Jesus Connected with People

Jesus connected with people because he took the time to be with people, to engage them, to see them, to listen to them, to touch them. I have come to realize this simple reality about Jesus that set him apart from so many of us because too many of us, including myself, seek to engage people in ways which promotes our own agenda. When we are about placing ourselves at the center, rather than seeing the other, we miss the point of God coming as a human being in Jesus of Nazareth to be among us and with us. Jesus' desire for humanity was for us to be human in ways we have never imagined -- and in his being human amongst us and with us he showed us how to be human in ways we never could. It is in identifying with him that we become truly human with one another.

We see Jesus connecting with people throughout the early writings of his followers (the Gospels). When people were brought to him who were sick, he spoke to them, touched them and healed them. When he saw people trying to get a glimpse of him, in a crowd, or up in a tree, he stopped and conversed with them and even took the time to eat with them. He saw people feeling trapped in their daily routines and he invited them to come and follow him. He saw people, he engaged people, he listened, he healed, he forgave, he set them free, he enabled others to be human in ways they had never been.

When I think of how Jesus connected with people, and the way I more times than not do not connect with others the way he did, I am reminded of the quotation by Mohandas K. Gandhi -- "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." I want to be like Jesus! I want my life to make his way of being human visible in this world.

I realize that I still am making life about me, rather than about being here for others in the way of Jesus. If Jesus offered us the fullness of life by being a servant among us, why then do we keep on trying to make life about ourselves, our success, our notoriety?

I am discovering more and more each day as I come into serendipitous encounters with people that the only way for me to live is to live in such a way that enables others to live in ways that enables them to live humanly.

In Matthew's account, Jesus expresses to those who are tired and weary with the struggles of life, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." I am finding that rest as I discover a rhythm of life that is identified with Jesus.

So it seems that when Jesus said, "Repent for the kingdom of God is here," he was not calling for people to take on another set of religious beliefs, but to begin to be human in relationship with God -- the only way for us to be truly human with one another.

Roland