“The People Jesus Loved”
February 22, 2015
Mark 10:17-22
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
This Scripture has been used to illustrate many lessons. Usually it is about the danger of riches or the cost of following Jesus. I have used it to illustrate that Jesus was God – because He alone was good. This morning I want to use it in a little different way. I want to focus on Jesus’ love for this man. The Bible says,
“Jesus looked at him and loved him.” Mark 10:21a
Put yourself in this scene. A man comes running up to Jesus, falls on his knees and gasps “What do I have to do to go to heaven! What do I have to do to live forever?”
This young man was very unusual. He was rich. He was a leader or ruler of some sort – and he was religious since he was a young boy. He must have been exceptionally intelligent and wise. He was contemplating some pretty heavy stuff – eternal life. I wonder if he realized that all his money wasn’t enough; that there was more to life. He probably had seen other rich people die – maybe even got his wealth as an inheritance – and realized that wealth doesn’t do you a bit of good when you are dead. So he wondered about living forever. Unlike Ponce de Leon, he didn’t search for a fountain of youth – he searched for Jesus. When he learned where Jesus was – he took off running. When he found Jesus he fell at his feet and asked his question.
This young man was religious, he was intelligent, he was a good man and he was humble. He wasn’t afraid to fall on his knees and ask this very personal question. But it still wasn’t enough – and he knew it. That is why he came to Jesus. He lacked one thing. Jesus was not first in his life. Jesus was not Lord – money was.
I imagine, as Jesus answered his question and gave him his answer – that his mind processed that information like a computer. His face fell as he heard that he needed to give up his wealth. And he lacked the faith to do it – at this time. He left sad. I like to think that he later came back and was willing to give everything up to make Jesus Lord. I like happy endings – but we don’t know that for sure. We do know that Jesus looked at this young man, so full of confusion and so ambivalent – and loved him.
I like that. You don’t have to be perfect to be loved by Jesus. Faults and failings are not going to keep Jesus from you. They may keep YOU from Him but they won’t keep HIM from you. As Jesus looks at you – He loves you. Understand that whatever it is that stands between you and Jesus has to go; whatever it is above Jesus in priority has to go. But as you are struggling with those things – I want you to understand that Jesus loves you.
There is another person in the Bible that was so unlovable – that Jesus loved. She had lived a hard life; a sinful life. Listen to John’s account of that meeting.
“When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans).
John 4:7-9
In this day and age Samaritans were considered unclean by the Jews. Women were beneath them. So for Jesus to talk to one was very unusual. Many sermons have been preached on this account of the woman at the well. We know that she had 5 husbands and the one she was living with then she was not married to. I have heard it speculated that the other women in the community hated her and that is why she was getting water at this unusual time – to avoid them. They probably were rude to her, shunned her and embarrassed her.
She was a Samaritan woman, married 5 times, living in adultery and shunned by the community. But Jesus looked past all that – and saw a hungry, thirsty soul. So He gave her Living Water. He changed, not only her life, but the community – through her.
You may have blown it big time in your life. People may shun you; reject you; fear you; maybe even hate you. But Jesus looks at the heart. If you are hungry for spiritual things – He will feed you. If you thirst for Living Water – He will give you FOUNTAINS of living water.
Do you know Jesus loves short people? He just loves people. He even loves dishonest, greedy people. Zacchaeus was just such a man. Listen,
“Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:1-10
Do you see how Jesus loved this man? This man was wealthy, too. But Jesus didn’t ask him to give it up. He didn’t ask him to give it away and sell everything like He did to the rich young ruler. Why? Because this man volunteered to give back and make restitution. Money wasn’t the most important thing in his life – Jesus was. And Jesus declared that he was saved. The people said he was a sinner. Jesus said he was saved.
There is another sinner Jesus loved. She was an adulterous. She was one word away from death. Listen to her story.
John 8:1-11
1 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
How would you like to be the focal point of this mobs rage? They had no feeling for this woman. Imagine how she must have felt. Embarrassment. Fear. Shame. Regret. She had sinned and she knew it. She had sinned and EVERYBODY knew it. She broke the law and the penalty was death. It was justice. Probably as an interesting afterthought someone blurted out, “Hey! There’s the One who everyone is following. Let’s trick Him into letting her go. If He does – He breaks Moses Law. If he doesn’t let her go He will help us kill her! That will change people’s minds about him.” It seemed Jesus was trapped.
But Jesus did neither. He knelt down and began to write in the dirt. Was it people’s names and their sins? We don’t know. But soon He looked up with His piercing eyes and only He and the woman caught in the act of adultery were left. He didn’t condemn her. He forgave her. He left her with instruction to not sin anymore.
Do you think that may have changed her life? Do you think Jesus’ love for this guilty woman; this condemned sinner – impacted her. They called Jesus the ‘friend of sinners’. And He is. Even if you are a sinner – Jesus loves you. As with the woman His instruction to you is – “Leave your life of sin”.
There is another group that Jesus demonstrated His love for. That was the children. People brought children to Jesus for Him to touch and bless.
“Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:13-14
Don’t prevent the Children from coming to Jesus – He loves them. The Apostle John was known among the disciples “as the one Jesus loved”(John 13:23). He was the only teenage disciple and had a special place in Jesus’ heart. His nickname was ‘John the Beloved’. Jesus loves children and teenagers.
Jesus told the story of the ‘Good Samaritan’ about a man who helped a Jew. You need to know the Samaritans were despised by the Jews. The Jews looked down on them and shunned them. But this Good Samaritan didn’t let their prejudice keep him from doing a good thing. He sacrificed to help this man in his need. Jesus concluded the story by saying, “Go and do likewise” (Lk 10:37)
Another time Jesus was teaching the disciples. He took off His robe, wrapped a towel around himself and took up basin of water. He washed their dirty, stinky feet and then He said this,
“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
John 10:15
Following that experience He began to teach them, and us, what it meant to be a disciple of His. The distinguishing mark was not how you wore your hair or the kind of clothes you wore. It wasn’t how you looked, your race or nationality or even how religious you appeared. Listen. Jesus said,
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 10:34-35
That’s the bottom line, isn’t it? You know, we are pretty good at seeing if others measure up to this standard or not – but we are so poor at judging ourselves. Periodically we ought to ask someone – “What do people think of me? Am I known as being a loving person?” Well – are ya?
Our job as a church and a denomination – MY job as Pastor, is to “make Christ-like disciples”. But I can’t really do that – can I? That is an individual choice between a person and God. We can teach a person to obey everything Jesus taught (Matthew 28:20) – but we can’t MAKE a person Christ-like. That is an individual choice.
This week I want to challenge you to be more loving – more Christ-like. Jesus loves you with all your faults and failings. Go and love others even with their faults. Like a Christ-like life.
SONG
