What a Friend We Have in Jesus?

Our local Friends Meeting has a problem. We’re always looking for new members, but one application came in recently that has us a bit concerned. His answers to our membership application are the ones in parentheses.

· He might be homeless. (Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.)
· He seems to be a pan-handler who exists on handouts. (At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck ears of grain and to eat.)
· He might be substance abuser. (The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold a glutton and a drunkard...”)
· He has the wrong kind of friends – probably not the kind of people we’d want hanging around here on a regular basis. (Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”)
· He speaks in service. I don’t mean occasionally, but any time he’s in worship he has to talk. And it’s usually very pointed or ego-centric. (And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set a liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’ And he closed the book, and gave it back to attendant, and sat down, and the yes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ ... When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city...”)
· He might be schizophrenic. (“Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.’”)
· He hears voices. (And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice spoke from heaven “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.”
· He disregards those testimonies of the faith that he feels don’t apply to him (But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, ‘Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful on the sabbath.’...’I tell you...the Son of man is lord of the sabbath.’)
· He doesn’t have a very high view of family values. (For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law...He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.)
· He is a fanatic. His demands for how Christians should live are impossible to meet. (You must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.)

These are just the things a cursory examination about this person turned up. They weren’t hard to find, they’re a matter of public record. As I said at the beginning, I am very concerned about this matter.

So I ask you: “What kind of Friend would we have in Jesus?”

-- Brent