Mass
This week I will be living in a field surrounded by six thousand Christians all meeting together to find more out about Jesus and his church who stumbles after him. Though God describes himself as “Love” in his word, and Jesus explained how he would go to the ends of the Earth to reach a faithless human, there was something specific about crowds of people that provoked scepticism in the saviour.
Jesus was always more blunt with crowds of people than he was one to one. One of the most counter-cultural stories of Jesus’ ministry was his talk to five thousand people. During his message he spelt out the actual cost, challenge and sacrifice of calling yourself a Christian.
At the end of the talk, five thousand people walked away leaving him with the 12 disciples. He even questioned why the disciples bothered following him, considering it would cost them their pride, their money, their careers, their reputation and ultimately their lives.
Make no mistake about it, there is something about crowds of people nodding their heads which caused the Lord to raise an eyebrow.
Is it then wrong to attend New Wine in Newark next week? To partake in a corporate leap of faith that Jesus would work amongst us to develop our characters? No, but we have to come as ourselves.
Meeting together in Church, or at house group or even a huge Christian conference, is not the ideal opportunity to leave our thoughts and worries at home. We must attend group gatherings with our war wounds on show. We have to come as genuine sinners with our eyes fixed on the prize promised to us by the one they called Emmanuel.
Many of my mates attend festivals to “get away from things for a while”. Though that seems pragmatic, I think it would be far more helpful to take your
burdens to the foot of the Lord. Every single worry and bad memory. The misery of childlessness, the heartache of singleness, the anger of betrayal and the haziness of everyday life. Take it all. Take it to your seminars, worship meetings, prayer groups and late night fire talks.
Jesus said when two or three Christians are gathered, he would be there amongst them. Funny how he used the numbers two or three and not two or three thousand. Could Jesus be more interested in the individual that you are than he is with a crowd of nodders?
