Belonging - Day 9
Mark 2:3 four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. 4 They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus.
Yep, you know this story. Four men arrived carrying their friend. The fact that they are carrying their friend shows you how much they love him. They are willing to go beyond what is reasonable, beyond what is appropriate, and beyond what most friends would do for each other. However, they would not be thwarted; they wanted their friend to meet Jesus and be healed.
This is an incredible statement about belonging. They wanted their friend to have such a sense of belonging that they were willing to go above and beyond in order that he might be healed and that he might have a sense that he belonged to the friend group and to the community. I don’t know a lot of people who would do this for a friend, but they were going to elbow their way into where Jesus was.
I don’t know how all of this would have worked. I know about thatched roofs and what they are made of, but I can’t imagine the mess they would have made as they were digging through them. Jesus must have had stuff falling from the ceiling on him as he was preaching. I am sure it would have been a significant distraction as he tried to share God's word.
As a preacher, it is hard when something you are not expecting starts happening while you are preaching. I will never forget a time at another church I was working in when someone had a heart attack in the back few rows of the church. As this was a big church, the preacher continued to preach as they found medical professionals in the congregation and started doing CPR right during the sermon. The preacher who was preaching didn’t even miss a beat, and most people didn’t know what happened.It was a surreal moment, to be sure.
Jesus would have had to focus to continue preaching as these things were happening around him, and then the man came down on his mat, right in front of him. This was now not just a distraction but a disruption, and Jesus had to do something about it.
What I love about this story is that it shows the lengths this man’s friends were willing to go to get him in front of Jesus. They had incredible faith and a desire for him to belong.
Yep, you know this story. Four men arrived carrying their friend. The fact that they are carrying their friend shows you how much they love him. They are willing to go beyond what is reasonable, beyond what is appropriate, and beyond what most friends would do for each other. However, they would not be thwarted; they wanted their friend to meet Jesus and be healed.
This is an incredible statement about belonging. They wanted their friend to have such a sense of belonging that they were willing to go above and beyond in order that he might be healed and that he might have a sense that he belonged to the friend group and to the community. I don’t know a lot of people who would do this for a friend, but they were going to elbow their way into where Jesus was.
I don’t know how all of this would have worked. I know about thatched roofs and what they are made of, but I can’t imagine the mess they would have made as they were digging through them. Jesus must have had stuff falling from the ceiling on him as he was preaching. I am sure it would have been a significant distraction as he tried to share God's word.
As a preacher, it is hard when something you are not expecting starts happening while you are preaching. I will never forget a time at another church I was working in when someone had a heart attack in the back few rows of the church. As this was a big church, the preacher continued to preach as they found medical professionals in the congregation and started doing CPR right during the sermon. The preacher who was preaching didn’t even miss a beat, and most people didn’t know what happened.It was a surreal moment, to be sure.
Jesus would have had to focus to continue preaching as these things were happening around him, and then the man came down on his mat, right in front of him. This was now not just a distraction but a disruption, and Jesus had to do something about it.
What I love about this story is that it shows the lengths this man’s friends were willing to go to get him in front of Jesus. They had incredible faith and a desire for him to belong.
- Do you have a friend for whom you would do this?
- Are you a friend who has people who would do this for you?
- How far are you willing to go to help someone feel like they belong?
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