[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 12/Nov/2017]
How many of us can remember Sunday School? Those two hours on a Sunday afternoon when a few dedicated people sacrificed their own time so that our parents could meditate on the morning’s sermon without being woken up. Do you remember the story of a tax inspector who wanted to check out the accounts of Jesus? I suspect that even fewer of us can recall much of the little ditty that went with the story:
“Zacchaeus was a very little man and a very little man was he.
He climbed into a sycamore tree for Jesus he wanted to see.”
Perhaps you heard about those four men in Capernaum who wanted to bring their friend to Jesus. When the conventional approach proved impossible they had to try something else and they found that the only way was to break into the place where Jesus was preaching. I suspect that our Facilities Manager would not be happy about that.
Then there was Bartimaeus, sitting beside the road near Jericho. As a blind beggar he did not get invited to the big outreach events in the town. He heard that Jesus was in the neighbourhood and wanted to ask Him for some help but something held him back.
What is there in common with these three stories, other than a reference to getting up and then going somewhere? The narratives tell us in each case that the existing followers of Jesus got in the way. Those seeking Jesus were crowded out. Do we have some practices or even liturgy that a visitor might find off-putting? A colleague recently told me about a visit he made to a church in the USA – 6,000 people arriving for a great time of worship but none of them with a word of welcome for the stranger in the car park. We can thank God that HBC is not like that, but we must also pray to remain alert to those who might be blinded by our shadow.
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
