Messy Made New by Pete Briscoeنموونە

There’s No Such Thing as Jesus Repellant

Words are like eggs dropped from great heights; you can no more call them back than ignore the mess they leave when they fall. — Jodi Picoult, Salem Falls

The church has lots of well-intended but callous advice for messy people. To people who have lost everything—marriage, children, health, or jobs—the church has been known to see their struggle and say things like, “Real Christians don’t deal with depression.” Perhaps we forget that this person came to church this morning hoping to find a family.

How many times at church have you said hello to a person who smells like a smoke-filled bar and thought, If you were totally surrendered, Jesus would help you quit? Never mind that this person almost turned around after pulling into the parking lot.

Listen, these aren’t the types of conversations Jesus had with messy people. These conversations are an effort to make people tidy. But Jesus didn’t come to make messy people into tidy people.

I know that might be a shock for some. Your entire church life, you thought that was the point: Take messy people and clean them up. So, if Jesus didn’t come to do that, what did Jesus come to do?

In Luke 5:27, Jesus saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. Tax collectors were messy people. They had all sorts of entanglements with money and ethics. So Jesus said, “Hey, buddy, clean up your act!”

Right?

Not at all! Levi was messy, but Jesus never looked someone in the eye and said, “Clean up your act.”

Instead, Jesus looked at Levi and said, “Follow me.”

And Levi did. He got up, left everything behind, and held a great banquet for Jesus at his house—complete with a large crowd of messy people.

Jesus isn’t repelled by our messiness, friends. His goal is not to make us tidy.

Lord, I’ve heard of people overseas who live in unclean conditions, and I can’t imagine where I would rest in such a mess. But You know, don’t You? You came down from heaven to live on earth. As You walked among us, You invited the messiest to follow. You aren’t scared of my mess. I’m bathing in Your acceptance, Jesus. Amen.