Messing with Jesus

“33 But a certain Samaritan who was traveling came up to him and, when he saw him, had compassion. 34 And he came up and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine, and he put him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.” (Luke 10)

Wouldn’t it be cool if every post I write could explode from a profound, earth shattering, inspirational thought?  Yeah, that’d be sweet.  Alas, tis not to be.  Tis not the life of a biblical illustrator.  For you see, Jesus seems to like things simple. 

“21 At that same time he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to young children. Yes, Father, for this was pleasing before you.” (Luke 10)

Getting a little godly wisdom lately?  Been feeling pretty smart?  Hmmm?  Well, good!  Great even!  A gift not to be despised but keep this in mind… “26 For consider your calling, brothers, that not many were wise according to human standards, not many were powerful, not many were well born. 27 But the foolish things of the world God chose in order that he might put to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world God chose in order that he might put to shame the strong,” (1Cor 1)   So pack the pride away and boast in the Lord, for any wisdom we can boast to isn’t ours and God is apparently speaking to us in small words.

But as humbling as accurate assessments of our academic acumen by our loving Father in Heaven are, they are nothing when compared to today’s grand thought!  Are you ready?  Are you prepared for this shocking revelation?  No, you’re not but get ready to kiss your crash test dummy butt on the cheek cause here it comes!

Everyone you meet, everyone in your home, neighborhood, commute, store, place of business, place of worship, public place of ease, on the train, on the plane, on the stairs, on the stoop, on the street, on the news, everyone in your bed this morning, everyone in the bar last night, everyone, everyone, everyone is Jesus. 

I know, right?  Thunderbolt out of the blue, isn’t it?  As it’s Monday and I am not wise nor am I intelligent on the best of days, I’ll explain a little, y’know, for Justin Case.

What this doesn’t mean is everyone is god.  The briefest inspection of the nosepicker next to you should be enough to verify that casual observation as solid fact.  Every word you hear today will not be divinely inspired.  Thank God!  You may meet many people who think or function as if they are god, but they are astoundingly mistaken.

What it does mean is more along the lines of what my old partner the Duke of Fluke used to mean when he’d get up right in your face, go slightly cross-eyed and say, “You mess with my family, you mess with me!”   Or as King David said, “4 Against you, only you, I have sinned
 and have done this evil in your eyes,
 so that you are correct when you speak,
 you are blameless when you judge.” (Ps 51)  Now David had had a guy killed after knocking up his wife.  I’d say, if we asked Uriah, he’d feel pretty sinned against.  And David would not disagree.  But David knew a thing or two about sin and more importantly, he knew God. 

When we sin against any child of God’s, anyone made in His image, He takes it personally.  An attack on the King’s image, the King’s man, the King’s woman, is the same as an attack on the King himself!  No wonder anyone calling his brother a fool is in danger of hell fire.  We read and wonder at the temerity of the Pharisees in mocking Jesus.  We have done far, far worse!  It is only by the grace of God, the long suffering of Jesus, the immense love the Father has for us that we haven’t shared the fate of Korah. (Num 16) 

Likewise, to deny succor to a servant of the King is to deny succor to the King.  Yahweh owns the cattle on a thousand hills but He has lent them to his servants.  He has leased them to us.  And He has certain standards for how they should be stewarded.  When we are fearful, selfish or stingy with them, we deny how gracious, loving and open He has been with us!  Likewise, when our fearful, selfish, stingy hearts are forced open by the sweet love of Jesus; when we give all away to those in need; when we share what we have, our time, our resources, our skills and wisdom with the least of these children of our Heavenly Father He not only sees and knows but takes it as if we have done it for God Himself!

Occasionally this is literal, as in Genesis 18 or as Hebrews 2 and all four gospels show.  And we could leave it there as a parable to keep us guessing as to who might be Jesus in disguise so as to ensure our hospitality and moral behavior.  But that would miss the muchly, much-much more exciting point!

All of these verses, Matthew 25 and so many more try and show us that this Jesus of ours, so identifies himself with the needy, with the lowly, with the undeserving, the incapable and the unfortunate, the inept, the alien, the sojourner, the mourner, the forsaken, the forgotten, the disenfranchised, the disabled, the dependant, the depraved, the poor in spirit, the poor in pocket and with the pooh bears of very little brain; in other words, Jesus so identifies with US, that we know, we KNOW we never, NEVER suffer alone!