With Jesus at the dentist's

My last blog centred on the fact that a visit to the dentist was my "Room 101" experience. This morning I returned for the 3 fillings and other minor work. It was an truly amazing experience! During my time in the dentist's chair I had such a tremendous sense of the presence of Jesus with me that the procedure itself caused me hardly any discomfort. I believe that there were two main reasons for such a sense of the nearness of Jesus.

The first was the knowledge that lots of people were praying for me at the time. Quite a few people, both family and church friends, knew the time of my appointment and had promised to pray for me. Their prayers were certainly answered.

The second reason for my sense of Jesus' presence will take a little longer to explain. Last week I was talking with a fellow church leader who is a former dentist. I was sharing with him my nervousness about visits to the dentist. He told me about a meditation technique which he said might help me. It has to do with recalling a Bible story, and then imagining yourself as one of the characters in the story (I guess that this will work especially well with a story from the gospels, which will almost inevitably include the person of Jesus).

The story I chose was that of the anointing of Jesus by the sinful woman (Luke 7.36-56) I tried to imagine myself in the role of the woman, and I saw that she was probably at least as nervous about entering the house and approaching Jesus and the others as I was entering the dentist's surgery! Everyone present at the meal would have known about this woman's "sinful life"; no doubt many eyes were on her as she entered the room. Most of those in the room would have looked at her in judgement, perhaps wondering how she had the gall to show her face amongst them. But for the woman, the only person whose response she cared about was Jesus. How would he react to her presence?

There is no record of Jesus speaking to her on this occasion - we just don't know whether he did or not. But I am sure that he looked at her. As the woman slowly lifted her head and her eyes met the eyes of Jesus, she was absolotely broken by the pure love and grace which she saw. She began to weep. How can Jesus love me? Doesn't he know about my sinful past? She was overwhelmed by the love of Jesus, the acceptance, the sense that she was precious and valued. She responded in the only way she could, and poured out the sweet smelling perfume on his feet; an act of great devotion from a woman who was broken and yet restored.

As I sat in the dentist's chair, and began to feel something of that same loving presence of Jesus, my heart responded in praise and worship. If my mouth hadn't been full of dental equipment I might even have burst into song! Thank you, Lord, that you met me in the dentist's chair; thank you that in your presence all fear disappears.

Now I'm almost looking forward to my next check-up in 6 months' time!!