Tuesday, May 9, 2017

A Small Spark...

For those of you have been reading for a while, let me start by saying THANK YOU! If this is your first time, welcome! I encourage you to check out some of my other posts to get a feel for the blog.

I am aware that I have made bold claims, challenged ideals, been vocal about sensitive subjects, and taken a somewhat harsh stance toward what I believe to be a dated, failing church. I'm sure many of you have wondered what exactly my end game is, and I assure you, there is one.

Is it to destroy the church? Or to destroy the perception of the church? Or to discourage church attendance? Or to ruffle feathers for chaos sake?

The answer to all of those questions is an emphatic NO!

Actually, quite the contrary. I look at a world filled with people that are crying out for help, and then I look out at a church that has become largely apathetic to those cries. I see leaders who are more concerned with politics than with their mission. I see baseless nostalgia, a longing for a world gone by rather than a forward thinking, lighthouse. Unfortunately, many leaders are pointing to answers from dead religion instead of pointing to the Living God. I see a body consumed with condemning the world rather than helping it...scolding rather than saving.

And so, I use my small platform to point out the things that I see.

But why? (Great question!)

The Bible says (yes, roll your eyes, I'm citing the Bible, again) in Matthew Chapter 8 (Ugh, one of the gospels...meaning I'm about to talk about Jesus, again. Yep!) that "a man with leprosy came and knelt before him (Jesus) and said, 'Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.'"

BTW, That's a cry for help if I've ever heard one.

So, what is leprosy? It is an infection that may result in the lack of ability to feel pain, thus loss of body parts and extremities due to repeated injuries or infection caused by unnoticed wounds. Its as bad as it sounds. And 2000 years ago, this was worse than you can imagine. Probably the inspiration for The Walking Dead.

Victims of this disease were quarantined from their homes and outcast from society. They were forced to live completely alone. Shunned into total isolation. They were never, ever to be touched again for fear of spreading this awful disease. If a leper came upon other people, they were forced to the other side of the road and had to announce themselves as unclean. Lepers lived in this disgusting, deteriorating Hell until they finally, mercifully died. Alone.

That is the context for the leper approaching Jesus.

If you are reading and feel skeptical about the historical figure, Jesus of Nazareth, put yourself in his shoes in this situation. While your heart would ache for the plight of this dirty, diseased person, can you imagine the level of fear you would feel knowing that one touch from this person could result in your becoming a leper? Then other emotions would come to you: disgust, judgement, shame, superiority, joy for not having this disease. Those are the natural feelings that would go through me whether I wanted them to or not. I'm only human.

If you want a real life portrayal of a man face to face with this situation modern day, I recommend "Dirty God" by Johnnie Moore.

So it likely sent shock waves through the crowd of onlookers when in John chapter 8 verse 3 it tells us that Jesus reached out his hand and touched the leper. "I am willing," he said. He followed that up by saying, "Be clean." And it says that the man was cleansed of leprosy.

Wow!

Jesus wasn't afraid. He wasn't repulsed. He wasn't superior. He never condemned the leper for being unclean. He didn't back away from the man. He didn't feel the need to point out to the man just how sick he really was. What Jesus did was nothing short of incredible. He reached out his hand and touched ☝ the man. And then, he healed him.

So you ask, did Jesus then get leprosy? Or did he immediately run for a bottle of germ-x? Did he regret giving this man the first human contact he had likely felt in years? NO HE DIDN'T DO ANY OF THOSE THINGS! Jesus didn't get leprosy, the leper got Jesus. or to say it another way, because of his contact with Jesus, he was HEALED!

Touching the man was a very small act. In fact, we read many accounts of Jesus miracles where he didn't have to touch anything, the power came from his words. And here again, it was his words that healed the man. So why touch him? He touched this untouchable man, because he cared. He touched him to make the man feel human. Jesus loved this man, like he loves you and I, and he felt compassion for him. It was a small act, but a huge message in the grand scheme. Its an opportunity for us to peak at Jesus nature. What we find is that he was willing to heal the leper and he's willing to heal you and me too. Not because of our merit, or our good deeds. This man had no merit. He was an outcast, a misfit, a sub-human. He did it because he cares. He really is that good!

There are phrases common in our vernacular that I'd like to bring to light. Big things come in small packages. Little things mean a lot. A little bit goes a long way. I like these because they quickly sum up complex truths. And I have a favorite that I'd like to add. A small spark can start a big fire🔥!

That's what this blog is about. I want to ignite the church, and Christians, and all of my readers. I want to be a spark that starts a fire so hot that it cannot be put out. A fire like the one that God ignites on Elijah's water soaked sacrifice in response to the challenge of Baal (1 Kings chapter 18). A fire that defies logic. I want the entire world to grasp who Jesus was and is, what he's really like, and why he came. I believe that having that understanding would ignite a revolution of love! A small spark followed by an unprecedented fire🔥!

That may sound crazy. I've been accused of worse. My platform is small for sure, but I know that in Jesus name, a group of like-minded students went out and changed the world. They were Jesus disciples and they are responsible for establishing the church as we know it, now more than 2 billion in number worldwide. They believed in the man they knew, and I believe in him too.

So this is me begging you, and pleading with you, and asking as nicely as I can, if you're a Christian, stop complaining about the world we live in (Jesus told us we were strangers in a foreign land). Don't be afraid to reach out and compassionately touch it. You'll be shocked to find that you won't become infected with godlessness, but hurting people just might, through you, get infected with the love bug courtesy of Jesus Christ.

And for you reading that don't know this man, I beg you to find him. He's a friend to the friendless, a hope to the hopeless, a calm in the middle of life's storm. He's a healing hand to the sick, a present help in time of need, a warm embrace to the broken-hearted, and his is the greatest love you'll ever find.

And if you're worried that you're not good enough to approach him, I contest that we are all lepers asking him if he's willing to make us clean. He answers that question in John chapter 8 definitively by saying, "I am willing."

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