Most sermons on this text deal with one of two things: either a detailed account about the four men who carried their paralytic friend to Jesus and, because of the crowd, were forced to open up the roof and lower him into the healing presence of Jesus, or the relationship between forgiveness and healing. But I want to focus our attention on that Capernaum crowd.

It was a warm autumn morning in September and I was driving from Atlanta to Warm Springs, Georgia. I was traveling south on state road 18. The road was desolate. I had it all to myself, occasionally passing a farm or two. I had gone through several small towns that were no more than mere crossroads. Suddenly, I came upon a truck stop and people and cars were everywhere. It was obvious that something was happening and my first …