Jump Start # 1193

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.”

  What a mixed group of hurting people that surrounded the Lord. This verse is interesting because of all the layers that we find connected to it.

First, news about Jesus spread throughout all Syria. Amazing. This was done without Youtube, Facebook, internet, emails, billboards, mass mailings, super highways or cell phones. Word spread. It spread because one person told another person. Don’t ever give up on that method. It worked then and it still works today. That’s always the best method. It may seem slow, but it’s personal and effective. All Syria knew about Jesus. From village to village, family to family, the news spread. People talked about Jesus. They knew because others couldn’t and wouldn’t keep quiet. Sometimes churches feel compelled to get involved in all kinds of super slick ways to contact people and many of those ways are extremely expensive. Some work. Some don’t. Still, one person telling another can’t be beat.

Second, the audience around Jesus was a mixture of all kinds of hurting people. They came. They came because they wanted to be well. They were looking not for salvation, but for wellness. They wanted to be well again. Jesus could do it. He had been doing it. Nothing seemed impossible. Blindness, deafness, demons, leprosy—Jesus got rid of all of these. He touched. He spoke. Immediately the people were well. The crowd around Jesus must have looked like an emergency waiting room. All kinds of sick, hurting people. Parents with sick and diseased kids trying to push their way up to the front to be seen by Jesus. Some with demons, that would scare those around them. Blind people, needing help to get around. Crippled folks, carried by family and friends. So many. So many hurting people. They all had needs. They all needed Jesus. I expect the patience of some ran thin. I expect some thought that they ought to be seen first. Most were thankful that Jesus could help them. Few truly understood what was happening that day. Each of those miracles was a footnote or proof validating that Jesus was indeed the Chosen One.

Some of those came to Jesus for the wrong reason. They weren’t really interested in lessons, parables, prophecy, fulfillment, promises, change, repentance or even salvation. They wanted to be well. Matthew states, “Various diseases,” and then he identifies some. These weren’t simple things. Epileptics, paralysis—those baffle doctors today. Even today, some of these things are treatable, but not curable. Jesus did it. He healed them. All disease. Nothing was too great for Jesus. They came believing that Jesus could do something. They heard. They heard about other people, people just like them, getting well. They heard that Jesus could do it. They came. They came for Jesus.

Third, we don’t know how many miracles Jesus did. Some books will devote themselves to the thirty some miracles that we know about in the Gospels, but our passage reminds us that there were more. There were many that we don’t know about. How many were healed on the day that Matthew was writing about? We don’t know. The point of the Gospels is not a detailed, day by day look at the calendar of Jesus. The point is to convince us that He is the Son of God. There are enough miracles listed. There are enough parables given. There are enough words recorded that we can know, believe and follow Jesus. We will never know in this world all the good that Jesus did.

Finally, the world is still hurting today. Jesus didn’t cure the world of disease. That was not His purpose, intention, nor desire. The world is broken because of sin. Death is part of that world. Disease, accidents, disasters and crime are the vehicles which bring about death. Doctors do a marvelous job of keeping us alive. Medical research has allowed us to live longer and live better. Certain diseases, especially in this country, such as polio, whopping cough and small pox, once running free and wild, taking hundreds of lives every year, are now held in check. But there are other diseases. Other worries. We will never wipe them all out. Never. Disease leads to death. Death will be a part of this world until Jesus returns. So there are many hurting people today. Not all of them have a physical disease. Some are crippled with attitude problems. Some are hurting because of mental and emotional issues. Some have broken hearts because of family problems. Some are crushed because of financial burdens. The pain is real. They are stressed, worried, fearful and looking for help and hope.

Hurting people are more likely to listen to Jesus. The prodigal came to his senses, not while he was walking away from home with a pocket full of money. He came to his senses, not while he was flying through the money with loose living. But later. When he was broke and a famine came and no one was there to help him. Then, eyeball to eyeball with a pig, he awoke from this spiritual fog that he had been in. He saw for the first time how low, how desperate and how helpless he truly was. It was then, he came home. The hurting are looking. They may not be looking for the right things, but they are certainly looking. It’s hard to convince a guy who is not looking to start looking. The guy with a big house, a big paycheck, a healthy family isn’t looking for much. He thinks he has all that he needs. He has little time or desire for sermons. He thinks he doesn’t need them. He’s doing just fine. Everything’s great. But it’s the other guy, the one who is messy, that is really looking. He’s been through jobs. He’s been through relationships. He’s been in and out of trouble. He may have a record. He may have kids from one than one person. He may have scars, both physically and emotionally, from substance abuse. He may have had a bad experience with churches. He’s looking. He’s not looking for doctrine. He’s not overly concerned about church organization, the type of music in worship, grasping the trinity or when and how Jesus is coming back. We like those subjects. We teach them often. There is a place for them. The hurting is looking for help. The hurting is looking for answers. The hurting needs a friend and some attention. They come with messy lives. It’s not neat and orderly. Most would not make poster images for the church. But they are the most like the people who first came to Jesus. Broken, busted and defeated. They have cried. They have been angry. They have been bullied. They have been told “No.” They are hurting. They are looking.

This is where evangelism begins. Showing someone that what they have tried hasn’t’ worked. They know that. They know that better than anyone. Their way stinks. Now they are ready for Jesus’ way. They need something real. Something personal. Something more than fingers pointing in the air.

Some don’t like to be around these kind of people—hurting people. Like the first ones that came to Jesus, they have problems and issues. They may have misguided expectations about what can and should be done. But here they are. What an opportunity. What an open door to change lives, to introduce Jesus, to make disciples.

The hurting came to Jesus. He allowed that. How about you? Do you come to Jesus when you hurt? Do you allow others to come to you? Do you help where you can?

Roger

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