What happens when people meet Jesus in a real context

"As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”" See context

Matthew left his job to follow Jesus. He didn't work out a period of notice. His encounter with Jesus was enough to knock him off the normal course of his life. Bless him, he was a tax collector, in those days fairly despised individuals known for their corruption and for taking an extra cut from those that they were collecting from. He was by his tax collectors booth! This was a portable construction that was set up where he was collecting his tax. All a bit more vulnerable than we at first think. He must have been challenged by Jesus to leave this and also torn. Do I hang on to the money or follow the Holy Man? Well he became one of the twelve - so he must have opted for the life changing option to follow Jesus. What would we do I wonder?

To encounter Jesus at that time was something that knocked people off the normal course of their lives. I believe this was because Jesus personality was so arresting that you had to stop in your tracks and say to yourself. Who is he? Is he for real? What is he offering?

Well what Jesus offers is something that is contrary to the material world's values. The Good News is something for our spirit, something for the inner man or woman. That lifts us up and alters our lives and changes them for the better. To live outside Christianity is to live a life without hope. To live as a Christian implies a commitment to change.

Yes, Jesus comes to sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes to the shock and dismay of the Pharisees, but it is so that he can bring the healing power of God's love. As he says he comes as a doctor into their lives. He doesn't feast with the Matthews of this world to pick up tax collecting hints. He doesn't feast with prostitutes in order to pimp. He is at the feast because he has something of real value to give he is offering rescue.

To the Pharisees he says 'Go and learn the meaning of the words what I want is mercy, not sacrifice.'

The irony is that the Pharisees were sinners too. The difference between them and the others were that they didn't know it. They were too busy looking at other peoples lives to assess their own.

If you look at the gospel again you will see that Jesus is ministering to everyone including the Pharisees.

This is why his ministry is so effecting. It speaks to everyone and to us - even now across time. The quote he offers the Pharisees is from the Bible. From the book of Hosea, which says 'What I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts.'

That is interesting isn't it? In Old Testament times, before Jesus came, they used to try and appease God by killing and burning animals as a sin offering in the hope that this would put them right with God. But even then the Prophet Hosea says that God doesn't want this kind of material response. He wants us to change so that we love more. This requires a change of heart - are we ready?

The gift of Faith

Lately I have found myself involved in a few conversations where I have been prompted to remember how I came to believe in God.

I "caught" God as a young man. Not caught like you catch a virus. But God found me and I started to understand why he was searching for me and wanted me to know about him. I could have denied his presence. I could have pushed him away but I didn't. I am so glad because when I found him, and he found me, he changed my life. I know that he meets the darkness in me with his light. He moves me to love, whereas the things of this world can easily move me to hate. God the ever living, ever loving creator of the world, wants to be in relationship with me and also seeks you just as avidly.

I am praying this morning, as you read this for the gift of faith for you. Just as God hovered over the waters breathing life, I ask him to breath faith into your being.

Looking back on my life I can see that certain people did this for me.  I know my mother for example had carried on praying for me after I had opted out of going to church with her. In my agnostic phase she never gave up praying for me. And then there were certain chance meetings that I had with people that led to decision points. Yes there were more than one!  Certain people were sent to stand in the gap between God and me. To help me get my head around what was going on.

Our life isn't just about our flesh and blood and our human desires. There is a Spiritual side to life that we sometimes ignore or push below the surface although we can readily believe in spiritual evil  we are less ready to believe in good.

One of the very first people to have an encounter was a shepherd called Moses. He had a very clear encounter with God. Not many of us will have experiences like that. But we can have our own small encounters with God which can be just as convincing. Times when we feel the presence of God.

Moses is a biblical hero but he didn't start out that way. In fact if you read his life story you discover he is was a murderer. Someone who did something very wrong before he encountered God and managed to get his life back.

When Moses meets God it is one of the first occasions that we know of where God speaks directly to a man. As I said Moses at the time is living as a Shepherd. A shepherd's life is very solitary and a lot of time is spent watching the sheep, and the weather, and the countryside. A life of contemplation almost.

One day Moses sees a burning bush. It's a strange fire because it is not consuming the bush. 

He hears God calling to him from within the bush, saying"Moses! Moses!"So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”   

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” 

And Moses said, “Here I am.” 

  “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 

Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”

At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.   The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”   

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”   And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” 

  Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”   

God said to Moses, “ I am who I am . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘ I am has sent me to you.’ ”   God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord , the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.

(Read the full biblical text here  if you wish)

For reflection:
What kind of God would want to intervene in Moses life?
What do you make of God's statement "I am who I am?"

Prayer
Dear God, increase the gift of faith within me. I pray that in your own way you may be present in my life to bless me and also my family. Amen

Depart in silence!

Let's start with an unapologetic trip down memory lane.

I have been thinking recently about the use of and meaning of silence in church and prayer groups. At men's prayer group we have been experimenting with silence in a group setting.

Depart in silence! That's what the instructions say for the Catholic liturgy on Maundy Thursday. At St Gerties, in the 1990s we had a bit of a campaign to try and make that happen. It's not because we were trying to "harsh anyone's buzz" but it's just extremely fitting to have a reverent or even stunned silence after you have determinedly remembered and tried to make yourself present at the last meal Jesus had before his execution. When you consider the enormity of the situation for the disciples. The mixture of the Thanksgiving meal, Jesus talking like he was going to die and Judas betrayal. The instruction should say "depart in stunned silence."  But I forget the number of times we explained to people, if you are being true to the events you don't have a hymn at this point. You should leave the church in total silence or stay praying until midnight. It's one of the times where there should be a sense of grief almost in a church setting. A time where there should be no chitter chatter in the church afterwards. Reverent silence. But does modern man or woman do reverence? Of course some do!

Silence can be surprisingly instructive if we can dare to expose ourself to it. Although watch out! God can speak in the silence, so if you weren't planning for that to happen it can be disconcerting. I have experimented with silence in my prayer times and found that sometimes it can be energising or even powerful. There are different kinds of silence. For me silent prayer usually comes after I have said some psalms and I have set my heart to listen to God. There then follows minutes of what I think of as 'struggling silence.' It is the struggle to not stop and think about something else like the shopping or the dripping tap. Or the cat. If I can get beyond the struggle I can reach a stage of contented silence. Where "God looks at me and I look at him" - like friends, we don't always need to talk to each other. This is content silence. If you are really fortunate you can then go beyond this and God will speak. Not audibly of course. The God speaking silences are more frequent the more you practice the praying with silence. Today in the silence God asked one question "did you refuse to prophecy in my name?" His questions can be disturbing. Sometimes he can tell you that he loves you. It's not all challenge. He is after all a tender hearted God.

Sometimes I pray in tongues in the prayer time. This can help. It can lead to one of those loaded silences where God is present in all of his glory.

I don't normally talk about this stuff. But I think sometimes there is a time to share what's going through your head. Prayer is like an acorn. Hard to tap into. But once the right conditions are reached. Growth happens. The picture is of one we found in the back garden.

Dear God, let me go deeper. Help me to hunger for the peace of Christ. Send your Holy Spirit to renew my life. Let me welcome you! Amen

James 1:21-25 NIV
...... humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.   Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Bidden or unbidden God is present

I have been thinking a lot recently about the nature of God. I think he is far less harsh than people give him credit for. And far more creative. And far more elusive. I will try not to machine gun you with quotes but I want to explain that I have some basis for making these statements.

The bible is a kind of love story collection of writings about God. It ranges from stories about God in a huff, and believe me lovers do get in a huff sometimes, to accounts of God the tender hearted loving creator of each one of us,  with all sorts of tones in between. It's easy to get hung up on one aspect. But to see God properly needs an understanding that he or she is very elusive. "We can't put God in a box" as the saying goes.

God is just there! Existing! Regardless of any action we might take but at the same time he wants to call us into a love relationship.

Some Australian friends used to have a bronze plaque in their Hall. It fascinated me and it had the words on it "Bidden or unbidden, God is present" which apparently is a translation of a Latin saying. It is a beautiful reminder that God is like a very persistent lover, who persists in making overtures to the beloved regardless of how they are received. Persistent, foolish perhaps if we turn our backs on him. But God is so caring for us that he continues long after a human lover would have given up. He provides our earthly life. Oh that we could but realise. "in him we live and move and have our being" as the apostle Paul puts it.

Have a pause and a think over the words in this passage for example:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8 NIV

That was written by John, one of Jesus closest companions.

I got in a taxi the other day and got into conversation quite easily with the driver. We ended up discussing that very passage. I asked the driver to imagine how he felt on seeing his own children when they were born. God's delight in us his children is greater and more continuing.

Today I invite you to remember God your creator. Let him speak gently into your life. Ask him to bless you and change your heart.

And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Isaiah 6:3 NIV

On love!

Today is a day for celebrating love. Artificially selected by the makers of greetings cards it strikes terror in the heart of those dying to express love for someone. I well remember as a young lad the angst of buying and sending anonymously my first valentine card and then being surprised at not getting a response. Doh! I was so diffident then that she probably didn't even know I existed.

But let's think about love today. I can't help smiling to myself having written that. The definition of love itself is nigh impossible but we know it when we see it. One saint put it "to love is to will the good of another" and that is my preferred working definition. C S Lewis adds to that by pointing out that there are four types of love in his book The Four Loves.

Eros
Philia
Agape
Storge

Today's love celebration is all about eros love. Passionate love declared! Passionate love acted upon! Passionate love felt!

It's interesting that the Bible describes God's love vividly in all four ways. It's like God wants us to fully comprehend that he loves in stereo using four speakers instead of dreary old mono.

They say that when the Holy Spirit comes into our life he makes our hearts more tender for one another. We start to, more frequently, desire good for other people.

On the way to the station this morning I remembered that God is described sometimes as a jealous lover. He wants us to love him wholeheartedly in the school of love. We can then express our love more perfectly to others. He doesn't want us to love, or make, other Gods. He is jealous in that sense. He is jealously angry when we seek the face of another God.

He wants us to be bold and courageous in all our loving. He doesn't want us to be watered down and insipid. Or for us to dilute our love with lust. He wants us to be completely sincere too and not lead people on if we can't return their love.

Think on this

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 3:3 NIV

Dear Lord, I pray a blessing on this day. So that whether single, or in a relationship, our love is blessed. Amen

For reflection:
1 Corinthians 13
1 John 4. 7