Not Here

Man it has been a while it seems since the last time I wrote anything. I'm somewhat debating the amount of writing that I want to do, simply because I don't want to write stuff just to say that I wrote it, but rather I want it to be worth reading and so I want it to be that I have something to say...anyway, that is all beside the point.

I spent this last weekend in the state of Ohio at a youth ministry conference. It was a good conference and I enjoyed the opportunity to learn some new things and see what is out there to help with the field of youth ministry. On top of that I got to hang out with some family that I don't get to see very often so that was just like gravy...only not creamy, or brown or done with gibblets...that is an odd expression then when you really think about it...but I digress. The conference was good, but it is always nice to be home.

All of the above however is not what I wanted to actually write about tonight. I have something else that is on my mind actually that I wanted to share. All that other stuff is just to more or less get you caught up on where I have been as of late. What I wanted to write about is something that struck me last night as I was reading in the Book of Mark.

In chapter two of the Gospel of Mark, there was a passage that really caught my attention. It made me stop and ask the question "When did following Jesus become something that only respectable people can or should be allowed to do?"

Here is what got me started on this train of thought. In chapter 2, Jesus is going along headed back to Capernaum and he passes by the offices of Levi the tax collector (also known as the apostle Matthew). Jesus calls Levi to follow him, and he does. That is all in verses 13-14. Verse 15 goes on to say "Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus' followers.)" There, did you catch that? The next to last line mentions that there were "other disreputable sinners at the dinner", besides just tax collectors, who were bad enough. But the biggie is what we read in the parenthsises after that: There were many of this kind of people among Jesus' followers.

It wasn't that there were a few who tagged along on the edges. No there were many people of this kind among Jesus' followers. It was not the Pharisees who were following Jesus around. It was the rabble, the rough crowd, the people that no one else had much to do with. If you read on in verse 16 and following, you see what the response was of the Pharisees to this. They were appalled by the people that Jesus hung out with. Yet, there were many of them who followed Jesus.

I've been doing youth ministry for nearly 13 years now. There are two phrases that I completely hate to hear from people. The first is "We've never done it that way before." The second is this: "Well those aren't the kind of people that you would want showing up at church anyway." I can't stand to hear that from people. It's not just when it comes to the youth either.

It seems that these would be exactly the type of people you would want in church. These were the very people who were following Jesus to start with. Jesus' response to the Pharisees who said basically the same thing? He told them that he wasn't there to call the righteous but rather those who knew they were sinners in need of his grace.

I heard a story this past weekend of a church in Florida. The guy telling the story is a youth leader who was leading a training seminar at the church. He talked about the servant heart of the people of this church, both youth and adults. After the training was all done, he and his co-presentor went to dinner with the youth pastor of the church. In the course of the meal, they asked about how it was that this church was so loving and accepting and had such a servants heart. The youth pastor replied that as best he could tell it was the result of a prayer that the Senior pastor prayed everyday. What this man would pray was this: "God, send us the youth that no other church in town wants. Send us the adults that no other church in town wants."

So my question again is this: When did it become that it was only the respectable folks who could follow Jesus and come to church? Peace and Love y'all.