Breaking Down Barriers: Does Jesus care about accessibility?
By Zoe Hatcher, Lead Pastor | Open Arms Community Church | http://oachurch.com
Mark 2: 1-5 1”A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Millions of people will go to worship at churches all over America this Sunday but there will be a glaring absence of a large group of people: the handicapped and those with physical disabilities.
A survey in The Journal of Disability and Religion revealed only 10 percent of U.S. churches offered any tangible support to disabled people.
In the story above we see a few of Jesus’ followers who were so dedicated to making sure that all of their friends could get to Jesus that they climbed up on the roof of the house they were meeting in and tore off the roof to make a way for their paralyzed friend to get to Jesus. What they did took courage and physical effort. They didn’t own the property, they could have been fined or punished for what they did, damaging the roof and interrupting the teaching.
But when Jesus saw what they did for this man, He didn’t correct them for being disruptive or destructive. Instead, He rewarded their faith with the healing and forgiveness that their friend so desperately needed.
Some may say that spending church dollars for ramps, elevators and accessible bathrooms is too costly and even poor stewardship of the church’s resources. What would Jesus say?
In this story, we see Jesus noticing able bodied people caring for those who could not move and make a way for them to get to Him. They cared enough about this man’s soul and body, that they physically carried Him to Jesus. But they didn’t just stop there.
How easy would it have been for them to have seen the crowds and said to the man, “It’s just too crowded today to bring you to Jesus. We’ll have to wait until the crowds go home and maybe we’ll try to catch Him later.” But even that did not stop them. They were willing to do whatever it took to get him to Jesus. Literally breaking down the barriers between their friend and Jesus.
How valuable is our worship time? Do you think it holds the same value to those who may not be able to get in a car, drive to church, walk up the stairs and sit in a pew like you can? Are their souls not as worthy of an encounter with God?
If we wholeheartedly believe that the answer to that question is “yes”, then how willing are we to break down any barriers that are between them and Jesus? Especially physical ones, like so many of our buildings have for those that are disabled.
We at Open Arms desire to be a church that is willing to do whatever it takes to break down those barriers between our neighbors and Jesus. Giving all who desire the opportunity to come and worship that chance. Who is with us?
