Encounters with Jesus
Trevor introduces our new sermon series on the Gospel of Luke.
It’s been a long time since I entered a chemistry lab, but I can still remember an important principle I learned from one of my first lessons in that subject at secondary school. The best way to discover something about a chemical is to put it in touch with another substance and see how it reacts. I don’t remember much from my school days in the lab, though a few vivid examples have stayed with me. Phosphorous is highly reactive and burns brightly when exposed to oxygen. Salt and water are produced when hydrochloric acid reacts with sodium hydroxide. Argon is regarded as inert, given how unreactive it is in almost all conditions.
Just as with chemicals, we learn a lot about people when they come into contact with others. We discover their preconceptions or prejudices. We realise that some people are extroverts and love the company of others, but some are introverts who soon yearn for solitude. We see that some people are patient, but others are easily provoked to anger.
In the same way, when we read the gospels, we discover lots about Jesus from the ways he relates to the people he meets. Most importantly of all, we learn that he clearly liked people, breaking the taboos of his day to spend time with people who were disregarded or marginalised by others. He was willing to speak to enemies like Roman soldiers, and he ate at the homes of tax collectors and pharisees. He received the anointing of a woman disregarded by others as sinful and affirmed her actions in the face of those who disapproved. He loved children.
It's also apparent that there were some people who provoked the anger and disapproval of Jesus. The legalism of those who put rules ahead of compassion irked him, and so did the actions of people who imposed harsh and demanding standards on others.
Last month, we agreed together for a new vision statement for SBC, that begins with an agreement on the importance of encounters, with God and people. So, from January, we’ll begin a new sermon series focusing on ‘Encounters with Jesus’, thinking about the people he met, as described for us in the Gospel of Luke. We’ll reflect on how he related to people – the things he said, the actions he defended, the welcome he offered – considering together how they can inform our everyday conversations with the people around us.
