Do we get what we expect?

On Sunday morning we spent some time looking at the familiar story in Luke 8 of Jairus begging Jesus to heal his daughter, only for Jesus to stop and bring healing to a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years.

The woman would have been a social outcast – apart from the fact she was a woman in a patriarchal society, her illness meant that she was unclean and had to spend her life avoiding contaminating people by touching them. Jairus was quite the opposite, all the advantages of being male as well as being the leader of the Synagogue.

What brought the two of them together was their faith in Jesus. Jairus humiliated himself and fell at Jesus’ feet pleading for his daughter’s life – not an action that would have endeared him to his peers who found Jesus offensive. The woman forced her way through the crowds, reached out to Jesus, and then gave public testimony of her situation and what God had done for her.

In Mark 6 we find that those who know Jesus best, those who were around him as he grew up, were offended at him. Jesus said to them “A prophet is not without honour except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” Mark goes on to record “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few people who were ill and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.”

As I was talking about Jairus and the woman, it occurred to me that although I had been to see the doctor about an injured ankle, I hadn’t asked anybody in the church to lay hands on me and pray for me. Reflecting on this I was forced to ask the question – where is my faith? Do I expect God to heal me when his people lay hands on me and pray?

Who do we, his church, most closely resemble? Are we like the crowds in Mark 6 who knew Jesus well but had little faith and expected little and saw little? Or are we like Jairus and the woman in Luke 8; do we expect him to move in power as he promises, do we see him doing miracles through us today? Does what we see happening around us reflect our expectations of Jesus?

A right to reply

Following the publication of my post “Has George Osbourne excluded Christians from the Conservative Party?” a Facebook conversation challenged me to give him a right to reply. This same conversation also resulted in a further reflection:

Throughout the speech he claims not to be dividing, for example “We’re not going to get through this as a country if we set one group against another, if we divide, denounce and demonise.” Yet he then goes on to denounce union members (the teacher quote), to denounce those who don’t work until they drop (the corner shop quote and the commuter quote – on the latter he actually suggests that children can have a better life if one parent goes to work before they get up and comes home long after they have gone to bed). Throughout the speech there is a constant claim that the modern Conservatives represent those who work hard, and by implication don’t represent those who don’t.

This is not a political point it is purely a concern about the marginalization of those who have lost hope, who don’t believe they can ever put in, who have long since given up striving. The marginalization of people who are viewed as takers rather than contributors None of this labelling helps. It doesn’t restore dignity, it offers no hope, it simply reinforces despair and apathy.

I’ve taken the challenge and I’ve asked for a clarification of his views and offered him a chance to respond which I will publish as a future blog. The letter to him is as follows:

11 October 2012

George Osborne MP
The Correspondence & Enquiry Unit
HM Treasury
1 Horse Guards Road
London, SW1A 2HQ

Dear Chancellor,

Your speech to the Conservative Party Conference this year caused me to stop and reflect as a Christian on its implications. As a result I wrote a blog under the heading “Has George Osborne excluded Christians from the Conservative Party?” with the conclusion that you in effect had.

A reader of my blog challenged this interpretation resulting in a further reflection that despite saying your party didn’t divide, denounce or demonise you had done precisely that; for example when you differentiated between the teacher whose conscience led them to support their unions actions and the teacher who was “prepared to defy her union”.

My purpose in writing to you is to seek clarification on your views and to give you a chance to respond to my reflection, which I shall publish alongside the original blog and the further reflection.

I have attached a copy of the blog and a copy of the further reflection, and I look forward to hearing from you,

Yours sincerely,

Neil Douglas

Has George Osbourne excluded Christians from the Conservative Party?

On Sunday evening I referred to Amos 5:18-24 where the prophet relays God’s words as he complains that his people’s hearts are far from him, and the section concludes with “Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream”. God’s complaint against his people is repeated throughout the Old Testament; Isaiah 58:6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe him.”

Time and again God calls his people to turn their hearts and lives over to him, and to make his priorities their priorities. “Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17). “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8).

God has compassion on all he has made (Psalm 145:9) and we who are Christians are being transformed into his likeness – the implication is clear, we must have compassion on all that God has made. The early church took this so seriously that they had to expand their leadership team to ensure the most vulnerable were not overlooked in the daily distribution of food (Acts 6:1). One of Paul’s harshest criticisms to the early church was that the rich were well fed but the poor were left hungry (1 Corinthians 11:17-22).

So, what has this all to do with the admittedly provocative title of this blog? Quite a lot, I think. On the 8th October 2012 George Osbourne said during his speech to the Conservative Party Conference that “We Conservatives represent all those who aspire, all who work, save and hope, all who feel a responsibility to put in, not just to take out.”

My argument is not a political point. It is one that takes seriously the demands of Jesus when he says that we must feed the hungry, give something to drink to the thirsty, clothe those who need clothes, visit the sick and those in prison, and give shelter to the stranger (Matthew 25:31-46) – all without a word of qualification about whether those people feel they have a responsibility “to put in”. It takes seriously the complaint of God through his prophets over the centuries.

George Osbourne has limited those whom the Conservatives represent in his speech; Jesus calls Christians to care for everybody and fight their cause, how can a Christian be a Conservative?