Dear Luke,
You name perfectly the challenge of
the Christian faith in your last paragraph—as a Christian matures, he realizes
that the call of Jesus is a call to complete discipleship, a call that cannot
be tempered or watered down. The
Pharisees never grasped the notion of following Jesus with their entire hearts,
choosing to believe that toeing the line of the law would be enough to qualify
them for heaven. Jesus, on the other
hand, called his disciples to abandon all trust they had placed in themselves
and set it completely in Jesus, to let their hearts and minds be overwhelmed by
his love and then to let that love overflow into the world around them. When one realizes the totality of the call,
it is certainly easier to set it aside and go in search of less demanding
strands of discipleship. But to follow
Jesus as he intends requires sacrifice, courage and humility.
For the Pharisees, whom I am almost
tempted to pity in these harangues of Jesus, it requires a double dose of
humility, for the public would be shocked to see them step forward and accept
the yoke of this man who so publicly admonished them. As you mentioned, there is quite a lot about
which we could speculate from the fact that they were willing to have him to
dine with them. It might reveal curiosity
about the man or a desire to capture him in his own words. I like to assume the best, but I have been
proved wrong many times!
Jesus’ words against the Pharisees
did not end at that dinner party. A
crowd of thousands had gathered, packed in so tightly that they were standing
on one another, and Jesus began speaking to his disciples first, but soon he
was speaking to the entire crowd. He
warns them about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, comparing it to yeast, that
miniscule ingredient we mix into the bread that has effects that far outweigh
its size, affecting the entire loaf beyond what we might expect. Jesus tells them that everything covered will
be revealed, that all secrets will be made known. At that mention, I wonder if the disciples’
eyes darted back and forth to one another, looking to see what the others
thought, while perhaps those nearby who had such secrets merely looked at the
ground, hoping the moment would pass quickly!
Jesus lingers here, emphasizing his point by telling them that things
mentioned in the dark will be bathed in light, just as words whispered in
locked rooms will be as though they are shouted from the rooftops. He doesn’t say when and how this will occur,
but I think we could all confess to having things in our lives that we would
prefer are not shouted from any rooftops!
Jesus, though, the man of perfect integrity, is again calling us to a
place that challenges how we live—he calls us to live, even to think, in such a
way that we have nothing hidden that we would be ashamed of having
revealed. It’s a radical departure from
a world of ‘getting ahead by any means necessary’. It’s hard even to imagine a world without
secrets and rumors and whispers behind closed doors, but Jesus is calling us
not only to dream it but also to live within it.
Jesus then goes on to explain why
such a world would be possible if all people were to follow him—because
following him means that there is no need to fear those who hold power in this
world. I know it’s a strange concept,
because we have all been raised to be afraid of those who have the power to
take our lives, but Jesus tells the crowd not to fear those who have such
power, because the only one who one should truly fear is the one who has the
authority to cast the individual into hell.
That should be our real fear, not the fear of death, for Jesus preaches
constantly about the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom that is greater than death. It’s a radical leap for many of the
believers, but Jesus assures them that they are more valuable than a sparrow, a
bird bought and sold for pennies, but is still valuable to God. Jesus is trying to convince the crowd that if
a sparrow is valued by God, then they are infinitely more so—to the point that
even the number of hairs on the head is known by God. It’s laughable at first, but when you take a
moment and think about it, Jesus is trying to illustrate that God’s love is
deeper and wider than you or I could ever comprehend.
Jesus longs to have these thousands
in the crowd follow him. He tells them
that those who acknowledge him before others will be acknowledged by him before
God’s angels, just as those who choose to deny him will be likewise denied
before these same angels. Even words
spoken against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but any blasphemy spoken
against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
At this point, the crowd may well
be encouraged by God’s love but still holding on to the fear of the authorities
within their hearts. Jesus longs for
them, for us, to cast out that fear, and he tells them that when they are
brought before the synagogues, rulers and authorities, to not worry about their
lines of defense, but rather to trust that the Holy Spirit will put the words
within them at that time.
So much of this, Luke, was beyond
what those listening at the time could comprehend. You and I have the privilege of having it
later to read over again and again, to discuss and let it marinate in our
hearts. Those who heard it at the time
must have been overwhelmed at all of this—the sheer volume of teaching, the
wisdom in every sentence, is too much for me to handle in one sitting. Jesus bounces from topic to topic to topic,
and each one is worthy of hours of discussion, and yet we have to grab the wisdom
within and move on to the next one just as Jesus does. While I envy those who heard him during his
lifetime, I greatly appreciate the chance to reflect on these sentences for
hours at a time.
I hope this is not too much for you
to grasp. Question away, my friend, and
I will endeavor to discover answers to match your queries.
Sincerely,
Theophilus
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