These pages are designed for use to aid discipleship among Christians through individual Bible study, Cell groups, Home groups, or for meeting one to one. If you wish, you could use the questions, while leaving the group to choose their own translation of the Bible.
God is approachable! Look at Jesus, He never turned anyone away, even when it would seem that there was urgent business, or He was tired, or the people coming to Him seemed to others repugnant. Jesus ‘is the image of the invisible God’. (Col 1:15 NIV) If Jesus is approachable, then the Father is.
There are many for whom this good news is hard to believe. For many years I went with two parallel and completely contradictory views of God. There was the view that my mind automatically went to that had more to do with preconceived notions than reality. Then there was the view of my heavenly Father that I experienced as I saw Him dealing with my successes and failures. The two views were completely independent and completely at odds. When things went wrong I would anticipate a harsh response, get down on myself, and even looked to the Bible to reinforce that view. From God however, I received only the gentlest of responses. He would reassure me of His love, challenge me to learn from my mistakes and move on. It took a long time to learn that the God who I met was the real God, and to walk with Him, and seek to be like Him through all the successes and failures of life.
Bible Zone
The zone below looks at three encounters with Jesus. They demonstrate how God responds to different people in situations where one might have expected a brush off.
- Jesus is approached by someone generally considered to be a ‘bad’ person, yet clearly accepted by Jesus.
- Jesus is on urgent business to save someone’s life, yet spends the time to deal with an interruption.
- Jesus along with his followers are exhausted, yet when His plans for a break are interfered with, He goes the extra mile in looking after those who have interrupted.
Often those who find it hardest to accept that God will accept them are those who know that their lives don’t measure up to who God is. In this example we see Jesus accepting someone whom everyone else thought should be rejected.
The passage is Luke 7:36-50 (NCV). Some questions to help engage with the text.
- Why did people not accept the woman?
- How confident was the woman of being accepted by Jesus?
- How willing would you have been to accept the woman and how she acted?
- Why did Jesus accept the woman?
36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, so Jesus went into the Pharisee's house and sat at the table.37 A sinful woman in the town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house. So she brought an alabaster jar of perfume38 and stood behind Jesus at his feet, crying. She began to wash his feet with her tears, and she dried them with her hair, kissing them many times and rubbing them with the perfume.39 When the Pharisee who asked Jesus to come to his house saw this, he thought to himself, "If Jesus were a prophet, he would know that the woman touching him is a sinner!"
40 Jesus said to the Pharisee, "Simon, I have something to say to you."
Simon said, "Teacher, tell me."
41 Jesus said, "Two people owed money to the same banker. One owed five hundred coins and the other owed fifty. 42 They had no money to pay what they owed, but the banker told both of them they did not have to pay him. Which person will love the banker more?"
43 Simon, the Pharisee, answered, "I think it would be the one who owed him the most money."
Jesus said to Simon, "You are right." 44 Then Jesus turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? When I came into your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss of greeting, but she has been kissing my feet since I came in.46 You did not put oil on my head, but she poured perfume on my feet. 47 I tell you that her many sins are forgiven, so she showed great love. But the person who is forgiven only a little will love only a little."
48 Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
49 The people sitting at the table began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
50 Jesus said to the woman, "Because you believed, you are saved from your sins. Go in peace."
Another reason why people don’t think God will accept them is because He must be so busy running the universe, what are my needs compared to that. Jesus however managed to show care for people even when other matters were urgently pressing in on Him. The text is Luke 8:41-56 (NCV)
- Why would you think Jesus might have been too busy for the sick woman?
- Why might Jesus have just let the woman be healed and left it at that?
- What care was shown to this widow, someone who would have been among the most marginalized of her society?
41 A man named Jairus, a leader of the synagogue, came to Jesus and fell at his feet, begging him to come to his house.42 Jairus' only daughter, about twelve years old, was dying.
While Jesus was on his way to Jairus' house, the people were crowding all around him. 43 A woman was in the crowd who had been bleeding for twelve years, but no one was able to heal her. 44 She came up behind Jesus and touched the edge of his coat, and instantly her bleeding stopped. 45 Then Jesus said, "Who touched me?"
When all the people said they had not touched him, Peter said, "Master, the people are all around you and are pushing against you."
46 But Jesus said, "Someone did touch me, because I felt power go out from me." 47 When the woman saw she could not hide, she came forward, shaking, and fell down before Jesus. While all the people listened, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 48 Jesus said to her, "Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace."
Our final encounter finds Jesus and His followers exhausted.
- What was the physical and emotional state of Jesus and His followers?
- How might you have behaved if you were ambushed in this way?
- How did Jesus’ followers respond?
- How did Jesus respond to the people?
31 Crowds of people were coming and going so that Jesus and his followers did not even have time to eat. He said to them, "Come away by yourselves, and we will go to a lonely place to get some rest."
32 So they went in a boat by themselves to a lonely place.33 But many people saw them leave and recognized them. So from all the towns they ran to the place where Jesus was going, and they got there before him.34 When he arrived, he saw a great crowd waiting. He felt sorry for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things.
35 When it was late in the day, his followers came to him and said, "No one lives in this place, and it is already very late.36 Send the people away so they can go to the countryside and towns around here to buy themselves something to eat."
37 But Jesus answered, "You give them something to eat."
God is Approachable