*Reader’s note: The next few posts will be a few short reflections from Lent readings.
“Time’s they are a changing…” sings the raspy-voiced young Bob Dylan.
And change is tough. It offends the nostalgia and tradition and ways of old (people freaked went Dylan went electric). From music to technology to clothing you’ll often hear people saying “Back in my day…” or “This generation - blah, blah, blah.”
I think we all try to make sense of the new, the different in our world that seems to be ever-changing.
There is no greater example of this than the life and ministry of Jesus. He punched a hole in the universe by sitting with sinners, dining with tax collectors, and making space for the rejects, and the people around could often not stand it! This is on full display in the gospel according to Luke.
In Luke 5, when Jesus calls Levi, the scum of the Jewish world, a turncoat, a traitor and an opportunist - people are nothing short of miffed.
“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING JESUS!?” And in one verse Jesus states his manifesto: “I’ve not come for the righteous, but to call the sinners…” (V32)
If you’ve been around church long enough this is Sunday school stuff for you. But if this doesn’t sound scandalous to you, or too good to be true, then perhaps we’ve missed what this time is all about. What Jesus is all about.
The legend NT Wright puts it this way. In Jesus: “....forgiveness is here, walking down the street and when people repent it’s theirs. Never mind if it upsets the tidy classifications of the old system….” (NT Wright, Luke for Everyone, 63)
Jesus was a rebel for love, a doctor passionate about treating his patients. In this short passage in Luke, Jesus is showing us that God’s mercy is “alive and active, healing celebrating, creating a new world and inviting you to join it.” (Wright, Luke, 65).
This time of Lent we prepare our hearts around the reality of the mercy of God in Jesus. We also grieve and await his return.
Young Dylan was right, times are a-changing. But in the waiting, may we, who are found in Christ, not be grumblers clinging on to yesteryear but agents of hope and mercy and like Jesus make space for those who need a doctor.