On Disassembling Jesus’ House

A Reflection on Mark 2:1-12

who disassembled the roof of your home  

to bring their paralyzed friend before you.

They tore through the structure that kept you 

protected from the rain,

sheltered from the hot sun.

The hole they made – big enough to fit a man on a mat –

had the potential to destroy your home,

letting in water

and heat

and bugs, all of which 

could potentially ruin

the furnishings within,

fine or simple,

it matters not,

for all that was housed within 

was suddenly exposed to the 

dangerous Elements 

of this dangerous world.

The very world your roof was designed to deflect.

you didn’t look twice at that 

ruinous hole.

It’s the strangest thing.

You focused all your attention on the man before you

and the friends beside him,

whose unafraid faith trusted that

you would heal him,

that you would care more for this man

than you would care for your roof,

your building,

your home, 

and the (perhaps not so fine) furnishings within.

Jesus,

make me unafraid to dig a hole in the roof of the

Church,

so that You can be exposed to the

pain, the

injustice, the

brokenness, the

Unavoidable Elements of this world.

Jesus,

make me brave enough to disassemble your

House

so that I can squeeze in the people

who just don’t fit in,

who don’t feel they belong,

but who are your children, anyways, always.

Jesus, 

give me the divine ability

to disregard the hole in the roof 

as nothing but a blessing in disguise.

Because you were never meant to be 

shielded from the

dangerous Elements

of this world.

On the contrary,

you came to confront the Elements.

You came to care for those 

exposed and wounded and paralyzed

by the forces that terrorize bodies, minds, and souls.

The forces we hide from

behind our walls and pews and fine furnishings

and sacred roofs.

But what is the Church,

Your Body on Earth,

meant to be but

a conduit of your

compassionate smile,

offering the paralytic man before you 

(let down through that sacred, beautiful hole)

a Blessed Wholeness – of body, mind, and spirit –

naming him

as more valuable in the eternal eyes of God

than a rickety manmade roof?