beyond admittance...deep access

Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
John 12:42-43

i have talked before (actually both here and here) about some of the highlights of reading through the gospel of john during lent. john 12 made me pause to consider and reflect...

i mean, here you have some of the elite who believe in Jesus, but cannot "come out for Him" because they might get thrown out of synagogue/church, right? how sad. i think this might relate to some of the conversations relating to andrew marin's book: love is an orientation

are we being modern pharisees in the church today, keeping people from a deeper access to Jesus, a more radical access to Jesus, a true "come as you are" to meet and be with Jesus?

i mean, according to hebrews, not only are we supposed to have access, but we can foster the relationship of others with Jesus, thus cultivating their own deeper access, even access to the throne room of God.

i like this perspective from dave schmelzer at not the religious type and his popular post on mysticism at a distance:

"...If nothing else, this teaches me that people will work very hard to get even a small sense of closeness to God. What are you hoping for on those lines? Do you have a sense that there's a greater connection to God out there than you've yet experienced? Do you think about that very often? What about the mystical life appeals to you?"

i recently went through some really, really great training at the formational prayer institute with terry wardle at ashland theological seminary; while teaching us to be empathic caregivers, one of terry's points was that the church needs more and more to become the text rather than throwing scripture at people. instead of merely quoting: "perfect love casts out fear", what would happen if we actually loved people in such a way that fear was cast out?

so, are we in the way?

are our pre-conceived notions (and at-times false constructs) of Christianity keeping others from experiencing Jesus or "coming out for Jesus?"

...and also, how do we react when some are more in love with the approval of men rather than the approval of God?

see the text, be the text...bring the scriptures to life!