Three Radical Demands (3)

 

“Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:60).

 

The request, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father,” seems reasonable. Is this not a duty of a child, to ensure that a parent has a proper burial? What kind of son would leave his parent unburied? What child would not be with his or her family at the funeral of a father or mother, sharing their grief and giving comfort?

 

Yet Jesus says, “Let the dead bury the dead.”

 

Why would anyone follow Jesus after hearing these words?

 

“But as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”

 

Not only is this person not to bury his father, but he is to go and proclaim Good News. This man doesn’t get a day or two or a week to grieve, to work through his sorrow – he is to go and proclaim the kingdom of God.

 

What will his neighbors think? His family?

 

“Where is Isaac? Why isn’t he here to bury his father, to grieve with us?”

 

“Isaac is out telling people about Jesus and the kingdom of God.”

 

“Really? What kind of man is this Jesus, that He would not want His disciple to bury his father? What kind of rabbi is this Jesus, not to tell his follower to have his priorities straight? Doesn’t Moses command us to honor our father and mother? Is not Isaac’s failure to bury his father a breaking of this commandment?”

 

Could it be that Jesus’ idea of family is not our idea of family?

 

“A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, ‘Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.’ Answering them, He said, ‘Who are My mother and My brothers?’ Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, ‘Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.’”

 

Then we have Matthew 10:34 – 39:

 

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

 

And then Luke 21:16 – 17, “But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name.”

 

See also Luke 18:28 – 30.

 

As we ponder these passages, one thing we must not do is water them down, we must not blunt the sword or dull the scalpel – we must submit to them and allow the Word of God to do its work within us. It is far better to say, “I just don’t understand this,” and spend a lifetime working through what Jesus says, than to make the Word of Jesus mush, gruel that can’t be eaten, or cotton candy that will rot our teeth.  

 

These passages are a matter of the heart. The mind will explain the passages away, the heart will have to wrestle with them, to submit to them, to cry, “Not my will, but Your will be done!”

 

It would not surprise me if we never have closure on these passages; we may pretend to have closure, we may pretend that we fully understand and embrace them, but I really wonder if we can ever finish the wrestling match. Our tendency is to explain them away, to superimpose our commonsense interpretations, to lessen their challenge and bite, to avoid them – after all, they are not attractive, they are not winsome, they are not calculated to win friends and influence people.

 

Somewhere Oswald Chambers wrote that we often tell God that He does not know what our obedience will cost others, that He does not know what our obedience will cost our family and friends. Do we not tell God that we must wait for a better time to obey His call of the Cross? Do we not tell God that since others will not understand, that we must either wait or must modify His Word of obedience to us? Do we not edit the Word of God so that it is palatable to us and do we not make the Word conform to us, rather than conform our lives to the Word? Do we not insist that the Bible submit to us, rather than submit ourselves to the Bible?

 

How do these passages challenge you?

 

We’ll return to this in our next reflection in the series, the Lord willing…

Only One Life - C. T. Studd

 

Only One Life, ‘Twill Soon Be Past

C.T. Studd (1860-1931)

 

 

Two little lines I heard one day,

Traveling along life’s busy way,

Bringing conviction to my heart,

And from my mind would not depart—

“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

 

“Only one life!” Yes, only one;

Soon will its fleeting hours be done,

Then, in “that day” my Lord to meet,

And stand before His Judgment seat.

“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

 

“Only one life!” The still small voice

Gently pleads for a better choice,

Bidding me

selfish aims to leave,

And to God’s holy will to cleave.

“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

 

“Only one life!” A few brief years,

Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;

Each with its days I must fulfill,

Living for self or in His will.

“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

 

When this bright world would tempt me sore,

When Satan would a victory score;

When self would seek to have its way,

Then help me, Lord, with joy to say,

“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

 

Give me, Father, a purpose deep,

In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;

Faithful and true whate’er the strife,

Pleasing Thee in my daily life.

“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

 

Oh, let my love with fervor burn,

And from the world now let me turn,

Living for Thee, and Thee alone,

Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne!

“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

 

“Only one life!” Yes, only one!

Now let me say, “Thy will be done;”

And when at last I hear the call,

I know I’ll say, “’Twas worth it all!”

“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

 

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

And when I am dying, how happy I’ll be,

If the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee.

Three Radical Demands (2)

 

 

“The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Luke 9:58).

 

Those in Christ are the Body of Christ; this is not a metaphor; this is a reality. In the eternal counsels of God, the Father is to have a Family, the Son a Body and a Bride, and the Spirit a Temple. As Augustine writes, “As is the Head, so is the Body.” Jesus Christ is the Vine, we are the branches – we can do nothing in and of ourselves (John 15:1 – 5).

 

Jesus testifies that His Kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36); if His Kingdom is not of this world, then, since we are in Him and are of Him and are His Body, our Kingdom is not of this world. As Paul writes, we are citizens of Heaven (Phil. 3:20).

 

This has been the testimony of His Body throughout the ages, and this includes those who were promised the land of Canaan, that is, the Patriarchs understood that Canaan was a shadow and a type, and therefore their vision went far beyond dirt and sand and mountain and river – they lived as strangers and pilgrims, not as settlers – nor should we (Hebrews 11:8 – 16). The Patriarchs “desired a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Heb. 11:16), they were seeking that City “which God has prepared for them” (Heb. 11:16).

 

The promise to Abraham and his seed is that we shall be “heir of the world” (Rom. 4:13; Matt. 5:5; Rev. 21:1 – 7). How tragic when we mistake the type and shadow for the reality, when we confuse the lower image for the higher substance, when we are distracted from the eternal by things which are passing away. When we propagate such thinking we can become participants and enablers of death and destruction and sorrow and pain – poisoning our own souls and the souls of others.

 

Since the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His Head, He has nowhere to lay His Body. Why, O why, do we attempt to lay the Body of Christ in holes and in nests where the Head is not to be found? Is this not grotesque? Why, O why, do we seek to separate the Head from the Body? Does this not result in death?

 

Are we not playing the part of Herod in beheading Someone greater than John the Baptist?

 

The economic systems dance for us, the political systems dance for us, the sports and entertainment systems dance for us, the worlds of education and science dance for us…and we are so engrossed in them, so impressed by them…so seduced by them…and yes…by our religions systems…that we cry, “We’ll give you whatever you want! We’ll do even better than Herod, while he would only give Herodias half of his kingdom, we’ll give you our own souls!”

 

And the guillotine drops and the Head is served from the Body…and we think nothing of it.

 

Can we see the dead bodies around us? Can we see the congregations, those local bodies, which have been severed from the Head, from Christ? This body lies in the crypt of politics and nationalism, that body in the mausoleum of economics and the pursuit of money, that body over there in religious tradition that makes the Word of God of no effect, that body yonder lies dead in the seduction of entertainment, sports, the arts.

 

Is the Head of the Body not enough for us, His Body?

 

O dear friends, Jesus plus anything is not the Gospel, it is not the Cross, it is not the narrow way and gate – any identity other than the identity of Jesus Christ and Him alone is a false identity, a seductive identity with false promises – it is the lap of Deliah in which our glory is shorn from us.

 

Jesus is clear that even as He is not of the world and its systems, so are we not of the world and its systems – for as is the Head, so is the Body (John 15:18 – 16:4; 17:13 – 19).

 

As John writes, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For ALL that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is NOT from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:15 – 17).

 

“We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19).

 

The radical call of Jesus Christ is the call to follow the One who has nowhere to lay His Head in this world; just as there is no place for Him to rest in this world, for Him to find peace, for Him to trust – so there is no place in this world for us…our only place of rest and trust and peace is in Jesus Christ…not in a ballot box, not in a bank or investment account, not in possessions and pleasures, not in nationalism, not in military might…only in Jesus are we to live, only in Jesus are we to breathe, only in Jesus are we to hope, and only to Jesus are we to draw others.

 

Are we hearing the Father say, “This is My Beloved Son, hear Him!” (Matthew 17:5)?