Slovakia live - news from the heart of Europe

Recently I thought about the many ways Jesus embraced the pain of other people. Have you realized in how many different ways Jesus showed His love to people? And by how many human senses?

Jesus often touched the pain.

For example, when they brought a blind man to Jesus, they asked Him to touch him. And Jesus “taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes, and laying His hands upon him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” (Mark 6:23) The rest of the story we all know very well. The blind man was in the end able to see everything clearly; he was healed. What captured my attention is the fact that Jesus didn’t avoid any pain, disease or filth. How did it look when he was leading this blind man by hand out of the village? For many people it looked unbelievable. Pharisees and Jews considered the blind to be wretches, trash. To one of these they said: “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us! And they threw him out” (John 9:34). Jesus was touching everything that was wounded and hurt (for example he touched Peter’s mother-in-law, when he was healing her - Mark 1:31), but also everything that was in his culture considered unclean and inferior: he took by the hand the dead daughter of Jairus (Luke 8:54), he touched the leper (Mark 1:41), he took the children in his arms (Mark 10:15).

But Jesus showed his love also with words. It was possible to hear his love.

When some were indignantly complaining about the amazing act of worship that the woman with an alabaster jar offered and when they were speaking harshly and rebuking her, Jesus said to them: “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her” (Mark 14:6-9). Jesus defended this sincere, humble woman. His words surely penetrated the hearts of these rebuking grumblers and touched their conscience. And at the same time His words were like a balm for the soul and ears of this woman. How much she needed to hear Jesus’ commendation and defense in this moment! And because Jesus was sensitive to the needs of others, he wasn’t silent, but showed his love in words.

It was possible to see His love in his eyes and in the expression of his face.

When the young rich ruler came to visit Jesus, and inquired what to do in order to inherit eternal life, Jesus didn’t give him only some accurate answer. Jesus did more: “Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Mark 10:21).

When He saw the impoverished crowd, that they were like sheep without a shepherd, he felt compassion for them (Mark 6:34).

A short while before raising Lazarus, “when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept.” (John 11:33-35)

When he was on his way to a town called Nain, he met a mourning crowd that was accompanying a widow, whose only son died: “when the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “Do not weep.” (Luke 7:13)

The eyes of Jesus were eyes of love. They were able to kindly and compassionately look at others and perceive their needs.

It was also possible to smell and taste Jesus’ love.

When he saw the hungry crowds he couldn’t stay passive: “I feel compassion for the multitude, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not wish to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way” (Matthew 15:32). And so he multiplied the bread and fish and satisfied the whole crowd. And as the hungry were eating the tasty fish and bread, on their tongue and in their nose they tasted and smelled God’s generosity and care.

Or just remember how many times we see Jesus dining and fellowshiping! At the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee, where he turns the water into wine (John 2:1-11), with the tax-collector Matthew and his friends (Luke 5:27-32), with Zaccheus (Luke 19:1-10) and many others. Jesus embraces and touches many with his love by simply fellowshiping and eating with them and enjoying their company.

Is it not inspiring to look at Jesus and see in how many ways we can show our love to other people? Even we can embrace their pain. Even we can be people of all senses.

Of course, not all of us have been blessed with all functional senses. But every one of us can love with his or her whole being. Love with everything that makes us humans. Humans created in the image of God!

Please, let us embrace their pain! Let us be people of all senses!

We are used to seeing so much pain and suffering on the TV or on the Internet that we become somewhat desensitized to it. I guess we need to get more in touch with suffering. I am not speaking here about some masochism or self-afflicted pain. I am speaking here about being more sensitive to other people’s hurts.

I am speaking here about our realization and comprehension that other people might be hurting and suffering more that we are even able to imagine. Is it not our privilege as well as responsibility to bear each others burdens (Galatians 6:2)? Not just rejoice with those rejoicing, but also to weep with those that are weeping (Romans 12:15)?

Sometimes I think that we people of Western culture have become too comfortable and somewhat indolent - unwilling to go through much of self-sacrifice and self-denial anymore. We have everything that we want and that makes us sometimes not very attentive to those in need.

And there are literally thousands and thousands of hurting people around us: mistreated children who might be now grown adults, but are carrying their wounded and injured hearts deeply hidden in their souls; neglected orphans who never learned how to give nor to receive love; abandoned wives by their booze, gambling or porn addicted husbands; despondent ladies with low self-esteem who are driven by compulsion of overeating or anorexia; effeminate, timid young men whose passive and often absent fathers never had a word of encouragement nor acknowledgement for their sons; deserted and abandoned grandfathers and grandmothers whose children and grandchildren have no time nor mood to meet and cheer up their own relatives; all those that are struggling with their chronic illnesses in their homes or hospitals. And the list can go on. We just need to look more carefully around us. All of these people need to be embraced and healed.

Is it accidental that we see Jesus meeting so often with beggars, sinners, blind people, lepers, children, outcasts, widows, sick people, etc.? Is it accidental that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write these words:

“For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)

Or that James wrote these words:
“This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:27)

One of my desires for the church in Bratislava is to be more attentive to people like this. We need to embrace their pain. We need to let Jesus touch them and heal them.

More on this next time. Till then let me know what you think.

As humans we sometimes utter with a sigh of sentiment in our voice: “Oh, where are the good old days?!” And in our minds we picture the old warn days of the distant past, where life seemed so simple and uncomplicated. Everything was going well and to live was a delight.

But isn’t that exactly the same thing that we will say one day about the days that we are living right now?

The truth is that there will always be something in our lives that we will have to wrestle or struggle with. In this present life there will always be things, people or circumstances that would trouble and hurt us. But if this is the only truth we believe then we are needlesly stealing the joy and peace from ourselves that we can be actually experiencing in spite of all the present suffering.

The second more important truth is that “the end of a matter is better than its beginning” (Ecclesiastes 7:8; see also Romans 8:18-39). It is a more noble truth that is full of undying hope and glorious promises!

Even when things are not the way they are supposed to be, even when we have made many mistakes ourselves and even if what is going on is not our own fault – we can still have one assurance. God works through and in spite of these things, so that the end of the matter will be better than its beginning! God is putting the world to rights!

Paul is praying: “And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:5). Let’s try to pray with him, that our hearts will be filled with God’s abundant love toward us and toward other people and that Christ’s steadfastness and patience will be ours, so that the joy will not be needlesly stolen from us, but instead, we would be able to say that:

the good old days have just begun!

As far as any Bible student or historian can confirm, there is one of God’s commands that was most probably never kept on a national (Jewish) level before Jesus came to this earth. The command to keep the year of Jubilee.

Leviticus 25:10
‘You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.

You can read Leviticus 25 and 26 in your free time, but just to tell you what the year of Jubilee basically meant. It meant:
an end to the oppression of the downtrodden
an end to the slavery of brothers
an end to a warlike spirit
a yes to forgiveness
a yes to the remission of debts
a yes to all kinds of peace in all the land

This thing (year) was never kept. Why? Maybe because it was so radical to the core. It required a total dedication and trust in God. Only Messiah himself (according to Isaiah’s prophecy) will come to declare it (Isaiah 61)!

When Jesus came and started his public ministry his first speech in his hometown went like this:

Luke 4:18-19
“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE DOWNTRODDEN, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

What Jesus was saying was this:
The year of Jubilee is here! The year of Jubilee has just begun.
Jesus proclaimed the beginning of something that was neglected for 1500 years, from the time they had the law. Something that was neglected even from the beginning of the world! Radical? Yes, radical to the core!

So what does it mean for us?
It means simply this:
If we want to be working with Jesus, we need to be doing and proclaiming what he was and is proclaiming! The goal for the church, the goal for the kingdom of God (as the church is so often called), the goal for you and me is not just getting saved! It is not simply about being saved, living safe in the church!

Our vocation is richer and more adventurous.

Jesus in his model prayer for us said that we should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Is he saying: Father take us into your kingdom up in the skies, where there will be no tears and no pain? No, he said: your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

No, we should pray for the kingdom to come. God’s rule should settle not only in our church buildings but in our hearts. God’s kingdom should rule in our hearts, so that His will will be finally done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus is inviting you and me into this adventurous mission. It is as if he were saying: “come and make my Father’s will finally done. Not later, when you die, but right here and right now. Be part of the year of Jubilee that I initiated! Don’t be satisfied with just being saved yourself, being clean from your sins and having this “righteous status” before my Father. Don’t be satisfied with just having this 20, 50 or 500 people in your Sunday assembly!

Let the gospel penetrate not only your mind but also your heart, your soul and all your strength. Let the will of God be done on earth as in heaven whether you are in your work, with your family, with your friends, with the church, or whether you are in the hospital, in a nursing home, or with the orphans, widows or the homeless.

Let the Spirit of God transform you through and through. Whether you are sharing the gospel, chatting with friend, listening to a disabled old lady or talking politics – do it with kindness, humility and gentleness.

Get your hands dirty with helping and serving others. Let the year of Jubilee start in your streets, among your neighbors, among all those that are despised, trodden down, desperate and hopeless. Bring them light, give them hope and be a peacemaker!”

That is what Jesus is calling us to do and to be, when He is announcing the year of Jubilee!

May God bless us with a never-quenching zeal in fulfilling this glorious task!

If you didn’t have the chance to hear Roman preach in English, you can visit Springbrook church of Christ webpage and listen to what he has to say about sharing the gospel with our neighbors. (When you click on the picture, new window with Springbrook webpage will pop-up.)

If you cannot see any picture above this text, just copy and paste the following address into your address bar:

http://springbrook.ws/forum/sermons.asp