The importance of being.....

I have never been one to feel important but I do know that I have met some very important people. For example,  I remember meeting Barbie in David Morgans in Cardiff when I was a little girl. I was so excited, please don't tell me she wasn't real!! 

I also remember meeting a theologian who was well-respected when I was 19 years old. I was so shy that when he said hello to me and commented on my t-shirt the best words I could muster came out. They were, ‘yes and thank you’ whilst looking at the floor. It wasn't my finest moment.

I hope I would have done better meeting Jesus.  I wonder though how the first followers of Jesus felt as they realised how important He was. Last week when I thought about the readings for Sunday I considered what it meant to follow Jesus and to be like Him. The gospel for this week (Matthew 4:12-23) talks of John and James joining Andrew and Simon Peter in following Jesus. 

Peter was to go through quite a turmoil as he followed. He was the one who seemed to keep getting things wrong. Yet, after the resurrection, Jesus told Peter that he was the one on whom the Church would be built. Peter, who was also known as Cephas.  The reason for this is that the name Peter is from the Greek rock and Cephas is a Hebrew version of rock.  

In the epistle reading (1 Corinthians 1:10-18) we read of a Church in turmoil as the followers did not seem able to agree on whom they belonged to. Paul pointed out that some saw themselves as belonging to Apollos, who had looked after the Church in Paul’s absence. Others seemed to see themselves as belonging to Paul. Others still were saying that they belonged to Peter and the way he taught.

All important people. However, Paul pointed out that as Jesus was One, they should be as well. They needed to stop being divided amongst themselves. Apollos, Paul and Peter (Cephas) had all been teaching the people about Jesus. Yes, they had done a good thing by teaching about Jesus, however, none of them was as great as Jesus. 

Following the train of Paul's thought, he wrote that Jesus had been crucified for them.  They had been baptised in the name of Jesus. It was Him to whom they belonged.

I know that I can sometimes be so impressed by important people talking about Jesus that I don't listen enough to Him. I need to make sure that my focus is on Jesus first.  He calls us all to know Him and to love Him. A little like a meerkat would say, ‘simples’! Except life isn't always simple. All Jesus asks is that we love Him and He will help us through the rest. 

The first verse of the Psalm (27) for Sunday is a really good help to remind us that we are important enough, even if we don't feel it, for God to protect us, He is our light, our everything. 

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?”