Saturday 4 April 2009

He ate with them

Mark 1:29 - "Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John."

When the synagogue service in Capernaum ended, whose house did Jesus enter? It wasn't the leader of the synagogue. It wasn't the mayor of the town, or some local politician or dignitary. It wasn't anybody rich or famous. It was the humble home of poor fishermen.

That house, Simon shared with his brother Andrew, his wife, and as the next verse tells us his wife's mother too. He and his brother were poor and uneducated (Acts 4:13). But it was that house which the Son of God visited that day. It was this family which the Lord of Glory had favoured. He had chosen two of these believers amongst his closest disciples, and was pleased to fellowship with them.

That's God's way, and in a nutshell that's the "good news" of the gospel. God comes and fellowships with the lowly. He scorns the high and the mighty - the self-righteous have no place in his kingdom. But with those who groan and labour with a knowledge of their sins and who humble themselves, he comes and eats and drinks. God visits sinners and makes himself known as their friend. Hallelujah!

Have you become very low, that God might lift you up? Or are you still puffed up in your own pride and self-sufficiency, on high, in which position he will forever scorn you?

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