Whose Side Are You On, Anyway?
Finding Yourself in the Bible
How is it that Christians in America can fall on such drastically different sides when it comes to socio-political issues (with each side viewing the other as “deceived by the devil”)? This frustrates me to no end.
I’m sure the answers to this question are numerous. But, I’d like to propose one reason I see showing up time and again: that we interpret scripture differently, based on where we find ourselves in the story…
As I wrote about in my last post, I think it’s important to see Jesus in his historical-social context, so that we can really understand what God was doing in the act of coming to earth.
Similarly, I think it’s important for us to find ourselves — our Social Location — in the story of God, that we might accurately understand what Jesus is calling us to do today.
To illustrate this idea, let me take an example from the life of Jesus
(Mark 2:1–12):
Word of Jesus’ authority (over the law, demons, and illness) has already spread around Galilee and beyond. Despite Jesus’ best efforts to keep his ministry on the DL, everyone is looking for him — trying to figure out where he is headed next so that they can beat him there. It’s a real paparazzi situation!
On this particular day, a crowd has anticipated his arrival back in Capernaum and packed out Peter and Andrew’s house. There are people spilling out of every entryway…not just “regular people” either; a bunch of big name religious experts (important people) have traveled in from far and wide.
Amid this fire hazard/claustrophobic/pandemic-spreading nightmare, the narrator zeros in on a few specific characters:
A paralyzed man,
his 4 friends (carrying him on a mat),
the religious experts,
and Jesus.
The paralyzed man and his 4 friends have come to the house to see if the rumors they’ve heard about Jesus’ authority are true — can he really heal people’s bodies? What about paralysis?
But, they aren’t able to get in. Perhaps this is simply due to the density of the crowd, but it could also be due to the stigma they’re carrying (of sickness, sin, and shame) — while trying to enter a house full of important people.
Regardless, this opportunity is so urgent that they do not give up when they’re turned away at the door. Instead, they brainstorm: The entrances may all be blocked, BUT that doesn’t mean there’s no way in! There’s gotta be another way! Tunnel underneath the house? No. How about the roof? Dig through the reeds and mud, and lower in from above? THAT just might work!
The ingenuity — faith in action — is remarkable. And they do just that.
I can only imagine the faces of the people inside when they start hearing the shuffling on the roof. “What the…?” “What is that NOISE?” “Someone tell them to quiet down…I can’t hear Jesus!”
I imagine Jesus looking up with a smirk — dust swirling all around him — as a man drops through the roof to interrupt his speech.
All eyes dart back and forth in shock — from Jesus, to the paralyzed man, to the 4 friends looking down from the hole. You could probably hear a pin drop.
Then Jesus breaks the silence with this zinger: “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
(Gasp)
This same story is told by 3/4 of the Gospel writers, a little differently in each telling. What is consistent in all three versions is that the paralyzed man does not ask for forgiveness — and yet, Jesus extends it. First thing.
An important bit of context: in that day, it was thought that people with disabilities had sinned against God to result in their misfortune. Disabled people were thus stigmatized, socially ostracized, and even denied access to worship for their assumed impurity. So, when Jesus gives the disabled man his undivided attention and says, “your sins are forgiven,” it is NOT out of nowhere. It is intentional and meaningful, not to mention controversial!
This is where the religious experts enter the story (I imagine them lounging front and center). In their minds, Jesus’ declaration is blasphemous! ONLY God has the authority to forgive sins, and he has a very specific way of doing so (the sacrificial system)! God doesn’t just “forgive” out of nowhere! Their heads are exploding with righteous rage that Jesus would place himself on the same level as God, and have the nerve to bypass religious procedures.
*And so begins their case against Jesus, which would lead to his execution.*
Jesus knows their thoughts (they are oh so predictable), looks them straight in the eye, and says, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” The man got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all.
Jesus not only forgives this man’s supposed “sin,” but proves his own forgiveness-declaring-authority by healing the man’s body!
It’s a real win-win for the (formerly) paralyzed man, who entered by way of rude interruption and destruction of property (sorry Peter), and LITERALLY WALKED AWAY with the removal of his stigma of sin, shame, and all the resulting social and religious barriers. In this brief meeting, Jesus restored the man’s whole self, including his place in community. Talk about Good News!
Now, let’s bring the story into today. Who might be in the Social Location of the paralyzed man in our world today? Who is…
- Considered “impure” because of some aspect of their identity?
- Forced to carry harmful and shaming religious baggage?
- Being blocked from Christian community/belonging?
- So desperate for an audience with Jesus that they circumvent “the establishment” to make their OWN WAY to him?
- Embodying an astonishingly authentic faith, to the shame of the so-called “righteous”?
And who might be in the Social Location of the religious experts? Who is…
- Understanding God inside a very specific system?
- Shutting doors in the faces of those carrying stigmas of sin and shame?
- Disgruntled about the ruckus, interruption, destruction caused by those demanding equal access?
- Disturbed when the “unacceptable people” somehow make it to Jesus by another (unauthorized) way?
- Disbelieving that Jesus has the authority to bypass the proper “forgiveness procedures”?
- Grumbling “blasphemy” when Jesus gives those people his undivided attention, notices their great faith, and restores their access to God and community?
I have my ideas, but I won’t answer for you ;-)
I think the way you answer these kinds of questions affects who you end up blaming for societal ills, whose side you end up standing on, and how you generally interpret the socio-political climate.
Some Christians read this story and misidentify with the paralyzed man (his faith), when their faith looks A WHOLE LOT MORE like that of the law-abiding, religious, grumblers — far more likely to be guarding the door or lounging on the floor, than ripping the roof off!
Be honest, are you really seeing yourself accurately?
I am not proud of the role I have played in the past, but I hope I am growing into the embodied faith of one of the 4 friends…
Willing to struggle WITH, enter the stigma and shame WITH, dig through the mud WITH, create an unauthorized entrance WITH, disrupt the status quo WITH — a friend whom I love, on his way to healing and belonging.
In the beautiful words of Barbara Brown Taylor, “The only clear line I draw these days is this: when my religion tries to come between me and my neighbor, I will choose my neighbor…Jesus never commanded me to love my religion.”
If you’d like to join me,
Here, grab a corner of this mat.
Footnotes:
Read-alike passages can be found in Matthew 9:1–8 and Luke 5:17–26.
It is thought that Peter’s experience with Jesus is the source material for the Gospel of Mark. If so, the way this story is told makes me think that Peter must have looked back at this “episode” in his house with great fondness (despite the damage to his roof/the mess), which says something about his priorities.
Acts 3:1–4:35 potentially shows the effect/implications of this event in Peter’s life, as he too heals a man who can’t walk (after Jesus is gone), and is faced with intense backlash from the religious elite. After he is arrested and released for this “crime,” we immediately read: “The company of those who believed had one heart and soul. Nobody said that they owned their property; instead, they had everything in common.” And, thus, the early church was born.
Cover picture is from a trip my husband took to modern day Capernaum.
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