It is said that there are certain days of the week ‑ I think it is Mondays and Fridays ‑ when the standards of work on car assembly lines are significantly down. If you are “in the know” and have contacts, it is possible to order a car that is assembled on some other day of the week.
A few years ago a test was carried out by obtaining a car that had received the “executive treatment” and submitting it to rigorous tests. It was found that it had something like 54 manufacturing faults ‑ none of them dangerous, but faults nonetheless. Which car would you prefer? What questions would you be asking? What answers would you be demanding?
If you were being offered a job, what would you want to know about it? What does the job entail? Is it within my training and capacity? What are the working conditions? What hours will I be expected to work? What pay will I receive? All quite valid and important questions.
But what if you find that the job is low‑paid, with long hours, a high level of stress and danger and the real prospect of failure? You would have to be desperate to take on that one ‑ or deeply committed to a cause!
I have at home a book by Douglas Hyde, a prominent British
Communist who one weekend in 1948 left the Party he had served for twenty years
and publicly declared his intention, together with his family, to join the
Catholic church. He makes some striking observations
about the level of commitment expected and accepted by Communist Party members.
They were expected to work eight hours a day at a job, give eight hours to the
Party and spend eight hours with their family (including sleeping).
Eight-fourteenths of their income was willingly devoted to Party funds. Is it
any wonder that, with that kind of commitment. Communism was spread to so many
parts of the world?
When Jesus sent out his twelve, it was a job description demanding commitment! Last week, we were thinking about the general terms of what they were to do. The fact that not all would welcome their message is stated, but they seem to be very much in command of their own situation and are to shake the dust from their feet. But now Jesus goes on to speak of a level of opposition that even this brief ‘work‑experience” would bring. Jesus himself had not yet experienced the final rejection of crucifixion. In this “taste for the work” they did not experience more than their Master and Lord had done. Only when the Christian work began on the day of Pentecost ‑ after crucifixion and resurrection ‑ did they begin to experience the measure of opposition referred to here.
The task is to preach that the
Well, from
the vantage‑point of 1995, we know that many millions now claim
themselves to be Christians and that, world-wide, people are currently becoming
Christians at a greater rate than in any other period of Church history. That
is an encouraging figure, but what about Australians? We find ourselves openly
ridiculed in the media. Are we, as a church. trying to maintain public acceptance by making accommodating
statements and doing as little as possible to “rock the” public “boat”? Are we
vigorously and uncompromisingly declaring the message of the Kingdom, risking,
if need be, the unpopularity and opposition to which
Jesus refers?
“Listen! I
am sending you out just like sheep to a pack of wolves. You
must be cautious as snakes and as gentle as doves” (v. 16).
We are not to be surprised by opposition or hostility. As Jesus says later in the passage, “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called BeeIzebub, how much more the members of his household!” (vv.24‑25). And it is not just that Jesus was currently being accused of casting out demons by the prince of demons ‑ in time he would be accused and crucified as a false Messiah. Should his followers expect better treatment?
“I am
sending you out just like sheep to a pack of wolves,” Jesus tells them. They
will be hated and persecuted. They will be taken to court, whipped, handed over
to die... It is comforting that “whoever holds on to the end will be saved”
(v.22b).
That is
part of the job description. That is what they can expect. We are told that
there are some areas of the world where part of the job description of people
who take on Scripture distribution is “must be willing to die.”
In this
whole situation, they (and we) are to be “cautious as snakes and gentle as
doves”.
Their task
is gentle. It is reaching out with the caring redeeming love of God. True,
people are being called to repentance, but that is so that they can know God’s
love and forgiveness, so that they can know the joys of the
Their task
is gentle, but they are to have all their wits about them! Their minds have to
be engaged, their eyes and ears open to what is going on about them.
Jesus says
to them specifically, “Watch out!” Be aware. Don’t be surprised. So the media
caricatures and ridicules Christianity? In a world that does not accept Jesus
Christ as Saviour and Lord, that is to be expected. But the message itself is
the only true good news. It is relevant to human need. And we are not in the
business of changing it so that we can give something more palatable or
acceptable! But our lives have to truly reflect the good news. If there is a stumbling‑block,
it must be the good news itself and not the stupidity of Christians!
Then Jesus
says, “Do not worry!” and “Do not be afraid!” The Spirit of your Father will
give you the words to speak. Your relationship with him is more important than
any rejection you may suffer. No matter what happens to you, God knows and
cares for you ‑ “even the hairs of your head have all been counted”
(v.30). In fact, “If anyone declares publicly that he belongs to me, I will do the same for him before my Father in heaven.
But if anyone rejects me publicly, I will reject him before my Father in
heaven” (vv.32‑33).
The love of
Jesus is to be above every other love, even above our own life. He called (and
calls) to costly discipleship. “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow in my steps is not
fit to be my disciple” (v.38).
Someone has
put it this way in a little dialogue with God:
“Well, here
I am, Lord. You said ‘Take up your cross,’ and I’m here to do it. It’s not
easy, you know, this self‑denial thing. I mean to go through with it
though, yes sir! I’ll bet you wish more people were willing to be disciples
like me. I’ve counted the cost and surrendered my life, and it’s not an easy
road.
“You mind
if I look over these crosses? I’d kind of like a new one. I’m not fussy, you
understand; but a disciple has to be relevant these days.
“I was
wondering ‑ are there any that are vinyl padded? I’m thinking of
attracting others, see? And if I could show them a
comfortable cross. I’m sure I could win a lot more. Got
to keep up with the population explosion and all.
“And I need
something durable so I can treasure it always. Oh, is there one that’s sort of
flat so it would fit under my coat? One shouldn’t be too obvious.
“Funny,
there doesn’t seem to be much choice here. Just that coarse,
rough wood. I mean that would hurt. Don’t you have something more
distinctive, Lord? I can tell you right now, none of my friends are going to be
impressed by this shoddy workmanship. They’ll think I’m a nut or something. And
my family will be just mortified.
“What’s
that? It’s either one of these or forget the whole
thing? But Lord, I want to be your disciple, I mean, just being with you;
that’s all that counts; but life has to have a balance, too. But you don’t
understand ‑ nobody lives that way today! Who is going to be attracted by
this self‑denial bit? I mean, I want to; but let’s not overdo it. Start
getting radical like this, and they’ll have me off to the funny farm. Know what
I mean?
“I mean
being a disciple is challenging and exciting and I want to do it; but I do have
some rights, you know. Now lets see ‑ no blood ‑ OK? I just can’t
stand the thought of that, Lord... Lord? Jesus?
“Now where
do you suppose he went?”
We want to
make the cross beautiful and comfortable, not the instrument of cruelty and
crucifixion that it was ‑ with its implication for us of total
self-commitment to the one who committed himself totally for our sake.
Jesus put
it so plainly ‑ so bluntly ‑ “Whoever tries to gain his own life
will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will gain it” (v. 39).
The question is this: “Do we spend all our time and energy trying to protect and preserve ourselves? or have we given ourselves wholeheartedly to our Saviour and Lord, knowing that in him alone we have life eternal?”
© Peter J. Blackburn, Buderim, 9
July 1995
Except where otherwise noted, Scripture
quotations are from the New International Version, © International Bible
Society, 1984.
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