Baggage

This past Tuesday morning our small group considered (we’re meeting via Zoom) Matthew 7:1 – 14. When we got to verses 13 and 14 Glen, who was facilitating, asked Rick what his thoughts were. Rick said something like this, “If you’re going to go through the small and narrow gate you can’t take any baggage.” This was the only comment, as I recall, that Rick made about our passage, but it has stayed with me – as usual Rick made a point in a few words that would have taken me many words to make, assuming I saw the point in the first place.

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13 – 14.

The tragedy of the present distress, the pandemic, offers many opportunities in the midst of uncertainty, sorrow, and pain. C.S. Lewis thought that pain is God’s megaphone, God’s way of trying to get our attention so that we’ll hopefully realize there is a higher reality than we think, a higher reality than what we live in.

As I’ve pondered Matthew 7:13 – 14 and Rick’s pointed words, I’ve also thought about Mark 4:18 – 19 in which Jesus explains an element of the Parable of the Sower:

“And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

The worries of the world are baggage, Jesus teaches us that we are to trust Him for our daily bread and that we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness and that all other things that we need will be provided for us. (Matthew 6:25 – 34).

The deceitfulness of riches is baggage, Jesus teaches us that we cannot serve two masters, we cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:19 – 24).

The desires for other things are baggage, entering in at the narrow gate means that we are focused on Jesus Christ and His Kingdom in all spheres of life, there is no compartmentalization for the disciple of Jesus Christ. Everything that we do is to be done in the name of Jesus Christ to the glory of God. (Mark 8:34 – 38; 12:29 – 31; Colossians 3:17).

What baggage am I carrying that needs to be thrown away? What about you?

What baggage are our local congregations carrying that ought to be put in the trash dumpster? What are we doing, what are we spending time and resources on, that is extraneous to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Great Commission and the building up of the Body of Christ (Matthew 28:16 – 20; Ephesians 4:1 – 16)? The good is the enemy of the better, and the better is the enemy of the best. Of course sin is an enemy, but doing good can also be an enemy and is often a more insidious enemy than sin because doing good can more easily blind us to the fact that we are not going through the small and narrow gate – doing good things can mean baggage that hinders.

There was a time when we weren’t overly conscious of how many pounds of baggage we brought with us on an airplane trip, nor were we concerned with how many pieces of luggage we carried. That has, of course, changed. With fees for pieces of luggage and penalties for luggage being overweight, we are conscious of what we take with us on a flight. We are also conscious of what items we cannot pack in luggage due to TSA regulations.

Are we conscious of the amount and content and weight of the baggage that we are carrying through life? Are our congregations conscious?

Prior to the pandemic, what did I think was important that now is not important at all? What was I placing so much trust in that I now see was something that couldn’t be trusted? What was I investing time and energy in that now seems frivolous? What idols was I worshipping?

What beauty am I discovering that I had not seen before? What deeper textures of life? What relationships?  How is my relationship with the Trinity deepening and ripening?

What baggage is there in my relationship with God that has to go? What about baggage in my relationship with others?

Am I allowing God in Christ to mold my life in such a way that I can go through the small and narrow gate? Am I leaving my baggage outside the high security area?

What about you?

If, when this present crisis passes, we are the same as before it began, then we will have wasted an opportunity. If our goal is to return to “business and life as usual” then we have squandered an opportunity. There are many ways in which God can redeem this crisis, as painful as it is for many of us (and it should be painful for all of us) – what does that redemption look like in our lives?

In my life?

In your life?