Jesus is Coming!

Some people just make a party come alive. These are the folks you want on your guest list. Putting them on the list, however, won't guarantee that they show up. After all, super popular, amazing, and widely loved people are very busy. I should know. There is one party animal you can always count on though: Jesus. It's not hard to get Jesus to hang out, believe it or not. In fact, Jesus laid down one massive RSVP telling us that he'd be showing up for the rest of time.

In Matthew 18:20, Jesus is talking about the Church. That is, about all of his friends throughout all of time. He says to his disciples "where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." That means every time you go to Church, Jesus is there. Anytime you and your friends get together to pray, Jesus is there. He just can't stop. He must have the busiest social calendar ever. Sunday mornings? He's literally a million places at once.

It is easy to look at this passage the wrong way, namely: "oh wow, following Jesus is so easy, I just need to find another person who likes Jesus and I'm done." This verse has justified a lot of people missing out on Christian community. It is not an excuse to avoid community, it is a promise. An absolutely ridiculous promise that only Jesus would make. Jesus promises that if we get together in his name, he will come. If we throw the party, he will come, even if there's only one other person there. We can count on His presence with ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY.

Tiny (cute!) chapel, three people, Jesus is there

If you were promised that something really cool would be at your party, what would you do? For example, you are promised a swimming pool full of champagne if you can just dig up one other person who wants to hang out. Would you be like "oh cool, let me just get the bare minimum of people." No way! Personally, I would be so pumped that I would invite everyone around, saying "HEY! There's definitely going to be a Champagne pool tonight, you better come hang out!" The correct response to someone making an awesome promise is to be overjoyed and enthusiastic, not to immediately see how little you can do to get them to keep the promise.

It is important, however, to realize that even the small gatherings count. They count equally in Jesus' eyes because, after all, He shows up to two friends praying just like He shows up to a 10,000 person megachurch. The significance of this promise is that if you are not there, you're missing out. It only takes two or three to get Jesus to show up. This means that if you're not hanging out with Jesus, it's your loss. It's not like Jesus saw that YOU weren't coming and then decided not to show. In fact, Jesus doesn't care WHO is there at all. He doesn't say wherever two or three hot babes are gathered, he will be with them. Nor does he say that he will be wherever two or three people who are not alcoholics are gathered, or two or three people with jobs. There are no conditions on the people Jesus loves.

fomo?

Have you ever had this conversation with a friend:
You: Hey, you want to hang out tonight?
Them: Whatcha doing?
You: Boozing
Them: Who's there?
WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHO'S THERE!? Are you afraid you might be too cool for my friends? You are withholding your answer to see if you approve of the group. So annoying. This never happens with Jesus. Jesus is like "You're inviting me? I'm in!" every time.

My challenge to you is to try it. This challenge takes a few forms:
 1) Try inviting Jesus to a social gathering. This can mean a lot of different things. Decide what it means to you and try it. Remember that Jesus WILL show up so be ready for that.
2) If you go to Church, just think about this promise. The Lord is actually in there with you and everyone else. Awesome.
3) Be a better partier by always showing up. Don't pull out those conditions, like only going to parties where you know everyone or only going to parties with booze. Take a page out of Jesus' book and go to every party you're invited to, fully intending to have a great time.

Although we, unlike Jesus, are constrained by space and time so keep that in mind.

This week's drink has three ingredients. Wherever two or three are gathered...

The Jaromir Jager

Ingredients: 1.5 shots Dewar's Highlander Honey (pretty much any honey liqueur will suffice), 1/2 to 3/4 shot Jagermeister, a splash of silver tequila.

Combine ingredients over ice in a chilled glass. Stir gently by moving the ice around. Beware, this drink is very strong. It's like 3 drinks in one... 3 persons, one nature.