Jesus is Different
Sometimes the difference between Jesus and the world is so stark it’s easy to miss.
A child is tormented by a demon so badly that no one can do anything about it, including Jesus’ disciples who already had, mind you, spent quite a bit of time out and about healing people without Jesus there. Jesus shows up, tells the demon what’s up, and healed the child. No one else could do wield such power.
The next moment, Jesus tells his disciples that he will be delivered into human hands. Jesus will succumb to people who can’t do what he can do.
The next moment, perhaps caught up again in seeing what Jesus just did to the demon, the disciples begin arguing about who is Jesus’ greatest follower. And to make a point, Jesus chooses a child to demonstrate the disciples’ own juvenility. (It is notable that Jesus doesn’t tell his quarreling disciples to, “Stop arguing.” He just goes and get a kid, puts the child among them, and describes the child’s place within the Kingdom.)
Soon thereafter, the disciples get caught up in line-drawing and power-managing. Again, just as he did with the demon, Jesus rebuked the disciples (same word both times).
We could go on (and should). Jesus is surprising in his terms and consistently reshaping our understanding of what God wants from us.
May we be rebuked too - not condemned, but awakened - to see that real power is found not in domination or prestige, but in humility, trust, and childlike openness and submission to God.
Luke 9:37-62
The next day, when Jesus, Peter, John, and James had come down from the mountain, a large crowd met Jesus. A man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to take a look at my son, my only child. Look, a spirit seizes him and, without any warning, he screams. It shakes him and causes him to foam at the mouth. It tortures him and rarely leaves him alone. I begged your disciples to throw it out, but they couldn’t.”
Jesus answered, “You faithless and crooked generation, how long will I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” While he was coming, the demon threw him down and shook him violently. Jesus spoke harshly to the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father. Everyone was overwhelmed by God’s greatness.
While everyone was marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, “Take these words to heart: the Human One is about to be delivered into human hands.” They didn’t understand this statement. Its meaning was hidden from them so they couldn’t grasp it. And they were afraid to ask him about it.
An argument arose among the disciples about which of them was the greatest. Aware of their deepest thoughts, Jesus took a little child and had the child stand beside him. Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me. Whoever welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever is least among you all is the greatest.”
John replied, “Master, we saw someone throwing demons out in your name, and we tried to stop him because he isn’t in our group of followers.”
But Jesus replied, “Don’t stop him, because whoever isn’t against you is for you.”
As the time approached when Jesus was to be taken up into heaven, he determined to go to Jerusalem. He sent messengers on ahead of him. Along the way, they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival, but the Samaritan villagers refused to welcome him because he was determined to go to Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to consume them?” But Jesus turned and spoke sternly to them, and they went on to another village.
As Jesus and his disciples traveled along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Human One has no place to lay his head.”
Then Jesus said to someone else, “Follow me.”
He replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. But you go and spread the news of God’s kingdom.”
Someone else said to Jesus, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say good-bye to those in my house.”
Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand on the plow and looks back is fit for God’s kingdom.”
Psalm 131
Lord, my heart isn’t proud; my eyes aren’t conceited. I don’t get involved with things too great or wonderful for me. No. But I have calmed and quieted myself like a weaned child on its mother; I’m like the weaned child that is with me.
Israel, wait for the Lord—from now until forever from now!
Prayer
God,
I can’t find much to say today. I continue to be challenged by what I read in these gospels, feeling like their conclusive example is so far from what is generally perceived as “Christian” today. Don’t let me miss it.
As I go through what is otherwise a mundane Saturday list of to-dos…feeding this baby…going to a blood draw appointment with three young kids whose biggest wondering will be, “Why on earth is someone sticking that thing into me?”…paying bills…writing a sermon…and stumbling a bit through the day ever so tired…don’t let me miss your Kingdom within it all.
In fact, remind me all day long that while your Kingdom has some big moment highlights, all-in-all, most of it is lived in the ordinary things of every day life. Even as the world waits anxiously for something (for better or for worse), help me not only understand the mindset of Christ, but to live into his posture, determined to do right and yet un-anxious in doing it.
By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.