Andrew, cold sores, and salvation.

Readings from Sunday:
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Mark 1:14-20

On Sunday, I talked about the disciples, and why they were so keen to follow Jesus so quickly. Why were they so happy to follow Jesus as soon as he showed up. After all, Jesus didn't give much of an argument as to why his disciples should follow him. He just shows up on the beach, strolling along, wearing sandals, and comes across a pair of fishing boats, and says "follow me." And they do. They leave everything, they drop their nets, their fish, their fathers, their boats, their lives, and follow him. Why? What is it about Jesus that was so magnetic that they went to him right away, leaving everything over two words?



Well, as I said on Sunday morning, a large part of the reason that they left everything so quickly to follow him was that they understood their need for him. Andrew is the key to all of this. Before the event in the boats, Andrew had been a disciple of John the Baptist. As a disciple of John the Baptist, he was with him when he pointed out Jesus and referred to him as the Lamb of God. If you've ever read the beginnings of the gospels, you will see how John talks. He's got a lot of tough things to say to people. He has rules and edicts, and he has some difficult things to listen to. And most of all, he reminds his people that they are sinners, through and through.

There were, and are, two reactions to that. You can either react as the Pharisees did, and say that you don't have any sin, so really, what's to worry about, or you can react as the disciples did, and seek the one who might take that sin away. Once it's been pointed out, what do you do with it? It's like any sort of disease: you don't see the need for a cure until you realize that you have the disease. You aren't going to rush out and buy some abreeva until you recognize that you have a cold sore.

The cold sore analogy is a better one than I had initially thought, because, of course, you can't see it for yourself. Someone else, in the absence of a mirror, has to tell you it's there. You can feel its effects, you can feel that you have some sort of lump on your face, but you can lie to yourself all you want and say that it's just an ingrown hair / a blemish / a pimple / a zit. But if you take a good look at it in the mirror, or have someone point it out to you, then you can do something about it.

The mirror is the law. God's commandments. In his law, God shows us where we go wrong, and how often we go wrong. If we hold the mirror of the law up to our lives, we will see how many areas we are lacking in. But that only works if we really give it a solid look, if we actually hold up the mirror to our lives and take an honest look at ourselves. The other thing is to have someone like John the Baptist show up, and point out where we are lying to ourselves, and where we have gone wrong.

You'll see in the New Testament, there are plenty of folks who don't appreciate their cold sores being pointed out. The Pharisees are key to all this. Because they don't see that they have sin as a real problem, as a real condition, then they don't see their need for salvation. John and Jesus can preach about salvation all they want, but unless people can see that salvation is for them, then they're not going to be interested.

This is going to get a little bit long now, but bear with me. The Pharisees are the people we see all around us. They're the people who feel as though God owes them salvation, who feel as though they're good people by and large. And people do feel that way. And us going out into the world with the message of salvation, of forgiveness of sins, often doesn't mean anything to anyone. If people don't see that they have a problem, if they refuse to look at the cold sore, they won't want your tube of abreva. Andrew and Simon, James and John, they were quick to follow Christ because they'd been looking for him all this time. He was the one who had been promised for a long time. He was salvation for their sins. The Pharisees and Saducees could happily ignore him, because he claimed to solve a problem that they weren't having.

So how best to talk about the sin of mankind? You know about the sin of mankind. It's everywhere. We talk about it constantly. News anchors always start off by saying 'good evening' right before they tell you why it isn't. And when it comes to things like what we see in the news, well, we know what sin and greed and cowardice look like. And the ultimate question to ask is 'how would I behave in a similar situation?' I can promise you this much: Things would be better for everyone if they viewed themselves as sinners in need of salvation, rather than as flawless and resenting any idea that they might need to be saved. Most of us think that we're mostly okay, and that we have teh right idea about protecting the weak and frail. Good for us. But the law is there to show us before the ship sinks that we're not as brave or as honest as we could be. We're not as noble and compassionate as we think we are. When the ship sinks, and the icy water creeps into the cabins, then your 'good person' image you've made for yourself is put to the test. Will you elbow other, weaker people out of the way to get to the lifeboats, or will you help children to board before yourself? You may not know how you'd react, but if you know that one is wrong and the other right, before you end up in that situation, really think about how you'd react. If your impulse is honestly to hop on board the nearest lifeboat, then join the club. But that's what repentance is all about: knowing your weaknesses, confessing them, and having your sin taken away. John will point that out to you, Jesus will point that out to you, the 10 commandments will point that out to you. We either ignore it, or reach for the abreva.

Those are the medi-facts.

PJ.