Slideshow image

Mark 2:3-5
Some people came, bringing to [Jesus] a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above [Jesus]; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

To ponder
Jesus is in a house so packed that no one can come through the door anymore … The focus of the story is, understandably, the healing of the paralytic. but there is something more significant than that happening here. They’re ripping the roof off the place, and those outside are being let in. - Greg Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart

A time to tear down
Think about what it takes to knead dough. The hand works the outer edge of the dough into the centre. As what was the centre of the dough becomes the outer edge, the hand folds it back in. This is our work as followers of Christ - to bring those who are on the outside to the centre again and again.

In most cases that work doesn’t happen as seamlessly as kneading dough, however. A barrier - a policy (or lack of one), and ideology, a wall, a roof - often prevents what is on the outside from moving to the inside. Whatever the barrier is, it keeps the outsider out.

In serving at the soup kitchen, working at the food bank, giving away warm blankets and quilts, and much more, the church goes out to meet people where they are. This is an important part of God’s healing work in the world. Another part of God’s healing work is to tear down structures that leave folks on the outside in the first place. It’s messy work but in that torn-up house we meet Christ.

Prayer
God our healer, move us and mobilize us to tear the roof off a world where people have been shut out, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

(from: “A Story to Tell: Devotions for Lent” Bekki Lohrmann, Harvard Stephens Jr., Lydia Posselt, David L. Miller; Augsburg Fortress, 2020)