Story 22: Down Through the Roof

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Story 22: Down through the roof

This section contains

Photographs of the crowd’s actions.
Alternative script using the 4-piece hinged card. Have a look – it’s great fun!

The story lends itself well to drama. But how do you safely let down a ‘man’ from the roof? The team in the photos below let down an empty sleeping bag tied at the sides with ropes, holding the front sides slightly higher so the audience hopefully does not see that it is empty. While the crowd gather round the lowered bed and thus obscure it from the audience, the ‘man’ (hidden out of sight) quickly hops onto it. The crowd then moves away from the centre so the audience can see the man lying on his bed.

Another way of telling this story

This involves a storyteller manipulating hinged sections of paper to illustrate the words being spoken [a script is provided at the end]. It’s not as complicated as the instructions make it seem, and you will be confident after running through it only a few times. The children find it enthralling, although it works best in smaller venues.

“The man wanted to walk “The house had stairs like this

like you and me..” on the outside...”

A model of a house and some shapesmade by the strips of card.

(Note: optional to have a model of a house to show beforehand as a typical 1st century house

: although there are multiple strips shown here, you will only need one set)

Materials

Four long strips of card (e.g. 30cms x 4cms).
3 split pin brass fasteners (available in office supply shops)

Construction

Fasten the second strip over the first one.
The third over the second and the fourth over the third.
Check that they concertina together so all four lie flat together.
Check that the fasteners are loose enough to allow the strips to move easily.

Making shapes during storytelling

These movements correspond to the script provided below

1. Man walking

2. Man lying down

3. Man on his bed

4. Stretcher bed

5. Door (one section folded behind)

6. Window

7. House with pointed roof

8. House with flat roof

9. Stairs outside

10. Small hole in roof (one section folded back on itself)

11.Bigger hole

12. Letting the stretcher bed down

13. Paralysed legs

14. Walking legs

Telling the story

1. There was a man who wanted to walk like you and me. (picture 1)
2. But his legs were like this. (picture 2: collapse the ‘legs’)
3. So all day and every day for years and years he lay on his bed. (picture 3)
4. One day his friends came rushing in “Jesus is here. He can do amazing miracles. He has healed lots of people. We will take you to him and see if he can make you better.”
So they put him on a stretcher-bed (picture 4) they could carry, and carried him along the streets to the house where Jesus was .
5. When they got there – oh dear, it was impossible to get in through the door.(picture 5) It was jam-packed with people inside the door, round the door and all outside the door. There was no way they were going to get through that crowd with their friend on a stretcher-bed. (picture 4 again)
6. So they went round the side to try a window.(picture 6) But that was even more crowded. There were people crammed by the window and on the window and all around the window. There was no way they were going to get through that crowd with their friend on a stretcher-bed. (picture 4 again)
“But we must get him to Jesus.” said one friend.
“We can’t give up now.” said another.
“It may be our only chance to see Jesus” said a third.
“I have an idea” said the fourth looking up at the roof.
7. Now houses in those days didn’t have pointed roofs like ours. (picture 7)
8. They had flat roofs like this.(picture 8)
9. And they had stairs like this (picture 9) outside the house going up onto the roof of the house.
10. So the friends carefully took the man on the stretcher-bed(picture 4 again) up the stairs(picture 9 again) onto the roof.
11. Remember the roof was not like this(pointed: picture 7 again), but like this.(flat: picture 8 again)
12. On the roof they prised back a bit of the flooring on top of the flat roof - which was of course the ceiling inside the house!
13. They made the hole (picture 10)bigger and bigger. (picture 11)
14. They looked down through the hole into the room below.(look through the hole)They saw lots and lots of people - and, yes, there was Jesus right down below them!
15. The friends looked down through the hole in the roof. Everybody inside the house looked up at the friends. But before they had time to shout “What do you think you are doing tearing apart the roof”, the friends gently, very gently let down the man (picture 12) who couldn’t walk, right down to Jesus.
16. Jesus looked at the man and said “You have said and thought a lot of bad things about God. But you are forgiven.”
“Oh dear” thought the man. “How did Jesus know what I have said and thought about God. I am very sorry.”
“Huh!” thought the other grown-ups. “Who is this Jesus that he forgives wrong-doings? Only God can do that.”
But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said
“Which is easier to do: forgive wrong-doing or to make him walk? To show you God has given me the power to fix what is wrong in this man’s heart, I shall fix what is wrong with his legs as well.
“Stand up” Jesus said to the man.
And THE MAN SLOWLY GOT UP AND..AND…AND YES HIS LEGS WERE BETTER!
He could stand for the first time in his life! He could walk for the first time in his life!
17. His legs were no longer like this(paralysed: picture 13 )…but like this!(walking: picture 14) He could walk like you and me.
18. He could walk! He could skip! He could run! (make the “legs” move)
“Thank you Jesus for making me better. Thank you God for sending Jesus. Thank you ,friends, for being such good friends” he called out aloud as he walked and skipped and ran along the street.

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