“Holy disruptors”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Thursday, March 10, 2022
Mark 2:1-12 (Forward, p. 40) CEV p. 1027
Certain people certainly know how to turn loose ‘the cat among the pigeons.’ We don’t know whether the house in Capernaum beloved to Simon Peter, or to some other individual, but I am sure that what happened to this house was pretty upsetting. Imagine a group of individuals, four in number, ascended up the side stairs to the flat roof of your house and then clearing away the packed down clay and roofing materials to create a hole in the roof, a large one, in fact, given what it needed to do. And then, amidst the dust and broken roof fragments, lowering a paralyzed man down through that hole in your roof. I’m sure that it was pretty disconcerting, not to say probably upsetting as well. I’m sure that you, as the householder, the owner, would be wondering about the necessary repairs and the cleanup. “What are we going to do now? How are we going to live here, especially if a storm or rain spring up?
I like to think of the four friends of the paralyzed man as holy disruptors. They cared intensely for their friend and were worried about his health and welfare and were determined to do what they could for him. They were sure that Jesus could help him and so they were not about to let a few minor things, things like a jam-packed crowd, or steep stairs, or a seemingly solid roof, stand in the way. Such was their faith and such was their love and concern for their friend. So, no matter what it took, they were going to bring him to the feet of Jesus.
But these four men were not the only ‘holy disruptor’ present on the scene. There was Jesus Himself. Rather than say to the paralyzed man, ‘get up and walk’, as He did on other occasions, He said ‘My friend, your sins are forgiven.’ Now that, in and of itself, is rather interesting, and perhaps insightful as well. Perhaps the man’s paralysis had its roots in some event, some action, in his past, and that, in being forgiven it, he was also freed from its present-day effects. We will probably never know for sure—at least in this life—but it is an interesting possibility.
However, in many ways, this is a moot point, as there was something else involved here, something that Jesus’ critics, the teachers of the Law, immediately picked up and pounced upon. They rightly stated that only
God can forgive sins inflicted upon someone else. Of course, we can forgive sins against ourselves personally, but not in general, and not with regards to other people. Only God, they rightly stated, can forgive sins in general. And so, basically then, what Jesus said is ‘right oh, just to prove that I can indeed forgive sins, I’m healing this man.’ What a holy disrupter He proved to be. The teachers of the Law were no doubt dumbfounded and angry, but the common people were delighted and amazed.
This incident posed a couple of questions for me concerning our present world. First of all, do we allow Jesus to be our disrupter? Do we allow Him to act in our lives and in our world in ways that are unexpected and perhaps disruptive? Do we expect Him to do so?
And, are we, you and I, ever like these four friends, so concerned about a person or situation, so caring and loving, that we will be equally disruptive? That we will figuratively ‘shift heaven and earth’ to fix or solve or help in a particular difficult situation? Do we have that same resilient, unflappable, determined faith in God that they had? If we don’t, perhaps we should, and should ask for it and expect it and act on it. Amen.
Forward notes: “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” (verse 4).
“Several years ago, I experienced a spiritual drought of sorts. I had questions about my faith, and I was struggling to find meaning. I loved the people in my congregation, so I continued to go to church despite my uncertainties. I sat in the pew on Sunday morning while those around me sang hymns, prayed the collects, and recited the creeds. I struggled to participate but soon found myself swept up in the words of those who surrounded me. I prayed through my fellow worshipers.
“The paralytic in Mark’s Gospel could not bring himself to Jesus. He relied on his friends to carry him, to remove the roof and let him down to where Jesus could touch him.
“When we are paralyzed by doubt, we must rely on our friends to carry us. We can allow them to remove whatever roof separates us from the love of Jesus and deliver us gently into grace.”
MOVING FORWARD: “Are you struggling right now? Letting your friends carry you on occasion can be a grace-filled experience for everyone.”