Come Follow Me: Jesus Chooses the Unqualified

And he says, come and follow me. Come and I'm I'm choosing you. I believe in you. I can see the potential. So come, my friends, and follow me. Because if even if no one else believes in you, then I I do. This is the message of Jesus. This is the message of our rabbi that finds you where you are. Says, come and follow me. And the only question to you is the same question to them. Are you gonna get out of the boat? [01:13:37] (31 seconds)  #GetOutOfTheBoat

You are not the finished product, but I can do something with you. I can start with you. I am not disqualifying you. This is the rabbi's message. This is the Jesus who qualifies the unqualified. This is the Jesus who finds the last and the least and the lost. This is the Jesus who finds the downtrodden and the beaten up, and those of us who just feel that we were never quite good enough. [01:13:13] (23 seconds)  #ChosenAsYouAre

And the other question that I hope gets under your skin this week, that plays on repeat, that causes you to stop and think is will you carry the yoke of our rabbi? When you have a choice as to how to speak about someone, when you have a choice about what you let stay in your mind, when you have a choice about what ethical decisions to make, when you have a choice about how to spend your money and who to spend time with, just let that run. Can I carry the yoke of my rabbi? Can I choose to carry his way of teaching? Can I choose to hold things lightly and not let them build up? [01:24:09] (37 seconds)  #CarryTheYoke

And the rains come, and the pressure will build, and then someone at work makes one comment. Someone at home makes one comment. Someone knocks into you. Someone cuts you up in the car. Someone makes one innocuous thing, and suddenly explodes, and the vile, and the anger, and the muck. And Jesus says, do not hold on to that resentment. Do not hold on to that anger. [01:22:17] (24 seconds)  #LetGoOfResentment

Hebrew scholars were not noted for their answers. They weren't noted for coming to a destination or putting a theology into a system of bullet points. They were noted for their ability to keep the discussion about God going longer. What a wonderful insight. That's our job, isn't it? It's not to give people a series of bullet points that they can agree or disagree with. Our job at work, in our families, with our loved ones, is to keep the discussion about God going longer. It's not about whether you know the right answers. It's about whether or not you can ask the right questions. [01:05:31] (33 seconds)  #AskTheRightQuestions

These were rabbis with authority, and this was fascinating because a rabbi with authority was able to bring their own teaching. A rabbi with authority was not just rehashing what someone else had said. A rabbi with authority was able to say, you've heard it was said this, but I say to you something new. I say to you something new. [01:16:29] (28 seconds)  #TeachWithAuthority

Because what's what's very clear is that this Jesus is not just rehashing what someone else said. This Jesus is not just repastling someone else's teachings. This is a Jesus who's saying things differently. And I share this, my friends, because so many of us, if we're on a spiritual search, we have heard the same things time and time again. Some shallow teaching, some things that didn't move us, some stuff that's just a rehash of an old thing. It doesn't have any weight. If a rabbi had authority, that meant they could have their own yoke. A new way of seeing the world. [01:17:03] (39 seconds)  #NewWayOfSeeing

And maybe, my friends, you need to have your inner monologue defined redefined this morning because you've heard it was said that you're not smart enough. You've heard it was said you you're disqualified for ministry. Sorry. You've heard it was said that God isn't interested in people like you. You've heard it was said all kinds of lies and nonsense that have pushed you down, and Jesus says to you, like he says to them, come and follow me because you are enough. [01:12:44] (27 seconds)  #YouAreEnough