Removing the Roof
AM Psalm 18:1-20 • PM Psalm 18:21-50
Isa. 41:17-29 • Eph. 2:11-22 • Mark 2:1-12
This past year we witnessed a lot of undoings. We undid how we worked, we undid how we worshipped, we undid how we gathered with our families and friends. Sometimes that felt liberating and sometimes it was threatening. Sometimes glorious, sometimes depressing. In today’s gospel, Mark tells of an undoing which struck me in its intricacy for the first time.
In the story of the healing of the paralytic, we hear of the dense crowds (remember crowds?) gathered at the house where Jesus is. The crowd’s desire to see and hear Jesus is thick like their bodies filling the space. They do not, or cannot, make space for a man in need of healing. So, four people decide to take matters into their own hands and lift him on his stretcher through the roof and lower him into the house.
And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. (Mark 2:4, NRSV)
In the Common English Bible, the phrase “removed the roof above him” is translated as “tore off part of the roof.” I love that word choice. I love the image of urgency and irreverence it conveys. I love that these people wanted to help their friend so badly, that nothing and no one could stand in their way.
To get to Jesus, for healing to take place, for miracles to occur, an undoing, a tearing, a removal must happen. The crowd could not be parted, but they do not need to be. There is another way. In the face of an obstacle, people got creative with how they approached the Lord. If that isn’t the story of 2020…
It will be a while before gathering in crowds feels safe again. I hope when we do, we remember there are people in that crowd who will still need help seeing Jesus. And I hope we remember to tear off whatever roofs we can to access the miracles that await.
Written by Emma Mitchell
When not serving the youth and families at St. Paul’s as the Youth Director, Emma enjoys a good craft project, a thrifting adventure, and hanging out with her husband Dave and small menagerie of animals.