Growing up, I loved going to youth group. My best friend also attended and it was a chance to hangout and catch up with her during the week when we otherwise would not have seen each other. My mom helped with the youth group and many times we would end up picking up kids on our way. I was always fine with leaving our house a little early to pick up anyone else, but I remember one time we were going to bring three kids from one family to youth with us that evening, but because of scheduling, it was going to work much better if we would have them join us for dinner, and then head over to youth group. I wasn’t crazy about this idea. Looking back now I’m not sure why—from what I can remember, I think it was because while near me in age and we got along for the most part, but they could be … a little loud. And wild. As an only child I didn’t like loudness. I still don’t! I did not like the thought of the kids coming over and being in my space, with my stuff, and turning my home from a calm, relatively quiet place, to a loud exciting place—even if only for an hour. (I should have been born a little old lady, as that is the temperament I tend towards naturally!)
Oh I was all about being hospitable and taking kids to church as long as it didn’t demand anything of me; after all, I couldn’t even drive so this all fell on my mother’s shoulders! But when it came to truly being hospitable and inviting people into my home and causing me discomfort, I wanted nothing to do with it!
I was reading An Altar in This World by Barbara Brown Taylor and one of the sentences caught my attention. She said, “Do we stick God in a church in lieu of letting Him stay at our house?” How often do we do this; we go to church, compartmentalize God into a short time slot on Sunday mornings (if we bother to even go to church), and then we go about our lives. We might attend a church function or donate at a benefit but that’s how we want it. We want it on our terms. We want to go to God rather than inviting Him into our lives—and I mean wholeheartedly into our lives. We want to go to the soup kitchen, not have someone in need come knocking at our door. We want to go on missions trips to others, not invite refugees into our homes. We want to be hospitable and like Christ; as long as we are comfortable with it. We do not want our boundaries between church and home crossed. We don’t want our spiritual lives crossed with our personal lives. How messed up have we gotten?
Jesus was the absolute expert in getting into people’s lives. He wouldn’t allow there to be just church time and personal time. And, He definitely would not stand for false religiousness. He ruined the boundaries. He broke the rules. Remember Zacchaeus, the wee little man? He was a tax collector, and the holy people didn’t associate with them. Tax collectors were often cheaters and liars, collecting more tax than was required and keeping the extra for themselves. Jesus didn’t play by these norms. He didn’t allow people to stay in their comfortable little boxes. Jesus saw Zacchaeus up in the tree waiting to catch a glimpse of Jesus so Jesus called out to him, and told Zacchaeus that He was going to Zacchaeus’s house for dinner!
I think we often overlook the fact that it was probably not always comfortable for the people involved to have Jesus invite himself over to their house. While I’m sure they were excited to have Jesus in their home, Jesus did get into their business! I’m sure there were many times when people wanted to shut the door and not allow Him in. They wanted to maintain their privacy and not be questioned. They wanted to stay in their comfort zone.
Jesus does not call us to a life of comfort and ease. Many times full out ministry necessitates being uncomfortable. How do we truly love others unless we let some of the guards down? How do we truly connect if we never ask the uncomfortable questions that open the way for real dialogue? Are we willing to get uncomfortable in order to be more like Christ?