No stay at home Jesus
This week is on Luke 4:42-44:
Here's another case of people trying to capture Jesus and make him stay where they are. Jesus would get up early and go spend quiet time someplace, probably praying. People went and tracked him down and tried to get him to stay with them instead of moving on to the next place. The thought was probably something like "if we can get him to stay here, then we can continue living our lives like normal, except with the bonus of having Jesus."
We don't know what they tried, whether it was coercion or bribery, but it didn't work. Jesus had a mission. The people were welcome to come with him, but he wasn't going to stay. If you traveled to a far off land to spread news about something super important, and your time was limited, what good would settling down to cozy village life do you? It would be a waste of your time and money! When it came time to go home, you wouldn't have done what you came there to do. It would have been better in that case if you'd never left in the first place.
In following Jesus and his example, we have to be just as stubborn. We have to be of the mindset that there is nothing anyone could offer us, neither by kindness nor by threat, that could turn us away from what we're here to do. That's not to say that we shouldn't live happy lives, get married, have kids, buy cars and televisions, items of clothing, etc. The problem comes when one of those things comes to you and says "abandon your mission and join me." If you can have both, have both, but if you can't, then choose Jesus and his path.
If Jesus had decided to stay with the villagers, he still would have had some kind of ministry. But chances are, he wouldn't have been crucified. He wouldn't have died for our sins. His mission would have failed and we'd all be bound for Hell right now. Aren't you glad he was stubborn?!
Jesus didn't stay in one spot. He didn't allow himself to be captured by one group of people in one place. He didn't accept the comfortable life of honor instead of going to the cross abandoned. Can we walk that same path? Can we be single-minded enough and stubborn enough to not get pulled off course? Are we even close enough to God to know what it is we're supposed to be doing? (I'm guessing that all of that quiet time in solitude Jesus was doing wasn't just him being antisocial.) In time, if you're serious about following his call, you'll find answers to all of those questions, the same as he did. Let's pray we get it right, and are told "well done, good and faithful servant," not "what were you doing down there?"
At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Here's another case of people trying to capture Jesus and make him stay where they are. Jesus would get up early and go spend quiet time someplace, probably praying. People went and tracked him down and tried to get him to stay with them instead of moving on to the next place. The thought was probably something like "if we can get him to stay here, then we can continue living our lives like normal, except with the bonus of having Jesus."
We don't know what they tried, whether it was coercion or bribery, but it didn't work. Jesus had a mission. The people were welcome to come with him, but he wasn't going to stay. If you traveled to a far off land to spread news about something super important, and your time was limited, what good would settling down to cozy village life do you? It would be a waste of your time and money! When it came time to go home, you wouldn't have done what you came there to do. It would have been better in that case if you'd never left in the first place.
In following Jesus and his example, we have to be just as stubborn. We have to be of the mindset that there is nothing anyone could offer us, neither by kindness nor by threat, that could turn us away from what we're here to do. That's not to say that we shouldn't live happy lives, get married, have kids, buy cars and televisions, items of clothing, etc. The problem comes when one of those things comes to you and says "abandon your mission and join me." If you can have both, have both, but if you can't, then choose Jesus and his path.
If Jesus had decided to stay with the villagers, he still would have had some kind of ministry. But chances are, he wouldn't have been crucified. He wouldn't have died for our sins. His mission would have failed and we'd all be bound for Hell right now. Aren't you glad he was stubborn?!
Jesus didn't stay in one spot. He didn't allow himself to be captured by one group of people in one place. He didn't accept the comfortable life of honor instead of going to the cross abandoned. Can we walk that same path? Can we be single-minded enough and stubborn enough to not get pulled off course? Are we even close enough to God to know what it is we're supposed to be doing? (I'm guessing that all of that quiet time in solitude Jesus was doing wasn't just him being antisocial.) In time, if you're serious about following his call, you'll find answers to all of those questions, the same as he did. Let's pray we get it right, and are told "well done, good and faithful servant," not "what were you doing down there?"
Comments
Post a Comment