Reckless Community

I spent some time in one of my favorite stories in the gospels recently, and it reminded me of the whole point of this community thing.

Jesus comes to town and packs out this house as he's teaching and healing people. These four guys come with their paralyzed friend on a mat. They want Jesus to heal this guy, but they can't get in. So they climb up onto the roof, dig a hole in it, and lower their friend on his mat right in front of Jesus. It's not their house, it's not their roof, but they don't care. They're doing whatever it takes to get their friend in front of Jesus. "When Jesus saw THEIR faith..." (emphasis mine, Mark didn't write that in all caps).

Several years ago a friend of ours lost her younger brother to a car accident. She was on the phone with one of our pastors, sobbing. "I just can't believe right now," she confessed.

My pastor's repsonse: "That's okay. You don't have to. Jesus is praying perfectly for you, and the church is here praying for you, too. You don't have to believe right now. We'll believe for you."

That's the point and purpose of spiritually reckless community. Doing whatever it takes to get people to Jesus, especially the sick ones, who can't (or won't) get there on their own.