Roof Busters

On occasion, I have been known to have a good idea. Not often, but occasionally. More often, good ideas literally explode from my brain when I'm with people I like*, with whom I share a common purpose. These people stimulate my thinking. That's why all of the better TV shows have writing teams who spend hours crafting all those twists and turns and comedic one-liners. No one is smart enough to come up with that stuff alone.

The same is true within the church.

While we individually may have bursts of inspiration, we can do so much better when we put our heads together.

So in Luke 5:17-26 we find a group of men who pool their intelligence to help a friend. This guy is paralyzed and has been bedridden for, we might presume, years. They decide to take him to see Jesus, but the crowds were too thick. So they concoct this crazy scheme to cut through the crowds by lowering him through the roof. They pull the roof tiles apart and lower their friend, on his mat, right in front of Jesus.

Forget every other desperate person who was in the mob to see Jesus; these guys would do whatever it took to get their friend to the Healer. Like the woman who, as Rob Bell says, "threw some elbows" to touch the hem of Jesus garment, these men were on a mission. They planned their mission and they pulled it off together.

The text tells us that "when Jesus saw their faith, he said 'Friend, your sins are forgiven.'" Cool. The faith of the friends (expressed in their actions) resulted in a miracle. And then Jesus stuns the Pharisees in the crowd by proving his authority to forgive sin by healing his body as well. Not a bad days work for these brothers, and a good result for their formerly-paralyzed friend.

In preparation for Sunday (at The Gathering) read the text, and then ask yourself these questions:

1. What could we accomplish as a group if we put our minds too it? Don't be afraid to think outside the box!

2. What are the benefits of working together to solve problems, over working alone?

3. Is there are problem we can solve as a group? Someone in our "sphere of influence" - community, work, fellowship - that needs our collective help?


*people I don't like stimulate my thinking too!

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