Today's reading from Luke coincided with a passage that
the HUMC Theology Small Group was discussing last night. We are currently
working our way (very slowly) through The Politics of Jesus by John Howard
Yoder. Yoder is using the Gospel of Luke
as his primary Scriptural source and last night we were discussing Jesus'
temptation in the wilderness, found in Luke 4.
Yoder argues that the second temptation ("And the
devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority;
for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If
you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’") is not actually about
Jesus worshiping Satan, but rather the temptation of seizing and exercising
power on the world's terms. The
temptation for Jesus is to take the easy way of using his power as God's King
(the tempter's statement could be read, "if you are God's King…") in
ways that are acknowledged and understood by human authorities. Accepting this
easy way, which was readily available to Jesus, would have meant rejecting the
cross and all of its suffering and pain. We actually see Jesus struggling with
in the garden of Gethsemane in Luke 22:43-44.
In several places,
Jesus teaches that the way of discipleship is marked by difficulty, self-denial, pain, and suffering. It is the way of the cross. At times, I wonder why it
has to be this way. Couldn't God 'snap his fingers' and make it all easy? I find
it interesting that my first impulse is that God is somehow responsible for how
difficult discipleship can often be. As I reflect on this, I'm thinking that
God is not Who makes the path of discipleship difficult. It's how the world responds to people whose lives are ultimately governed by love and service, forgiveness and mercy. Followers of Jesus who take seriously his call to
serve and to love (even enemies) are often decried as idealistic, naïve,
foolish. In some places in our world, it's much worse than this - following
Jesus can result in real persecution and even death.*
I've wondered before
if I would be willing to pay that kind of price for my faith in Jesus. I'd love
to be able to say that I'd willingly give my life for my faith, and before I
had a wife and kids, I may very well have been willing to do that. I'm not so
quick to say that at this point in my life. I'm grateful that I don't live in a
place where my faith puts my life at risk, but there are many Christians in our
world today who are in that exact position. They choose a difficult and
dangerous path, resisting the temptation of the easy way.
I don't have any
eloquent or grand conclusions to draw about that - it's simply what I'm
thinking about this afternoon. I do know that the way of discipleship is not
the American way (or the Canadian way or the Norwegian way or the Kenyan way).
It is a way that is available no matter which empire/state/government you're
under, but it's not an easy way or a way that is easily understood by those
exercising earthly power. Certainly, Christianity has been coopted and
corrupted in any number of ways throughout history, but the countercultural,
counterintuitive call of Jesus still challenges and invites us. And it's still
difficult.
One foot in front of
the other, eyes fixed on the pioneer of our faith…
*As opposed to fake, self-pitying 'persecution' that is focused on the color of Starbucks' cups and whether or not retailers wish people a "Merry Christmas". If someone's faith in Jesus needs to be validated by a coffee cup or a certain holiday greeting at Target, then one has to wonder about the strength or validity about said person's 'faith'...
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