Yesterday I left the teenagers for a Sunday and attended an actual adult Bible study class. It was so… unusual!
So the get this class started the leader asked what people thought Jesus would say to them if he walked up to them today. Many if not most of the answers circled around peoples perceived thoughts about themselves and their inabilities to be perfect. Which is not actually unusual. I, however, being unusual, immediately thought “Well done, good and faithful servant!” That’s not because I feel like I am so good. It’s because I know I am forgiven and that the Christ has made up all the difference already. However, I didn’t feel that was an appropriate statement to make, and so I moved on in search of a second answer.
“How about some fish?”.
Yeah, I figure that if Christ walked up to any of us today, he would not immediately seek to condemn or rebuke us. That is of unless we approached him in the way of the Pharisees. I would expect that his first inclination would be more like the way he approached individuals multiple times in the scripture, with an invitation for conversation and relationship.
Just think quickly. There’s Zacchaeus, the guys on the road to Emmaus, the apostles after a day of fishing. How, many more times do we see the Christ, invite others to sit down and talk and create a relationship?
He doesn’t seek to condemn, he seeks for us to know Him. And through that time with him, we will be changed.
Yes, I think he would say it. I think if the Christ walked up to me today he would say. “Hey, you want some fish?” followed quickly by a “You want to hang out with me today?”