In the Company of Jesus

Last week we focused on our destination – to love God and love our neighbor. John Wesley said that to love God and love neighbor was to be holy. So our destination is to be a holy people who bring about transformation in the world around us.

This week we turn our attention to those on the journey with us – the Company of Jesus. It was assumed that the righteous would be those whom Jesus came to seek. However, in this, as in most things, Jesus turns the common expectations on their head, as He came to seek the least and the lowest. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance - that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. (1 Timothy 1:15, ESV)

In the beginning verses of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 we find the Beatitudes. I have found that many read these verses as a to do list in becoming a real disciple. James Bryan Smith put it this way: “Because the most common narrative said we have to earn God’s favor through our actions (legalism), I naturally assumed the list was a prescription for how to get God to be happy with me.” (Smith, p. 52)

This is not just true in our day, but it was also true of the Jewish community into which Jesus came to proclaim the gospel. The Pharisees had gone so far as to establish 615 additional laws to ensure that the Jewish community was not breaking any of the commandments. Imagine the shock that they felt when Jesus said… “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of God ahead of you.” (Matthew 21:31, ESV) You see, Jesus never intended the Beatitudes to be a checklist, but rather an invitation.

“The Beatitudes, far from being a new set of virtues that further divide the religious haves and have-nots, are words of hope and healing to those who have been marginalized.”

~James Bryan Smith (Smith, p. 55)

The Company of Jesus, those with whom we will travel this road toward holiness, are those who have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We are a company of the broken, bruised, wanderers, and rebels. We are those whom God has pursued, as Spurgeon often said, with the twin hounds of heaven – mercy and grace. Along the way, we will discover areas in which we need forgiveness and fresh grace. We will be aware of attitudes and actions that need to change. We will develop compassion and care for those who are messy and in need, as we recognize that we too are a work in progress.

So, to all who are in need of grace, welcome to the Company of Jesus. Come let’s walk with Jesus and let His love fill us and overflow in our lives. I am looking forward to seeing how we all will be transformed along the way.

Father Keith

¹ Smith, James Bryan. The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ (Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2009), p. 52.
² Ibid. p. 55.