These men made their way to the roof with their friend, and then proceeded to tear through the dry clay which made up the roof. Luke also records for us that they had to break through tiles in the roof (cf. Luke 5:19). Some houses had a layer of stone tiles just underneath the clay. This had to be a somewhat noisy and dirty venture.
When they had finally finished their demolition of the roof, they lowered the paralyzed man down into the room below. Jesus "sees" their faith, and says to the paralyzed man "Son, your sins are forgiven you" (Mark 2:5).
That's probably not what the scribes who were sitting at Jesus' feet expected him to say. In fact, they began thinking to themselves (see Mark 2:6-7), "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Jesus immediately perceives what's going on, and what they were thinking. Whether this was miraculous knowledge or not is unclear. Jesus likely knew what effect his statement would have on his audience, and probably intended to create that reaction. At the same time, miraculous knowledge of their thoughts wouldn't be impossible.
He reasons with them, though, with this question (Mark 2:8-9): Which is easier? Telling a man he is forgiven, or healing him? Of course anyone could make the claim to forgive sins. Only God could tell a paralyzed man to stand up and walk. Obviously, the "harder" of the two would be telling the paralytic to stand up, and having him actually do it. So that's exactly what Jesus did.
Mark 2:11-12 records the command that Jesus gave to the paralyzed man, and tells us that he immediately arose, took up his bed, and left their presence. Any doubt about who this man was should have been erased in their minds. Surely this man, in accomplishing this impossible feat, did have the authority to forgive sins! Their reaction certainly was one of amazement. You can imagine them looking at each other, while exclaiming, "We never saw anything like this!"
But this entire account, and the glory of it, hinges on four unnamed men. Without them, we don't have these twelve verses. So what can we learn from them?
1) We must have enough faith to act.
Sometimes showing love and compassion can be awfully inconvenient. That was certainly the case with these men. They were met by the crowds who wouldn't relent, and allow them to take their friend to Jesus. They had to go through the process of deconstructing a section of the roof of a house to accomplish their mission. Why did they do this? They had faith.
Yet there's one key statement in the text which is connected to these men. In Mark 2:5, we read that Jesus "saw" their faith. What does faith "look" like? How can someone "see" your faith?
Think about the wind for just a moment. Can you see it? No, you can't. But you can see it's effects. You see leaves shake when it blows. You can watch kites fly in a steady breeze. You can feel its comfort against your skin on a hot day.
Faith is a lot like that. It can only be "seen" by it's effects. In James 2:14, James poses this question: "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?" He goes on to write in James 2:18, "But someone will say, 'You have faith, and I have works.' Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." It's simple: Your faith is seen in the things that you do!
Sometimes sorting through the problems that others have and trying to help them out can give you a headache. Sometimes the solution to their problems might seem overwhelming. Sometimes, it might mean sacrifice on your part. Don't let selfishness diminish your faith. Don't let excuses keep others from seeing your faith. Our four unnamed heroes had ample opportunity be selfish, and to make excuses; But they didn't.
We learn from these men, that when faith is strong, it becomes the driving force behind action, and it will work until the job is finished, or the need is gone.
With that in mind, let's move to our second observation.
2) Our acting faith provides opportunities for God to be glorified.
"Randomactsofkindness.org" is a really neat website to visit. It's for an organization by the same title, devoted to recognizing and empowering people to commit "random acts of kindness." There's a section on the website devoted to stories of those acts. While not all of them are committed anonymously, a lot of them are. As I've already noted, one of the most compelling aspects of anonymous action is that the deed gets the glory, not the person. That idea is supported by the stories on that website.
That's certainly true for our unnamed heroes, too. We are able to focus on this snapshot in time, where such great faith was displayed. But the actions of these men didn't just lead to their friend's forgiveness and healing. There was another side-effect. In Mark 2:12, we read that the people "glorified God" because of the things they had seen.
The biggest point that Mark is trying to make here, is that Jesus is the Messiah. It happened to be the same point that Jesus was trying to make himself (cf. Mark 2:10). Do you realize, though, that the opportunity for their glorifying God only arose because of the acting faith of those men? Again, if it weren't for their actions, the whole discourse we read about would not have taken place. Mark 2:12 would not exist in the form that it does. Their action brought glory to God.
When someone acts for the benefit of another person, whether anonymously or not, the benefactor is left with one question: Why? Why did this person choose to do this for me? God wants the answer to that question to be this: "Because they are my child. Their action is a reflection of my love and concern for you. You can be my child too."
In Jesus' sermon in Matthew 5-7, Jesus tells us that we are to "let our lights shine" in such a way as to bring glory to God with our good works (cf. Matthew 5:16). He later warns against trying to keep the glory for ourselves (Matthew 6:1-4). God wants the glory for our deeds. We can't be selfish and insist on keeping it. But it's our "good deeds" which cause others to think, to consider God, and to consider his goodness, and then to want to be his child too.
Can they see your faith?
Lately, the Progressive Car Insurance company has been running a series of television ads centered around "The Messenger." In one, he's seen "passing along the savings" by buying tanks of gas for random customers at a gas station. The effect? People are calling their friends, telling them about "the guy from the Progressive commercial" talking about how "Progressive is doing a lot of good around here." Their point is to sell insurance. God wants the church to do good for others, but the point is to help saves souls.
My encouragement to you from this lesson is very simple; Be the unnamed hero in someone's life. I'm not talking about going around doing "random acts of kindness" just for the sake of doing them. Rather, have a method and a reason; The method is faith, and the reason is the salvation of someone's soul by pointing them to God. That's the ultimate point.
Don't hold back your goodness in this life. Every chance you have to do good for someone is a chance to be a hero, to show the goodness of God. Don't hide your faith. Be sure that it is on display, not for your glory, but for God's glory.
-Daniel Howell
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