WORDS OF A DEEPER WISDOM

by Rev Dr Clive W Ayre

For virtually the whole of our history, there has been the gradual development of a kind of conventional wisdom. In 1648, for example, Count Oxenstierna wrote to his son, “Do you not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?” In spite of the touch of cynicism in that, I think many of us would agree with him. The question is how well we are served by that approach. What we find is that Jesus Christ has a way of turning conventional wisdom on its head. In  Luke 6:17-26, we are introduced to words of a deeper wisdom, in which our Lord presents a new approach to familiar issues.

The first reason those people had come to Jesus was that they were seeking his healing touch in their lives. As Luke records, a great crowd of disciples and people from many different places had gathered. “They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases…” It must have been quite a sight; and more than that, the needs people brought with them were complex, but as Luke records, the crowd tried to touch him, and he healed them.

That event may be described in several different ways. At the most superficial level, we can see in it a 2,000-year-old example of the phenomenon of crowd hysteria in the presence of a hero. At a deeper level, what we are seeing is the timeless touch of Christ. People did not come because they wanted to touch a hero. They came because they had real needs, and sensed that Jesus could meet them.

It is fundamental to the whole approach of Jesus that word and action are intertwined.

For Jesus, the integrity of his message could be tested and verified by the integrity of his life and the reality of his compassion and practical care. Those who would claim to walk in the footsteps of Jesus have to realize that nothing has changed. The principle that “ministry precedes message”, and prepares for it, still holds true today.

How do we fare on the basis of this test, that practical ministry prepares for the message? Even if the short answer is “reasonably well”, there is no room for complacency. Our efforts will not always be successful, but we keep trying. Our goal will be not only caring within the congregation, but also through the congregation to the community. This is an approach that might be termed “no strings attached” caring.

There is a constant challenge to us as a church to maintain the integrity of that ministry of care. But there is probably an even bigger challenge for all of us, and that centres on the message. Ministry prepares for the message, but it doesn’t replace it. This has often been the weak point in our tradition. We have found it relatively easy to care, but very difficult to “name the Name.” I hope that one of our goals will be to discover a greater ease in moving on from practical care, to be able to speak of Christ, to share our faith simply and naturally. So there may be a real Christ-like integrity between ministry and message.