Read Luke 5: 17-25
In the healing that happened in the story before this an individual approaches Jesus. This story is more about communal responses. The friends who bring their paralysed mate, the pharisees with a fixed view of how things should work.
NT Wright says “The Pharisees were a pressure group, not an official body.” “(For Everyone NT 18 Vols.) The Pharisees’ kingdom-plan, in line with plenty of earlier Jewish aims and ideals, was to intensify observance of the Jewish law, the Torah.” Essentially that mean’t that they thought if they could just be religious enough then God would bring the messiah. Unsurprisingly they also thought they were right.
We too have religious groups who believe this.
The friends are focused on bringing Someone to Jesus who cannot come by themselves.
What kinds of issues are like this requiring a group response ?
Colin listed 5 issues of society that a friend raised.
- Climate change
- Isolation and loneliness
- Domestic violence
- Inter-generational breakdown
- Youth Suicide.
What would you add to this list ? What can we do about these as individuals and as groups.
Churches are supposed to be communities that seek to bring people and issues to Jesus. We are supposed to be questioning communities, and communities that live in such a way that we raise questions. “Why do they do that ?”
This is what it is like to live ‘on the way’. Who are we seeking to bring to Jesus ?