He Gets Us: Who Did Jesus Love? | Plan 4Sample

Jesus loved the guy on the fringe.

Every person you meet in the Bible has a backstory. When you know a little bit about them, you understand them better and can relate to why they act the way they do.

Jesus paid attention to people. He didn’t just tell a good story, or teach something holy from a distance. Instead he came to your house. To your table. He got to know you. He let love drip like deep, rich coffee. Relaxed enough, engaged enough, interested enough for conversations to flow.

Several times in Jesus’ story we see him heal someone. Imagine meeting one of those people over coffee and hearing their story firsthand. Imagine meeting Simon . . .

"I met Jesus on one of the worst days of my life. I heard he was in town but I didn’t want to risk the hope of him healing me. I had been sick for a long time. So sick that no one could come close to me, even my family. But Jesus came close. In fact, he came looking for me.

He invited my poor, weak hand to touch his. “Do you want to be healed, Simon?”

Of course, the miracle he did in a moment restored life to my body but the way it changed my heart won’t stop these tears from coming, even now.

I sit across from him at my family’s table right now. I said, “You always have a place in my home, Jesus,” and to my surprise, he came. My wife, smiling again, calls us to a feast. My grandson on my knee. I look across the happy uproar of plates passing and wine pouring and music playing and favor flowing—to meet the eyes of my healer looking back at me. What do I see in his eyes? Love, pure love.

I once was dead, and now I’m alive for the first time—body, spirit, and soul. All because he came looking for me.

Only when my grandson reached up to grab my chin did my gaze break from his and the music filled my ears again. Now Jesus laughs with my children, tears glistening in his eyes as we break bread.

Trust him sooner, that’s what I’d say to you today in your pain. Go find him. It took this miracle mystery to give me this life today, oh, I wish I would have believed him sooner. And you? Say with me, too, “make my heart your home, Jesus.”"