Ignoring Truth Because of its Package ...

What if Jesus was black.  Would you refuse to hear His words because His ethnicity was not what you expected; or perhaps pay new found attention to them because of this new discovery.  Whether we like to admit it or not, we do sometimes pay more attention to the package than the Truth of the message they are trying to convey.  So take race out of it for a minute.  What if Jesus was fat.  Not just pleasantly plump, or carrying a bit of a mid-section, but full on fluffy.  Do the words of a fat man carry less weight with you?  But likely that was not the case, more likely He looked like a Jewish concentration camp victim.  He spent 40 days after all in the wilderness without food or water.  His body would have emaciated from good health to the worst case of bulimia or anorexia you can possibly imagine, and this presentation of His, was after all a form of self-mutilation.  He chose not to eat or drink, nobody forced Him (other than obedience to the will of God).

Anyone who does that to Himself, can they possibly be trusted?  Do you trust people with a mustache, or without one?  Do you trust people with a beard, maybe even a long beard?  Jesus was a Nazarene and like His cousin John could have elected to take a Nazarite vow by lifestyle, so His hair would have been long, very long, perhaps mangy, with a long beard having never been touched by a razor.  30 years of uninterrupted hair growth, is not just missing the barber for too long, it is never having met a barber ever.  His hair would have made Him look more a like Sikh or militant Arab than a modern-day hippy.  Do you trust any of “those people” to relay truth, or just to continue an agenda they have, that ultimately impacts us the wrong way.  So if Jesus looked more like John is He more trustworthy or less?  And oh my goodness His clothes.  He only had one lousy garment, a homespun of cotton / wool combination.  Picture rough cotton (not the fine Egyptian stuff) that had simple hems, and wrapped around Him without buttons, zippers, or pockets.  And it would have been constantly dirty, at least, covered by the dirt of others He was constantly hugging and coming in close contact with.  His robe would have carried their germs, or how could it not, He was always so close to lepers and filthy people.  People bathed in the stench of their own poverty, deformity, and disease.

Can you trust a dirty person, or person dirty in appearance?  What if Jesus was a heavy sweat-er, or had heavy perspiration.  He lived in the desert areas, the ultra-dry areas.  Apart from baptizing in the Jordan and walking near the Sea of Galilee it’s not like they had Jacuzzi’s just sitting around waiting for them.  They were generally walking is dry dusty air with little water to ever cool them.  They probably smelled.  There was a reason why folks needed to wash their feet before they ate a good meal.  They did not want the foot odor smell to overpower the smell of fresh bread or oil.  But the remainder of them were likely unbathed.  Could you trust a Jesus who smelled like the homeless people that occasionally wander into the back of your churches?  If Jesus did not smell pretty, would you throw Him out?

This sack of meat we inhabit is prone to all kinds of issues that detract from the pretty we might otherwise be.  But then there is the acid test of acceptance.  Familiarity.  Knowing the messenger, perhaps for some great length of time.  The closer you are to them, perhaps the harder it is to accept what truth they might have to offer.  They carry the baggage of their families.  One brother of theirs does some goofy thing, and anyone from that family is tagged with the stain of it on their reputation.  Even if not directly, it does influence the thinking.  Jesus had a ton of baggage where it came to family.  His mother Mary, claimed virginity at His birth, but let’s be real, who was buying that story?  Every girl ever caught getting pregnant ahead of marriage has some cock-and-bull story about how that accidentally occurred.  No one is too keen about owning up to responsibility.  Perhaps Mary just had a wild imagination about her situation.  At least you give her credit for sticking to a crazy excuse like that one.  But who would believe it?

While Jesus may have been perfect from birth, His earthly parents were not.  They were human.  They worked, played, loved, and made mistakes.  Jesus had brothers and sisters, who too were less than stellar.  Perhaps making mistakes, finding themselves in situations they would have otherwise wanted to avoid.  And the towns people knew it.  They were not ignorant of every mistake or sin, in the house of the carpenter Joseph, his crazy bride Mary, and their expanding family of sons and daughters who followed Jesus.  So then, could you believe your own brother, sister, mother, father, or son or daughter, if they brought you the word of the Lord?  Or, would you judge them based on all the mistakes you know they have been a part of, and write them off as goodie-two-shoes.  Could you accept a person from your own family with a message from God, or is it easier to accept the same message from a pastor you hardly know?  It makes you think.  The words are no different.

But Jesus did not only come to bring His ministry to people who did not know Him.  He came to bring it to those who knew Him best.  You would think that would be a cake-walk.  It wasn’t.  You would think His friends and family would specifically remember what Jesus was like for all of His life.  Always kind.  Always loving.  Always helping out without being asked.  Always patient.  And never seeming to get caught doing anything naughty, because He had no time for naughty things, only for things that showed love to others.  That was Him.  That was His whole life.  Anyone who spent any time with Him should have quickly remembered these facts.  They were facts about Him, that never varied.  But my how memory fades when the words asking for Love appear from the pulpit.

Matthew continues his chronical to the Hebrews of the life of Jesus in chapter thirteen of his gospel picking up in verse 53 following the parables with a story of going home saying … “And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. [verse 54] And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? [verse 55] Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? [verse 56] And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?”  Jesus had brothers.  Jesus had sisters.  Jesus had that mother Mary with that crazy story she still maintained and nobody else believed.  Jesus’ earthly dad was a carpenter, not a rabbi, or a member of the Sanhedrin.

So how on earth does Jesus begin teaching Truth from the pulpit of the Temples and Synagogues with such authority and power.  He does not teach Love in the third person, He teaches it as if He were there.  Because He was.  It blew the audience’s minds.  The Son of God in their synagogues?  But they knew this Guy.  This was the carpenter’s Son, nothing more, how on earth could He have had the training needed to be a Rabbi and preach the way He was.  This was the moment.  For them, for us.  This was the moment when Truth knocked on the doors of their hearts.  They had only to listen, and accept.  So do you.  You know the truth of Matthews Gospel and you know the Truth who it talks about.  Don’t cast it aside because the text is old, in an old book, written by old men.  Don’t cast it aside because the author is fat like me, old like me, with bad vision like me, who does not smell very good like me.  Matthew was not perfect, but he did follow Jesus.  It does not matter what me or Matthew look like, we are only window dressing.  The Jesus we point too is the real deal.  This is the moment for you to decide.  Will you seek Jesus, or turn away?

Matthew continues the chronicle of their response in verse 57 saying … “And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. [verse 58] And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”  Aaarrgh!!  They were offended in him.  They disregarded their memories, clinged to the packaging, focused on the faults of His family, and closed their ears to the Truth.  And only very little miracles followed their unbelief.  How will it be for you?  Will you listen to your friends, or fellow students, or teachers, or parents; none of whom have ever really come to know Jesus for themselves, siding with them for peer pressure not to believe?  Will you embrace the mantra of the world to please self and deny the Jesus who loves you and bids you to learn to love others?  Jesus is real.  He has always been real.  He is more real than I am.  He is far more important than I will ever be.  Throw me away completely, but cling to Jesus and I will rejoice in it.

The Truth has always been real.  Sometimes He speaks through the cutest 2-year-old toddler you can imagine saying the most profound thing that will ever be uttered – I love you.  Sometimes you catch a glimmer of Him as an outstretched hand offers the homeless from their means they can scarcely afford to give, but give anyway, and do it in secret where nobody else knows.  Sometimes you cannot explain how He did for you what He did for you – perhaps granting you miraculous escapes from car collisions that totaled your car, or confounding doctors with test results that should have showed disease and now do not.  Or perhaps it is far more personal for you.  Perhaps you have allowed Jesus to take some sin from you, that you have struggled with your entire life.  And you cannot explain how He did it, but you no longer crave that thing that was sure to destroy you.  Now you abhor it.  Jesus is real.  Forget all the packaging.  Ignore the genre of music, find the Truth in the lyrics, or not at all.  Ignore the physical appearance of the pastor; but listen closely to his words.  Don’t let the pretty impress you, or the ugly detract from His Truth.

Open your mind during your TV shows, or listen more closely in the movies you watch, and see a need for Jesus you might have otherwise missed.  The packaging is irrelevant, but the Truth behind it, means everything and is everything.  God uses broken tools.  He does not wait for perfect ones.  But He still offers us a glimpse of His love, even in the state we find ourselves in.  Even when we smell.  Even when we are bathed in the stench of defeat.  He is still there.  He is still looking to heal us, and remove from us that which would destroy us.  Let us never take offense in that, or in Jesus.  Let us find our worth in Jesus, our price in Jesus.  Let us invite Jesus in, and give Him all of who we are, even the smelly parts, or the ugly parts, or the unpleasant parts.  This is that moment, for you.  Don’t let it slip away, done ever let it slip away.