Jesus Invites...

I have been thinking alot lately about how Jesus related to people - and i have discovered something that has really impacted the way in which I initiate relationships.

I read the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus, the short tax collector, and i have learnt a couple of things:

1. People are curious about Jesus – what are we, who are following Him showing them?

I think most people, regardless of age have a preconceived idea of who Jesus is and what He looks like. Some see him as the baby in a manger. Others see him as an old man in the sky with a massive white beard, some see him as a weedy white guy with blonde hair and blue eyes and others might even see him as Chris Rock as he was played in the movie Dogma... but that all comes down to image.

I think Jesus was known and is made known today in and through the actions of those who claim to follow Him. I also think Jesus can be made known and seen in and through those who don't know Him personally - but thats a broader discussion...

Let me get to the point - i think people are curious about Jesus and they look to the church and those of u who make up the church to show them what he looks like, who he cares for, how He acts, loves and lives on a daily basis?! I wonder what we are showing those around us as individual followers of Jesus and then as a Church?

Something that has really captured me lately is that verse that says something like "...where two or three are gathered in His name - Jesus is in the midst." I used to think that when a couple of Christians gathered in a church building and got spiritual that Jesus would mystically float down from heaven and give us all a cool 'spiritual' experience, but now i am more convinced that "everything is spiritual" that when we come together in community around a table, at a cafe, at a pub or bar, playing Xbox or just hanging out with friends and family - Jesus can be seen!

As a Christian I believe Jesus is present and can be made known in and through the lives of believers and when we come together, when we serve one another and those in our community, when we eat together, play together, cry together i reckon we see and show to others, a greater picture of Jesus.

2. Jesus invites himself into your world – how will you receive him?

From this story i have also discovered that Jesus has no issue in inviting Himself into our lives. I see this throughout the Bible and it has made me think that simply inviting people into my world and into church is not enough. I have started inviting myself into other peoples worlds. I make a commitment to pursue the relationship with others and i have discovered that regardless of sometimes differing beliefs and values i have been well received. I think this is a much more dangerous way to operate, by pursuing relationships in such a way - i reckon you make yourself vulnerable because you are the first person to say - im interested in you! If you simply invite people to come to you you are able to keep them at arms length and it is up to them to make the first step towards some kind of friendship?! Maybe.

3. A church that mutters or a church that eats with strangers…

I have a feeling that in the story Zacchaeus and Jesus those that 'muttered' and complained were those who had positioned themselves as being 'better' and more holy then Zacchaeus... I look at what Jesus did here and i think - "flip this dude is loco", Z was a social outcast, ven though he was Jewish he was considered the enemy as he collected taxes for the Empire that was oppressing the Israelites - and Jesus wants to hang out at his place?!

If anything challenges me about this story, it's got to be this because it challenges me towards a life that welcomes strangers, outcasts and even enemies into my world. It's easy to seperate yourself from those that are too hard or misunderstood - isnt it?

If we want to be more like Jesus, if we want to discover more of Him then maybe we have to keep a place at our tables for the stranger, for the outcasts and the misfits!

4. Jesus brings transformation that calls for sacrifice!

I love that by simply inviting himself into Zacchaeus' life, Jesus transforms his whole world. Zacchaeus is so wrapped that Jesus is coming to his place that he seems to acknowledge the sin that all the other people were so quick to point out and he sets about bringing restoration by returning all the money he took - and then 4 times more!!

Receiving Jesus into your world not only calls for repentance and restoration but sacrifice. Zacchaeus got it and he responded accordingly. Jesus didnt point the finger, he didnt condemn he simply invited himself into Zacchaeus' life and transformation happened - that's full on!

It's scary, it's challenging, it's dangerous - man, it flies in the face of the culture that builds fences and locks doors and shuts out - Jesus calls us to bring about transformation in and through relationships...

5. Jesus sought us out, lets do the same!

It's safe to stay in church. It's safe to live by a program. But i am thinking that the church is supposed to 'go' beyond the four walls of their buildings. To stop separating their lives into church, work and social compartments?! We are the church ALL the time, everywhere we are - right?

I think Jesus demonstrates this to us. He was the same at Temple and in peoples homes; thing is he went to temple to challenge the pharisees to get out more, to love more and to do life with those in their community, then He showed them how. Jesus sought people out and people sought him out - maybe the christian life is one of seeking out Jesus and being sought out by Him.

I read the Great Commandment in Matthew 28 and i hear it encourage me to 'go' out and make disciples of Christ. But the implication here is that we are sent from somewhere - that's where church comes into it. Church is massively important, i believe that we HAVE to gather together for worship, prayer, community and i believe that is the place we are supposed to be launched from, where we 'go' from...