Jump Start # 742

Matthew 4:24 The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.

We noticed yesterday, in our Jump Start, that many “bad” people came to Jesus. Many of these were outcasts because of their sins, such as the immoral, or because of their profession, such as the tax collectors. They found in Jesus a friend. He was not like them, yet He was not like the rest who avoided them. Jesus did not send them away. Jesus offered them a better way.

Another group of people that would be found in the crowds around Jesus were the sick. Our passage is one of many that generically tells of healings. How many we do not know. The list Matthew gives us includes: various diseases, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics and those with pains. News that Jesus would give relief spread from village to village. Most of these people had to live with their problems because doctors could not help them. Jesus not only lessened their burdens, He restored their health and their life.

It is hard to imagine being in a crowd to hear Jesus. Parents with sick kids would be pushing their way to the front so Jesus could see them and heal them. The demon possessed would scare most of us.  In some ways it would look like a doctors waiting room filled with sick people. They came to get cured. They came for personal reasons. They came because they had a need. Their interest was not in salvation, but in wellness. Jesus used the opportunity to show that He could do what no one else could. He used the healings as a footnote to verify He was Heaven sent. There was a greater sickness that He came for and that was sin.

Between the “bad” people and the “sick” people, the Pharisees must have wondered if there was any “normal” people in the audience. The Messiah from Heaven certainly wasn’t surrounding Himself with the cream of the crop. He wasn’t building a army from those type of people. The elite, the movers and the shakers, the politicians do not make up the audience that heard Jesus. He wasn’t traveling in rock-star status. He wasn’t hob-knobbing with the powerful and standing at a distance so the commoner could see Him. Not Jesus. He was with the common man. He was with the “bad” people and the “sick” people. He went to their homes. He answered their questions. He allowed them to touch Him. They were comfortable around Him.

It is interesting to note that the people around Jesus had problems. A lot of problems. There were the emotional and spiritual problems of the “bad” people and the physical problems of the “sick” people. Problems come with layers and layers of issues and needs.

If “problem” people surrounded Jesus, should it be strange that “problem” people are found in the church? Some have many issues that they are working on that is complicated and very demanding in time and resources. Others have physical issues, such as financial or housing or jobs. These things take time and the impatience of others can add stress to the leadership of a church. It is sad to see in some congregations a growing disgust with “those people” who are not like the rest. Some do not want to help others financially or provide rides or be of assistance in any fashion. Deep down, they wish that “those people” would go some where else. Can you imagine Jesus ever saying that?

The attraction to Jesus that we find in the Gospels is from people who had needs, spiritual or physical. They came to Jesus because He was hope. They came to Jesus because there was no where else to go. Jesus helped. Jesus was the answer. The attraction today is going to come from those who have needs. Those who feel they have everything, also feel that they don’t need Jesus. It’s the hurting, the guilty, the sick, the desperate, the lonely, the broken, those who have run out of answers that come to Jesus. More specifically, it is the divorced, the abandoned, the abuser, the rejected that come looking for someone to accept them and help them. These folks have problems. As they bow to Jesus and become baptized, their problems often become the problems of the congregation they attend. Many of us, most of us, not only understand that, but were there ourselves at one time. Jesus changed us. Jesus showed us better attitudes, better ways to deal with sins and mistakes, better choices to make, better people to associate with and better ways to use our time and minds. Jesus changed us. Some, if not many, are still working on that. They are not there yet. They need patience. They need to be shown and taught. They need attention.

I’m getting tired of congregations that do not want to involve themselves in helping problem members. The attitude of some congregations is “you get fixed, well and your act together, then you can be one of us.” I tire of the spirit that wants “problem” people to go away. I tire of an elite attitude that wants to make the church look like an exclusive country club. Have we failed to look at the Gospels and who was in the audience when Jesus spoke?

Lessons like this remind us that no of us are too good for anyone else. It reminds us that in our own unique way we have been “problem” people ourselves. It reminds us that hurting people are looking. Shame on us for shutting them out.

There is a hymn, “O, to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer…” I hope I can be more like Him!

Roger