Barricade of Backs — Henry Williams

In Mark 2 several men bring their paralytic friend to Jesus to be healed. When they can't break through the crowd, they face what Mark Buchanan calls "a barricade of backs" listening intently to Jesus teaching. They can't get through with their broken friend, so they climb on on the roof and break through it, dropping their friend down to Jesus to be healed. Buchanan writes:

...we get so caught up in the preaching of Jesus, we turn our backs to the needs of those still outside the building. We become barriers and not gateways. It's when we care more about keeping things intact than about restoring lives that are shattered. It's when we're more upset when stuff gets broken than excited when the broken are mended. It's when church gets reduced to the preaching of Jesus so that we fail to notice that we're seeing very little of the forgiveness and healing of Jesus. It is when we are so fearful about upsetting the religious folk (or homeowners) in our midst that we stop taking risks to get people to Jesus. ...It's when the church exists for itself; to hell with the rest of you.