This week, worship was led by the Sunday School – from beginning to end! The audio recording of the service is below, followed by one of the many reflections offered during the service.
Audio Recording
Reflection
by Mercy Wetzig & Abel Wetzig
Hi! We are kids. We like to ask lots of questions.
How come?
Well…asking questions is a good way to learn about stuff.
Why’s that?
Uhhh, because…I don’t know!
Why don’t you?
I’m never going to have kids.
Why not?
Ugh…you’ll understand when you’re older.
When will that be?
In your case, I have no idea.
Here’s a question I have. In the story we read for today, we heard about the room being full of people listening to Jesus, and they must have seen the four friends carrying the paralytic man. Didn’t they see him coming? With so much need? Why didn’t the crowd move aside to let them in?
I think it was a pretty crazy idea that they came up with, for getting into the house. Who came up with that one? Where did they find shovels to break through the roof? Did they have rope to let him down?
They must have been really great friends, to do all that digging for their friend in order to get him to Jesus, because it must have taken a long time and effort to gather the tools and dig through the roof.
What was it like in the room with Jesus when they were working their way through the roof? It must have been loud. Maybe things even dropped from the ceiling. I bet it was dusty at least. Did Jesus stop teaching and listen? Did the people in the room run for cover?
If it was my house, I would have stopped them from putting a big hole in the roof. I wonder if anyone tried to stop them. Or got angry with them for doing that.
Once they let the man down, Jesus says to him, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Why did he say that, instead of telling him to be healed?
It sounds like Jesus was asking for trouble. The way he forgave the man, even though everybody in the room knew that only God could forgive sins. He was putting himself next to God. If Jesus wanted to stay friends with the people in the room, he should have just said, “Be healed.” Why was he getting into trouble like that?
Wait. I just thought of a great question. Is forgiveness free or isn’t it? They sure did a lot of work in order to get to the place where Jesus could meet them. Was that necessary or could they have just waited for Jesus on the street outside the house?
Yeah. Are we supposed to do the work of coming to God or do we need to wait for God to come to us? Or…something in between?
How about this one. It says Jesus healed the man on account of his friends’ faith. Did the paralytic have any faith of his own? Did he need any? Or was it enough that his friends had faith, and that’s all Jesus needed to cover their friend’s need?
Did the healed man thank Jesus? It just says that he gets up and walks out. I think he should have shown some gratitude at least. Or maybe he was just stunned?
And how come all of a sudden there’s room for him to walk out, when no one wanted him to walk in? So the people who wouldn’t let him come in when he was paralized definitely parted for him. Maybe they too were stunned at what they had seen Jesus do?
And what I want to know is, who fixed the hole in the roof?
Yeah. And did it leave a scar?
Then everybody would remember what had happened there.