I can’t stand your religious meetings.
I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.
I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.
I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want.
Amos 5:21-24, MSG
I think many of us just need to let these words resonate and marinate and penetrate…
Not long ago I was told a story of a pastor of a church. He was a very revered pastor. As a matter of fact the story that was told me was that this man actually had an entourage of deacons that surrounded the man from his office to the pulpit every time before he would preach to make sure no one bothered him before he shared his message with the church.
At the first hearing of the story I thought, that must be nice. Before I go to the “pulpit” to teach I have to deal with at least one to six text messages of people who have decided that they are not coming to church and want me to find them a sub, make a mad dash across the street to the store to refill an empty pantry and fridge that was full when I left Wed night, separate sets of wrestling boys and chattering girls, explain once again the dates, times, and fees of events that I have posted on four bulletin boards, Facebook, the church website and emailed out, and locate materials and supplies that were “borrowed” yet somehow never made it back… and that’s on a good day.
However, the more I thought of this man’s guarded walk from his office to his pulpit… I thought how UNLIKE Christ this display was.
Christ never expected to be un-interrupted and He didn’t allow His disciples to treat Him as though He was too important to be interrupted. As a matter of fact Jesus rebuked them when they tried to do it.
Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Matthew 19:13-14
Jesus always had time for others no matter what mission He was on. Interruptions were opportunities for Him to display His mercy and compassion… and to show that people were more important to Him than agendas. He was after people… not a pulpit.
The Word became flesh to dwell among us… To live right down in the nitty gritty unpredictable chaos of a world fallen and spinning ninety-to-nothing straight into the pits of hell.
In Matthew 9:14-17 we find Jesus right slap dab in the middle of some majorly deep teaching, as He was answering the disciples of John about why they and the Pharisees fasted and the disciples of Jesus did not, when a synagogue official came busting up into the room.
Jesus didn’t give him the hang on just one moment finger, He heard the man out and immediately got up to go to his aid.
While He was saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus got up and began to follow him, and so did His disciples.
Matthew 9:18-19
But that’s not all… on His way to raise a young girl from the dead a hurting woman sneaks into the crowd and simply reaches for the hem of His garment… she doesn’t want to cause a scene, doesn’t want to interrupt Him, probably doesn’t feel her problem important enough to concern Him with, or is just simply to humiliated by it all… but when she touches Him, He stops. He didn’t have to. He could have just given her a wink and a thumbs up. She would have been delighted with just that… but instead He stops. He stops and He acknowledges Her worth to Him by the giving of His time and His presence and His eyes. He SEES her.
I can’t help but wonder how long it had been since she had been SEEN?
The story goes on in Matthew 9…
Jesus makes it to the officials house and raises the daughter from the dead and on His way out from there two blind men ask Him for help… He stops and He helps.
As the blind men run out seeing a mute demon-possessed man is brought to Him and Jesus casts the demon out and the man speaks.
Jesus had the most important message in the world to share and He was surrounded by an entourage, but they were not there to keep the people from Him, they were there to learn how to get the people to Him. Jesus welcomed the interruptions… Jesus didn’t just welcome them, He made Himself available for them, He looked for them.
Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.
Matthew 9:36
Can I just say that I have lost count of how many people I have seen come into a church seeking some type of help… they are usually a little dirty, smell like cigarettes, and sometimes alcohol… and people within the church walk by them as though they are not even there.
Because these people scare them, or make them uncomfortable, they pretend to not see them. I am guilty of having found myself wanting to do the same at times… but how dare I.
How. Dare. I. Refuse. To. See.
How dare I treat a soul as though it doesn’t exist simply because I am uncomfortable with the body that it comes in. Yes, this person might be a crook. This person might just be after enough cash to buy there next buzz. This person might have came in with full intentions to harm others in order to get what they want… but so was Judas and Jesus washed his feet.
If the extent of our Christianity is nothing more than religious meetings, conferences and conventions, religion projects, pretentious slogans and goals, fund-raising schemes, public relations and image making… and we just all gather up a couple of times a week for some noisy ego-music… and we call that church. Then we are sad pathetic lot.
Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
Matthew 9:37-38
If we are so busy, busy, busy with programs that we don’t have time for God ordained interruptions to display the mercy and compassion of Christ on people… both saved and lost, then we who once were blind and then could see, have now become blind again.
Might our Jesus reach down and have mercy and compassion on His church and give sight to the blind once again.