About the only thing that never changes is the fact that eventually everything changes. Most of us don’t like change. Some of us might say we love change, but study after study finds that those that say that only really enjoy change when they themselves are the ones controling the changes.

And then Jesus enters the scene:

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.”

Everywhere He went Jesus made changes. That’s how He rolls. Not everyone likes that about Jesus. For many of us or first and strongest reaction to the new wine is to lament with noxious whining.

• “That’s not the way I would have done it.”
• “We’ve never done it that way before.”
• “Why would we break a perfectly good tradition?”
• “I liked it the old way better.”
• “I don’t know why we have to change this.”

What is Jesus trying to change in your life? You can hang onto the old, but all that will do is rip a hole in what God is trying to do. On the other hand, you can let Jesus make His changes, and drink deep the new wine. Who knows, you might even learn to like it.

If you were to list out the top three or five problems that you face today, what would they be? Maybe you are experiencing money problems and can’t figure out how to make ends meet. Perhaps there is a person you know who is going out of his or her way to make life hard for you. Perhaps you are feeling lonely, tired, depressed, or anxious. Maybe your body isn’t working the way it should; you are sick, or in pain, or both. The truth is, we all have some sort of malfunction in our lives. Most of us know that when we see a malfunction the best plan of action is to take it to Jesus and let Him fix it.

That’s certainly the plan that a few friends had in this morning’s passage. They all had a friend who was paralyzed. No one could fix him. They didn’t have the knowledge or the technology to make it any better for him. But these friends figured something out: if anyone could help the paralyzed man, Jesus could. They brought the man to Jesus fully expecting Him to heal his body. But as is so often the case, Jesus didn’t do what they expected:

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

The man and his friends all were convinced his biggest problem was that he was paralyzed. But Jesus didn’t see it that way. He knew that no matter how healthy his body was the man’s greatest challenge was the sin in his life.

It’s no different for us. Our greatest challenge is our sin–that’s our major malfunction. Just like the paralyzed man, it’s hard to see our own sin through the lens of our perceived problems. We have to allow Jesus to point them out–and He will. But then we have to LISTEN to Him and respond. If we don’t listen we don’t see our need for forgiveness, and we miss out on the greatest gift God has ever given.

So, what’s your major malfunction?

“If you are willing you can make me clean“

That’s what the leper says to Jesus in today’s reading.

What is Jesus’ reply? “I am willing” Of course He is! Why would He not be willing? God’s greatest desire for each of us is that we be clean. Clean of selfishness, clean of dependency on things not of God, clean of judgement, clean of gluttony, and bottom line clean of sin altogether.

The challenge is never whether Jesus is willing, it is whether we are willing to go to Him for the cleansing. We love that Jesus will do and has done the forgiving, but most times we’re not so excited about Him doing the cleaning. We don’t want Jesus to tell us what He told the leper: “Be clean.”

It was an interesting choice of words for Jesus. He says, “If you want to be clean, then be clean.” He doesn’t say, “I’ve cleaned you,” or “Go work on it.” He says “Be it.” The power is Jesus part. The being is ours.

Jesus said that He came to bring “Good News,” and when we get good news we need to give it the attention is deserves. That’s why last Sunday I encouraged our church family to develop a practice of listening to Jesus. Listening doesn’t come naturally: it is a developed skill. That means we have to work at it and the more we work the better we get. The best way to develop the skill of listening to Jesus is to read the Bible. That’s why I gave us all an assignment to read the book of Mark this December.

In today’s reading, we see:

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Traditionally, Christmas is a time of giving. The reason for this is simple: God gave us Jesus and Jesus gave all that He was for all of us. So we give to each other in an inadequate yet meaningful attempt to mirror God’s generosity.

I am struck, however, that even before Jesus gave His life for us all, John, James, Simon (Peter), and Andrew gave their lives to Him. They didn’t know what they were getting into, but they knew this: being a follower of Jesus was a much better thing than being a master fisherman. They gave Jesus their trust, their loyalty, and their futures. They held nothing back. There is no more powerful gift we can give Jesus than that.

So here is the question: What are you holding back from Jesus? Is there anything that you are hanging onto that keeps you from following Jesus?