Apostegàzo
There are four of them and they are carrying a paralytic on a stretcher. They could not enter through the door of the house where Jesus was, so they opened the roof to let their paralytic friend approach Jesus. Apostegàzo is the verb used in the Greek text and indeed it means to "open the roof": it is a verb found only once in the Gospels, here in Mark's. The four friends opened the roof and they let their friend down at Jesus' feet. Faith, the true faith that comes from the heart and from love, scores a bullseye, it is always scores a bullseye. The four friends opened the roof and scored a bullseye, they met Jesus, and their paralytic friend and their hearts were healed. The persons who did not score a bullseye were the scribes, the religious leaders and experts of the sacred texts who accused Jesus of being an impostor, a blasphemer. Jesus was the same, exactly the same, for both the people and the scribes; the opportunity to know and love Him, mock or refuse Him were the same for everyone. The four men recognized Him as the One who could do anything, the scribes instead mocked Him as a crazy person who put himself on the same level as God. The four friends recognized Jesus as the Lord of life and they scored a bullseye, the Pharisees were indignated by Jesus and rejected Him, they overshot their aim, they missed the target and distanced themselves from Him. The simple people often take good aim as far as Jesus is concerned, the know-it-alls are less capable and commit the sin of sins: the sin of not believing in Jesus. The wise ones on earth often miss the target with Jesus, even when they aim to hit Him, because their eyes are blinded by human aims, by their targets of prestige and power. In the evangelic text the word sin, in Greek amartìa, really means just that: mistaken aim, error in aiming. The true sin is missing the target with Jesus, it is not recognizing Him with love and gratitude as the divine and loving target of our lives.