50 Day Spiritual Adventure, July 23, 2000
A sermon by Rev. Dr. John K. Luoma
What makes Jesus so attractive
to so many? So far we've talked about two reasons: he was connected
with God through prayer, and he shattered the stereotypes of "us"
and "them." Today we deal with a third: He liked people
and drew out the best in them. How did he do this? We gain real
insight into his strategies by looking at the little story of
Jesus calling the tax collector Matthew as one of his disciples.
The first reason Jesus brought out the best in people is that he was willing to challenge them. He said to many what he said to Matthew, "follow me." I think Jesus operated on a simple principle: People don't change for the better if people are not challenged. In their book, Search for Excellence, Peters and Waterman contend that excellent companies are companies who challenge people. Their goals are so clearly stated that you buy into them or you get out. I think the same is true of churches. Excellent churches challenge their people.
Alan Loy McGinnis in his book Bringing Out the Best in People contends that people long for a cause. People are never inspired by a job or a family or a church where nothing is asked of them. For this reason people are willing to join movements that involve hardship and danger. The Jesus movement is fraught with danger and hardship. When that is clearly conveyed people will respond to the challenge because it is also incredibly fulfilling.
I heard an incredible statistic the other day: for every new church that is being created in this country twenty are closing their doors. Why is that the case? In large part I think it is because we no longer have the courage to challenge people as Jesus did. We are willing to accept the lowest possible standard for discipleship.
So, this is the first reason Jesus brought out the best in people: he was willing to challenge them, and we need to be willing to do the same.
The second reason Jesus brought out the best in people is that he wasn't afraid to criticize those people who were more interested in defending their private interests than in promoting the interests of God. This is why he criticizes the Pharisees. They saw the community of God's people as some kind of an exclusive club into which you had to earn membership. Jesus saw God's love and forgiveness as free gifts available to all.
And, so, Jesus tells them that they need to go and study scripture again. He says, "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'" (Matt. 9:13).
Why was Jesus willing to debate with these people who were so clearly wrong? Because he wanted them to be part of this inclusive fellowship of love. Also, he was willing to absorb their criticism and complaints for the sake of those who couldn't defend themselves People who are willing to stand up for the truth and willing to absorb complaints for the sake of others are people who bring out the best in others. That's what Jesus did. That's what we are called to do.
How did Jesus bring out the best in others? The third way is that he put them into touch with the love and forgiveness of God, and that results in healing. As it states in verse twelve, he saw himself as a physician to the sick. Jesus was so filled with the power of God that to associate with him was to experience healing.
Now, I know that in our day and age we are skeptical about divine healing, and we are skeptical about miracles. But Jesus was a healer. There isn't a biblical scholar of note who would deny that. The primary reason people came to him was for healing. He was so filled with the love and forgiveness of God that to come into touch with him was to be healed. When he sent his followers out they went out as people who had been healed. And the expectation was that they would share the same gifts that had healed them.
The Fifty Day Adventure material gives us some hints as to how that healing ministry is carried out. It says that each of us needs to be a lighthouse of prayer. It encourages us to walk our neighborhoods and as we walk to pray. It says "Dare to Care!" Be alert to simple acts of kindness that you can perform for others.
An unknown author tells a story called "the parable of the neighborhood gardener." She says that her neighbor is known for her ability to coax her plants into glorious bloom just at the right time for parties and special events. She says that the secret is to pick a bouquet every day, and she says that she disciplines herself to do that even on days that she doesn't feel like it. Doing that means that every day she recognizes those flowers that are struggling, and she can plan a way to help them. When you are cutting flowers every day, you see the weeds and you pull them early. The main thing is to enjoy the garden. It is amazing how much better flowers do when someone enjoys and appreciates them.
Then the author asks this question: who are the people God has planted in the garden of your life? What if we disciplined ourselves to stay close enough every day so that we were there to help when they were in trouble? What would happen if every day they knew they were loved and appreciated?
The final reason Jesus brought out the best in people is that he was willing to associate with anyone. No one was outside the circle of his love. We see this in his willingness to associate with those who were judged to be the very worst-the sinners (those who didn't obey Jewish ritual law) and the tax collectors (those who were viewed as thieves and traitors). We see this especially in his willingness to eat with them. The respected New Testament scholar, Dominic Crossan, in his book, The Historical Jesus, contends that this was one of the major characteristics of the ministry of Jesus. Just as he expected those whom he had healed to heal others, he expected those whom he accepted to accept others. And one of the major ways that was demonstrated was by being willing to share table fellowship with anyone.
Crossan says that we cannot appreciate what a radical action this was in the society of that time. In Jewish society and in Roman society you sat at table only with your peers. The rich sat with the rich, the poor with the poor, the sinners and tax collectors only with those like them. But Jesus did not do this. What was he saying by doing this? He was saying that everyone is equally loved by God and that God wants everyone to be part of the family and have a place at the table.
Imagine the impact this had on people like Matthew. Matthew was judged to be the lowest of the low, and in a single moment he moves from being one whom society says was detested by God to one who was loved as much as anyone.
In some ways our society hasn't progressed much from the time of Jesus. Bob Rittenhouse tells a story of how society, and sometimes even the church, treats people who are regarded as untouchable. He says that in 1952 a probation officer in New York tried to find some organization that would place a truant twelve-year-old. Although the young man had a religious background, none of the major denominational groups would take him. The officer said, "I tried for a year to find an agency that would care for this needy youngster. Neither Catholic, nor Protestant, nor Jewish would take him because he came from a denomination they did not recognize. I could do nothing constructive for him." The mixed up twelve-year-old for whom they couldn't find a home was Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President John F. Kennedy. One wonders how history might have changed if someone had shown the kind of radical acceptance that Jesus did.
These are the ways that Jesus brought out the best in people. How can we sum it all up? I have here a twenty dollar bill. If I were willing to give this away, how many of you would take it? Just about anyone. If you were walking down the street and saw it lying on the sidewalk, you would not pass it by. Now, if I crumple it up, how many of you would still want it? Everyone would. The fact that it is crumpled and no longer looks very good does not decrease its value.
Many times in life we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by bad decisions we make and circumstances that come our way. We feel as if we are worthless. We feel that no one, and certainly not God, could value us. But the truth is that we never lose our value in God's eyes.
That's the truth that Jesus knew. That's the truth we need
to share. When we do it, we bring out the best in each other.
Copyright 2000 by Rev. Dr. John K. Luoma