Wednesday
What can you learn from having dinner with Jesus?
Jesus is at the home of a Pharisee. Sort of interesting how we always think of Jesus as having nothing to do with the Pharisees… yet here he is sharing a meal with them. And more importantly teaching them some important lessons. Don’t you love how Jesus uses the situations he finds himself in to teach lessons. This tells me that I should always be looking for opportunities to share.
Today, Jesus is telling us what is really important to him, helping others no matter what the “law” may say. I know of a woman who has for many years worked with the homeless in a large city and every time she gives them blankets to keep them warm, the police come and take them away. Not because the police are bad, but the “law” prohibits people sleeping on the streets – vagrants. I’d like to say the government isn’t doing anything to help the homeless situation in the city or in any city, but it isn’t the government’s responsibility, it is ours and we should, like this woman… work to change the law and in the meantime bring comfort and help to the needy. Jesus also speaks in the passage about humility. This is a hard concept for many people, because we are taught to go for the gusto… take what you want… but it is not about being the most important person in the room, it is about serving the most important Person.
We should do everything as if we are serving Christ, which in actuality we are. Which takes us to Jesus’ last remarks in this chapter. The cost of serving Him. Many people use this to talk about ‘bearing a cross’ meaning that they are enduring a difficult situation, but in fact Jesus is talking about the cost of discipleship. The cost of following Him. If you recall, he is on his way to Jerusalem where he will be facing crucifixion and the weight of this is hitting him. He is telling his followers that the condition of following him will be hard. Being a Christian in an evil world is not always an easy road to travel, but the rewards are so amazing. So Jesus lays out some conditions for us as followers. We need to have no greater love than love for Jesus. We will have to carry our own cross, and count the cost of our commitment and we will need to be “salty” people.
In other words, Jesus is saying that we are not to hate others, but to love Him more. This translation is sometimes difficult for us to understand, but the Jewish people would have known that this is exactly what he meant. Not that we should hate anyone, but by comparison… we should love Him so much more. When He speaks about carrying our cross, we should understand that we need to follow God and do what He wants us to do, no matter how difficult it might be or whatever consequences might happen. For example, we might actually lose our job by standing firm on our beliefs. Or in many places you could lose your life. So as Jesus says, count the cost. What will you need if you become a follower of Christ? What can you expect from God? The bible promises that the Holy Spirit will equip us and Jesus will be with us forever. Pretty good trade off. And the last thing, being “salt of the earth”, means we are the preservers of the truth, of the way and to add zest to our relationships. Being a Christian doesn’t mean we have to give up happiness and certainly we can receive great joy in what takes place.
So when we count the cost of discipleship, we need to truly ask ourselves, what does it require of us to follow Jesus? Micah 6:8, tells us “the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Just what Jesus has told us again in this chapter.
Walking humbly with God
Pastor Kathy