Jesus loves the boring people too
If I was to try and label the type of Christianity that best describes my faith, it would probably be emergengelical. That label could probably be best described as a lame attempt by me to be credible to everyone as I flail about with this low-voltage cattle prod of a blog. Now that my self-aggrandizement through self-deprecation is finished I shall proceed.
I have read a lot online recently about how Jesus went to the marginalised parts of society, how he was concerned with helping the disenfranchised minority, how he hung out with the people that nobody else would. And that’s all true. The Gospels say he did. But that’s only part of the story.
Let’s think about Jesus’ disciples. They came from pretty much the whole spectrum of society from tax collector for the Romans (Matthew) to quasi-terrorist anti-Roman activist (Simon the Zealot). In between were his three closest friends Peter, James and John; they were fishermen – small business owners. Those closest to Jesus were not all part of the marginalised, disenfranchised minority.
Let’s move on to Jesus’ fans, the crowds that followed him. Jesus became so popular that eventually he couldn’t even go into a town because the crowds that wanted to see him were so large. You can’t get crowds that big if all you are drawing from is the marginalised, disenfranchised minority.
The only people that didn’t seem to care for Jesus were those of the religious establishment, a very small and powerful (but very afraid of losing their power) minority.
My point is this: Jesus is interested in EVERYONE. ‘Unfortunately’ for people like me who wish they were really cool, the vast majority of EVERYONE live in boring cookie-cutter neighborhoods, drive boring cars, have boring jobs and generally live boring middle class lives just like me.
Am I trying to negate our God-given responsibility to the poor or our God-given responsibility to go into all the world with his good news? No! NO! A thousand times no! But isn’t it oh so easy for my care for the marginalised, disenfranchised minority who are out there somewhere to become an excuse not to effectively share God’s love with the people that surround me? And then who am I giving the good news to?
I don’t want my personal preferences to blind me to who Jesus really is and who he really came to save. He really came to save EVERYONE who is lost, franchised or not.
24 October 2007 Jeff Gill
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