Dear Theophilus,
Your description of life as a
journey from the mountaintop to the valley is certainly apt in my case. As a child, I imagined that I would leap from
mountaintop to mountaintop, my feet never brushing the valley floors in
between. As I grew, I realized the
absurdity of that fantasy and have grown to accept the valley floor as a place
of learning. Had Jesus spent his
ministry dwelling on the mountaintop with Moses and Elijah, so many of these
wondrous stories would have never have occurred, and many would never have come
in contact with him. While we would
certainly have a glorious image of Jesus, I don’t know if it is an image that
many would feel comfortable approaching.
I know I struggle to see myself as worthy to approach a man who forgives
prostitutes, as we discussed earlier, let alone one who spends time in
conversation with Moses and Elijah.
Yet, in all of the time he spends
healing, he is always teaching, bringing the listener back to the primary
reason for his ministry. He doesn’t heal
or do miracles for amusement, but rather with a purpose, to direct the
attention of the crowd back to God. I am
so amazed by Jesus as a teacher, as a man with a singular purpose. I can certainly see why so many who don’t
worship him still find the space to admire him—he never deviates from his task.
After hearing of the strange and
wondrous healing that you described in your letter, I sought out more
information to follow up on the curious saying of Jesus that you related. I couldn’t imagine that Jesus would simply
leave the crowd with such words, and sure enough, I discovered that he carried
on teaching while the crowd was still amazed at the sight of this boy, healed
from this awful demon. There isn’t much
more, and the crowd did not grasp its meaning, for it was hidden from them,
though I do not know why, and out of fear they didn’t ask him about it. Jesus told them simply, “The Son of Man will
be betrayed into the hands of others.”
You or I can say now that we would immediately ask Jesus the meaning of
this, demanding to know who would be doing the betraying and work to prevent
it. But that is all the gift of
hindsight—in reality, we’d probably stare at each other and try to decipher it
on our own, not wanting to disturb Jesus, expecting him to make this more clear
on his own time. I wish he would have
continued on teaching about this, but instead an argument broke out.
You’d think that, by now, with all
we’ve covered, the disciples would have a fairly good grasp on what it means to
follow Jesus. I know that I’ve certainly
learned quite a bit, and what I’ve learned challenges most of the assumptions
about what it means to get ahead in life.
However, in this case the disciples clearly have not picked up the
lessons that Jesus has taught. While
Jesus is busy healing a boy, the disciples are bickering about which one is the
greatest. I think I’ve heard small
children having a similar argument, but it paints the disciples in a pretty
poor light to imagine them having this argument!
Jesus, however, knew just the thing
to defuse the situation and put all of the disciples in their proper
place. Listening to them having this
absurd argument, he picked up a little child and made sure each disciple was
listening as he told them the confusing truth that the greatest among the
disciples is the one who is the least, and that the one who welcomes a child in
Jesus’ name is the one who welcomes Jesus.
It doesn’t make much sense at first, but I think Jesus is trying to help
them see that it’s not about getting ahead and achieving what so many people
call success. Following Jesus means
welcoming children and giving away love without expectation of receiving
anything in return. Anyone who has ever
been around a child knows how demanding they can be and much of a one-way
relationship it can often be, but it’s for the child’s good that we
sacrifice. In the same way, giving away
love freely may not feel rewarding, and it may not get us noticed, but it’s the
most important thing we can do.
This seemed to quell the argument
the disciples were having, and John couldn’t help but put forward a question
that had been brewing in his mind. I
wonder how much of the timing of this question was motivated by him trying to
shift the focus of the conversation away from the disciples’ petty
fighting. John told Jesus that a man was
seen casting demons out in the name of Jesus, and they had tried to stop him
since he didn’t follow Jesus along with the rest of the disciples. Jesus, however, told the disciples not to
stop him, since he wasn’t against the disciples. I interpret this, Theophilus, to mean that
Jesus may use many individuals, even surprising to disciples, to spread the
news of the Kingdom.
It’s a curious sequence of events,
and it illustrates, to me at least, that Jesus isn’t easy to pin down. Many people I know want to define him by a
small set, but Jesus resists such easy defining. To this day, Jesus gives us plenty to
consider and ponder, making us stretch for an understanding of how best to
follow him. As an outsider looking in, I
appreciate the fact that Jesus is multi-faceted yet singularly focused—my
entire mind has to be engaged to follow him, and I can’t ever start believing
that I have it nailed down. Even the
disciples squabbled over what it means to follow him!
Let me know if I’ve been led astray
in my understanding of discipleship. I
consider you the expert in the field, and hope that you will shed some light on
this enigma of a man.
Sincerely,
Luke
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