Through the Roof
I just finished building a Lego replica of "The Healing of the Paralytic". Later today I'm telling our Street Church kids this story and hoping to teach them a little about faith. I have all my little Lego minifigures hovering around a yellow house with a black tile roof. Inside is Jesus (actually it’s Han Solo – but it will work) and more people sitting on Lego stools.
A broken man with four friends. They wanted him well - so they carried him to Jesus. When they couldn't get through the crowd they climbed the wall. They made an opening in the roof and then dug though the mortar and tiles until their was enough room to lower their friend down. Amazing.
There are miracles popping out all over this story. Jesus made the lame man to walk and he forgave his sins – and the sins of his faithful friends. Why? Because He's God.
But my favorite miracle isn't the one that's the stuff of epic stories and headlines – it was the miracle of the four men whose faith in the healer and love for the broken moved them to dig through a tile roof for a chance to see their friend walk.
It is a miracle because in a world of destruction, chaos and cold evil we still see sparks and reflections of the God who created us – in His image. Those men were doing nothing less than claiming their heritage. In expecting a miracle? No. Their heritage was in loving their brother.
And as I read over the words of Jesus it's clear that it was the friend's faith that led to healing and forgiveness. And I'm left with this incredible image of skinned knees and dirty fingernails. Am I digging deep, covered with mud and thatch – scrambling up walls and carrying the broken?
Or am I just calmly waiting in line at the door…
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Rev. Amy Beth "A.B." Augustin Barlow
The Third Story, Inc.