The central section of Luke's Gospel devotes
much material to Jesus' training of His disciples - not only the 12, but a much
larger group. His training program was
not the sort of training program we'd see inaugurated in our day when the
emphasis is on leadership and the qualities required. Jesus rather emphasized what we could call
"followership." As a matter of
fact, His methods would undoubtedly have been just as out of place in His day
as in ours.
Look at His recruitment program and how He
dealt with three would-be apprentices:
"As
they were going in the way, someone said to Him, 'I'll follow you wherever you
go!'Jesus said to him, 'The foxes have dens and the birds of the sky nests, but the Son of Man doesn't have a place where He may lay His head.'
He said to another, 'Follow Me.'
He replied, 'Lord, first permit me to go to bury my father.'
He said to him, 'Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.'
Another also said, 'I'll follow you Lord - but first permit me to say goodbye to those in my house.'
Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks behind is fit for the Kingdom of God!'"
Luke
9:57-64
We're not told whether or not any of the
three signed up. Elsewhere in the
Gospels we do read of similar calls and that some did respond.
As we discussed this passage in our Sunday
morning Bible study, I felt that all of us (myself included) felt some
discomfort with these demands. Someone
made the statement that these demands were unreasonable and most of us agreed
that by this world's standards they definitely were.
Someone else brought up the fact that we who
follow Jesus are citizens of two kingdoms - the Kingdom of this world and the
Kingdom of God. These demands are
unreasonable by the thinking of the Kingdom of this world, but not by that of
the Kingdom of God.
The demands Jesus makes are
unreasonable, if we begin our reasoning with the premises of this world. But they are reasonable if we begin with the
premises of the Kingdom of God.
And what are those premises? I do not intend to look here at all of them
and to compare those of the two contrasting Kingdoms, except for a few basics.
If I may speak in generalities, this world is
based on self-centeredness. The goals
are personal happiness. We seek for
fame, wealth, possessions, power, and position in order to bring about this
happiness.
The premise of the Kingdom of God is God-centered. He is to be the center of our concern, our
worship, and our service. And this
concern is to work itself out in service to others. Self takes a back seat.
After this recruitment program, Jesus sent 70
disciples out in pairs "to every town and place where He was going to
go" (Luke 10:1). Who these people
were, we're not told, though their
number probably included the twelve. Did
it also include raw recruits like the three just mentioned? Their assignment and methods are spelled out
in this chapter although the history of their mission itself is not described.
We read that "the 70 returned with joy
saying 'Lord even the demons are submitted to us in your name'"
(10:17). They are filled with excitement
over the newly gained power and authority.
After a few words concerning their new powers and their place in God's
program, Jesus apparently wants to bring them down from this excitement.
"However don't rejoice in this, that the
spirits are submitted to you, but rejoice that your names are written in the
Heavens!" (10:20).
Often when reading a passage such as the
above, we stop and package it up by itself, pulling it out of its immediate
context. We then pick up the following
passage at some other time and do the same with it, failing to see the
connections. We may especially do this
with the one that follows this story. We
want to meditate on Jesus' prayer to His Father, without considering that it
was apparently uttered in the presence of those 70 who had just returned from their
mission.
"At that same hour, He rejoiced in the
Holy Spirit and said, 'I praise You Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that you
have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to
children. Yes Father, because this was
pleasing in your sight! All things have
been handed over to Me by My Father. And
no one knows Who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the
Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him'" (10:21, 22).
I have pondered the deep theological
implications of Jesus' prayer many times, but have failed to recognize when
He uttered it. It says, "At that
same hour." In other words,
immediately after the 70 had returned with reports of their mission. They were on a high from seeing success occur
at their hands. Jesus had just assured
them of their place in heaven. But then,
instead of building up their self-esteem, He turns to His Father and thanks Him
for using these "children" - while they were apparently
listening. I can imagine the wind going
out of their sails. They stopped
high-fiving and probably were pretty bewildered. Surely Jesus could have given them a little
bit of praise? Is He being unreasonable
again?
I like recognition, even when it's
flattery. It seems as though that is the
way we're made. We love a little pat on
the back for what we've accomplished.
But somehow Jesus seems to love to burst our bubbles. God doesn't use us because we are so well qualified. He uses us because we are not
qualified! The praise goes to Him.
Anyway, Jesus does end this with a bit of
encouragement.
"And turning to the disciples privately,
He said, 'Blessed are the eyes that see what you see, for I'm telling you that
many prophets and kings have wanted to see what you see and haven't seen and to
hear what you hear and haven't heard'" (10:23, 24).
The logic of the Kingdom of God makes sense
if we start from the premises of the Kingdom. It makes no sense if we begin with the premises
of this world.
See: JESUS FOR DUMMIES?
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