The God Who Understands

I have often said that one of the things I admire most about Jesus was that He just went about being interrupted because He was interruptible. Now I have added a new trait to the most admirable list. His curiosity. He wanted to know and understand everyone He met and touched.

She almost gave up as she fought her way through the crowds trying to see Jesus that day. She was old and weak from the loss of blood no physician had been able to cure. No one moved out of the way to let her through. She had to be careful not to be insulting to the men in the crowd for after all she was a woman. She would not dare ask Jesus to heal her for the same reason, but maybe if she could just get close enough to touch His clothes it might help. It was worth a try and desperation drove her onward closer and closer until at last, she could touch just the hem of His garment. She knew immediately that her bleeding had stopped, she was healed.

Can you imagine the conflict of emotions as her heart filled with joy, but her mind shrank back in fear as He asked, “Who touched me?” But there was no anger in His voice and His eyes were filled with love. He just wanted to meet her. To touch her. To hear her story.  

She who had spent her life among the poor, needy and invisible nobodies was suddenly so important that this man sent from God wanted to meet her, to touch her and, though it could not be true, He wanted to love her? The healing was wonderful, but the touch was even better.

Zacchaeus was not only short in stature he was also a hated tax collector notorious for exploiting his position for personal gain. He knew Jesus was coming his way and he felt like he must see Him but not in the crowd. The crowd was far too excited and strong, and he might well be attacked. He climbed a tree near the road and hid in the branches hoping to see but not be seen.

Can you imagine what he thought and felt as Jesus stopped and looked up in the tree?

“Oh my God! He sees me.” The thought must have caused him to nearly fall out of the tree.

Then when Jesus called his name his mind must have almost exploded in wonder. “How does He know my name?” Who told Him about me and what else does He know?”

Now imagine what he thought and felt when Jesus said, “Come down I want to have dinner in your home.” Could it be, “Wait a minute, He knows me so He must know all about me and yet He says He wants me… Wants me? And needs me to feed Him? After all that I have done if He still thinks I am worth looking for, He still wants me and says He needs me, He can have me.”

She slipped out of town on back streets during the early afternoon when most folks napped. Her life was spent in the shadows. She was looked upon as a wanton woman. Some would think she should be stoned to death…married several times and now living with a man who would not marry her. She was doing her normal routine of going to get water when none of the town ladies would be there.

Can you imagine how she felt when she saw a strange man sitting on the wall of the well? Should she go home with no water? Was she in danger?

She pushed aside her fear telling herself he was a stranger so he would not know about her life and, after all, he was a man so there was not much chance that he would even bother to notice her much less speak. She screwed up her courage and went to the well.

He did speak but the shock was melted away by the tone of His voice and the love in His eyes. He did know all about her and she braced for the condemnation that always followed but He offered acceptance and help. Water from God so she would never thirst again.

She who had been shunned and shamed most of her life. She who had been rejected by almost everyone she had dared to love. She who had to slink around to get water was being loved and forgiven by this man who had to be sent from God. Imagine what that meant and how that felt.

When we consider that Jesus only had three years to reveal a loving God to a hating world it is amazing how He chose to accomplish the task. He did not hold giant rallies with dynamic healings. That was not the concept of God He came to share. He chose to reveal a God who is one on one with us. A God who wants to know and understand us as individuals. A God who not only knows who we are but understands why we are who we are.

On the surface that seems like a mighty slow and inefficient way to change the world but when you boil it all down what most of us really want and need is to simply be understood and accepted. I know of no more powerful tool to meet the needs of people. To be understood and accepted by God is to be transformed.

Zacchaeus turned from being a crooked tax man to giving his money away. When the woman at the well left town they would not have heard or believed her if she declared that the sky was blue. When she came back talking about a man who knew all about her the scripture says that many believed because of the word of the woman.

These stories become even more important. On a recent Sunday morning CBS Sunday Morning had a segment that said 67% of Americans are lonely and it is growing worse rapidly. Staring at a phone and reading text messages has replaced human contact and the irreplaceable joy of presence. Millions of people feel isolated, invisible, and unworthy in the very world where we live and breathe each day. That has an impact on us and our world.

We have become polarized into groups judging people we know nothing about and have no desire to know. We not only cannot accept the opinions of others we can’t even have decent conversations about our differences. When curiosity dies, people we shun or ignore become enemies, and we live in a world dominated by rejection and hate.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I have had all of the anger and hate I can stomach. It takes me most of the morning to get over the depression from one segment of the morning news. Facebook is nothing but platitudes about God and hate politics. Christians are no longer honored by how much they love, now it is who they reject for believing or supporting the wrong things or the wrong group. We must find some answers very soon or hate and greed will destroy the democracy we love.

Glenda Stansbury, my daughter, talks about “compassionate curiosity” and the term defines the need and the hope. What if all of us who claim to follow Jesus actually began to notice the invisible people we meet every day or start calling rejected and despised people down from the trees where they hide, or offering cups of cold water to the lonely, the homeless, and the shamed folks no one wants to even notice. What if we spent our time, efforts and money doing random acts of kindness?

Sounds simplistic and impractical but if we are honest, we would have to admit there really is no other answer. Where else will love come from?

It is time we realized Jesus did not call us to be mere spectators sitting in church pews trying to grow our faith in some incubator studying doctrines and text. His is a call to action. He said, “If you love me, feed my sheep.”

When we go out and act like God acts, we come back feeling what God feels.