We read in Jonah 4:10, “The LORD said to him, "This plant grew up in one night and disappeared the next; you didn't do anything for it and you didn't make it grow—yet you feel sorry for it!” (GNB)
Jonah sat outside the city of Nineveh and eagerly watched to see what would become of it. God wanted to speak to Jonah, and reveal some truths to him. As Jonah sat in the sweltering heat, God caused a huge gourd to grow that provided miraculous shade for Jonah. This plant provided soothing shelter to Jonah from the scorching heat, and as Jonah enjoyed the shade, the Lord caused a worm to eat that plant which withered as a result of it. When faced with this sudden discomfort Jonah was annoyed, and upset about it. Jonah felt so much pity for the plant which withered, but had no compassion on the people of Nineveh.
When we too encounter challenges whereby we lose out on the comforts that we enjoy, do we get upset like Jonah not realizing that all good things come from the hand of the Lord? So, if ever we lose out on those benefits we should not turn bitter, sad or discouraged. We must move on knowing that the Lord is good, and try to comprehend His will, for only then we will be filled with real joy and peace. There is a trap that we too could fall into like Jonah, if we value things and other creatures that God has created, over fellow human beings.
Let me give you some examples from the bible.
The man with a withered hand
We read in Matthew 12:9-10, Jesus left that place and went to a synagogue, where there was a man who had a paralyzed hand. Some people were there who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong, so they asked him, "Is it against our Law to heal on the Sabbath?" (GNB)
As Jesus entered the Synagogue there was a man who had a withered hand. The question that was posed to Jesus was if it was lawful to heal someone on the Sabbath day. This is indeed a strange question as Jesus went regularly to the synagogue on many Sabbath days. Interestingly, the Pharisees seemed to have been waiting to trap Jesus, and hence asked Him this strange question. They somehow seemed to have the inkling that Jesus would certainly heal that man.
Generally there are two kinds of questions people ask. One is the question asked to clarify something, and the other question is aimed at finding fault with others. We should learn how to answer each of these questions.
Love over traditions
In those days the religious leaders were so hung up about their traditions, and when it came to keeping the Sabbath, they made sure that they started observing the Sabbath on time and ended it on time. In between they made sure that no work was done. They also had a long list of do’s and don’ts, and these they adhered to, not because they were so pious, but because they wanted to exercise control over the people this way.
We must remember that the thing that motivates us should be the love of God, and not the traditions of men. The Lord does not encumber people with rules and regulations, and He never intends to burden people with guilt. Always we must keep in mind that the Lord desires to lift people up, and will never push anyone down, and walk away from them. If we are the children of God we too must make sure that we uphold those who are down and hurting.
This was Jesus’ reply in Matthew 12:11, Jesus answered, "What if one of you has a sheep and it falls into a deep hole on the Sabbath? Will you not take hold of it and lift it out? (GNB)
These words of Jesus are deep and filled with meaning. There at the Synagogue was a man with an infirmity, and going through pain that no one else could understand. Though these men could not help this man and knew that Jesus could, they did not want Jesus to help him either. Jesus in His wisdom threw a question back at them. He presented to them a situation wherein if one of their sheep fell into a pit on a Sabbath day, they would certainly lift it up because they would not want it to be hurt or die that way. Their rules permitted them to help an animal in distress, but not a human being on a Sabbath day.
Oftentimes, when we go out to comfort those who are in trouble we must realize that we can never comprehend the pain they are going through. We should be careful to not hurt them further with our words. There are some religious leaders even today, who will not help others and will also hinder others from doing good for them. Often, when we are not clear-minded, we too hold on to men and other traditions of men, being more zealous for these. I have had experience where some will question me about our church, and the way we observe communion, and will try to convince me that the way that they observe it is the right way. These people do not realize that we are all members of God’s body, the church at large. If we do not understand why we do what we do, we are likely to miss out on God’s blessings and its true meaning. Do things as God requires us to do, and never do anything just for the sake of keeping traditions or to just observe some rules.
People are to be valued more than anything else
This is an important verse to note in Matthew 12:12, “And a human being is worth much more than a sheep! So then, our Law does allow us to help someone on the Sabbath." (GNB)
Jesus had to re-iterate to those religious leaders that a human being was worth far more than a sheep, and that it was perfectly acceptable to do good on a Sabbath day. According to them it was as though Jesus was doing a wrong thing by healing a man on a Sabbath. Jesus did not care about the opinions of those Pharisees, but went ahead and healed that man.
Let us never for the sake of traditions be those who will hurt the feeling of others. People are of far greater value than things, animals or plants. We are special to God, and therefore other people should also be valued the same way by us.
The story is told of a man who took his brand new car out for a drive, and unexpectedly the car got a small scratch on its side. When he got home he was so upset that he took all the efforts to make sure that the scratch was set right. However as he worked on the scratch, he did not notice that his little son had taken a stone and was busy writing something on the other side of the car. When the father saw this he was so annoyed that he scolded the child, who began to cry pathetically. Later when the father went to see what his son had done, he was shattered to see that his little son had written, ‘I love you Daddy’ on the side of the car. To the young child, he did not realize that he was messing up the car, but was just wanting to express his love to his Dad. For a brief moment the father was so taken up with the car that he valued the car more than his little boy. This incident had a major effect on that Dad whose values changed dramatically from that day.
Often we don’t realize that the people we move with may be immature, lack in understanding and have their own faults, and it is our responsibility is to admonish them with love. We should help them to be guided to not make the same mistakes all over again.
Instead of confusing our minds about other people’s opinions of us, and messing up our peace let us continue to do good, irrespective of what others think about us. We may have loved somebody, and done good to them, and they may have spurned our love. There are many who have become bitter because of such experiences, and have decided that they will not show love or do good to anyone else. Also, there are some others who don’t go to church because of some bad experiences in the church they belonged to. Let us bear in mind that people are at various stages of spiritual maturity in their lives, and we need to ask God for grace to be patient, and to bear with other’s faults and weaknesses.
The tax collector Jesus visited
We read in Luke 19:5, When Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to Zacchaeus, "Hurry down, Zacchaeus, because I must stay in your house today." (GNB)
As Jesus walked there were multitudes who thronged Him, but Jesus chose to stop under a tree. The man who was seated atop the tree was well known in that town of Jericho. He was a chief tax collector in that town. The tax collectors in general were considered traitors, because though they were Jews, they worked for the Roman government, and fleeced their own Jewish people. They were also wealthy and generally excluded by the Jewish community. This man Zacchaeus climbed onto a tree just to have a glimpse of Jesus. As Jesus stopped under that tree, he beckoned to Zacchaeus, and informed him that he was going to his house. All the people who were there were shocked as they couldn’t comprehend how Jesus could whom they considered a preacher and prophet could go to the house of a sinful man who was a cheat.
The people grumbled
The people reacted this way as found in Luke 19:7, All the people who saw it started grumbling, "This man has gone as a guest to the home of a sinner!" (GNB)
We realized that of the large numbers that followed Jesus many did so just to find fault with Him. Though the crowds grumbled against Jesus, it did not deter Jesus from loving Zacchaeus and going to his house.
Remember that as long as we want to follow Jesus sincerely, we too will have those who will criticize us. It is sad that many use social media to run someone down, and the other person retaliates, and this keeps going on, not realizing that we are dishonoring God in the process. Those who have been called by God to reach others and lead others into the Kingdom should not waste time in belittling others, and pulling others down.
The total transformation
We do not read that Jesus preached to Zacchaeus, but something happened that day that brought about great transformation in Zacchaeus.
This is what we read in Luke 19:8, And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” (ESV)
Observe how Zacchaeus called Jesus “Lord”, and the man who had lived entirely for himself was now willing to part with half of his wealth to give to the poor. The hands that grabbed became the hands that gave generously, and the reason was that Jesus did not reject Zacchaeus as others did. When Jesus went to his home, Zacchaeus was overwhelmed with the joy of being accepted, and he was a changed man. Zacchaeus was also willing to repay those whom he had cheated fourfold.
We read in Luke 19:9, Jesus said to him, "Salvation has come to this house today, for this man, also, is a descendant of Abraham. (GNB)
Jesus declared that salvation had come to Zacchaeus’ house that day, and that he too was a descendant of Abraham.
Children are welcome
In another incidence we read in Matthew 19:14, Jesus said, "Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (GNB)
These little children were brought to Jesus so He would place His hands on them, and bless them. While the disciples hindered those who brought these children and considered them a nuisance, Jesus gladly welcomed them. There is still a group of those who do not want to encourage children to come to the Lord, and the Lord admonishes such that no one should hinder children from coming to Him for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Jesus did not shun or despise little children, but rather He took them up in His arms and blessed them. This is an important lesson that Jesus taught.
Everyone who is born into this world irrespective of how young or how old you are all loved by God alike. Whenever our children ask questions or have doubts let us be ready to pay attention and answer them. After a certain stage our children will not come to us with their questions, and they will choose to make their own decisions. Let us stop what we are doing and take time to spend time with our children while they are little and with us, for this will make them really happy. Let us remember that children and people in general, are of much more importance than the ministries we are involved with.
We are called to be loving and at peace with everyone. The Lord does not want us to discriminate anyone based on any differences we may have. This does not mean that we have to be in friendship with everyone, especially those who are not living the way God wants them to be. Once Jesus was done with Zacchaeus He moved on. That’s exactly how God wants us to be too, and not get overly entangled with every relationship.
The woman who found the Messiah
Another incident is found in John 4:4 -26. In those days Jews never went through the region of Samaria, and the reason was that Jews considered themselves exclusive to God. The Samaritans on the other hand were Jews who inter-married with other people, and hence were not accepted by the Jews. Jews hated Samaritan’s so much that they would not even venture to go through the Samaritan towns. Jesus on the other hand went through Samaria, and sat down near a well to rest from the scorching heat, when a Samaritan woman came to draw water from that well.
Jesus asked that Samaritan woman for water to drink which surprised the woman, who knew that Jews never had any sort of association with Samaritans. As the conversation proceeded, the woman realized that Jesus was indeed the Messiah who was to come. She immediately left her water pots, and ran to tell the people of her town the good news. Generally women would come in groups to draw water, but the fact that she came alone implied that she had isolated herself from others because of her lifestyle. However, the conversation with Jesus had such an impact on her that the entire town came, and many put their trust in Jesus. That Samaritan woman became instrumental in bringing an entire town to meet Jesus, many of whom believed on Him.
Anyone who has genuinely come to know who Jesus is, and have tasted of His love will never hesitate, to proclaim this good news to others. Those of us who claim to be children of God, should be different. There should be no differences or divisions amongst us based on caste or language. Even inside a church people choose to sit next to those whom they are acquainted with, and don’t take time to enquire after those who are new to church. If we remain narrow minded, and act his way inside the church we are truly to be pitied. So many have a mistaken understanding that the place of worship should be elaborate with high quality sound, light, seating and things like that. Truly anyone who is willing to serve faithfully in a small way will find that the Lord will reward their work, and make it grow. Those little steps are vital if we want to see the mighty works of God being accomplished in and through us.
The man who was an outcast
We read in Luke 5:12-16 about a man who had leprosy who cried out to Jesus. His situation was such that he was ostracized by society because of his disease, was considered sinful, and was looked down by others. When he came to Jesus, immediately Jesus touched him. A person who contracted leprosy was considered defiled, and the Jews had nothing to do with them lest their infection spread to them. Praise God that irrespective of how defiled a person is, when the Lord touches them they will be healed. Jesus did not look at the disease, but He saw the man who was suffering.
So also, when Jesus saw the man with a withered hand, he did not see his sickness, but had compassion on the man whom He beheld. Zacchaeus, the tax collector was shunned as a cheat by others, but Jesus accepted him for who he was, and did not see his faults. The entire town and even the Jews despised the Samaritan woman. Nonetheless, Jesus saw the woman in different light. Little children were shunned, and hindered with the thought that they were of no worth, and a trouble to Jesus in His busy ministry schedule. Jesus looked at these children as men and women who would be the future for the Kingdom of God.
It is sad that many believers are unable to sympathize with those who are going through hard times, and are struggling in various ways. Our hearts should be filled with compassion for such, and look for ways to help them, and pray for them, for that’s what Jesus did. Woefully after Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh instead of rejoicing over their repentance, He was filled with anger which was a huge mistake on his part. May we ask God to help us be those who can feel with others, and do all that we can to alleviate them of their burdens.
Rev. F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
Transcribed by: Sis. Esther Collins
