Today's Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 5 verses 18 through 25:
18Just then some men came, carrying a paralysed man on a bed. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus;* 19but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the middle of the crowd* in front of Jesus. 20When he saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend,* your sins are forgiven you.’
The famous anthropologist Margaret Mead was once asked what marked for her the beginning of civilization. The harnessing of fire and the invention of the wheel may have come to mind. But Mead's final answer was a surprise, and an also an inspiration:
The first sign of civilization, Mead said, was the ancient femur that though once broken, had been healed.
“The healed femur tells me that someone found that wounded person, took the time to stay with them, and bind the wound," Mead said.
"A healed femur indicates that someone helped a fellow human, rather than abandoning them to save their own life."
The South African concept of Ubuntu speaks to this: "I am because you are." We are who we are because we are in connection, and in community. And our civilization depends upon it.
Civilization is dependent upon a community of people's kindness and connection to one another. It is dependent upon their care for one another.
Friends, this is why we should have universal healthcare and adequate disability entitlements. It's why we should have mail-in, and drive-up voting. And it's why we must always bring the bread and the cup forward into the congregation, for those who can't come forward during communion.
And seeing their care and their love and their faithfulness to one another, Jesus said, "Your sins are forgiven . . ."
Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
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