b. Approachability
Key Verse: Matt 7:7-8 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will
find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives;
he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
Have you ever felt rejected? Did you ever feel not welcome? Does it seem
sometimes that no one really cares?
A broker told me once about a couple asking him if he could possibly help them
out. They were hoping to spend all of their money before they would die, so that
their kids would not inherit one cent. When the broker inquired why such a
decision, he discovered that the couple's children were so selfish and uncaring.
No way did their parents want to leave them anything after they died!
When I was young, my first girlfriend would let me wait for her for hours while
she had fun with her friends. I thought this was completely normal, as my own
parents weren't any different. As you can imagine, the relationship didn't last
very long!
It seems sometimes that we live in a world where people only care for
themselves. It can be quite lonely to be a citizen of this planet! Ask the
elderly in a nursing home. They long for a visit, even from complete strangers.
They hope to feel the touch of a caring hand, which doesn't always happen that
often. Their own family is too busy to visit them on a regular basis and when
they come for a visit, they always seem be in a rush.
How many people out there long for the touch of a caring hand! We as human
beings need to be touched. We even relate our relationships as being either
distant or close. I read somewhere that marriages ended most of times in divorce
if often both husband and wife did not express their love through physical
touch. Oh to feel the touch of a caring hand!
Some people though are declared unfit to be touched, like the untouchables in
India. It is sad, but every society has their own untouchables. Think about
those affected with AIDS. Untouchables! We ourselves have felt as untouchables
at different stages of our life or in certain settings.
The following story is the story of an untouchable who had been plagued with an
incurable disease. No one would go near him, even less touch him. But then
someone did and changed his world upside down. This is also the story about our
world which has been infected by a deadly disease called sin, but then God
touched it. This is my story as well as yours.
The man in this story had leprosy. In the first century A.D. anyone who had this
disease was avoided like a plague. No one would talk to someone like that, even
less touch them! This disease was devastating to anyone infected by it. It
started generally with a sense of dullness and pain in the joints. Then
discolored patches and sores would appear. When they ulcerated, the stench would
be intolerable.
One of the worse physical consequences of this disease was the loss of any
sensation. Rats could gnaw at a leper's toes while he was sleeping and he
wouldn't even feel it. He would wake up the next morning and notice parts of his
toes gone. He could even stick his hand in a fire, and not feel any sensation of
pain! This is why lepers wore rags around their wounds.
Once diagnosed with leprosy you were a living dead! As soon as the priest
pronounced you unclean, your wife, children and even your friends would reject
you as unfit for company! You had to wear a bell around your neck, to warn
others of your presence. No one would stay put when hearing your bell. Streets
were deserted and you found yourself constantly being avoided and alone.
Memories would linger in your mind of the last touch you ever received; your
wife touching your face in concern. Not even your own children would run away
from you. You were unwelcome! You would long to feel someone touch you, but that
dream would never be fulfilled!
Being a leper also carried a moral stigma. It was assumed to be a curse from
God, probably occurred because of your horrible hidden sins. Disease could be
healed, but leprosy had to be cleansed. Lepers were not just ill, they were also
"unclean"!
The religious leaders of the first century were practicing the strategy of
isolation. Lepers were not the only ones to be avoided! So were the gentiles,
the uncircumcised, the tax collectors and even women! Rabbis refused to eat with
them, to talk with them, to work with them or even to look at one of them. The
idea behind this strategy is that sin and suffering are contagious!
The sad fact is that "religious" people throughout centuries have practiced this
same attitude of isolation: let us avoid sinful people and live in religious
isolation! The consequences were terrible as it developed a sense of "us" versus
"them". Pride and self-righteousness soon developed and love quickly died out.
You can imagine how you would feel if you were a leper in the first century. You
would feel abandoned by all of your loved ones, rejected by anyone of sound mind
and looked down by your religious leaders. Feelings of unworthiness and sin
would plague you. You would try anything to be accepted again, but nothing you
did could bring back the loss of friendship and love. Soon feelings of
excruciating anger would fill your soul. This was so unfair! Was there anyone
out there who really cared?
Now, how would Jesus, the Son of God react towards you if you ever had the
opportunity to meet him face to face? Would he be like the religious leaders and
criticize you, looking down at you with despise? Would he run away like all the
others? What would be His reaction?
Let us find out:
Matt 8:1-4 "When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.
A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are
willing, you can make me clean."
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said.
"Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him,
"See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer
the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
Can you imagine being that leper? For years everyone and anyone had been running
away from you. You had not felt the touch of a caring hand for such a long time.
Now that you have the opportunity to be face to face with Jesus, you are
astounded that He isn't running away from you. No word of contempt is even
pronounced from his lips. You look into His face and all you can see are moist
eyes of compassion.
All of a sudden Jesus reaches out to you and touches you! Why would he do such a
thing? His touch didn't "cleanse" you. The text is quite clear on that: ""I am
willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy." His
words are what cleansed you. Why would he touch you? Is it to heal you from your
loneliness? Is it because He can identify with what you went through? He touched
you while you were still unclean! He accepts you the way you are! He welcomes
you in His presence, no matter your past! He is approachable and wants you to be
His friend.
How different is His attitude compared to the "isolated" religious leaders of
your time. Jesus is approachable! He cares! A touch from Him turns your world
upside down! People start to accept you in their midst. Your own wife welcomes
you back at home. Your own children come running into your arms. You have been
touched by the Master and He brought you back to life! The unbelievable
happened. You are cleansed!
Jesus constantly drew sinners to Him. It didn't matter if they were tax
collectors, murderers or even prostitutes. They were all welcome and all could
feel His gentle touch of acceptance. Matt 9:10 "While Jesus was having dinner at
Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his
disciples."
You may wonder why the "religious" leaders you know act so differently compared
to Jesus. Is it possible because they don't know Him personally? Anyone touched
by Him can't help but reach out to the less desirables of our society and love
them the way Jesus would. 1 John 4:16-17 "God is love. Whoever lives in love
lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so
that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we
are like him."
The Gospels are filled with stories of people who were looking for ways to touch
Jesus: little children, the prostitute who poured perfume on Jesus' feet, the
woman suffering from hemorrhages, Thomas who doubted of Jesus' resurrection…
Unlike all of them, the leper didn't even try to touch Jesus. However, Jesus
touched him! And Jesus is willing to touch you as well. You are worth the price
Jesus paid for you on the cross! You are important to Him! Sin cannot separate
you from Him, unless you let it. Approach Jesus and life will start to stream
through you. You can never leave His presence unchanged! His love fills every
emptiness you may have.
Question 1: Have you ever experienced rejection and/or uncaring attitudes?
Share an experience or two.
Answer:
Question 2: In what ways were lepers rejected by their society in the first
century?
Answer:
Question 3: Why do some "religious" adapt the strategy of isolation?
Answer:
Question 4: How did Jesus react when confronting an "unclean" leper?
Answer:
Question 5: How would Jesus react if meeting you in the street? Why?
Answer:
God Knocking at my Door
I knew something of the upside and downside of glory. I grew up a Chicago Cubs
fan in the late 1960s. Their entire infield made the all-star team one year.
Randy Hundley, the catcher, was a personal favorite.
One day the phone rang. A neighbor, a girl in my class at school, got my mother
on the phone.
"Mrs. Ortberg, you'll never guess what. Randy Hundley is at my house! I told him
John lives next door. He wants to come to your house. Wants to see John."
Then something went terribly wrong.
My mother did not know who Randy Hundley was. Like the Pharaoh who "knew not
Joseph," she had never heard of him. She thought he was some kid I went to
school with, who wanted to come over and play. My mother said:
"Johnny is at piano lessons. You'll have to tell Randy he can come over and play
some other day."
My mother was a pea-brain.
When I got home, my mother told me somebody named Randy Hundley had been next
door, had wanted to come over, and she told him maybe some other time.
I wanted to call the social services people. Take my mother away.
That afternoon I was in a deep depression. Around 5:00 there was a knock on the
door. When I answered it, there stood Randy Hundley. Major league baseball
player. All-star. I beheld his glory-the glory of a professional catcher, full
of power and a strong right arm.
He had stopped by our neighbors' before a speaking engagement, which is when my
friend called. After he had finished speaking, although he was a major leaguer
with a busy life, he decided to make a stop before he went home to Chicago.
He came all the way back to our neighborhood. He tracked down my house. He
knocked on my door. "1 didn't want you to take it out on your piano teacher," he
said. He encouraged me to keep following Christ. He gave me an autographed
baseball. (Which my mother seems to have thrown away, probably to make room for
my sister's rag doll. At any rate, I can't find it.)
To a ten-year-old kid, the glory of Randy Hundley wasn't that he had a Howitzer
for an arm. It wasn't that he caught Ferguson Jenkins and Kenny Holtzman, or
that he hit long home runs off Bob Gibson and Nolan Ryan. Glory was that someone
as important as he was would take the time to come to the home of a little kid.
Glory was that one day he laid aside his glove and bat and came knocking on my
door. One day, he came just for me.
"The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory," John
wrote. We beheld his glory when the Lord of all voluntarily submitted to his
mother and father in all things. We beheld his glory when the Maker of heaven
and earth used a saw and a hammer and nails to fashion chairs and benches. We
beheld his glory when the Lord of hosts girded himself with a towel and carried
a basin and washed the feet of his followers. We beheld his glory when the
Author of life died on a cross. We beheld his glory when death could not hold
him, the tomb could not imprison him.
We behold his glory still when he comes to ordinary, fallen human beings. For
the glory of God is not just his power and might and majesty. His glory is that
he would come to this corner of the universe, to this insignificant planet, to a
ragged people he could not bring himself to discard. His glory is that one day
he laid aside his majesty and bliss and came knocking at your door. One day, he
came just for you.
Ortberg, John. Love Beyond Reason. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998, p. 210-211.
Assignment: Meditate on the following verses:
Heb 13:5-6 "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what
you have, because God has said,
"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
So we say with confidence,
"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"
Ps 37:4 "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your
heart."
Reflect why Jesus was willing to leave heaven just for you. Why was he willing
to die just for you? Why does he want to be your friend? What motivates Him to
make Himself so accessible to you?
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