Getting in the way of Jesus

DAILY BYTE

This week, we’re looking at the story of the paralytic in Mark 2, uncovering aspects of the story that might teach us about community. So, first, the community gathered in this story specifically because they heard Jesus was in the house! The gospel-writer says, “It was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them.”

They came to see the actual body of Christ and to hear it speak! Picture a church so full that people are blocking the door. Now, you’d think this is a really good thing - right? The place is packed - the community’s thriving! Hallelujah - and of course, partly we would be right. It’s exciting when people flock to learn from Jesus! We wouldn’t want it any other way - except...

“Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And...they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd...” A community of people gathering to hear from Jesus can actually keep people from reaching Jesus. And this is the first way that this story describes our real experience of what it can be like to be part of the body of Christ.

When we are cliquey - when we allow our selfishness and our busyness to distract us so that we are not aware of others around us, we may be in the presence of Christ, but we are not participating in the working of the body. In her book, Just Hospitality: God’s Welcome in a World of Difference, Letty Russell says when “unity is achieved through exclusion or domination of those who are different, this is no longer unity in Christ” (66).

So, we have a choice, we can be a part of the in crowd - the group that passed the gossip that Jesus was in town fastest and pushed to get the best seats. We can be the ones who are “in the know,” who Lord our knowledge of Jesus and church, our access to Christ, and the image that we want people to have of our place in our spiritual journeys over others.

Have you ever walked in and out of a church, and not one single person says hello to you? Everyone is either sitting quietly, not engaging with anyone - or they’re wrapped up in conversations of their own with people they clearly know well. Is that the kind of community you want to be?

Now, that’s not to say that quiet moments of contemplation and conversations of digging deeper with people are not part of the Christian journey. They are vital to us! But, if those aspects of our faith become insular and actually work to oppose the greater building of community, then we must be careful because isolated or segmented community is not the kind that Jesus supports in the story for today.

So, we have a few other options: We can admit that we’re neither part of the crowd nor the stretcher-bearers but we’re actually the paralytic who needs to be carried. This may be the most honest choice.

Or, we can notice the mat-carriers’ desperate attempts to get to Jesus, helping to part the way and lead them closer. Not a bad option.

Or, we can do what the four people in the story did, and this is the second way this story is about real community. We can get our hands dirty.

How are you involved in Christ’s community? Are you a part of the community that keeps others and yourself from coming near to Jesus, or do you desire to get your hands a little dirty, finding out how we can all carry one another as close to Jesus as possible?

FOCUS READING

Mark 2:1-4 (NRSV)

When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. Then some people* came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him...