Sometimes when I am overwhelmed, I think of Jesus going to church.
“They went to Capernaum and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach” (Mark 1:21).
There’s just something about the idea of Jesus sitting on a church pew, singing hymns with his family and neighbors, and standing up to read scripture. I wish I could put my finger on why the image comes to me so often.
Maybe it’s the idea of the Creator of the universe setting aside his royal robes, his crown, his throne, his divinity, to visit earth in person. He set the stars in their place, put the planets in orbit, created every living creature in the ocean. He wrote instructions for humans to know how to live well and be in relationship with him. Then, when he knows that people aren’t getting religion right, aren’t understanding the purpose of his words, aren’t comprehending the love and grace that set everything into motion, he slips into human flesh and says, “Here I am. Let me help you understand. Let me show you what I mean”.
So, Jesus went to church.
Jesus went to church with tax collectors and thieves. He sat on the pew with pious, religious hypocrites who claimed to know God but treated others shamefully. Jesus sang hymns with some of the people who arranged to have him murdered.
But Jesus also went to church with some pretty great people. They were people who learned to love and serve the world in a way that made them a curiosity to a murderous and immoral culture. He went to church with people who became the first in the world to take in abandoned, unwanted babies. He went to church with people who picked up sick people who had been thrown out on the street and took them in and cared for them. Jesus sang hymns with people who were willing to love God and serve others under the threat of death from the Roman emperor.
I was listening to a man talk about his love for art the other day. He discussed his favorite artist with passion. After much study, he had begun to see the tiny flaws in the famous paintings he loved so much. He said, “It’s best to step back and see the beauty of the whole rather than focusing on the devil in the details”.
That is the challenge of humanity; to see the beauty of the whole while not getting hung up on the devil in the details.
It was an act of compassion for Jesus to leave His home in heaven to walk among us. He sees the beauty of the whole. He knew who was sitting next to him on the pew during Sabbath service. He knew who would be thankful (or not) for his healing and teaching. His compassion and love compelled him to give, teach, love, instruct, encourage, and help the droves of people who came to Him.
It was Jesus who started the church. He sent His Spirit to empower, instruct, and encourage the church. He knows how church people get stuck on the details, arguing over who is more right, more religious, more spiritual among men. He knows that holy things committed into the hands of unholy people will get mishandled.
Yet, he still sees the beauty of the whole.
It’s a mystery to me. But I am beginning to understand the mission. I am to have the same compassion for the people around me that Jesus had. The hypocrites at church, the rude people, the angry yellers, the ones who are invisible, the ones who treat others as if they are invisible, the strong, the weak, the ones who have everything, the ones who have nothing. We all need the compassion of Jesus. It’s my life mission to walk in the same love and compassion in which Jesus walked.
When I show up to church on Sunday morning, I feel like it’s a really tall order. Mission impossible.
But, then, I imagine Jesus walking through the doors of the church. I picture him singing with the worship music. He came to redeem and restore the broken religion that we still find ourselves in. He came to pray with us, encourage us, help us.
Jesus came so that even when we get religion wrong, we can still find what we need in him. He will help me to see the beauty in the whole.
“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children, and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph 5:1-2).
Copyright @TA Boland 2021
Photo credit: TA Boland
Bema seat, ancient synagogue, Israel
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