Get Up Close And Personal

To know God’s love requires a certain closeness to God. A distance that can be measured by the proximity of the person next to you, in front of you or behind you.

a message of radical hospitality as told in
 Matthew 9:9-13

​What I love most about the way we do church is that it’s up close and personal. So much so that if you show up in person, you know there’s no coming in late or sneaking in the back door.
 
Being the kind of church we are, it’s easy it is to get to know one another because you’re literally sitting right next to everyone. And sometimes on top of each other. Being in close proximity we learn each others story, and form relationships of trust one another.
 
When we started doing this hybrid style church, many people didn’t think we could replicate that intimacy and trust online. They said church was about with being with people, in person. Of course, we ignored them and followed where God was leading us.

We’ve been amazed to see how people are engaging, forming friendships organically online. Without any prompting from us, people who once strangers began sharing their hearts; connecting in the text streams and praying and supporting one another beyond church service.
 
This is how the Holy Spirit works to make the gospel come alive; transcending time and space to bring us closer to God. And God closer to us. Which tells me if you want to get close to God, a good place to start is by getting closer with each other.
 
Jesus was notorious for getting up close and personal with people. He always looked for the divine image in everyone; especially those society overlooked, rejected, or ignored. The gospels are full of stories about Jesus hanging out with the “wrong kind of people.” Like we’ll see in Matthew 9:9-13, he often does so in the most intimate of ways. 

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

Jesus spent a lot of time practicing and participating in table fellowship. That is, he sat around the dinner table talking about the kingdom of God and showing us how to make it come alive.
 
Now, dinner parties were different back then. People didn’t sit on chairs around a long table. They reclined on the floor, close together on big pillows. There weren't tablecloths, fine china, or silverware. People simply ate with their fingers from bowls that were being passed around.
 
It was an intimate affair to say the least. One where elbows touched, and backs leaned into one another. Because of your proximity, who you sat next to was important. For example, a wine merchant would want to sit next to someone who owned a vineyard or a fleet of boats so they could talk shop, make secret deals, and so on.
 
For a religious leader like Jesus, you certainly wouldn’t sit next to someone like Matthew, a tax collector because in those days houses were open air, meaning anyone walking by could see in.

​Like the Pharisees, who where looking in and judging the situation. They knew no Jew worth his salt would be caught dead sharing a meal with a group like this one.
 
And yet, this is where we find Jesus.

By eating with those considered outcasts or morally compromised, Jesus brings God within reach; making God’s love available to all, regardless of their social status or perceived sin.

​By this public gesture Jesus makes his ministry know - that he came to bring salvation to all. No matter who you are, or what you’ve done, no one is beyond the reach of God's love, grace and redemption.
 
But the Pharisees don’t like that idea. They, much like the Religious Right, wanted to keep God exclusively to themselves. In what will become a frequent question, they ask his disciples why their teacher eats with sinners.
 
Hearing this, Jesus responds with scripture, something the Pharisees would have known well. Quoting from the prophet Hosea, Jesus answers them, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” In other words, what matters most to God is how you treat one another and not the rituals you keep. It’s about offering mercy and compassion rather than judgment. ​

 
As followers of Jesus, we are challenged to embrace a spirit of inclusivity. One that honors and accepts the inherent value of every human being. After all, if scripture is to be trusted, we are all made in the image of God. Which tells me God is as close to us as we are to one another.
 
If we want to know God, or feel God’s presence, then we need to get to know one another a little better.
 
A few years ago, I was looking for something to help me get out of a rut I was in. So, I challenged myself to meet 30 strangers in 30 days. I called it KNOWvember. Since I began that journey, I’ve met hundreds of people from all over the world. And I’ve discovered we have more in common with each other than not.
 
We’re all hurting in one form or another. We’re all looking for community and a place to belong. We’d like to see more peace and kindness, have less stress and more time to be with the people we love. We are all different. And yet, we are all the same. From unconditional love God made us all.
 
Jesus knows that getting close to people is not only the way to find the divine in all situations, but it is also the way to real transformation, of individuals and communities. There is great power in being close to God and others.
 
In his book, Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson writes about the transformative power of proximity. Working with a man on death row, Stevenson discovered, “If you are willing to get closer to people who are suffering, you will find the power to change the world.”  
 
When we share proximity, we begin to understand each other’s complexity. As Stevenson learned firsthand, the closer we are to the other, the harder it gets to ignore their pain or the systems of injustice that have caused it.

This is exactly how Jesus began to transform the people who came to him. He got up close and personal with their lives. He made their story his own.
 
By eating with folks who have been judged and written off as “no good,” Jesus makes the kingdom of God come to life in real time.

As Jazzy Bostock writes, “by hanging out with the marginalized, Jesus shows us where the gospel is most alive – where God is most needed.”Like Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, right?”
 
When we see people who are different than us we must remember that in Jesus, God comes right up next to us…just to be in relationship with us. And it’s “from a place of relationship, we are made into the new creation that God wishes for us – changed into something more closely resembling true love.”
 
To know God’s love requires a certain closeness to God. A distance that can be measured by the proximity of the person next to you, in front of you or behind you.
 
It doesn’t matter if we do church in person or online. The gospel isn’t lived out in a box, with rituals or traditions. It’s lived out in the world, in all the ways we offer love, mercy, and compassion to one another, just as Jesus did.
 
When we can get up close and personal with to those who think, vote, worship, or look different from us, judgment falls away, and healing and reconciling and transformation begin to take shape. 
 
When we see the image of God in all people, we are less incline to harm them; peace can prevail.
 
When we live into our own divine image, like Jesus did, then others can come to know the glory of God’s redeeming love.
 
So, as we leave here today, remember that Jesus taught us to look beyond superficial labels and stereotypes, and to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of every human being, no matter what.
 
This might mean we have to confront hard truths about ourselves and our communities. It might mean feeling deeply uncomfortable; going to places we haven’t been to before. It might require us to be a community that challenge the social norms by welcoming everyone.
 
To follow Jesus, as Matthew did, is to be filled with his compassion and his mercy – a power more compelling than some external sacrifice, or adherence to some empty religious ritual. Compassion begins within us, but it’s not meant to stay here with us.
 
We must “always seek to be in relationship with others,” writes Richard Rohr, “finding little ways to love and serve others, especially those who are sick or poor and cannot pay anything back. Our hearts have been given to us so that they may be handed on. This is how we will begin to know ourselves inside this mystery called Love.”
 
So, let me say it one last time. If you want to get close to God, a great place to start is right here, with one another.
 

 
 
Work Cited
Bostock, Jazzy. Proximate. June 5, 2023 (accessed on June 9, 2023).
Rohr, Richard. A Spring within Us: A Book of Daily Meditations (Albuquerque, NM: CAC Publishing, 2016).
Stevenson, Bryan. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2014).
​Whitley, Katerina Katsarka. The Lectionary Today. June 8, 2008 (accessed on June 9, 2023).