I don’t know if you’ve seen this story or not, but it’s a beautiful reminder of the Olympic spirit. That though these athletes are from other countries, they’ve trained for this, they’ve endured various challenges for this moment, and they persevered over injuries, early morning wake ups, weather, and apathy to routine. Sometimes we need a little bit of help to finish the race.
“Get up. We have to finish this.”
Sometimes we need a little help and encouragement to finish the race.
It reminds me of the Mark 2 passage. The one where a paralytic man’s friends help him by lowering him from the roof to be healed by Jesus. This passage has always been a favorite of mine because they go the extra mile for their friend which illustrates perfectly Christian community – not just talking the talk but walking the walk. Action, not merely words. You see Jesus had already started healing people and when he came to Capernaum there was standing room only inside the house. There were four friends and a man on a stretcher that were trying to get in to see Jesus because they had faith that if Jesus saw their friend, he could be made well.
It was so crowded,that they literally had to tear up the roof to lower him down. To me, there’s something really powerful about them having to actually dig through and get dirty to help make this miracle happen. According to some scholars, the roof was usually made of beams about 3 feet apart. These beams would be filled with twigs, then packed with clay and covered with dirt.
If you have ever worked with drywall or insulation, particularly taking it down, you know that there’s small particles and dust everywhere. A big mess. So as you can probably imagine, as these four are pulling away chunks of clay, bits of dirt, and dried leaves are falling all over those below.
And the people who stood in the room, who most likely had some small rubble or debris dropped on their heads were doubtfully very thrilled and the men had to know this when they concocted their plan. They risked a lot because they had faith in who Jesus is and what a tremendous impact he could have on the life of their friend.
Sometimes we need people to come alongside us to bring about God’s healing. Sometimes we need conversation partners as God speaks through another, sometimes we need others to recognize the God spark in us, when we can’t imagine it’s anything but extinguished, sometimes we need a push or someone to reach down and help us up. And that’s okay. We’re supposed to be community to and with one another. We’re here to support and be the hands and feet of Christ as the Holy Spirit leads us in the words to speak that all people are created in the image of God and God has called us all GOOD.
We need to be the ones that receive the help and then give the help. Everyone is on a journey, with twists and turns, highs and lows. We are not any of us invincible. We all need help sometimes. But we also need to give that same help to others. I think that God allows some things to happen, hard roads to walk, to give us empathy with one another. God works all things for good, after all. I’ll invite you to insert your name for love as I write the Message version of 1 Corinthians 13.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
So when you need help, don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you see someone down and out, don’t be afraid to step out in faith and let the miracle happen. We are all on this blessed journey together. Every one of us. We can’t do this life alone. We all need to lean on each other.
Blessings on the Journey 