Tear the Roof Off This : Coming In From the Top
Mark 2:1-12
When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. 3 Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 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. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? 10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” 12 And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” (NRSV)
Who is on the outside trying to get in? Isn’t it interesting that no one turned and saw the man who couldn’t get in and then pressed their siblings to make room, make a path and let him in? While this great crowd has gathered and pressed their way to hear, see and touch Jesus, the person most in need of the love and healing touch of God was left on the outside. The church is to be an inclusive body, those on the outside, those on the margins, those in need of the love of God as expressed through the church must be let in, they must be welcomed. It is interesting in this story that the church is full but the paralyzed man is left outside. Those inside appear to have no concern for the man who is outside.
Who is on the outside trying to get in?
Who is on the outside trying to get in? Do mainline churches today operate in a similar fashion as the gathering depicted in this text? Do they not see that our LGBTQ siblings have been marginalized and left outside? Do they see them wanting to come in and be their out, full, authentic, transparent selfs, celebrating the fact that God created them LGBTQ? Is the mainline church so stuck on what they have been told the word is instead of a new transformative liberative word from God? Is the mainline church full of folk who have pressed to get close to Jesus but yet don’t receive the word of Jesus? Is the church wanting to be transformed by the word? Bishop Yvette Flunder says, “… the vast majority of churches remain extremely judgmental in their theology and conservative in their politics towards people who traditionally have lived at the margins of society.”1 The judgmental stance of the mainline church has made it unaware to those on the margins. They sit at the feet of Jesus and they don’t see, don’t care and don’t make room for those on the margins.
Is the mainline church so stuck on what they have been told the word is instead of a new transformative liberative word from God?
Thank God the man on the margins had friends. As the friends bring the man to Jesus they realize there is no way in, people aren’t making a way for the man to get in and be with God. No one is moving out of the way to make a path for the man on the margins to get in the room. The friends, because of their love and faith, tear the roof off the house to get the man in the house. As they are tearing the roof off, those inside don’t respond, there is no hint in the text that they are concerned about the commotion or the state of the man who has be lowered into the room. Instead of feeling bad they had left the man outside and hadn’t made room, they sit in judgement of what God is doing. They sit in their seats judging Jesus and the words Jesus speaks, the forgiveness Jesus affords.
The response of the people in the room versus Jesus’ response is striking. Jesus sees the marginalized one that is being lowered in the room. Jesus doesn’t judge the marginalized one but rather Jesus recognizes the marginalized one and the friends who had the faith and love to bring him to the meeting and find a way in! They had to make a way where there was no way. For the church to be the church that God desires it to be, those of us who call ourselves friends and allies to our LGBTQ siblings are going to have to make a way. We are going to have to tear the roof off of the church. Jesus shows love to this man, now don’t get it twisted, I am not saying that our LGBTQ siblings need their sins to be forgiven, they are not sinners, there is nothing wrong with them but they are marginalized by the majority of our mainline churches. I am not liking my LGBTQ siblings to a paralyzed man but I am saying that we have marginalized them, yes, we, I am part of that we. For years I have participated and supported a church that is built on patriarchy, sexism, homophobia and transphobia. As I repent, I am up on the roof digging a hole saying, “Let my LGBTQ siblings in the church just as God made them.”
We are going to have to tear the roof off of the church.
The church cannot claim to be the church of Jesus Christ if it does not live up to the liberative call of God and invites our LGBTQ siblings in the room just as God made them. To quote Bishop Yvette Flunder again, “True community—true church—comes when marginalized people take back the right to fully “be.” A people must be encouraged to celebrate not in spite of who they are, but because of who their Creator has made them.”2 The church is not the church until it invites, welcomes, integrates, affirms and supports marginalized people so they may take back their right to fully be. To fully be in the church, open and out. God calls the church to be like the four friends who brought the man on the margins to the center. He was dropped down in the center of the church, right next to Jesus and Jesus showed him love. God calls the church today to bring those on the margins to the center and show them love.
In this story they are so stuck on what they say Jesus can’t do they don’t realize it is already done. While the church struggles with affirming and including our LGBTQ siblings, do they not already know God has already included them because God loves them and God made them? Like this story, the church has a choice to get with what God is doing or to self-destruct as they stand against God and the will of God to include and love all people, especially our LGBTQ siblings.
While the church struggles with affirming and including our LGBTQ siblings, do they not already know God has already included them because God loves them and God made them?
If the mainline church doesn’t see, if they don’t tear the roof off, God will close them down. We see the shrinking of mainline churches as they split over inclusion of our LGBTQ siblings. If, what we call the mainline church, does not become inclusive we will see a growth in churches and faith communities that are inclusive. “When access to existing communities is not available, marginalized people must seek to develop community for and among themselves. Where people are giving birth to a fresh, emerging Christian community, old barriers exist and must be overcome.”3 These new communities are growing all over the country. We have a decision to make. Who do you want to be in this story? Do you want to be one of the four friends or do you want to be those who sit in judgement of what God is doing and has done?
While the church struggles with affirming and including our LGBTQ siblings, do they not already know God has already included them because God loves them and God made them?
[1] Flunder, Yvette A.. Where the Edge Gathers: . Pilgrim Press. Kindle Edition. Location 121
[2] Flunder, Yvette A.. Where the Edge Gathers: . Pilgrim Press. Kindle Edition. Location 160
[3] Flunder, Yvette A.. Where the Edge Gathers: . Pilgrim Press. Kindle Edition. Location 167
Rev. Dr. Ralph Basui Watkins is the Peachtree Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth at Columbia Theological Seminary and is known as “the scholar with a camera!” He is a professor, photographer, documentarian, faith leader and scholar. He is the author of six books, and over thirty chapters and articles. He is a sought-after speaker, workshop leader and panelist. His television show Talk it Out with Dr. Ralph Basui Watkins was one of the top-rated shows on the Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasting network for over four years (2012-2016). He is also the producer / director, cameraman and editor of three full length made for television feature documentaries: She Is The Pastor (2012) and Our Journey to Palestine: A Story of the 43rd Delegation of Interfaith Peace Builders (2013) and Africana Theology and the Roots of Our Faith: A Journey Through Egypt (2018). Dr. Watkins has had two solo photography shows and his photographs have been published in numerous publications. He is presently working on a trans-media, arts-based research project, “Seeing the Future of the African American Church in the Rainbow: This Is My Story, This is My Song the Lived Faith of LGBTQ Christians”
In recent years, Watkins has been the artist in residence at the Velvet Note and St. James Live, both nationally recognized jazz clubs. He also been awarded a Louisville Institute Sabbatical Grant, Collegeville Institute Sabbatical Residency Grant, Governor’s Teaching Fellowship, Lilly Teaching Fellowship, Fulbright Hayes Fellowship for study in Ghana, a Wabash Teaching Fellowship, and various awards and grants to study in Kenya, Tanzania, Egypt, Ethiopia, Senegal, and Ghana.
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