The Kingdom in the Streets
Almost everything about Jesus is surprising. He wasn’t the kind of messiah the Jews of his day were expecting, so many didn’t recognize him when he walked among them. And, frankly, the real Jesus might not be all that recognizable to a lot of Christians today. I’ve heard debates through the years about why Jesus came and what sort of kingdom he was establishing. People arguing about such things would typically align with one of two camps: one group says Jesus was all about the spiritual and wasn’t too interested in socio-political issues; the other group says Jesus was all about the day-to-day needs of the poor and vulnerable and wasn’t too interested in religious debates. Those are both poor caricatures of more complex arguments, but the flesh vs spirit debate has been around for a long time in one form or another.
I know churches right now that are heavily invested in ministering to the physical needs of those in their communities. I also know churches right now that are heavily invested in what they would call doctrinal purity and true worship. Sometimes I wonder if Christ is all that comfortable with any of those churches using his name. If we are truly the Church of Christ, we should do all we can to reflect as much of the compassion and purity of Christ as possible.
We shouldn’t abandon biblical truths in order to gain popularity with the world’s powerbrokers. Jesus didn’t do that. We also shouldn’t hide within our church buildings for fear that the rest of the world won’t understand us, won’t listen to us, and might react negatively to us. Jesus experienced all those things, but it didn’t stop him from being with the people.
Jesus provides us with powerful lessons about how to be the body of Christ today if we’ll really watch and listen to him as he ministered to people all those years ago. May God give us eyes to see and ears to hear—and the courage to go and do likewise.
The Kingdom in the Streets, Mark 1:15-39
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