Inviting

Without being able to articulate it, probably, many people knew that Jesus of Nazareth was completely unique, as we know from the four Gospels in the New Testament. The disciples understood it best. To them he became known as the Son of the living God. Reflecting on this after his death and resurrection, the apostles recognized that he was completely human, yet fully divine -- an indescribable mystery! When he walked the paths of Palestine, though, one couldn’t tell that for sure. Yet there was a magnetism about him that attracted the "least of these" as well as the elite of the society, the downtrodden and the high-born. One reason people of such diverse lifestyles and backgrounds were attracted to Jesus was because he invited them to be part of his life.

To the disciples of John the Baptist he said, ‘Come and see.’ To others he said, probably in an invitational style, ‘Follow me.’ To the multitudes he said, ‘Come unto me all you who labor and are overburdened and I will give you rest.’ By his own testimony, our Savior came into the world ‘to seek and to save the lost.’ He came looking for people with spiritual needs, and he invited them into his life. He went where the lost people were. He found them.

Now to me this is a model for our approach to evangelism. As Christ invited people to share his abundant, redemptive, grace-filled eternal life, so we, his followers, are to do the same. As he came seeking the lost to save them, so we are sent forth in his name to share (in word and action) his good news with a suffering world. As Jesus Christ invited those disciples to ‘come and see,’ so it should be part of our church’s DNA to invite friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, acquaintances to participate with us in the life-shaping, life-transforming experience of being Christ’s disciples in and through the church.

We follow an inviting Savior. So we should be inviting disciples, an inviting church!