Allegiances
This week is on Luke 14:25-27:
A lot of people misread these verses to justify sitting in judgment of their family, or to lure the unwary away from their familial social network and pull them into a cult. Obviously that wasn't Jesus' meaning. Those same people might do well by reading the rest of the paragraph. If they're to hate life, are they commanded then to commit suicide? If they're to carry their cross and follow Jesus, are they to put themselves on death row, or build a giant wooden cross and drag it around with them everywhere for the rest of their life?
And what about Jesus? Was he a hypocrite for making arrangements for his mother's wellbeing even as he was being nailed to the cross? If he was supposed to hate life, why did he have so much fun living it? And what about the disciples? If anyone was in a prime position to take a giant wooden cross and drag it with them while following Jesus, it was them! Even Peter didn't take up a cross and follow Jesus with it on his way to Golgotha.
So, how do we get these things all twisted around? Apart from the obvious social evils of cult leaders using any Bible verse to gain power over the innocent, what is it that causes us to take things out of context? How do we ignore the giant obvious bits about who God is, and line our evil nests with verses we haven't bothered to understand? When Jesus is talking to the crowd, he's talking to all of us.
When we first encounter a set of shocking verses, it's tempting to just wrap them around something we already have. Someone who hates their family is going to use this to justify their very unchristlike hatred rather than making the very christlike sacrifice to find something to love. Someone who is in bondage to their family's expectations for them will probably ignore the verses entirely, rather than finding out what shocking thing Jesus wants from them. But that's not right either.
Jesus is telling us to examine our allegiances. Are we so tied to one person, or one group of people, or one identity, or even to the moment to moment experiences of living, that we're unwilling to consider him?
In Jesus' day, your family was everything. It was your identity. It was like a nationality within a nationality. People would rather not be Christians if it meant being a different religion than the rest of their family. Nobody would be a missionary if it meant leaving their family, and their village friends. Jesus is saying that you may eventually be forced to choose between pleasing them and pleasing Him. If he calls you, are you tough enough to be hated and misunderstood by the people you love, or are you going to say "I can't go. I like it here where I am."
Even nationality came into play. Peter was reluctant to reach out to the Gentile Romans, because his allegiances were with the Palestinian Jews. Would it have been cool for him to continue to insist that it wasn't his problem? Or what about the person who just likes being alive, when Jesus has a plan that could get them martyred? Is it cool to say "No, that's too risky for me?"
So, flipping things around, if your primary allegiance is for your church group, how will you answer if God asks you to invest in someone who goes someplace else? Or what if he wants you to reconcile things with your family you haven't spoken to in years? Or what if he wants you to go someplace else to do something different? Are you going to say "No, I'm going to stay here and tend to my 'family'?"
God wants us to be free to demonstrate his love and character, no matter where he needs us, or who needs the demonstration. Much like lugging a giant cross through a filthy middle eastern city, while people hassle and bully you, abandoned by your friends and family, and misunderstood by the rest, that work isn't always your first choice, and wouldn't always make for a charming vacation brochure. If we're really seriously crazily interested in being God's friend, and getting as much out of the experience as possible, then we need to count the costs in advance and figure out where we're going to find ourselves wanting to say "No."
If you're lucky, you'll never have to make a difficult choice. You'll stay with the people you love, live a safe and fulfilling life, and die of natural causes, peacefully, at a ripe old age. I want that for everyone, especially me. But if God's plan for you is more exciting than that, are you going to make the decision in the moment, when you're scared and on the spot, and the people you love are trying to talk you out of it? Jesus counted the costs in advance, so that his family and friends weren't able to lead him astray, and so that even his own life wouldn't bait him away from where he needed to go. Jesus was formally declaring his allegiances, and asking us to decide ours.
Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even life itself—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
A lot of people misread these verses to justify sitting in judgment of their family, or to lure the unwary away from their familial social network and pull them into a cult. Obviously that wasn't Jesus' meaning. Those same people might do well by reading the rest of the paragraph. If they're to hate life, are they commanded then to commit suicide? If they're to carry their cross and follow Jesus, are they to put themselves on death row, or build a giant wooden cross and drag it around with them everywhere for the rest of their life?
And what about Jesus? Was he a hypocrite for making arrangements for his mother's wellbeing even as he was being nailed to the cross? If he was supposed to hate life, why did he have so much fun living it? And what about the disciples? If anyone was in a prime position to take a giant wooden cross and drag it with them while following Jesus, it was them! Even Peter didn't take up a cross and follow Jesus with it on his way to Golgotha.
So, how do we get these things all twisted around? Apart from the obvious social evils of cult leaders using any Bible verse to gain power over the innocent, what is it that causes us to take things out of context? How do we ignore the giant obvious bits about who God is, and line our evil nests with verses we haven't bothered to understand? When Jesus is talking to the crowd, he's talking to all of us.
When we first encounter a set of shocking verses, it's tempting to just wrap them around something we already have. Someone who hates their family is going to use this to justify their very unchristlike hatred rather than making the very christlike sacrifice to find something to love. Someone who is in bondage to their family's expectations for them will probably ignore the verses entirely, rather than finding out what shocking thing Jesus wants from them. But that's not right either.
Jesus is telling us to examine our allegiances. Are we so tied to one person, or one group of people, or one identity, or even to the moment to moment experiences of living, that we're unwilling to consider him?
In Jesus' day, your family was everything. It was your identity. It was like a nationality within a nationality. People would rather not be Christians if it meant being a different religion than the rest of their family. Nobody would be a missionary if it meant leaving their family, and their village friends. Jesus is saying that you may eventually be forced to choose between pleasing them and pleasing Him. If he calls you, are you tough enough to be hated and misunderstood by the people you love, or are you going to say "I can't go. I like it here where I am."
Even nationality came into play. Peter was reluctant to reach out to the Gentile Romans, because his allegiances were with the Palestinian Jews. Would it have been cool for him to continue to insist that it wasn't his problem? Or what about the person who just likes being alive, when Jesus has a plan that could get them martyred? Is it cool to say "No, that's too risky for me?"
So, flipping things around, if your primary allegiance is for your church group, how will you answer if God asks you to invest in someone who goes someplace else? Or what if he wants you to reconcile things with your family you haven't spoken to in years? Or what if he wants you to go someplace else to do something different? Are you going to say "No, I'm going to stay here and tend to my 'family'?"
God wants us to be free to demonstrate his love and character, no matter where he needs us, or who needs the demonstration. Much like lugging a giant cross through a filthy middle eastern city, while people hassle and bully you, abandoned by your friends and family, and misunderstood by the rest, that work isn't always your first choice, and wouldn't always make for a charming vacation brochure. If we're really seriously crazily interested in being God's friend, and getting as much out of the experience as possible, then we need to count the costs in advance and figure out where we're going to find ourselves wanting to say "No."
If you're lucky, you'll never have to make a difficult choice. You'll stay with the people you love, live a safe and fulfilling life, and die of natural causes, peacefully, at a ripe old age. I want that for everyone, especially me. But if God's plan for you is more exciting than that, are you going to make the decision in the moment, when you're scared and on the spot, and the people you love are trying to talk you out of it? Jesus counted the costs in advance, so that his family and friends weren't able to lead him astray, and so that even his own life wouldn't bait him away from where he needed to go. Jesus was formally declaring his allegiances, and asking us to decide ours.
Comments
Post a Comment