I’m not much of a TV watcher. So when I take the time to sit down and watch a TV show, I want to be able to see it.

Cole, however, has a habit of standing in front of the TV. It makes no difference where I sit. He comes into the room and stops in the one spot that prevents me from seeing the television.

One day when he did this, I thought about the events described in Mark 2:1-5. Jesus was staying at a house in Capernaum. The people somehow heard he was there, and they went to him. There were so many people, they filled the house and spilled out of the doorway.

To have so many people interested in the teachings of Jesus was a good thing. But it presented a problem for one particular man and his four friends.

The man was lame. Unable to walk. Incapable of mobility, except the mobility afforded him by his friends as they carried him to Jesus. They had faith that if they could get their friend to him, Jesus would heal him.

Yet when they arrived, the doorway was blocked (verse 4). Some of the people at the house were scribes — members of the religious establishment. Some of the people were probably Jesus’ disciples. The rest of them were probably seeking Jesus themselves.

When the lame man arrived, his path to Jesus was obscured. He couldn’t get to Jesus because religious people were blocking the door and preventing his access to the savior.

It makes me wonder: are the followers of Jesus today “blocking the door” and preventing some people from reaching the savior?

Maybe it’s not intentional. Perhaps it’s a thoughtless word, or a careless action — something that’s out of character for us, but it happens at the one moment when someone’s watching us for proof of the faith we proclaim.

For some, it may be intentional. Some people “block the door” because of a person’s skin color, or the size of their bank account. Some people “block the door” because a person has tattoos or piercings, and they don’t think “those people” are the right type to attend “their” church (I’m sorry, WHOSE church is it, again?).

The fact of the matter is, it’s not our place to decide who comes to Jesus and who doesn’t. It’s not our job to “block the door.” Our job is to throw the door wide open and give all people clear passage to the savior.

What’s more, we should be like the lame man’s four friends. We should be taking people to Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20).

Parrish Myers is a local minister. His column appears biweekly in Sunday Life and on gainesvilletimes.com/life.