Moments

As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem, and they thought the kingdom of God was going to appear right away.

Therefore he said, “A nobleman traveled to a far country to receive for himself authority to be king and then to return. He called ten of his servants, gave them ten minas, and told them, ‘Engage in business until I come back.’

“But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to rule over us.’

“At his return, having received the authority to be king, he summoned those servants he had given the money to, so that he could find out how much they had made in business. The first came forward and said, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten more minas.’

“‘Well done, good servant!’ he told him. ‘Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, have authority over ten towns.’

“The second came and said, ‘Master, your mina has made five minas.’

“So he said to him, ‘You will be over five towns.’

“And another came and said, ‘Master, here is your mina. I have kept it safe in a cloth because I was afraid of you since you’re a harsh man: you collect what you didn’t deposit and reap what you didn’t sow.’

“He told him, ‘I will condemn you by what you have said, you evil servant! If you knew I was a harsh man, collecting what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow, why, then, didn’t you put my money in the bank? And when I returned, I would have collected it with interest.’ So he said to those standing there, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’

“But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas.’

“‘I tell you, that to everyone who has, more will be given; and from the one who does not have, even what he does have will be taken away. But bring here these enemies of mine, who did not want me to rule over them, and slaughter them in my presence.’” Luke 19:11-27 (CSB)

I’ve read this passage over a hundred times, and I’ve always missed the part in bold. He told them this story because they thought the Kingdom was coming right away. 

Interesting, as it was told to those as he is approaching Jerusalem. People assumed something big would happen once he got there. The whole triumphal entry, which we’ll see in the coming days, was an expectation of the coming Messiah to rule militarily. Here Jesus is not only tempering expectations, but also speaking of what the faithful should be doing in the meantime. 

Jesus wasn’t coming to kick out the Romans. He wasn’t coming with Angels and fanfare to destroy the occupying force. In fact, the type of revolution that he was bringing would likely not be recognizing by those looking for one. A suffering messiah is not the type of hero we’re looking for, and a Kingdom of God that starts in the hearts and spirits of his followers who will themselves be martyred and tyrannized for centuries is hardly the muscular religion that draws people to it. It’s one of the reasons most will abandon him in the end.  

I saw a survey recently about the number one characteristic that people are attracted to in their churches. Overwhelmingly, representative of our culture, people were drawn to winners, however you may define that. Successful churches, big programs, massive buildings, huge budgets and followings. Celebrity pastors are a real draw. They want victory. Just like our culture, these symbols of success are representative of a religion worth following. 

No one, and I mean no one expects or wants a church that is struggling to get by with volunteer staff and few to no programs. If they’re not successful, they must not have anything worth having. Who wants to go to that? The same is true of a suffering messiah. Who wants to follow someone who allows himself to get killed and humiliated. It’s the opposite of success. It’s not what we want.

Despite this, Jesus lays out the nature of the Kingdom as it is, not as they want it. It’s not the outward appearance of success, but what is taking place within it that matters. It’s not in kicking out the Romans, or Angels appearing out of nowhere, but in the small actions that we take. Are you still willing to serve him, even when it doesn’t look successful or grand? What you do matters. More so than you realize. And what we do will be acknowledged and rewarded. It doesn’t matter what you belong to. Whether your church is huge, or tiny, whether your community is rich or poor. That we approach the areas of life over which we have control and influence with zeal and energy for the Gospel, that is what matters. 

The Kingdom of God is not about size or appearance, or even about success. Rather, it’s about the lives we live in the midst of the conditions in which we find ourselves.

Said differently by Mother Teresa, “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” 

He entered Jericho and was passing through. There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because of the crowd, since he was a short man. So running ahead, he climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, since he was about to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.”

So he quickly came down and welcomed him joyfully. All who saw it began to complain, “He’s gone to stay with a sinful man.”

But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, I’ll give half of my possessions to the poor, Lord. And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I’ll pay back four times as much.”

“Today salvation has come to this house,” Jesus told him, “because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:1-10 (CSB)

This story has always touched me, even from a young age. And I’ve written about it before. Perhaps it’s that he was physically unable to see the Lord pass through because of his stature, and so had to debase himself by climbing a tree. Some have said that by hiding in a sycamore he was trying to see privately, and yet the Lord looks right at him and calls him out anyway. 

He sees Zacchaeus, like he sees us. We cannot hide.

A part of me is deeply humbled by a man who was so desperate, he didn’t care about looking stupid by doing something men shouldn’t do. Men were dignified. They didn’t run, and they didn’t climb. Boys do that. And yet this rich chief tax collector climbs a tree.

Zacchaeus was already ashamed, and cut off, and was hungry for home. Hungry for relationship. While Rome was certainly one of the bloodiest empires in history, it lured far more people with its cultural carrot than with its military stick. Come and be like us, you’ll be happy. See our culture? See our money? See our power? See our status? This is what you want. 

The promise of empires.

Zacchaeus bought in, and it cost him, deeply. The promise proved to be false. And he wanted help, but found none in the community who shamed him for being a traitor.

There was no grace there, until Jesus looks at him.

At this moment, with get the proto-gospel. Jesus looks at him, and offers Zacchaeus what he truly wants. Not power, status, or money, but forgiveness and redemption. Mercy and Grace. To once again belong to the story of God. And Zacchaeus eats it up, as everyone who encounters Jesus does. It only takes a look, the conscience speaking to the heart, with both mercy and truth, for Zacchaeus to offer it all back several times over. Half of what he has to the poor, and four times to anyone he has stolen from, the very value required in the law (Exodus 22:1). He wants to do what is right, and Jesus enables it. It’s what Jesus does, when His Spirit touches ours. 

Grace is fire. Purifying fire. 

Salvation came, Jesus says. Notice, it’s not a promise of life in the sky after he dies. That’s not the salvation Jesus is talking about (although life forever with him is certainly true). But rather, it’s once again to be a child of Abraham. Heaven has come to rest once again in the life of Zacchaeus. The promise is born again.

It’s a proto-gospel because it’s a shadow of the fullness offered to us. Not just return to community, but life fully reconciled to God, with the living Holy Spirit as down payment.

When we’re honest and quiet, and allow the conscience, that great Aboriginal Vicar of Jesus Christ within us to speak to us, we may find the same invitation from our Lord. To come home. To once again belong to the story of God, should we desire it. And when we hear that, with joy, we respond abundantly. 

Grace brings us back to life and saves us. 

Then he took the Twelve aside and told them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. Everything that is written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For he will be handed over to the Gentiles, and he will be mocked, insulted, spit on; and after they flog him, they will kill him, and he will rise on the third day.”

They understood none of these things. The meaning of the saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. Luke 18:31-3 (CSB)

The brain has a fascinating limit to how much it can process. While it is more biological than a computer and can adjust, it has working memory capacity, which limits how much brains can process data input. I’ll include a GIF as the image for this post (you might have to go to the website to see it) that shows off this interesting phenomenon, described as the troxler effect. If you stare the cross in the middle of the photo for longer than a minute, you will see what your brain does. In order to process the rapid image changes, the brain filters out data that it determines irrelevant and actually fills in the space with what it believes should be there. Similar limits happen every day. In order to operate in a world that overstimulates us, our brain has to take shortcuts regularly to survive. It means it assumes things and fills in the blank automatically. 

The brain does the same thing for thoughts or ideas. It comes up with an understanding of reality and intentionally shortcuts those things that disrupt the construct it has created. It would be too overwhelming for our cognition if we had to constantly adjust for the variables that conflict with its overwhelming determined course. We’d never be able to walk or make a decision! Not only that, but it’s why we fall so easily into ideological camps, and have such a hard time seeing outside these camps. It’s why we categorize and simplify to reduce the overall burden. The brain makes assumptions and ignores things which contradict those assumptions. Beyond ignore, it can actually create the illusion that there is coherency when there isn’t, especially by adding or taking away what it assumes is noise. The visual representation can be seen in the effect of the image posted. The brain just simply makes up what it thinks it should see as it focuses on simplifying for the sake of comprehension. 

We call this confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance. We see what we think we should see, and we adjust reality to make it fit. This quirky characteristic of the brain is one of the reasons I have no problem accepting miracles. Firstly, the fact that they are seen indicates something so extraordinarily different that it shocks the brain into seeing it (just look at some of the description of angels and God in the Old Testament). Secondly, Jesus walking through a wall, or suddenly appearing, or the coming of the Holy Spirit is the brain’s attempt to process a reality that is well beyond’s it’s comprehension or understanding. It’s going to sound weird or differently described, because the disciples literally couldn’t cognitively process what was happening fully. They didn’t have the ability.  

The bad side of this, like our ideological camps, is that once we think something to be true, short of shock, it takes a lot to convince us we’re wrong. And that’s where we clearly find ourselves. The disciples didn’t want to be convinced that Jesus was going to die, and this is the third time he is telling them. Despite all the miracles, despite the teaching, despite the repeated warnings, the text says, they still didn’t get it. They still wanted him to be a military hero who was coming to kick Rome out of Israel. 

In our own lives, being able to hear and understand the Lord is hard. Super hard. In fact, one of the few ways he ever gets through is through our emotional and physical suffering (Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6-7). It is regularly only through the shock of pain or loss that we are finally able to hear what he is saying. Another, it turns out, is relationship. Deep, deep relationships. It is incredibly important to surround ourselves with others who are listening and following after Jesus and seeking him. It’s one of the reasons the church believes marriages are sacramental. The goal of a spouse isn’t merely companionship, but spiritual partnership. 

The good news is that God is faithful. He knows this about us. Look for him in the suffering, and look for him in the relationships he sends us. Attune yourself to those in your life who love Jesus, and thank God for bringing them there. 

A ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.”

“I have kept all these from my youth,” he said.

When Jesus heard this, he told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

After he heard this, he became extremely sad, because he was very rich.

Seeing that he became sad, Jesus said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Those who heard this asked, “Then who can be saved?”

He replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

Then Peter said, “Look, we have left what we had and followed you.”

So he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left a house, wife or brothers or sisters, parents or children because of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more at this time, and eternal life in the age to come.” Luke 18:18-30 (CSB)

One amazing thing about this walk of Jesus’ is the sheer number of people who come up to ask him questions along the way. Granted, he was a traveling Rabbi, but I’ve been to many of the same places he walked, and very few people asked me anything except whether I wanted to buy something. 

They’re asking for two reasons: Partially to test, and partially to seek. And this rich young ruler was obviously seeking. The characteristics of a seeker are obvious, as they have a voracious desire to find God. It’s a characteristic lauded by Jesus, who says, 

“Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 (CSB)

Seekers ask those who exude the characteristics that they desire. There’s a phrase for it in some circles of the church, “Spirit attracts Spirit.” And this deeply spiritually seeking man — one who clearly wants to know the way, finds himself before the Lord.

We’ve talked about Jesus’ answer to his question, before. If you want eternal life, you have to be like God. To express this, he uses the ten commandments, or at least, the second half of the commandments which represent the moral summation of the law. The young man is pleased, because he has been a moral person all of his life, Jesus continues, but you still lack one thing: Sacrifice the thing that stands between you and God, and come follow me. Of course, commentators, and sermons everywhere point out that effectively Jesus summarizes the first half of the ten commandments — the spiritual elements of the law, as abandoning all else and following after him. This is shown later when he praises his disciples for what they have left behind for him. The clear indication is that following Jesus completes the spiritual necessities of the law. Paul will point this out later when it comes to the spirit. 

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:18

Jesus is saying, it’s not enough to be perfectly moral, you must be perfectly spiritual as well. And no one is that without him (or his Spirit). And the Spirit cannot (or will not) complete us, if we continue to hold things of more value than it. 

My own belief is that this becoming like God is itself an eternal process of ever-becoming. Like C.S. Lewis expresses so vividly in the conclusion to his Narnia Series, this perfection cycle is never accomplished but is eternity itself — to become more and more like God and to know him more is eternal life. It’s at the very heart of the Trinity, which preexists all time. Ever becoming, ever loving.

It’s something His Spirit is doing within us, drawing us into that nature. Whenever we run into anything that hinders, or when we allow a block to rise up within us because of hardened hearts, the process is interrupted until we allow the Spirit to overcome it. We must surrender our idols to become perfect.

So, Jesus tells the young man, there is no Eternal life without God, and there is no Eternal life, without allowing him to make you complete. To settle for anything else is not Glory.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’

“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14 (CSB)

My experience of church is that there can be people whose theology is spot on, and who have impressive resumes and experience, and who appear to be upstanding members of society but they’re just jerks. Really, jerks. 

Worse, perhaps, is that we’ve created a theology that justifies both being a jerk with no need to stop. God loves me anyway, and promised me heaven, therefore it doesn’t matter how I act some say.

Ugh. 

It’s the same attempt to game God that existed in the Old Testament. There was a mechanism for dealing with sin under the temple system. If you did something wrong, you took a sheep or a pigeon and you made a sacrificial offering. In effect, the animal stood in for what you deserved. Great, but once people realize there is a mechanism, they start to game the system. “Wait, so you’re saying I can do whatever I want, and all I have to do is sacrifice a pigeon, and I’m okay with God?” So they would do just that. Especially easy for the wealthy for whom the expense cost little. They could live horrible lives, offer up a sacrifice and be on their way. 

It’s important to note that the sacrificial system predated the Jewish people, and was a culturally symbolic way of representing repentance. Sacrifice as repentance is what the Ancient near easterners, Jewish or not, knew as a way of truly repenting. In that way, it was a symbol God adapted for His purposes, rather than required. However, it was never about the sacrifice, and always about the changed heart. 

God knew the game, and after a while God said, enough with your dumb sacrifices. I don’t need them. (1 Samuel 15:22-23, Psalm 40:6-8, Psalm 51:16-17, Isaiah 1:11-17 are just a few. There are many more.) 

It was never about the sacrifice. In Psalm 50:10-12, he tells his people, If I were hungry, I own bulls on a thousand hills, and I know where every bird and insect is! I don’t need your sacrifices! And again in Amos, I hate your festivals. I hate the smell of your sacrifices. I won’t accept them … this is what I want: let justice flow like water, and righteousness like an unfailing stream.  (Amos 5:21-24). 

Perhaps my favorite, addressed to the very people Jesus is talking to, is when he quotes Hosea 6:6 which says

“For I desire faithful love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” 

He quotes as 

“I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:10-13 AND 12:1-8)

Later, within the Christian era, they would do the same thing. Rich people would build chapels, and pay for people to pray for them well after their death, hoping their great tributes could win their way in.

God isn’t dumb. He knows your heart. I’d rather bet on a humble heart, and a changed life with devotion to Christ, than a thousand paid people praying for me.

Our self-righteousness and our perfect church adherence is not what God wants. It doesn’t please the Lord, regardless of what the systematic theologians say. But humility, and contriteness; A broken spirit, and honesty before the Lord does. Rather than gloating about how great you are before him, or taking pride in your confessions and actions, stand before him openly and honestly, recognizing your own weaknesses and your own failures. The irony of that is, not only will God see your humility and lift you up with greater dignity than you can muster (James 4:10), but, seeing yourself for how you really are, your kindness will also be amplified towards those around you who struggle. It’s super hard to belittle others when you recognize how you are just like them, if not worse (1 Timothy 1:15-16)

While traveling to Jerusalem, he passed between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

When he saw them, he told them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And while they were going, they were cleansed.

But one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God. He fell facedown at his feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan.

Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Didn’t any return to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And he told him, “Get up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.”  Luke 17:11-19 (CSB)

Like most of scripture, context matters for this healing passage. Luke is trying to say something here, and the interjection of a story amongst teaching matters. While lepers in scripture evoke strong response as we imagine them isolated outside of their communities unable to interact with their loved ones, in this instance, the healing takes place to emphasize two lessons on faith. One the precedes and one that follows. We’re in the midst of Jesus’ teaching on the nature of the Kingdom of God. Luke just told the story of the rich man and Lazarus (16:19-31), and then Jesus’ warning about those who bring the temptation to sin (17:1-4).

Terrified that they might be in the wrong because of the implications, the disciples beg Jesus to be given more faith (17:5) 

Jesus then emphasizes the power of faith with these lepers.

Faith, of course, is not belief, but an entrusting oneself to another. Pistis (noun) and pisteuō (verb) have the same root and have to do with trusting another, in the way that you might both believe and trust a pilot to fly you safely. It’s not just esoteric assent to an idea, but it has real world tangibility. Empty faith, or mere belief, doesn’t do anything, for even the demons believe (James 2:19). Luke is emphasizing that these ten lepers had the type of faith that changes things. When Jesus commanded, they responded. It wasn’t going to priest that saved them, but their trust. They believed and trusted in Jesus, and Jesus responded. To articulate a bigger message, and foreshadow the nature of the Kingdom, it was the foreigner who came and gave Glory to Jesus for what he did. A clear slight at how often Jesus has been and will be rejected by his own people. 

But then another equally import lesson on faith follows: 

When he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them,

The kingdom of God is not coming with something observable; no one will say, ‘See here!’ or ‘There!’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst. (vs. 20-21)

Already in Jesus’ day, people were hoping for escapist solutions. They wanted salvation from elsewhere. Someone else. But Jesus is telling his disciples, You are the Kingdom of God. My Holy Spirit within you IS the reign of God. Yes, I will be returning he continues and there will be an end. As mentioned earlier, those who continue to live rebellious lives contrary to the Kingdom will not be a part of the promise of the union of Heaven and Earth. However, look for the coming of the Holy Spirit to understand what the reign (kingdom) of God is really about. This is one of the reasons Luke is a two part book and includes the Acts of the Apostles. With the Spirit, comes the reign (kingdom) of God, also known as the Church.

He also said, “A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets to them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living. After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He longed to eat his fill from the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.”’ So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

“Now his older son was in the field; as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he summoned one of the servants, questioning what these things meant. ‘Your brother is here,’ he told him, ‘and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

“Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him. But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’

“‘Son,’ he said to him, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” Luke 15:11-32 (CSB)

Perhaps one of Jesus’ most well known parables, the Prodigal Son speaks for itself and is of course about God’s overwhelming mercy for the lost, with a side warning for the merciless rigidity of the older brother. 

On the road to Jerusalem, Jesus made a point to spend time with, eat, drink, and stay at the type of houses that most people wouldn’t dare stay at, and it caused a stir. People were arguing and people were talking. The type of people that are socially acceptable to spend time with, to eat and drink with, are always those who represent the values that we aspire to.They have what we want. They’re the ones that people want to eat with. In the highly religious and rigid Ancient near east, that was people who displayed exterior characteristics of religiosity, while shunning those who fell short. Divorced? Tax Collector? Forget about it, shun them. 

Is it that different today? 

We might be far more lenient towards sexual purity and the love of money in our culture, but that’s not what Jesus was addressing with the parable. It wasn’t to accept people as they are, in some kind of live-and-let-live approach to life. Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors because he wanted to draw them to health and wholeness. To repudiate their choices like Zacchaeus will when we meet him in upcoming days. Jesus ate with the lost because he saw them as his prodigal children who he hopes would find their way home. He wasn’t affirming their lostness, he was saving them from it.

Is that why we go to dinner parties and cocktail parties? Because we hope for the spiritual renewal of the hosts and we dream of talking to them about the depth of their despair, offering them a clearer vision of God’s purpose for their lives?

And who is it that we won’t eat with? Who is beyond the pale for redemption in our own society? 

Those with different political party affiliations? (I”m sure God is very glad and he really needed you to vote the way you voted. Really. He has no other way to save creation but your ballot and opinions). 

What about criminals? The poor, and hopeless? Desperate asylum seekers? Have any of these tasted from your pantry or sipped your fine vintages? 

The dinner table continues to be representative of our political, moral, and spiritual life, and who we eat with represents what we truly value. Perhaps, this Lent, consider eating with someone you wouldn’t dream of eating with, and try remembering why Jesus did so as well. 

And, in the meantime, we might all revel in the fact that our Lord, the true King of the Earth, would debase himself so much to be able to do so for us. Because he sees us as his lost children.

Now great crowds were traveling with him. So he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

“For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

“Or what king, going to war against another king, will not first sit down and decide if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

“Now, salt is good, but if salt should lose its taste, how will it be made salty? It isn’t fit for the soil or for the manure pile; they throw it out. Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.” Luke 14:25-35 (CSB)

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Remember our mission? 

One of the most haunting images in the Old Testament for me is the moment when God asks Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice(Genesis 22:1-19). I want to talk it down and to justify it away. Sometimes, I’ll stammer that Abraham misunderstood God, and that God saved Abraham by providing the ram in Isaac’s stead.

But I don’t believe this. 

I don’t believe it because I remember Abram’s mission. The mission wasn’t  Isaac, but to be a blessing to all nations (Genesis 12:1-3). And Abraham could only do that through God. Abraham didn’t care about the mission part, he cared about having a son. So, when God gave him a son in his old age, God was still making sure that Abraham knew the priority of his mission: That the blessing would come from God not through his son. It’s like a parent testing a child with dangerous responsibility. Abraham was there to declare God to the nations, not just to dote on his son.

Amazingly, Abraham responded obediently.

Now, we know God wasn’t and isn’t into child sacrifice. He despised Molech and his worship for it involved that very act (Leviticus 18:21). In fact, the place where these sacrifices took place is where we derived the name hell ¹. God was merely making sure that the seed of his promise would take root. For this to happen God must be the a priori, or primary and first love from which even Abraham’s love for Isaac is derived. Loving Isaac is good. But that familial or storge love will not bring about the blessing. Loving God must come first. For Abraham, this love is symbolized through circumcision (Genesis 17:9-14), and through obedience to God’s test. 

It is no different for the Christian. Our mission is also neglected if there is any love, even that which is perceived to be good, that is placed above our love for God and his love for us. Once again, this is a pep talk Jesus is giving with his disciples on the way to Jerusalem, which is why he is encouraging them to focus and prepare. Don’t love anything or anyone more than God! By definition one cannot and be a follower of Christ, for to be a follower means to live his mission, obediently, which means placing the mission above secondary connections of love. 

God comes before child, spouse, mother and father. Are these then bad? Of course not, they’re beautiful and amazing. But they don’t come first. It is not only money, sex, and power that become idols when placed too highly. As C.S. Lewis quotes in Mere Christianity, if the Devil can’t get us by our vices, he’ll use our virtues. Anything to place something between us and God. For when that happens, we become as useless as salt that isn’t salt. We’re so ineffective, we’re not worth having around. 

So love God first, Jesus say, then, and only then, you will be able to bless abundantly and fully.

1. Ge Hinnom in Hebrew translates to Gehenna in Greek which translates to Hell in English. Related to yesterday’s email, Hell is the place that is furthest from where heaven is on earth, which is child sacrifice pretty much sums up. ↩︎

He went through one town and village after another, teaching and making his way to Jerusalem. “Lord,” someone asked him, “are only a few people going to be saved?”

He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because I tell you, many will try to enter and won’t be able once the homeowner gets up and shuts the door. Then you will stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up for us!’ He will answer you, ‘I don’t know you or where you’re from.’ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you’re from. Get away from me, all you evildoers!’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place, when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown out. They will come from east and west, from north and south, to share the banquet in the kingdom of God. Note this: Some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.” Luke 13:22-30 (CSB)

What does it mean to be saved? 

First we need to distinguish between Jewish theology, and Greek Philosophy. The Greeks had tremendous cultural influence over the known world. Although Rome was the great empire, it was the Greeks that won culturally and Hellenism spread wherever Rome conquered. At the core of Hellenism was its philo-sophy (philos and sophia) or love of wisdom. Perhaps the most prolific and influential philosopher in the known world was Plato, from who we also get Socrates. It was Plato (and others) who argued, that the human being was mortal flesh and immortal soul and that the soul was contained in a way by our bodies, but would be released upon death and go to the land of forms (heaven). 

When early Christian theologians attempted to understand their faith, many of them were deeply rooted in Hellenistic (Platonic) thought and used Plato’s imagery to describe their beliefs in contrast. St. Augustine was perhaps the most famous. The trouble is that, what was used in contrast came to be the norm, and our understanding of soul, body, and heaven became more Greek that Jewish or Christian in many instances. In this version, to be saved means your soul goes to heaven when your body dies. 

This is NOT Christian theology. Within Christian theology, the soul and the body are enmeshed, and heaven is already interacting with our world. Heaven is the realm in which God operates, and it is deeply connected, if hidden. It is like the heart of creation, beating at all times. At the two ends of the bible we see harmony in God’s creation identified as the union of heaven and earth, once in the Garden of Eden and once in the Heavenly Jerusalem descending upon the earthly one (Rev. 21:2-3) and the reunification of Heaven and Earth as God intended. When heaven and earth are unified, there is peace, harmony, and wholeness. Where there is not, there is conflict, war, jealousy, and strife (see the story of Cain and Abel as the first story after the separation). Where Satan separates heaven and earth, Jesus is reunifying. This is complex but really important. Because to be saved then means to belong to this heavenly sort: To the heavenly rule. Only the ones who identifying (with both word and being) with the new Heavenly reign will continue on in the iteration of Creation that God is bringing about. 

Those who continue in active rebellion against the rule of God will be kicked out. It doesn’t matter what you say with your mouth, or what your background is. It’s an issue of fealty and rule. Who is your true King? Are you allowing heaven to begin to rule in your life? This is not about action or works, but about Grace (invitation) and submission (acknowledgment) symbolized and performed through baptism. It’s to acknowledge Jesus as King and to allow him to be so in your life.  If you’re not willing to be in now, you won’t be in at the end either.  

So how are we saved? By allowing the rule of heaven to be broken into us through baptism and allowing the Spirit to begin the work of new creation within us.

Be ready for service and have your lamps lit. You are to be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once. Blessed will be those servants the master finds alert when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will get ready, have them recline at the table, then come and serve them. If he comes in the middle of the night, or even near dawn, and finds them alert, blessed are those servants. But know this: If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

“Lord,” Peter asked, “are you telling this parable to us or to everyone?”

The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible manager his master will put in charge of his household servants to give them their allotted food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and starts to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, that servant’s master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master’s will and didn’t prepare himself or do it will be severely beaten. But the one who did not know and did what deserved punishment will receive a light beating. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected. (Luke 12:25-48 CSB)

In his initial covenant with Abram, God told him that he was choosing him because he wanted him to be a blessing for all people. (Genesis 12:2-3)

That’s a people chosen for a mission. 

It’s a little like a seal team chosen for a special operation. There was something unique about them that allowed the mission to be accomplished, but in the end, the goal was not being chosen, but the point was the mission itself. 

And God’s mission was always for all people. In fact, we see this wrestled through at the Jerusalem Council in the Book of Acts, when the gathered group of apostles were attempting to decide what to do with the influx of gentile converts, who were themselves experiencing the Holy Spirit. The conclusion of it, spoken by James the brother of Jesus, was that this was God’s plan all along, and he quotes this scripture: 

After these things I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
I will rebuild its ruins
and set it up again,
so that the rest of humanity
may seek the Lord—
even all the Gentiles
who are called by my name—
declares the Lord
who makes these things known from long ago. (Acts 15:16-17 which is an interpretation of Amos 9:11-12)

Images of occupied Jerusalem and the coming falling of the temple should be seen here, along with the new image of Christ recreating the temple (himself) within his disciples.

God’s mission is still everyone— all the nations. Being a Christian is not about a state of being, but about being called out as a people who are the harbingers of this truth on behalf of others. Chosen with a task. It’s the very reason the first Christians received the Holy Spirit as a sign and symbol of them being sanctified for the task(Acts 1:8). And what is the mission? The reconciling message of the cross (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

Remember Jesus is telling his disciples this message as he walks to Jerusalem to fulfill his own brutal mission — the very one he rejected Satan in the wilderness with in order to complete (Luke 4:1-13). Using stark language of disobedience and consequence highlights the imperative of their own  purpose. He’s not going to die so that they can spend their lives playing video games, and drinking too much wine. No! He’s going to die so that all may be reconciled to God and to each other through the word and witness of the Holy Spirit in his disciples. Bear Witness! He tells them. Remember I am coming back. You’re here for a reason.

I’m a parent. I know how difficult it is to keep a child focused on what they need to focus on, especially when there are so many easy distractions. It’s loving realignment that can sometimes get heated, depending on the significance or the response. And that is what our Lord is doing for us. We too have a mission, don’t be complacent! he warns. There will be many other good things that might appear to be important, but this is of the utmost important. Do it, for me!

How are our own lives arranged to live this mission out?