Living out Community Part 3 Mark 2

One of the things that I’m challenging churches with is that accessibility issues are not always physical. While physical accessibility is certainly important – many find that although they can enter the building, entering the community is quite another matter. Not to be put off by the crowd the little community found a way around the physical obstacles – but had to be unconventional and take personal significant risk and effort in order to so. Systems, structures, expectations, attitudes and ‘social’ convention can all be considerable barriers. The man on the mat had no hope of surmounting the barriers on his own – he needed his community. Ray Anderson in his book “On Being: Essay’s in Theological Anthropology” suggests that our real personhood is not found in our individuality, but in our co-humanity. It is in being and living out true community that our ‘individual’ personhood is discovered. Back to our story, the men cut the hole in the roof and lowered the man before Jesus. What a spectacle that must have been. Dirt and dust falling from the ceiling – all eyes looking up as a hole began to appear, and faces are seen peering in. Suddenly a man is lowered down. I wonder if Jesus had this co-humanity in mind when He made that controversial statement in Mark 2:5 “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man “my child your sins are forgiven.” See their faith? The man, because Jesus saw the faith of his friends forgave him of his sin? Commentaries have many opinions on this – but I believe that there is a significant relationship to be discovered here. Community plays and important part in the healing process – spiritually and physically. Community is that which comes together and ‘bears’ another – and is willing to overcome obstacles for the other. We need to keep in mind, that the obstacles were not obstacles for the four – what they did was not motivated out of ‘self interest’, but purely out of compassion, care and justice for another. What implications does this idea of crowd and community have on us as we seek to minister to those with exceptional needs? How can we make sure that we are living out community?
Anyway, I was just thinking…

Neil