When Jesus Saw Their Faith

This is the Truth Network. Nobody taught me how to be a caregiver. I've spent forty years learning the hard way, and that's why I created caregiver.substack.com. No scrolling and hoping to find a nugget. Just articles, audio, video, and practical insights I've learned over four decades as a family caregiver.

When I post something new, it goes straight to your phone. or your inbox. And by the way, every bit of it is in Fluent Caregiver. Caregiver.substack.com. Two.

Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver here on American Family Radio. This is Peter Rosenberg. Glad to be with you. HopefortheCaregiver.com. HopefortheCaregiver.com.

By the way, do you like what you're hearing here on this program? Is it resonating with you? Do you want more?

Well, it's very easy. Go out to the website or you can go out to MySubstack. Caregiver.substack. Write that down. Caregiver.

Sub stack. S-U-B-S-T-A-C-K.com. Substack is an online newsletter, and I put tons of things out there. Instead of doing a blog and so forth on my website, I just do it all in Substack because it allows me to put video, audio, print, everything. It also allows you to engage back with me if you want, to send a note and say, hey, you know, I really like this one, Peter, or whatever.

And I've got an entire library of stuff out there. That I hope you'll take advantage of. What I'm trying to do is just dump as many things as possible as I've learned over my 40 years of this. Into a meaningful, cohesive way for my fellow caregivers. I take it from several things in Scripture.

One of them is to be good stewards of the talents that God has given us, the weight and the value that He's given. And I want to be able to be responsible with this: okay, Lord, here's what I've learned through this, and here's what I've done with it. And the other thing is, at that moment when Jesus looked at Simon Peter, he said, Simon, Satan has asked for permission to sift you, but I have prayed for you, and when you come through this, strengthen your brethren. And I think I take that. Principle that Jesus is sharing with Peter very, very personally to me.

Not just because my name is Peter, but simply because I think that is the biblical mandate. What we've learned, we pass on. We share. Nobody knew what to say to me. Nobody knew quite how to help me in fact, most people still don't.

That's okay. Because I know what to say. And I know what to do, and I know what to offer my fellow caregivers, not in how to be better at caregiving. That's unique to your loved one. I don't know how to tell you to take care of your loved one any more than you know how to tell me to take care of Gracie.

But what I do know. is the train wreck that's in the caregiver's heart. and how to apply Scripture in those places. what it looks like. How to ask better questions.

How to get to the crux of everything that goes on. That's why I ask these bedrock type questions. And I put all that out there. Take advantage of it, caregiver.substack.com today. Go out there today and you could see articles that I've written, videos, audio, so forth.

And there's an entire cohesive library that is written in Fluid Caregiver. All right, moving on. I have been studying the Gospel of Mark as of late. You know how you read something and you've seen it. a bazillion times and all of a sudden something stands out at you.

You ever had that moment in scripture where you're just like, wait, I've read this before. Oh, wait, but I never thought about that before.

Well, there's some passages that are just really like that. They just, all of a sudden, they just come out of nowhere and just hit you right between the eyes. And that's what happened in the Gospel of Mark. I was going through the story of the paralytic lowered through the roof in Mark's Gospel. You know the story.

Four friends carry this man who can't walk, and they arrive at the house where Jesus is teaching. only to discover that they can't even get through the front door because of the crowd. And I guess, you know, a lot of people may have gone home or whatever. I don't know, not these guys.

Now they carried their friend onto the roof, dug through it, lowered him down in front of Jesus. And Jesus forgives the man's sins. The religious leaders immediately accuse him of blasphemy in their hearts. He knows what they're thinking. He said, Which is easier, your sins are forgiven, or to rise and take up your bed and walk.

And then to prove his authority, Jesus tells the man to do the impossible, and he does.

Well, that's the part we usually remember. But I go back to something. Mark writes When Jesus saw their faith Now Let me Let me throw this out here to you. Based on what everything I've seen in Scripture, what I've learned and what Scripture says about itself, there are no errant words in Scripture.

Okay, God doesn't waste ink. There's no superfluous words.

So when Mark writes, when Jesus saw their faith, And most scholars believe that Mark was being dictated to by Peter. Certainly Peter was the source for a lot of his information as far as the historical telling the stories of what happened. And this is coming from Peter, who was there.

Okay, so this is a really credible eyewitness account here. And then it's all superintended under the Holy Spirit.

So when Mark saw their faith, well, we've all read that verse. You know, we quoted it a thousand times. What did Jesus actually see? Yeah. Think about as a caregiver.

That whole event. It takes on a different meaning when you think about it from our standpoint as caregivers. These guys, number one, had to know this guy. They were friends. They knew of his situation, Jesus showed up at this place.

They'd heard about this, maybe, from some other people, and they heard he's over there.

So they have to go and get this guy. And then they have to schlep him all the way over. That's a Yiddish word, by the way. And if with the last name like Rosenberger, I can get away with that.

So they're hauling this guy all the way over there to wherever Jesus is going to be. And I think this is, I'm not totally sure whose house this was. I think it was James and John's house of the sons of Zebedee. Don't quote me on that, but I think that's what it was. And so they have to get there and there's the crowds and they're hauling this guy around.

And instead of turning back, they Take him up the stairs. There are many in this audience who understand what it's like to help somebody with mobility impairments when it comes to stairs.

Okay. And uh stairs are are not cool for some of us. And so these four guys are hauling this man upstairs onto the roof.

Now, how many stairs were there?

Well, it had to be probably 10 feet above the ground. Know so you're looking at how many stairs you got to get up and carrying a human being, and then to get up there. And They obviously had this in mind. Before They got up there because, you know, what's the point of going on the roof if you're not going to be able to get them to Jesus?

So they're thinking through this thing. There's a lot of intentionality here. And then they start digging this thing up.

Well now kind of imagine what what's going on down below. How big a hole was this? This is big enough to lower a guy that is paralyzed through the roof.

So you're talking a significant hole, which takes significant time. And dust is flying, debris, and everything else, and Jesus is standing there watching this thing.

Now, think about that for just a moment. There had to be time. Scripture sometimes is so understated, and we owe it to ourselves to really think about what's going on in this moment here. And Jesus was sitting there talking and preaching to people, and all of a sudden dust starts flying around. And I would imagine he s looks up.

I mean, I can't imagine he looks down. And and so he looks up and he's seeing all this is going on. And he sees these guys. Doing this. And they lower this cath through.

And then it says. Jesus saw their faith. He didn't see them tearing up the room. That's not, well, he did, but that's not what Mark says. He didn't say that Jesus saw this and this and this.

He just said he saw their faith. He saw their intentionality. driving that action because it was based on belief, on faith. They believed they had to get their friend to Jesus. And they acted on it with great intentionality.

There is there is nothing haphazard about this. And Jesus lumped all of that. He didn't go through the specifics on it. Mark just says Jesus saw their faith and all of that action. All of that intentionality was lumped into one statement that says he saw their faith.

Now, Jesus saw two things that day that nobody else did. He saw the faith of those friends and he perceived what was in the hearts of those Pharisees that that were basically accusing him of blasphemy. Neither group had said a word. Nothing was hidden from him.

Now the crowds went home amazed, the the scribes went home offended. The paralytic went home forgiven and walking, but I've wondered about those four friends. Mark never tells us what they saw when they looked at Jesus. Mark under the supervision of the Holy Spirit. Allowed us to see what Jesus was looking at.

And I I have spent most of my adult life around caregivers. I've watched husbands, wives, parents, children and and friends shoulder burdens that almost nobody else notices. No applause, no headlines, no standing ovations. And most caregivers aren't looking for those things anyway. I mean, think about this: do you really want a trophy as a caregiver?

We'll just have to put it on the mantle and dust it.

Somebody's got to keep it clean, and that's our job.

So, we don't really want that. But what we do want is somebody who understands. That some that we want somebody to be able to see what this road has cost us. Who is qualified to do so? The sleepless nights, the difficult decisions, the sacrifices, the tears that no one else witnessed, the perseverance required to keep showing up.

Most caregivers labor where almost nobody can fully appreciate. What has been required of them? Even the person they're caring for can't often comprehend the full cost. How could they? They're the ones being carried.

But here's what I got from this in Mark. There is one who sees. He always has. The Holy Spirit preserved that one sentence. When Jesus saw their faith This is my opinion, so take it for what it's worth.

But I don't think it was just done so that we would admire four faithful friends. Everything is designed to show us the character of God.

So every believer who ever wondered whether Christ notices faithfulness, quiet faithfulness, can know the answer. Because he does. And if you're listening today while you're driving to the pharmacy. You're heading to the ER, or you're going over to take care of somebody, or you're dealing with pills, or Changing another dressing or vacuuming or doing the laundry or whatever it is that you're doing right now as a caregiver while you're listening to me. Because I would imagine many of you are not sitting still while listening to me, that you're going about your day doing stuff while you're listening.

and you wonder if anybody sees what you're carrying. I read in the Gospel of Mark this week. That Christ does. The one who saw four anonymous men carrying their friend through impossible circumstances still sees. He sees what others miss.

He sees what others cannot. He sees your faith. And I want you to think about that for a moment. He sees. And so, you know, a lot of times, again, we think about this as caregivers.

You know, what do we want? None of us want accolades, trophies, awards, or a plaque. None of that means anything to us. But what is it worth to you? What is it worth to me?

To have one knowing look From the one who truly understands But with one look. From Christ. mean to us. In that one look, he sees it all. Awards are nice, plaques are nice, trophies are nice.

How many times have you said thank you for your service? to somebody who is a veteran. or active duty military. And they are very appreciative. But what does a thank you for your service from somebody like me to a combat hardened veteran?

Compare to their superior officer. Who looks at them and gives them a nod? A well done. That they see it, they understand it. And see, this is what we have.

times infinity. with a Savior who truly understands. One look. One knowing look from that Savior. transcends an entire lifetime of caregiving.

I think about that for a moment. Because this is the nature and the character of our Savior. Who truly understands? And that is hope. For this caregiver, we'll be right back.

Gracie, when you envisioned doing a prosthetic limb outreach, did you ever think? The inmates would help you do that. Not in a million years. What does it do? I would have ever thought about that.

When you go to the facility run by CoreCivic and you see the faces of these inmates that are working on prosthetic limbs that you have helped collect from all over the country that you put out the plea for. And they're disassembling. You see all these legs, like what you have, your own prosthetic legs. And arms, too. And arms.

When you see all this, what does that do to you? Makes me cry. because I see the smiles on their faces and I know. I know what it is to be locked someplace where you can't get out without somebody else allowing you to get out. Of course, being in the hospital so much and so long.

When I go in there, and I always get the same thing every time that these men are so glad that they get to be doing, as one man said, something good finally with my hands. Did you know before you became an amputee that... Parts of prosthetic limbs could be recycled? No, I had no idea. I thought we were still in the.

1800s and 1700s. I mean, you know, I thought of peg leg, I thought of wooden legs. I never thought of. Titanium and carbon legs and flex feet and C legs and all that. I never thought about that.

I had no idea.

Now that you've had an experience with it, what do you think of the faith-based programs that Core Civic offers? I think they're just absolutely... Awesome. And I think every prison out there. have faith-based programs like this because Return rate.

of the men that are involved in this particular faith-based program. and the other ones like it, but I know about this one. Are just an amazingly low rate compared to those who don't have them. And I think that that says so much. But that's so much.

about Just that doesn't have anything to do with me. It just has something to do with God using somebody broken. to help other broken people be whole. If people want to donate a used prosthetic limb, whether from a loved one who passed away, Yeah. You know, somebody who outgrew them, you've donated some of your own.

What's the best place for them to do? How do they do that? What do they find? Please go to stanningwithhope.com/slash recycle, and that's all it takes. It'll give you all the information on that.

What's that website again? DanningwithHope.com slash.com Slash recycle. Thanks, Crazy. Take my hand. Lean on.

On me. We will stay.