Carrying Friends in Hope

What I want you to do is imagine it's a Tuesday in a town called Capernaum. It is hot, not just your sunscreen hot, but your ouch, the dust is burning my feet hot. In a tiny house, in a tiny room, lives a tiny man named Eli. Eli is paralyzed, his legs don't work. His world is the size of a rectangular mat on his floor. Eli has spent years looking at the same three cracks in the ceiling. He knows exactly how many minutes it takes for the shadow to move from the door to the window. And sometimes Eli feels like he's on a forgotten island. He feels like hope is something that happens to other people. You know, people who can run and jump and dance. But Eli has something better than two legs. He has four friends. We're gonna call them Team Hope. One morning, the town starts buzzing. He's here! The teacher's here! The one who brings hope to the hopeless, Jesus! Jesus was in Capernaum. Team Hope remembers Eli. The four friends don't just send Eli a "thinking of you" card. They don't just say, "We'll pray for you, buddy." They run to his house. They look at Eli. They look at the mat. And then they look at each other. They didn't even have to say it. They knew. You take that corner, you take that corner, you grab that corner, I'll grab this one. Let's go. They lifted him up. One, two, three, up! And they carried Eli through the narrow, crowded streets. Their shoulders ached, their fingers were cramped, but they were Team Hope and not about to give up. They knew that if they could just get Eli to Jesus, Everything would change. But when they turned that last corner to the house where Jesus was, the crowd was huge. It wasn't just a crowd, it was a wall of people. People were jammed into the doorway and out in the street. They were hanging out of the windows. There was no way a stretcher was getting through. People were grumpy and sweaty And they weren't moving. "Step aside!" the friends shouted. "Wait your turn!" the crowd shouted back. Some people would have looked at the crowd and said, "Well, Eli, we tried. Maybe next year at Camp 2027." But Team HOPE doesn't take no for an answer. HOPE doesn't look for a way out. It looks for a way in. One of the friends looked up. The roof, he said. Hey guys, we're going up! Imagine the sound in the house. Jesus is teaching. Even though it's crazy and loud outside, everyone is quiet around Jesus because everyone is listening. Then up above their heads, scratch, scrape, rip. Dust starts falling. Clouds of dirt land on people, and then a muddy straw mat lands in a new clearing, the one that's forming at the feet of Jesus, and there's a huge hole in the ceiling. Sunlight pours into the room like a spotlight. And then the most amazing thing happens. A man on a mat floats down from the ceiling. Four faces appear. At the top of each rope. Team Hope leans over the edge, their faces red with effort, holding those ropes with everything they have. Their knuckles are white, their muscles are shaking, but they are holding tight. Slowly, his four friends lower Eli down, and he settled at the feet of Jesus. Everyone leaned forward to see what Jesus would do. Jesus looked up at the four faces peering through the hole in the roof. The Bible says Jesus saw their faith. He didn't just see the faith of Eli, he saw the togetherness of friends. He saw that Team Hope loved Eli enough to ruin a roof just to find hope. Jesus looked at Eli. "Friend," he said, "your sins are forgiven. Now stand up, pick up your mat, and go home." Eli felt a tingle in his toes. He felt a spark in his knees. Then suddenly he just stood up. He rolled up his dusty old mat and he walked out the front door. That crowd that wouldn't let him in parted like the Red Sea. A miracle had just happened. Team Hope scrambled down from the roof and chased Eli down the streets. They had a new mission now: to catch Eli. Eli was way faster than any of them on his miracle legs. You know, sometimes you're like Eli. You feel stuck. You feel like you can't get to Jesus. On your own, and that's okay. That's why we have each other. We are together in hope. And sometimes you're part of Team Hope. You get to grab a corner of the mat for a friend. You get to climb on the roof for your friend. You get to dig an opening to Jesus for your friend. There is no greater joy than leading a friend to Jesus. So whether you need help like Eli or are on Team Hope for a friend, you're part of a miracle. That's what it means to be together in hope. That's our theme for camp this weekend, because whenever we carry each other, Jesus does miracles.