Church Institution Part-1

 

Jesus quickly became famous from the moment He started doing miracles and healing people from all kinds of sicknesses and casting demons. Luke in 7:17 (NLT) records, “and the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside.” Mark 1:28 records, “at once the news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity of Galilee.”. It was not easy anymore for Jesus to walk on the streets freely because He was surrounded by crowds always. Luke records in 8:42, “while He was going the crowds were nearly crushing him.”.  We can imagine how challenging it would have been for Jesus to navigate from one place to another. In Luke 6:19, the writer records, "The whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power was coming out from him and healing them all.". So, now we realize why the crowds always pressed Him.

In addition to this, people who were healed by Jesus carried the news to all the places and that attracted more crowd. In a particular incident as recorded in Mark 1:45 talks about a man were healed from his leprosy, and we read in the scriptures that he went about to spread the news about Jesus to an extent that Jesus no longer could walk openly. “… with the result that Jesus could no longer enter a town openly. But he was out in deserted places, and they came to him from everywhere.”. He had to find a deserted place with His disciples, but then, even there the crowd found Him. We learn that Jesus got all the attention from the people in a little time. It was not needed for Jesus to go and find the crowd anymore. The Bible registers that the crowd was always expecting Him. In Luke 8:40 Luke records, “when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were expecting Him.”. People knew Jesus’ schedule most of the time. I guess probably before Jesus could reach a particular place, the crowd already made their way to meet Him and touch Him. Isn’t it exciting?

Having referred to all the above facts about Jesus, let's do some honest thinking. Did Jesus miss in doing something? He could have worked around the already existing synagogue which He called it as a prayer house or established the largest facility and get everyone in one place? Generally, we believe all our evangelism work should culminate and settle to a particular destination i.e., ‘Church’, a literal building with a Christian identity. But Jesus who already conceived the idea of building a Church did not leave any pattern for us to follow at all. Jesus’ idea of building a Church was entirely different which is overlooked by the majority all the time. Today what draws the attention of Christians in most cases is the Church building. Diane Langberg states this, "Beautiful structures, a performance that moves  people, theological brilliance and correctness, and large audiences are things Christendom praises and prizes today."

To be continued...

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