Inspired by the Jesus we know?

Reflecting on Mark 6:14-16

“King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known.” (Mark 6:14)
As a Jesus follower, Jesus’s Name is both well known and well loved.
People were hearing about what Jesus did, and news about Him spread.
They heard about His miraculous deeds of love and mercy.
What they heard inspired and attracted many of them… but not all.
We know His reputation agitated the religious leaders.
His reputation also concerned the Roman authorities.
And here we see how His reputation troubles Herod.

Peoples’ responses to Jesus depend on their own position and posture in life.
Those who were desperate, in need , beaten down or without hope, came to Jesus.
Those who were comfortable, powerful, self-centered, we not happy with Jesus.
His way and message undermined their status, their advantages, their comfort.
And as the next story (Mark 6:17-29) shows, Jesus exposed Herod’s guilt.
Herod had a guilty conscience, and now feared he was being haunted.

People today still respond to Jesus based on their experience of life.
Faith in Jesus is growing in the two-thirds world, but dying in the west.
Those with comfort, power and advantage seem to not need, or want Jesus.
Or they tolerate and honour with their words, but only in a minimal way.
Enough to serve their own comfort, power and advantage.
If they really paid attention to Jesus, they would be unsettled too.
For Jesus’s message and way go against our comfort, power and advantage.
He calls for the letting go of comfort, power and advantage, to serve others.

I am not sure where I fall with my response to Jesus.
To be honest I belong among those with comfort, power and advantage.
I am not desperate, I have what I need, and life is generally good for me.
My faith is not as dynamic as I see among desperate, needy believers.
(My work with Haitian Christians both inspires and humbles me).
And yet I am not content with a nominal faith, for Jesus inspires me.
When I hear and see Jesus in the Jesus stories, I am drawn to Him.
I am comforted and convicted, and compelled – I want to be like Him.
The pull of comfort, power and advantage is strong, but so is Jesus.

This is why I keep on focusing on Jesus and the Jesus stories.
Though I know His Name, I want to know it better.

“Whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 3:7-12)

Some people are inspired and some are agitated or unimpressed.
I am among those that are inspired, and eager to know Him better.
Is Jesus’s Name well-known to you… and how does it make you respond?
My prayer is that you will know Jesus’s goodness and love better.
And that you will be among those who are comforted, convicted and compelled!
Jesus does unsettle us in our places of comfort, power and advantage.
But he also offers us a better comfort, power and advantage… His love!

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, my prayer is like Paul's. I do not want hollow religion, or empty power or position. I want to know You and the power of Your love, and the life that flows from experiencing and sharing Your goodness and love with others.

Use me to help others know Your Name better, and be drawn to You!