Column: Be a roof crasher
Kortney Mayne The Bridge
Mark, Chapter 2, of the Bible tells an interesting story of a man who needed to get to Jesus. He was paralyzed and looking for healing. Jesus was inside a house, and so many people had crowded in and around the house to hear him, that the paralyzed man could not get through.
Enter the man’s friends. The friends were willing to do whatever it took for the man to get to Jesus. They climbed onto the roof, dug a hole through it, somehow lifted the man onto the roof, and lowered him down.
Mark 2:5 says, “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’” Jesus then went on to heal the man’s physical body as well as his soul. Note that it says, when Jesus saw “their” faith. It wasn’t just the faith of the paralyzed man that enabled him to get to Jesus, it was the faith of his friends as well.
We are not designed to go through life alone. The Bible highlights this fact from beginning to end. God decides in the very beginning to create a partner for Adam because “it is not good for man to be alone.” We are reminded that two are better than one.
The church is compared to a body. Each part of the body has a role and purpose. When one part hurts, the whole body hurts. When one part rejoices, the whole body rejoices. We are told to carry each other’s burdens and to love one another. In fact, John 13:35 says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Isolation and loneliness are not good for the human spirit. Recent studies show that 60 percent of people report feeling lonely on a regular basis. People who report feeling lonely are more likely to suffer from dementia, heart disease and stroke. They also have reduced longevity in life. Simply put: We were not meant for isolation.
And yet, humans tend to drift toward isolation. Why is that? Why don’t we drift toward what is good for us? Probably for the same reason that we drift toward chocolate chip cookies instead of Brussels sprouts. Sometimes, what is best for us, is not always what is easiest for us.
In a world of technology, we have more ways to entertain ourselves in isolation than ever before. Our grandparents couldn’t stream movies at their fingertips. They were forced to go outside of their homes for entertainment. Today, we can entertain ourselves for hours and never step foot outside.
Social media allows us to have more connections than ever before, but they tend to be a greater number of shallow connections than the meaningful relationships that humans crave. It is easier now to substitute fake connections for real. But just like a diet of chocolate chip cookies, that only satisfies for a short time.
Real connection takes risk. It often takes a sacrifice of our time and effort. It can be messy. Loving others as Christ asks us to means that we don’t always put our own needs and wants first. It’s against what our human nature drifts toward.
My husband and I love to kayak. I’ll never forget the day we were on the water and the wind suddenly kicked up. I was a novice at the time, and as the water white-capped into my kayak, I thought that I was never going to make it back to shore. I had to make a conscious effort to fight the drift. If I had just gone where my kayak wanted to take me, I would have been alone and far from my goal.
In the same way, we have to fight the natural tendency to drift toward isolation. We were never meant to be alone. We were created for connection. We were created to love one another.
Are you swimming in a sea of isolation? Fight the drift. Connect with a church body. You don’t have to be alone.
Do you know someone who is struggling? Take a look at the man’s friends in Mark 2. They were willing to do whatever it took to get that man to Jesus. May we do the same for those who hurt today.
