Ruining Jesus' Roof
It's a possibility. Regardless, Jesus was in a lot of homes.
Mark 2:1-17
Mark implies that perhaps this was the home of Jesus himself. Some scholars receive it that way.1 Regardless, the audacity of these four friends is remarkable. Even more remarkable to most understandings of personal salvation is that Jesus healed and forgave this man based on the efforts of those four rather than the individual himself (When Jesus saw their faith.)
We could spend a lot of time noting just how much of Jesus’ efforts, including healings and meals, were made in homes. Today, so much of the Church’s efforts and resources is exerted in church buildings. What should we take from the context of Jesus’ ministry? Maybe nothing. But also, maybe a lot.
For sure, Jesus was in the Temple and in synagogues quite often. He taught there a lot. But the gospels tell us just as much, if not more, about his presence, fellowship, conversation, and care within homes.
Mark 2:1-17
After a few days, Jesus went back to Capernaum, and people heard that he was at home. So many gathered that there was no longer space, not even near the door. Jesus was speaking the word to them. Some people arrived, and four of them were bringing to him a man who was paralyzed. They couldn’t carry him through the crowd, so they tore off part of the roof above where Jesus was. When they had made an opening, they lowered the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven!”
Some legal experts were sitting there, muttering among themselves, “Why does he speak this way? He’s insulting God. Only the one God can forgive sins.”
Jesus immediately recognized what they were discussing, and he said to them, “Why do you fill your minds with these questions? Which is easier—to say to a paralyzed person, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk’? But so you will know that the Human One has authority on the earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed, “Get up, take your mat, and go home.”
Jesus raised him up, and right away he picked up his mat and walked out in front of everybody. They were all amazed and praised God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this!”
Jesus went out beside the lake again. The whole crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he continued along, he saw Levi, Alphaeus’ son, sitting at a kiosk for collecting taxes. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Levi got up and followed him.
Jesus sat down to eat at Levi’s house. Many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples. Indeed, many of them had become his followers. When some of the legal experts from among the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, “Why is he eating with sinners and tax collectors?”
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners.”
Prayer
God,
As we gather to worship you today, we do so to give you praise from the fullness of our heart to yours. As we worship, receive us, fill us, and then send us: Let our worship here shape our lives out there.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.
More people prefer to think that Jesus didn’t have a home, looking at his statement that, The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. The “evidence” there that he was homeless seems much weaker than the evidence here that he did.