Not for Me?

As I continue to read through Mark and his take on the lessons from Jesus, it occurs to me that there are things that Jesus does that confound me. The gospel Luke continues the thought in Mark with the interaction of Jesus and the "sinners"

Mark 2:17 "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners"

The gospel Luke illustrates that Jesus felt far more at ease with the "sinners" than he did with the righteous. His nickname in the early part of his ministry was "friend of sinners" Not really meant as a compliment. He was targeted by the religious gatekeepers as one who shunned them and partied with the outsiders. I think they were a little jealous that he liked the sinners better than he did them.

I think we sit this far from that time and want to call it evangelism and feel guilty that we really aren't very good at it, and if truth be told, not really interested in it. You see, to take on the mission of Jesus we have to find a way to become friends to people that are a handful under the best of circumstances, and they are rarely in the best of circumstances. Jesus let these folks get close to him. In fact, he invited them close. He had meals with them, he let them touch him enough to heal up their sickness, he went to their kid's weddings, he went to their funerals, I am guessing he went to their birthday parties, he drank their wine, he ate their food, and he offered them redemption.

So what does this mean to us? It means we have to break loose from our church clique and make some friends. I don't think the world particularly wants or needs our version of church. They need a friend, a true friend, a friend without an agenda. I can call my friends whenever I need to and they aren't suspicious that I am trying to sell them anything, not Amway, not insurance, not a worldview. They know I simply like to spend time with them. In some small way I think this is the reason we are here. There is a pretty select small group that I have influence on, God created me to befriend those folks. Pretty mundane this kingdom stuff, but it has eternal consequences.

The second thing this means to us is that once we enter the kingdom, the gospel is really no longer for us. The gist of the gospel is GOOD NEWS, news is only news once. Have you ever been in a conversation with someone where you know all his stories. There is nothing new there, it has all been said and done. Look at the words of Jesus at the beginning, I came for sinners. If you have entered Kingdom residency the gospel is now yours to dispense. It is not my point that we no longer live by the example of Jesus, quite the contrary. Now we LIVE the gospel, not receive it. It is only our ego-centric view that compels us to insist that the gospel is for me/us. This preoccupation with receiving the good news  is only true if you are consciously living in rebellion.

This all makes me wonder where Jesus would go if he suddenly showed up in America? Would he show up at your doorstep? (And would I let him in?) Or at church? Or at a bar? Perhaps in a frame shack where the illegals live. Makes me wonder. It also makes me wonder if he would try to guess where I am.....