Inspired by Pastor Rich of First Presbyterian, Fort Collins, Colorado
Valerie Rae Hanneman
Mark 3:16-18 (NIV) “These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder) Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.”
I have a good friend We are both involved in many of the same church activities, we have children around the same age, and we both have a slightly offbeat sense of humor. Sometimes we look at each other and laugh because we know what the other is thinking. It is an almost perfect friendship except for one thing. We are at opposite ends of the political spectrum. Neither of us are radicals - but we’ve had a few heated discussions. We have agreed to disagree on politics and we have agreed that we value what binds us together by far more than we do our political strongholds and so we just do not talk politics. (poli (Greek for many) tics (blood-sucking bugs) - it makes sense).
Do you ever wonder about what it was like to travel around with Jesus and His twelve disciples? When we look at the snapshots that the Word of God gives us through the Bible, we see a group of men often confused, often wondering, capable of great faith and great doubts. We see them choose to follow this young carpenter/rabbi/miracle-worker/crowd-feeder/revolutionary/dreamer/Son of God? /Messiah?/whoever! We hear them ask each other, “Who is this?” we hear them say, “You are the Messiah” we see them marvel at Jesus’ miracles, and excited when He sends them out and gives them the power to do the same. However, what were they like, when we don’t see them?
Well, they were Jesus’ disciples, right? They were following God, so they got along, right? At night did they sit around their campfire, holding hands and singing, “Kombyah?” I don’t think so, I think that the campfires got to be pretty rowdy at times. To begin with there were two sets of brothers. Brothers fight and argue just for the fun of it. They came from different ends of the employment spectrum. Some were blue-collar fishermen, some were white-collar government employees. They had different temperaments – from impetuous Peter, to careful “show-me” Thomas. They were even at different ends of the political spectrums. There was one – the zealot – dedicated to the downfall of the Romans and one – the tax collector – who worked with the Romans. About all these men had in common was that, they were all Jews and they all chose to follow Jesus. I believe that at times they were listening with rapt attention to every word Jesus said but I also believe that there were times when their personalities clashed and Jesus had to tell them to knock it off!
There was one of them who was an outcast no matter how you were looking at them. Are you thinking Judas Iscariot? Nope – it was not him. It was Matthew, the tax collector. Everybody hated the tax collectors. They were considered to be blood-sucking bugs collaborating with the hated Roman government to drain as much from the INNOCENT, GOD-FEARING Jewish people as they could – and THEY were Jewish! They were the pariah of society, maybe even worse than Samaritans! Can you imagine the faces of the disciples when Jesus looked straight into Matthew’s eyes and invited, “Follow Me.” I doubt that they went up to Matthew, threw their arms around him and said, “Cool! We were hoping He would call you!” Truth is they probably kept their distance from him. Were there nights when the only one sitting next to Matthew at the campfire was Jesus?
But isn’t that so Jesus? As we look at who Jesus was sitting with it always seems to be the outcasts. There was the Samaritan woman who could only come to the well when nobody else was there; the adulterous woman under a death sentence, the lepers who had to shout out a warning to any who came near, the beggers, the Roman centurion; the prostitutes; the demon-possessed, the thieves and the blind, deaf or lame. He never hung out with the temple crowd – those who scrupulously tithed from their mint leaves and prayed, “Thank You, God that I am not like these sinners.” About the only time we see Jesus with the religious people was when He was chastising them for their self-righteousness and challenging them to come out of their stained glass towers and into the streets where God was sitting with the outcasts.
We still have outcasts today. They may have different names we call them – drug addicts, trailer trash, mentally challenged, HIV positive – they may have the same names – prostitute, thief, adulterer, physically challenged – but we label them with some name that means “below me”
We come to church and sit in our pew. We give money to a ministry to the poor because it is the right thing to do. We support a HIV hospital in Africa so we can help those sick people over there. Do we sit in our stained-glass tower thanking God for His blessings that make sure we are not like those other sinners?
And where is Jesus sitting?
Do we give to the poor because they are poor and we are not – while never seeing the poverty of our own spirit? Do we support the physically sick while we ignore the soul-sickness we have? Do we sit in our self-righteous towers, looking down on those in the streets below, forgetting that we have been given our abundance in blessings so that we can be a blessing to others?
I do, Father forgive me, but I do.
LORD Jesus, I don’t want to be in this stained glass tower anymore. I want to be sitting where you are. Help me to remember that the only difference between my brother in poverty and me is our circumstances, that the only difference between my HIV-positive sister in Nigeria and me is our circumstances, and, when You are looking at us, there is no difference between me and any other person on this planet. You have blessed me with so much. Help me to use what You have blessed me with to reach out to others, not