I was reading a book about worship which talked about how we often invite Jesus to be present at our worship, taking him up on his promise in Matthew 18:20 (NIrV) “Where two or three people gather in my name, I am there with them.”

I got to thinking about times in the New Testament when we read about Jesus going to church – of course, I know the church hadn’t started then, but looked at times Jesus went to the Jewish equivalents, the Temple or the synagogue. I had a hunch that if Jesus turned up to our church meetings in the same way he is recorded on his visits to the Temple or synagogue, we might be a little more cautious about asking him to come and meet with us.

Jesus must have visited the Temple or synagogue quite a few times during his lifetime, but the Gospels record only four visits to the synagogue and 10 to the Temple. So, I have to ask what’s the significance, if any, of this handful that have been recorded?

A reading of the Gospels suggests three things:

• In the gospel accounts Jesus’ harshest words are often reserved for religious people, especially their leaders.
• In stark contrast, it’s often the people who least expect it, the lost, the least and the last that are helped, healed, commended and blessed by Jesus.
• Jesus seems rarely to have visited ‘church’ without causing trouble or controversy.

I’m writing this in Holy Week, so a dramatic occasion when Jesus visited the Temple comes instantly to mind…that visit where he turned over a few tables and chased a bunch of traders out.

What got to him on this occasion? Was it that people failed to recognise “sacred space”? Did it have to do with the exploitation of worshippers by cheating traders and unscrupulous religious leaders?

Maybe most of all it was because they’d set up their market stalls in the part of the Temple courts where non-Jews were allowed to pray. So, a group of people who were discriminated against by the purity laws in Herod’s Temple were denied access to the one area where they could worship Yahweh…hence Jesus words, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.'” Mark 11:17 NIV (quoting Jeremiah 7:11).

I wonder, what tables would Jesus overturn in our churches? Would he be critical of our failures to be truly inclusive, our tendency to welcome only people like us and the tick-box mentality we apply to decide if people are in or out and theologically ‘sound’?

Here’s a few more things that might happen if Jesus came to our church:

• Only a few people might recognise him, including the people who should know him the best (eg Luke 4:14 to 30).
• Impure spirits won’t be able to hide from him (yes, impure spirits, even in church) (eg Luke 4:31 to 37).
• People will be divided over his identity and authority (Luke 4: 16 to 30; Luke 20:1 to 8; John 7:25 to 52).
• He might argue and debate with the leadership, tell pointed stories about them or preach sermons that would make people want to arrest him (Luke 20:9 to 38).
• He might heal someone at an awkward time (Luke 6:6 to 11; Luke 13:10 to 17).
• He might question our motives for giving (Luke 21:1 to 4; Mark 12:41 to 44).

So, a visit from Jesus might be messy and disruptive, and not the cosy, encouraging time that we hope for. That’s why gifts like prophecy are difficult to manage in our services. But for those who have open hands and hearts it might be just the time we need, a time when we become more aware of the bits of us that still don’t resemble Jesus very much, repent and receive the help of the Holy Spirit to transform them. That’s both for us as individuals and as a Christian community.

Come to think of it, when we’re together for worship Jesus always turns up. He’s full of grace and meets with us just as we are, but sometimes he loves us so much that he’s keen that we don’t stay as we are and says difficult things to us to make us aware of our need for change and our need of him. He loves us far too much to see things in our lives that stop us becoming more like him and not do anything about it.

It might be uncomfortable sometimes, but I’ll go on praying that Jesus is present when we gather for worship.