Jesus has always intrigued me…
His choice of disciples and companions was interesting to say the least!
When He spoke in the synagogues, the intellectuals listened, yet tried to ridicule Him,
Yet he spoke with such simplicity that really, even a child could understand (see the Beatitudes – Matt 5:3-12)
His company was not with the rich or the elite, he had those…yes, but he didn’t just hobnob with them…
instead, he spoke wherever He went, to the multitudes, in the synagogues, in homes…
He never appealed to the rich man (sell all you have and give to the poor), the intellectuals (do you see the speck in yr brother’s eye and not the plank in yours?), or the self-righteous (Let him who is without sin throw the first stone…)…
But he dined with the sinners (Zaccheus), was lavished with love from those despised by man (that broken alabaster jar of perfume…) and he had time for everyone (witness the multitudes that he miraculously fed…)
Jesus has also been the most pilloried man in history, the most maligned…yet he still exhibited the GREATEST act of LOVE ever, and for people who didn’t appreciate it…
There was a story of 10 lepers (Luke 17:11-19) & wasn’t Jesus just talking about us? In that time, we need to realise that lepers were totally shunned, because they were thought to be carriers of a curse that caused their limbs and all to fall off. (In modern times we’ve learnt that leprosy actually affects the nerves, and it is cause of that so lepers feel no pain when cut or injured, that’s why they can get gangrene, and the affected limbs are amputated…) Anyways, so…these 10 lepers were the downcast, the most looked down upon, the most shunned, they would have had visible skin sores and probably would have looked like someone we would avoid too…yet…after Jesus miraculously healed them, i can totally imagine 9 of them running about, living out the time of their lives…and in the process, one former leper…JUST ONE…took the time to come back…to THANK Jesus for lifting him out of the squalor of a gutter life, and into an abundant one.
Is it really human nature to forget to give thanks? I hope not…cuz Jesus deserves better…
