A Hole In the Roof
A reading for Thursday, January 15, 2015: Mark 2:1-12.
It's a familiar story, the healing of the paralytic.
Four men bring a friend to Jesus who is at home in Capernaum. When they cannot get past the crowd to deliver their friend for healing, they dig a hole in the roof and lower the man. Jesus heals him to the surprise of the whole crowd, especially the Pharisees who take issue with his forgiving of sin.
In the end, the man is able to walk away. The crowd is amazed. The Pharisees have been taught an important lesson. Everyone is filled up with a renewal of faith and new understanding.
And Jesus has a hole in his roof...
What strikes me today as I read the story is the size of that hole, big enough to lower a man through. Look up at your ceiling and imagine a six foot hole. In the story, this house with the huge hole in the roof is the home of Jesus. After everyone is served in faithfulness, Jesus gets left with a hole in his roof.
The truth is sometimes faithfulness and serving the mission of God costs something. It cost Jesus everything, not just a hole in his roof, and it will cost us something too. When we get self-centered on faith and believe that somehow it's all about us and our spirituality and our needs and our happiness, we ignore a pretty large hole overhead. Sometimes that's how the rain falls down upon our heads.
The good news is that's also how the sunshine comes through, and the warm gentle breeze of the Spirit of God might also. The best life we can imagine is serving the mission of God.
Even if we are left with a hole in our roof too...
It's a familiar story, the healing of the paralytic.
Four men bring a friend to Jesus who is at home in Capernaum. When they cannot get past the crowd to deliver their friend for healing, they dig a hole in the roof and lower the man. Jesus heals him to the surprise of the whole crowd, especially the Pharisees who take issue with his forgiving of sin.
In the end, the man is able to walk away. The crowd is amazed. The Pharisees have been taught an important lesson. Everyone is filled up with a renewal of faith and new understanding.
And Jesus has a hole in his roof...
What strikes me today as I read the story is the size of that hole, big enough to lower a man through. Look up at your ceiling and imagine a six foot hole. In the story, this house with the huge hole in the roof is the home of Jesus. After everyone is served in faithfulness, Jesus gets left with a hole in his roof.
The truth is sometimes faithfulness and serving the mission of God costs something. It cost Jesus everything, not just a hole in his roof, and it will cost us something too. When we get self-centered on faith and believe that somehow it's all about us and our spirituality and our needs and our happiness, we ignore a pretty large hole overhead. Sometimes that's how the rain falls down upon our heads.
The good news is that's also how the sunshine comes through, and the warm gentle breeze of the Spirit of God might also. The best life we can imagine is serving the mission of God.
Even if we are left with a hole in our roof too...
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