When I was a boy in Sunday School, I looked forward every week to the end of class because that’s when our teacher would hand out the Bible story for the week ahead.  What made the Bible stories so compelling is that they were printed in comic book form.

After all these years, I recall the vivid image of Paul being lowered in a basket outside the walls of Damascus.  Paul was making an escape from those who were waiting by the gates of the city to kill him when he left Damascus.  He was trapped until other disciples led him by night to an opening in the city wall and lowered him in a basket.  I can still see the big basket with Paul peering out as he is lowered by ropes, held by the strong arms of his friends.

All these years later and I am still captivated by the drama, but now I can see that the wonder of the story is not only that Paul escaped with his life.  The wonder of the story is that it comes so quickly on the heels of Paul’s transformation from being a persecutor of the Church to becoming a follower of Jesus.  The strong arms that lowered him safely put themselves on the line for this guy who so recently had been an enemy.

Paul was no longer an enemy.  He had become a brother.  It wasn’t Paul’s good character and loving nature that prompted those disciples to risk their necks for him.  They hid him and engineered his escape because Paul had been made one with them in Christ.

When we belong to Christ we are not only set at peace with God, but we are also placed into the big, messy family we call Church.  There we continue to meet Christ in the people he has redeemed.

We need God and we need each other; our growth as disciples of Jesus is not a matter of our goodness, our strength, or our smarts.  We rely on God, and God has chosen to minister through the people gathered in the name of Christ.  Christ ministers to us — heals, teaches, guides and strengthens us — through his Body, the Church.  Our inclination to be self-reliant must be tempered by a humble admission that we need others.

We need others and we are needed.  Being a part of Christ’s Body means that everyone has a part to play, and if we withhold our gifts we hinder Christ’s mission and weaken the family of faith.

Sometimes you’re suspended in the basket, utterly dependent, and sometimes it’s your strong arms that are carrying the load.

Prayer: You know how I hate hanging here between the sky and the hard ground with only these ropes and those folks to keep me from falling.  As I sway and sweat, remind me that the hands on the ropes really are your hands.  Amen.