Laughing at Jesus

Hey Friends…
 
Let’s be honest. Faith can seem quite silly, especially to those looking in from the outside. I don’t blame them. Do you? It’s not hard to see how our supernatural Jesus might look more like an imaginary friend than an actual, natural, physical reality. So, they laugh at us. But let me ask you (and be honest!): Do we sometimes secretly laugh at Jesus too? Let’s talk in Deeper Thoughts below…
 
But first… today’s reminders are all about kids and us!!
 
·      KIDS / Middle Schoolers: We are going to summer camp!! For rising 1st through 8th graders this summer, come with us to a weeklong day camp divided into age-appropriate programs at the Furnace Mountain Camp outside of Leesburg, VA. There are several dates to pick from and we need your help to identify the best week for Mt. Hope to attend. Click here to email Chris Bowen for details!
 
·      Parents: Saturday, February 22, 5:00 – 9:00 p.m., drop your Pre-K through 6th graders at the church and go out for a special “Parents Night Out / Kids Night In.” We will have snacks, crafts, games, and movies your kids will love. As a part of the evening, the kids will make goodies for the next morning’s summer camp Bake Sale! Click here to RSVP with Chris Bowen!
 
·      Everyone: Come with a sweet tooth and a fat wallet to Sunday morning, February 23, for our Bake Sale to support our summer camp. Gorge yourself on yummies the kids baked the night before and be crazy generous with your donations to help our kids get to camp!
 
·      Teens: NO Youth Group this Sunday, but join us NEXT Sunday, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., for lunch, games, and more!
 
·      Don’t forget our “Daily Six” video series, six-minutes every weekday to read along with me as we study through the Gospel of Mark. Click here to jump in! And if you’d like to receive daily email reminders, click here for a link to The Daily Six each morning!
 
OK…that’s it today for you email skimmers and those who think Jesus is imaginary. BUT…
 
 
Some Deeper Thoughts…
 
Let me tell you about Bunny and Blue Dog.
 
They were very important friends of mine at a very formative age. Bunny was orange. And you guessed it. He was a bunny. The fact that he was filled with cotton ball stuffing is irrelevant to his profound importance in my life. The photographic evidence my mother has of how Bunny comforted me as I lay sleeping in my crib is matched by vivid memories of many joyful antics Bunny and I shared during those pre-school years.
 
Oh, and Blue Dog? Can you guess? Yep. He was a dog. He was blue.  
 
Please don’t judge my name selection creativity. I had just learned how to speak.
 
These stuffed critters were my buddies. We had many important conversations as I explored reality and grew up past two feet tall. They soothed me when I was terrified in the middle of the night. They accompanied me to many a Matchbox car race across the living room floor. They participated in the construction of massive Lego cities—and then of course their swift destruction. (Remember, I was a boy. Breaking things was essential.) Bunny and Blue Dog offered me a mountain of counsel, hope, and comfort in a world that was often confusing, scary, and daunting.
 
But as I grew past three feet and headed off to kindergarten, I slowly began to realize something. Bunny and Blue Dog couldn’t actually talk. They couldn’t think. They were not really my friends. Their closeness and intimacy were… well… imaginary.
 
I still have them. In a box somewhere. Maybe I’ll dig them out for show and tell this Sunday.
 
Bunny and Blue Dog once occupied a predominant place in my life. They were an important tool that psychologists call “self-soothing,” which according to Mr. Google is “a technique that is used to manage and regulate one’s emotions and create a sense of calm and comfort.”
 
Self-soothing isn’t bad. In fact, it might be downright necessary. For a three-year-old, a stuffed bunny will do just fine. In adulthood, the bunny belongs in a cardboard box while we turn ourselves to more refined self-soothing techniques: positive self-talk, deep breathing exercises, taking time for self, pampering, mediation, fishing, or a trip to the gym.
 
And sometimes Jesus.
 
Tragically for many people, Jesus is no more real than an imaginary friend who offers a self-soothing path to hope. He is an idea, a figure, a promise. But not someone real.
 
Let’s own it. The assertions of the New Testament are irrational. The Jesus we interact with is invisible. He is accessed only by a choice of faith that Jesus is more than an imaginary friend, but rather a very real spiritual entity with a very real presence and a very real power.
 
I wonder if this is how Jairus’ family saw Jesus when he made an incredibly irrational--and wildly inappropriate—claim. I wonder if they saw his words as nothing more than imaginary.
 
Jesus arrived not long after Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter had died. The house was engulfed in gut-wrenching commotion, grieving, wailing. Some men met Jesus a few blocks away and begged him not to come. “She has died,” they said. “It is better for you not to come.”
 
He ignored their concerns. When he entered the house, he “saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, ‘Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep’” (Mark 6:38-39).
 
Don’t try this at home. This is NOT the right thing to say to a grieving family who can plainly see with their very own eyes that the little girl is dead.
 
So, “they laughed at him” (Mark 6:40).
 
To those who do not understand Jesus by a choice of faith, the words of Jesus will be irrational and nothing short of imaginary. But then let’s also understand what this choice of faith is: a choice to not base our entire worldview on what we can see with our natural eyes.
 
“We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).
 
Even science will admit that we cannot see everything that exists. Spend just a few minutes reading about quantum physics and you’ll get it. Not everything that is real can be seen.
 
And not everything that is invisible is imaginary.
 
If our reality is defined only by what we see in our natural-realm present, we will miss all that God intends to do in our lives. God has a vision for us that is much greater than the vision we have for ourselves. But that vision cannot be fulfilled if we don’t choose to move into a position of faith that sees reality with spiritual eyes, not just natural.
 
God is not an orange stuffed bunny. He is not an imaginary, self-soothing idea. But to see that, we must make a choice of faith.
 
This Sunday let’s explore this together. We’ll see what happened with Jairus’ daughter. And we’ll see what God can do in us. Dig around Mark 5 in advance. Choose faith.
 
Can’t wait… we love each and every one of you. Let’s meet… Sunday… 10:00 a.m.!
 
 
Chris Eads
Mt. Hope Pastor
Friend