The People Jesus Draws--February 17, 2025

The People Jesus Draws--February 17, 2025

"[Jesus] came down with [the disciples] and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them." (Luke 6:17-19)

Jesus doesn't ask people where they've come from when they seek out his help; he just helps them.  He doesn't screen out the people whose troubles, sickness, disease, or uncleanness would complicate his life or potentially taint his personal holiness; he allows them all to have access to him, even to touch him.  In fact, Jesus seems to think this is precisely what he has come into the world for in the first place.

This introductory scene that sets up the Sermon on the Plain, which many of us heard this past Sunday in worship, presents a surprising mix of people audaciously coming to Jesus.  In case you haven't memorized your ancient Palestinian geography, Luke gives us a curious mix of both Jewish and Gentile regions who are drawn to Jesus.  The first grouping shouldn't surprise us--Jesus, after all, is Jewish, and so it's understandable that people from his own background, ethnicity, and religion would seek out this new teacher both to hear his message and because of the stories they had heard of his wondrous powers.  But beyond "all Judea" and "Jerusalem," Luke says that people from the whole coastal region of "Tyre and Sidon" were coming to Jesus--and those are much further cities, which were historically Gentile (they are both in modern day Lebanon, for what that's worth).  

In other words, Luke presents us with a Jesus who is not only well-known to his own people, but who had apparently developed a reputation among foreigners for being not only powerful, but approachable.  The people who journeyed to see Jesus crossed the border to seek him in the hope that he would receive them, rather than turning them away.  And apparently, Jesus did not disappoint. He welcomed foreigners and kinspeople alike, the sick and the well, even when their touch would have made Jesus himself unclean.

Those are the kinds of hurdles that would have seemed insurmountable to other religious teachers of the day.  Jesus was certainly running a risk letting this mix of people, Judean and Gentile, neighbors and foreigners, demon-possessed and deeply devout, all come to him, from whatever places or countries they had first come, and letting them come right up to him.  Luke seems quite clear that Jesus didn't have a screening process or vet which people had "qualified" for his assistance, and he certainly didn't insist on only helping his own "in-group" members first. They streamed in from across boundaries and borders in ways that certainly would have raised the eyebrows of other Respectable Religious Leaders.  And I can only imagine that Jesus' own disciples, who have apparently been brought along for this ride, are feeling way out of their comfort zones seeing this all happen.  Jesus hadn't mentioned anything about ruffling quite so many feathers when he first called them to follow him, and I have a feeling that there were times that Simon Peter, James, John, and the rest of the twelve found themselves squirming in their seats as Jesus broke taboos, disregarded rules about uncleanness, and welcomed foreigners without consulting them first.  But that's what happens when we get drawn in by Jesus--he has a way of bringing along a surprisingly diverse mix of people without asking our permission.  

This season we have been exploring how Jesus leads us beyond our comfort zones, and it's worth noting that sometimes that's not a matter of us going somewhere else, but rather of welcoming others in all of their differences to where we are. Sometimes you can be pulled outside of your own comfort zones without ever moving your feet.  That certainly would have happened with Jesus' disciples who found their teacher widely welcoming not only Judeans and Galileans like them, but Gentile foreigners from outside their turf, including people with severe sickness and even demons. Jesus reserves the right to do the same with us.  We should be prepared to have Jesus stretch us by means of the other people he welcomes in our midst, even if we don't move.  We should be prepared, too, for the very real possibility (likelihood?) that Jesus will send people across our path who stretch us beyond our comfort zones in all sorts of ways--where they are from, how they vote, what language they speak, or what their families look like--and that he will call us to show them love, welcome, help, and even healing.  We should be ready for newcomers who are brave enough to show up in worship on Sundays, perhaps, but also to welcome the faces in line at the grocery store or post office, the people new to the neighborhood or school district, and wherever else we find them.  And if it feels like we are a little anxious, nervous, or squeamish at the diverse mix of people who are drawn to Jesus, well, it's worth knowing that we likely in the company of the first disciples on that count.  Jesus helped his first disciples to grow and stretch as they watched him welcome, heal, and help others, without condition and without discrimination.  It's almost like that was his plan all along--not only to help strangers in need, but also to shape his inner circle of followers and widen the scope of their love.

I wonder whom Jesus will send across our way today--and how he might stretch us in the process.

Lord Jesus, make of us what you will as you welcome people far and wide into your healing presence.