From the very beginning of
his ministry it is obvious from the Gospel accounts that Jesus was an
embarrassment to his family, or at least to some members of his extended
family. For whatever reason, they wanted to stop him from doing what he was doing.
Jesus had quickly attracted a crowd of followers or at least a crowd of
hangers-on who were hanging on to his every word and action. Why they were
hanging around only they knew. His family obviously had no clue as to why he
was so popular. After all, he was only the son of a lowly carpenter, a
carpenter himself with no formal education to be considered a leader of people
in any way, shape or form.
Some, perhaps, were following
Jesus because they felt he could do something for them: work a miracle, give
the needed word of encouragement, whatever. Others, perhaps, were hanging
around because what Jesus was saying and doing made them believe that perhaps,
just perhaps, Jesus might really be the Messiah and they wanted to be on his
side when he came into his power. Still others stayed close by because they
were truly being fed by what Jesus was giving them.
All these people were so
wrapped up in their own wants and needs that oftentimes they did not even give
him the courtesy to eat a meal in peace or to spend some time with his family
let alone to go off by himself to spend time in spiritual and physical
refreshment. They were in need and they believed that Jesus could take care of
their needs and they were just not going to go away or even give him any time
to himself until he responded to their pleas for help.
Times have not changed nor
have the reasons changed why people hang around Jesus even today, have they?
Our hanging around, of course, takes on different forms but not for different
reasons. Some of us, like those beating a path to Jesus’ door and almost
beating the door down, beat up on Jesus, if you will, with our own agendas. We
beg; we plead; we may even rant and rave, demanding that Jesus not only give us
his attention, his immediate attention, and not only listen to our needs but
respond to them as we would have him so respond.
Some of us hang around the
fringes of faith in Jesus, doing the minimal, professing belief but not much
more, because, just in case it takes faith in Jesus to get to heaven, we don’t
want to be left out. Come judgment day there are those of us who want to be
able to say that we were baptized or confirmed, went to church on occasion,
never denied our faith even if we were not all that particular about it. At
least Jesus could not say he did not know us even if what we said and did
hardly gave a clue to that kinship.
And some of us hang around
Jesus because we know, as Peter would profess later on, that Jesus has the
words of eternal life, and that not only eternal life, but life itself flows
from Jesus. Even so, and we trust that it is so, we must never take our faith
for granted but live it and live into it more and more fully each day. What
that means, of course, is that we never feel embarrassed when we live out our
faith and especially never so embarrassed that we do not.
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