Walking naked down the main street to share the Good news of Jesus with the poor isn’t what most of us have in mind when we think about church outreach. And yet, that’s precisely what Francis of Assisi did after hearing the voice of Jesus say, “Francis, rebuild my church.” Coming to know Jesus caused such a dramatic change in Francis’ life that his infuriated father dragged him in front of Assisi’s local judge and bishop and publicly disinherited him. Francis did what any right-thinking Christian would do. He humbly returned his clothes to his earthly father, and then, putting his trust in his Heavenly Father, walked out of town naked to follow Jesus.
How much influence does Jesus have on your life?
After hearing that story most of us would say, “Not that much!”
But the honest answer for many of us would actually be, “Not much really.” Some of us might cautiously explain that we try to live a good life as much as possible. Others of us would be quick to point out that we live under God’s grace and by faith. Both of those answers can also mean, “Not much really.”
But so you don’t misunderstand me. I’m not asking if you have given away all your possessions, or when you last planned an adventurous evangelistic outreach down Main Street.
I’m simply asking, “Do you seek to trust and imitate Jesus in who you are and what you do, day-to-day? Do you allow his Spirit to convict you when you step out of line, or do you justify yourself and bulldoze through? Does the grace of Jesus make it possible for you to see yourself and others in a kinder light? Does a desire to see his kingdom come inspire your motives and your activities? In other words, does Jesus shape your way of life?”
Crowds of people, Mark tells us, gathered around Jesus in his home. Why? Because, when they came to Jesus in faith he healed the bodies of some, forgave others, and freed still more from demonic oppression. A new kind of community took shape around him.
We might think, with the benefit of seeing Jesus heal and restore people first-hand, everyone would be putting their faith in Jesus. But that’s not what happened.
Family members worried he had lost the plot. They wanted to bring him in, hide him away out of sight. More worried about reputation and being a respectable family, they couldn’t recognise the wisdom and power of God in Jesus or in what he was doing.
But it got worse than that. The most respected and influential teachers of the Jewish Law back then, were so offended by Jesus, they accused him of being in league with the Devil himself.
Those fears and accusations gave Jesus an opportunity to explain two things.
First, that it was by the power of God he was binding the Enemy and restoring humankind to God. Secondly, Jesus made it abundantly clear that his family are not those related to him by birth, but those who recognise and do the will of God. Jesus looked at those who had gathered to him in faith and called them family.
There are two applications for us in this passage. Only by applying them to our life can we really answer the question of how much influence Jesus has on our lives.
The first application has to do with what we recognise in Jesus. Is he a lunatic? Or does he reveal to us the heart of God? Do we see him as a good teacher who can be ignored along with all the other good teachers in history? Or do we sense that Jesus has a compelling claim on our lives, a claim that could only be made by God?
The second application has to do with how we respond to Jesus. Does he offend us or attract us? Mark’s story implies that Jesus’ family were more concerned with reputation, and the Pharisees more concerned with influence and power. Is it more important for us to have a good reputation with other people, or to be people of influence, than to be part of what Jesus is doing? Are we OK with being considered a “little bit crazy” for Jesus?
C.S. Lewis dealt with the first issue in his book, Mere Christianity.
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.”
The way we answer that question will determine our personal response to Jesus. Some of us might still be deciding whether to call him Lord and God. Take the time you need, but do so with intellectual integrity and heartfelt honesty.
People as diverse as Francis of Assisi in 13th Century Italy and CS Lewis in 20th Century Oxford have come to faith, in both heart and mind, and embraced Jesus as worthy of both worship and imitation.
To recognise and embrace what Jesus is doing is to witness and embrace the actual work of God.
Can you imagine what changes would take place if every Christian, every church member, every person who felt the slightest influence of Jesus in their lives, said Yes to that influence? Can you imagine possibilities? The neighbours forgiven. The friendships made possible. The marriages and families healed. The natural world cherished and stewarded once more as God’s creation. Life giving, community enhancing, collaboration with one another. The deforming fear of scarcity replaced with the liberating celebration of abundance.
We can’t begin to live such a life without knowing who Jesus is and allowing his influence to shape us. To know and follow Jesus is to walk in step with the God of Life.
I am reminded of something once preached in a sermon by Kenneth Cragg:
“What is music, asked Walt Whitman, but what awakens within you when you listen to the instrument? And Jesus is the music of the reality of God, and faith is what awakens when we harken.”
I’m not asking you begin by walking naked out of town. Simply begin by allowing the word of Jesus, Jesus himself, to awaken faith within you. “How do we do that?” you ask. We do what the earliest Christians did; we listen to the Good News of Jesus in the Gospels themselves. The Gospels were written and shared for the purpose of awakening faith. They are the instrument God has chosen to let us in on who Jesus is. But we must listen with the desire to hear and respond and be changed by God.
Thomas A Kempis, in the timeless 13th Century devotional, The Imitation of Christ explained:
“It so happens that many people hear the Gospel frequently and yet feel little desire, and this is because they do not have the Spirit of Christ. Anyone who wishes to understand and savour the words of Christ to the full must try to make his whole life conform to the pattern of Christ’s life.”
Would you like your life to conform to the pattern of Christ’s life? To be part of his family? Can you give one and half hours of your time to Jesus this week? It doesn’t sound like much does it? Can you put aside just one and a half hours of your time to read or listen to the Gospel according to Mark, and allow Jesus the time to awaken faith?
If you enjoy reading, find a cosy chair, where there are no jobs or other distractions in sight. Open the Gospel of Mark and begin reading all the way through until the end. Or follow the link on our website, either www.mackenizechurch.org.nz or www.churchofthegoodshepherd.org.nz and listen to the Gospel of Mark on your smartphone. Notice, as you read or listen, to who Jesus is, what he is saying, and doing, and what he is drawing forth from you as a response.
Jesus wants to influence our lives in wonderful ways. Are we willing to take time to let him?
