I’ve been wondering why we hide out in church so much when Jesus neither preached or practiced that. Somehow, we have made our faith a cozy cave to escape to; and for others it's an exclusive club to belong to. We busy ourselves with programs and events that keep us hedged in and the 'unchurched' hedged out. We've created a subculture called Christianity, just like the Pharisees made out of Judaism. Church members IN, Non-church members OUT. Believers faithfully flock to Sunday services for their weekly fix of spiritual food and fellowship. But they are believers not in Christ, but in a religion that's been conveniently packaged for the conscientious religious consumer.
Jesus taught in synagogues sometimes– the official approved centers for teaching and learning the Word of God though he did not keep the sabbath as often as the religious Pharisees did. He usually sat out in the open where the common folk gathered, like at the mountain side, where little boys picnicked on lunches their mothers had packed for them. By the beach where fishermen washed and mended their nets, at the roadside where blind men begged. Out in the open, where lazy sheep grazed on green meadows and farmers sowed their seed on carefully tilled ground. He attended weddings, funerals and parties. He rubbed shoulders with ordinary people. He ate and drank with ‘sinners’ while the Pharisees fasted and observed their religious traditions with their own kind. He didn't speak as the Pharisees did with their clever and eloquent theology but told stories that all adults and children could understand. He was truly a man of the people. A simple carpenter who worked with his hands, loved God and genuinely cared for those around him.
Jesus taught in synagogues sometimes– the official approved centers for teaching and learning the Word of God though he did not keep the sabbath as often as the religious Pharisees did. He usually sat out in the open where the common folk gathered, like at the mountain side, where little boys picnicked on lunches their mothers had packed for them. By the beach where fishermen washed and mended their nets, at the roadside where blind men begged. Out in the open, where lazy sheep grazed on green meadows and farmers sowed their seed on carefully tilled ground. He attended weddings, funerals and parties. He rubbed shoulders with ordinary people. He ate and drank with ‘sinners’ while the Pharisees fasted and observed their religious traditions with their own kind. He didn't speak as the Pharisees did with their clever and eloquent theology but told stories that all adults and children could understand. He was truly a man of the people. A simple carpenter who worked with his hands, loved God and genuinely cared for those around him.
And guess what? The people who believed his message were not the learned and intellectual minds. It was the prostitute, the not so honest tax-collectors, the blind, the crippled, the demon possessed, the pagan centurion, the poor fishermen etc. These could not find fault with him. They saw how genuine and real he was and how that starkly contrasted with the Pharisees. The religious community didn't like him but that's okay because he didn't like them either. He exposed their false morality and self-righteous ways at every opportunity. He didn't even try to work out his differences with them but promptly denounced them as children of the devil! You had to hand it to him. Jesus didn't do 'church'. He didn't do 'cell group'. He did LIFE!
So why are you still cooped up in there?
Get out and start living life!
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