On many occasions I have said that if Jesus walked into church one Sunday morning we would feel very uncomfortable. In our imagination perhaps we see Jesus as a friend, a person who comforts and consoles, heals and welcomes. All these things are part of the picture the bible paints. But there is also another side to Jesus, one that makes us feel uncomfortable and even might distress us. I wonder how may of you when asked who you’d like to have as a dinner guest, name Jesus as the perfect guest. I wonder, too if you’ve read the gospels?
I have been reading this week a book by Terry Eagleton, that considers “God, faith, science, tragedy, politics, and radical Islam, amongst many other topics”. Here, Eagleton describes Jesus as ‘homeless, property-less, celibate, peripatetic, socially marginal, disdainful of kinsfolk, without a trade, a friend of outcasts and pariahs, averse to material possessions, without fear for his own safety, careless about purity regulations, critical of traditional authority, a thorn in the side of the Establishment, and a scourge of the rich and powerful.’ (Reason, Faith and Revolution, pub Yale University Press 2009). An unusual portrait for us church goers! Yes, invite him to tea and be prepared to be uncomfortable!
The set Bible reading for this week is taken from Matthew 10. 24-39 and continues the teaching of Jesus to his disciples about mission. It’s a mix of reassurance, encouragement, challenge and confrontation to the highest order. Most of us could never live up to the demands that Jesus makes of his disciples, and probably a lot of us wouldn’t want to. But we should reflect on the Black Lives Matter movement and the campaign by school children over the Climate Emergency. They are fighting not just for a better world but against the rich and powerful who don’t want the world to change. Those young people are prepared to be laughed at, are regarded as lazy and time wasters, the brunt of abuse and harm; but they hold many of the very attributes that made Jesus such a controversial figure. They are worthy of being called disciples and followers of Jesus, even if they aren’t, and deserve our respect and encouragement.
