Image: "The Road Ahead", 2020, Roadside view, Pa220, Central Pa near Port Matilda
Luke 9:4–5 “Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”
Luke 9:23–25 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
Luke 9:49–50 Now John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side.”
Luke 9:61–62 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
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The disciples were pretty confused at this point. Jesus was riding a wave of popularity and trampling over all those hypocrites who sought to trip him up and catch Him in error. They had been given authority to heal the sick, cast out demons, and preach the kingdom of God. (vs. 1) They had been told, astonishingly, that with any village or home that did not "receive" them, as in the acceptance of their message, not just hospitality, they should "shake off" the dust of their feet as a "testimony against them!" This was akin to telling them that a fate like Sodom and Gomorrah would fall on those who did not embrace what they, ordinary fishermen, tax collectors, etc., proclaimed.
They saw Jesus feed the 5000, some of them witnessed the transfiguration, and they were told that the world was being divided into two camps: those who were "on our side" (vs.50) and those who were not. There was no neutral ground. This is the language of war... Jesus was obviously well on His way to establishing His Kingdom with Himself on the throne and was demanding the allegiance of all.
But there were some disconcerting things also... Jesus was saying things and doing things that did not seem to fit. For example, having told them to shake the dust off their feet for those who refused their message, when He led them into Samaria and was rejected, He did not "call down fire on them" (vs. 54) but confusingly said that He did not come to destroy but to save people. Strange!
And then there were those times when He kept talking about being betrayed into the "hands of men" (vs. 44) and be "killed and raised the third day"! (vs. 22) This was the language of defeat. How could He victoriously establish His Kingdom, bring down judgment on His enemies, and yet, die at the hands of those very enemies? They muttered among themselves... they kept going where He went... and yet, they were not at all sure what lay ahead, for Him or for themselves.
And, to cap it off, He was saying some strange things about what it meant to follow Him. They heard Him say that it required them to take up their own cross and even to lose their own lives for His sake and the gospel. They were to understand that they, like Him, would have "nowhere to lay" their heads. They were to put away all hindrances to their preaching of the Kingdom of God, even to not burying their own family members who died. The call to follow was so radical that it required an immediate response. Like the fishermen themselves, when the call went forth, the disciples were not to even go and "bid farewell to their families." (vs. 57-61) These were challenging instructions, to say the least.
"All" they had to depend on was the truth of Peter's confession: Jesus was "the Christ of God!" If that was true, and they had to believe it, then somehow, someway, this was all going to work out. The Messiah was God's anointed, set apart to bring God's Kingdom to earth and to establish His reign over the whole world. Such was the challenge of saving faith.
As it was confusing and challenging then, so it is today. We may know from scripture how it all fits together and in this, we are far beyond where they were, but those challenging tensions remain still. The call to discipleship is not a tentative request: it is a command. It requires a radical decision. We are either on the Lord's side or we are against Him. There can be no half-way service. The call to take up our cross may entail serious difficulty and perhaps death. It may mean estrangement from some, if not all, of our earthly families. It requires that we embrace it as a higher priority than all other worldly vocations or avocations. We have been called to radical faith. Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ of God, come to build His Kingdom on earth and our lives are to be consumed with this project. It is the highest "good", not just for the world, but for us. It is our highest privilege and our most challenging ministry.
But, as the disciples came to understand in due course, it is also the most fruitful and fulfilling calling that any man, woman or child, can undertake. This is our God and He deserves our all.
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