Dear Luke,
Your image of Herod and Jesus
meeting secretly in a dark corner amuses me.
I’d never pictured such a conversation taking place, and I will side
with those who doubt that it ever did, but I can imagine Jesus relaying the
teachings from his earlier sermon on the plain that I relayed to you while
Herod responds with utter confusion as to how such teachings would be possible
to follow with his position and history.
Perhaps you are right and they did find some time to meet, and I would
imagine I could learn something from what Jesus said to Herod, but I just can’t
quite stretch my imagination far enough to believe that Herod would be humble
enough to listen earnestly to a man with a background like Jesus’.
It is with sadness that I view many
of those souls who have looked upon Jesus with little more than fascination and
interest. Here is a man to whom I have
given my life, whom I believe is worthy of my worship, and it disturbs me to
see many who listen to him as though he is little more than a teacher. I respect your investigation, Luke, and I
believe that when you arrive at the end of your investigation you will feel the
full weight of Jesus’ identity upon you.
There are so many who discard Jesus without more than a second thought,
and there are even more who hear his words but do not allow the fullness of
them to resonate within them. They are
unwilling to change or to heed his warnings and teachings.
At one point, when Jesus was truly
alone praying with the disciples, having somehow found a way to escape the
persistent and dedicated crowds, he asked the disciples who the crowds said
that he was. It is an interesting
question, one that could be seen as being posed by someone seeking information,
but like so many other things with Jesus, once the cover was off one box, it
led directly to the heart of life, to the question of each person’s
relationship with God.
The disciples probably didn’t grasp
where this was leading, and they replied with many of the names that had been
proposed by those trying to understand just who this man was. They supplied the names of John the Baptist,
Elijah and other prophets that had long since passed away. Many believed he was a figure who had been
raised from the dead, a miraculous thing but not nearly as explosive as what I
believe the truth is about who Jesus truly is.
Jesus didn’t let this question of
idle curiosity remain vague for long.
After a silence had settled once more over the small group, he asked
them who they said that he was. He had
turned the general question into a specific query, and only one disciple spoke
up, clearly and firmly.
“God’s Messiah.”
It was Peter who spoke these two
words, and they rang heavily in the hearts of each disciple. This was quite a confession to make, for if
it was true, then the direction and purpose their entire lives had taken on
since they had been called was confirmed, and what they were pursuing was not a
fool’s errand but rather the single most important task that could consume
their lives. They were helping spread
the message of God’s Kingdom, and they were spending time with a man about whom
prophesies had been written for centuries.
He wasn’t just a great teacher or a powerful man, but rather a legendary
figure who was before them in flesh and bone, more true than anything else they
had ever encountered.
Jesus didn’t give them long for the
words to settle in. For some reason, he
commanded them to keep quiet about his identity, going on to tell them that he
would go through great suffering and rejection by elders, priests and scribes,
and that he would be killed, only to rise on the third day. Jesus did not speak these words lightly, but
I cannot begin to imagine that the disciples could grapple with the full truth
of them. How could anyone, still
grasping what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah, then come to terms with the
impending death of God’s Messiah, who was standing before you, alive and
well? All these facts were too much for
their minds to handle, but Jesus went on.
“Those who wish to follow me must
do so carrying their cross, denying themselves and losing their lives for my
sake. This is the only way to save your
life. All the riches in the world will
offer no profit if you lose yourself. I
tell you that when the Son of Man comes in glory and is surrounded by the glory
of angels and the very glory of God, he will be ashamed of those who are
ashamed of him in this life. Some of
you, however, will witness God’s Kingdom before your own deaths.”
Each word of Jesus’ was offered as
a lifeline to a drowning soul, but it was not an easy one to claim. You wrote me the other day relating the
events of Jesus calming a storm on the sea.
In this account, he acknowledges that each man’s life takes place in the
midst of a storm, and that true faith in God is the only way to be rescued, or
else the storm will consume. But the
path is not an easy one to walk, and it is only fair to be upfront about
that. The disciples have been sent out
into the world to proclaim God’s Kingdom and to heal, but there is a far more
difficult side to life as a disciple.
It’s easy to skip this part, but Jesus doesn’t want the disciples to
water down his message, to live a weak testimony, and he calls them to a
challenging life, but first he accepts that he will suffer far greater
challenges than they. While I’m sure
they could not grasp the enormity of all this, perhaps when his words came to
fruition they were some comfort to them, knowing that he walked into the
circumstances with confidence that could come only from God.
Luke, I will not promise you an
easy life of faith, one that will always be comfortable. I will not promise you this because Jesus did
not promise ease to any of us. To say
otherwise in hopes of making a confession easier for you would be a disservice
and lead you down a path Jesus would not want you to walk. It is tough, and while I have not suffered
nearly as much as Jesus did, I will say that faith is not always easy, and
there are days when suffering is real.
The same may be true for you. But
just as Jesus promised the disciples true life in exchange for selfless
discipleship, he offers you and me the same life. It is waiting for us as a free gift, and if
we choose to accept it, there are real consequences in our lives. I will be in prayer for you, but know that it
is not an easy path behind the door at which you currently stand, trying to
discern if it is worth walking through.
But Jesus promises each of us that it is worth the brambles, the
mountains and the storms that await. Do
not give up because of the challenge, for it shall not overcome you.
Sincerely,
Theophilus
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