May I Have Your Attention Please?

1974

How many of you remember teachers back in your high school or college days asking for your attention?  I remember one cold January morning in 1975, when I vaguely heard a similar phrase attached to my name.  I was in my 3^rd year of college and taking an 8 a.m. class.  I avoided early classes like the plague, not because I am not a morning person, but because I worked nights at UPS to pay for college. This particular Friday morning I was in a corporate income tax class taught by Dr. George Morton.  I was practicing my newfound talent of sleeping while sitting up straight in a desk when I heard these words from the girl sitting next to me: “Wake up...wake up! He is asking you a question.”  Then I heard Dr. Morton say, in his deep southern drawl, “We’ll wait on Mr. Bays to come back to the world. Mr. Bays, would you answer the question?” Much to my embarrassment I didn’t know the answer and I didn’t even know the question.  

Jesus used various methods to get people’s attention while He walked on earth.  Jesus was the Master at painting world pictures.  He often did not speak literally, but figuratively. He spoke in parables and painted word pictures. Instead of literally coming out and saying what he meant, he often would tell a story to get people’s attention.  These messages of Jesus frequently frustrated his disciples. They wished that he would speak literally and not be quite so subtle.  Jesus used overstatements, hyperboles, puns, similes, metaphors, proverbs, riddles, and paradoxes.   

Here are a few examples:

Luke 14:26  “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” 

Matthew 7:3-5  “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Matthew 16:18  “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

Matthew 5:13  “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

I really enjoy Jesus’ word pictures where: 

•  He said, “I am the light of the world”  just before He created sight for a man born blind (John 9:5).
• Jesus ask a woman for water and then says, “He gives living water.” (John 4:10)
• After feeding the five thousand, He says, “I am the bread of life.” (John  6:35)

Perhaps the greatest word picture Jesus ever drew was at the Last Supper. There He told us to remember His death until He returns, providing a picture that is observed by Christians to this day.  Just think about it: the one thing Jesus wanted to emphasis most was His death and resurrection. It wasn't His miracles, His creation of sight, or His ability to outwit His enemies. No, He asked us to remember His agonizing death. It was as if it was the high point of His life.  Everything was secondary compare to this moment.

During the Last Supper—a Passover celebration—Jesus took a loaf of bread and gave thanks to God. As He broke it and gave it to His disciples, He said, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying,  “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:19-21). He concluded the feast by singing a hymn (Matthew 26:30), and they went out into the night to the Mount of Olives. It was there that Jesus was betrayed, as predicted, by Judas. The following day He was crucified. The accounts of the Lord’s Supper are found in the Gospels (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:17-25; Luke 22:7-22; and John 13:21-30).

Singer, songwriter, and teacher Michael Card talked about his understanding of the Last Supper in a retreat I attended three years ago at the Billy Graham Center at the Cove. Card said he doesn't partake in the Lord’s Supper because he deserves to eat and drink at this holy table, but he runs to this table because he needs the cleansing it provides.

Michael Card

Have the word pictures painted by Jesus caused you to give Him your attention?  Have you run to the Savior for the cleansing He alone can provide?  That is why He came, lived a perfect life, died, and physically rose from the dead.  He wants you to know how much He loves you.  If you will give Him your attention, you will be internally thankful and blessed.

By the way, Dr. Morton required me to give him my attention for the remainder of my tax class. He called on me for the answer to the first question of every class, another question near the middle of the class, and the last question of each class. What was the result? I not only passed the class but I made a B and when it came time to sit for the C.P.A. exam, I was prepared.  Thank you, Dr. Morton.

Come to the Table by Michael Card