Transcript
I’d like to talk today about what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
It’s very interesting: when we read the Gospels, we see Jesus encountering all sorts of people. Sometimes he speaks to a crowd of thousands. But other times, he speaks to just one person. An individual. A personal encounter. In a such a moment, Jesus treats that one like he or she is the only person in the world.
We see that in the gospel passage today. As Jesus heals a woman who had been crippled, bent over, for 18 years. The encounter is so personal – he speaks to her, well, personally; he lays his hands on her; later he calls her a daughter of Abraham. You can almost feel Jesus’ the tenderness, yet boldness of Jesus in this healing.
St. Augustine once said that God loves each of us, as if there were only one of us.
Which means that when you come to Jesus, it’s as if you are the only person in the world. And – watch this – because Jesus is eternal, He literally has for you, all the time in the world.
There is a quotation from a book called More than a Carpenter. The author reminds us that Christianity is not about a philosophy, but rather a person.
“You can laugh at Christianity; you can mock it and ridicule it. But it works. It changes lives. I should say that Jesus Christ changes lives. Christianity is not a religion; it’s not a system; it’s not an ethical idea; it’s not a psychological phenomenon. It’s a person. If you trust Jesus, start watching your attitudes and actions because Jesus Christ is in the business of changing lives.”
So today I have just a few suggestions for HOW you build and maintain a personal relationship with Jesus. Six words, Hear, Talk, Be, Accept, Receive, and Share.
Hear from him
If you haven’t read lately from Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John –do yourself a favor. Just read. Hear from Jesus. His words are treasures.
Now, a caution. You’re not going to like everything that Jesus says. That’s the point. Some of Jesus’ words will soothe you. Some words will shake you up. Look at this passage that we just heard. With one breath he says, “daughter of Abraham,” and you think, “Oh that’s nice.” But in the next line he says, “You hypocrites!” and you think, “Ooh, is that me?”
Here’s the truth: having a relationship with Jesus means hearing from him. Whatever it is that he might have to say.
You can’t have a relationship if you don’t listen. It would be like going to a doctor… (this is an illustration from an old Alpha talk)… it would be like going to a doctor and saying, “Doc I’ve got this pain in my knee, a rash on my back, and an ache in my ear,” and then getting up and walking out the door. The doctor would be thinking, “Wait, don’t you want to hear what I have to say?”
Talk to him
Why do we have such a hard time talking to Jesus? I’ve met a few people who say, I talk to Jesus all the time. All day, just like a friend. I love that. I wish I were one of those people.
Corrie ten Boom once asked, “Is prayer your steering wheel, or your spare tire?”
In other words, do you only talk to Jesus in a crisis – like using a spare tire? Or do you talk to him all the time, like he’s the steering wheel of your life?
The truth is that you can talk to Jesus about anything.
The good stuff, the medium stuff, and the hard stuff.
God loves you more than you can possibly imagine. He will never forsake you. AND, Jesus says, “In this world, you will have troubles.” Troubles. Other translations say tribulation. Distress. Affliction. Suffering.
If you have a personal relationship with Jesus, it means that you can talk to Jesus about those. He says: Take heart, I have overcome the world.
You might say, “Well hey Fr. Matthew this world is a mess!” I’m not saying: talk to Jesus and it will all be ok. I’m saying, actually, it’s not all ok – so talk to Jesus!
Be like him
John Mark Comer wrote a book called Practicing the Way. At one point he writes, “Jesus did not just preach the gospel of the kingdom; he embodied it.”
This is a challenge and an invitation. The call of the Christian is not just to live for Jesus, in His Kingdom. The call of the Christian is to live like Jesus, as his Kingdom.
John Mark Comer goes on to say (and this is really helpful)… He says remember WWJD – what would Jesus do? What would Jesus do is a fine question. But a much better question is WWJDIHWM. What would Jesus do if he were me?
You have your own context. You own circle of influence. Your own challenges. Your own victories. Your own failures. Your own skills and talents. What would Jesus do with all of that?
I’ll give you two words: wise and merciful. How would Jesus be wise in your life? How would Jesus be merciful? Wisdom is knowing what to do and when to do it. Mercy is showing love to people, even when they don’t deserve it. If you want to be like Jesus, you might start by being wise, and by being merciful, with his help.
Accept him
Jesus can change your life… if you let him. There is a prayer that we learn at Alpha, called Sorry, Thank you, Please. God, I’m sorry for the things I’ve done. Thank you for dying and rising for me. Please come into my life.
This is essentially what happens to the woman in the Gospel story. She is bent over and unable to stand up straight. Early church commentators interpreted this as a metaphor for the human condition. All of us – fellow sinners – are spiritually speaking, just like this woman. Bent over. Weighed down by guilt or shame. More to the point, we are curved inward – drawn into ourselves; self-centered. Me first. That’s a pretty good definition of sin.
Accepting Jesus – personally – means letting him un-bend you. Letting him stand you up straight. So that you can see. See him. See the world. See others.
1 Corinthians 15:3, “For what I received I passed on to you of first importance. That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day.”
Jesus died and rose again, so that you could die to self, and rise to a new way of living in him. That’s what it means to accept Jesus.
(We’re almost done, I’ve just got two more…)
Receive him
In our tradition we receive Jesus every Sunday. And we do that in a very physical way. Holy Eucharist. The Lord’s Supper. Holy Communion. You come forward with hands open. You receive the Lord: his body, his blood.
Now of course different traditions have different ways of talking about Communion. We respect that.
And we hold in our hearts what Jesus says in the Gospel of John:
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
A few verses down… “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.”
Let me say it this way. When you take Communion, you receive Jesus, and in a way, you come as close to him as possible. You in him; and him in you. Personal relationship.
Share him
An interesting thing about this Gospel passage. It’s private and public at the same time. Jesus heals the woman in an intimate and tender interaction between the two of them. Very personal. And yet, they’re in the middle of the synagogue! There are people everywhere! Other people see, they react, and they begin to ask questions. What’s the point? Our faith is personal, but our faith should also shine in public.
The Bible says that we have been given a great gift, so that it may bear fruit. What does that mean? Good deeds? Well yes. But also: the fruit of drawing more people into the love of Christ. There are many ways to share Jesus. Inviting people to Alpha, for example. More on that on another day.
So: a personal relationship.
Hear from Jesus
Talk to Jesus
Be like Jesus
Accept Jesus
Receive Jesus
Share Jesus
That’s six, not bad. My daughter once said to me, “Dad when you give these sermons with like 7 points, it’s too hard to remember.” So ok, I did 6.
Which one of those is the easiest for you? Which one is the hardest for you?
If there is one that is easy: lean on that one
If there is one that is hard: lean into that one.
Jesus said, “ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the [speak slowly] wonderful… things… that he was doing.
