March 14, 2016 ~ Day 34
My 2016
Lenten Journey: Exploring the Gospels to discover what following Jesus and
becoming more like him would look like?
‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32 NRSV).
Matthew 10:1-15
~ The Commissioning of the Twelve
We can get hung up on some details; and, to be sure the details are
important at some level. For example, why did Jesus tell the twelve not to go
among the Gentiles or among the Samaritans, but only to the “lost sheep of Israel?”
[We’ll discover later that in his humanity Jesus’ faithfulness led him through
several levels of understanding his own calling. One such movement can be seen
in his early intention to go only to the “lost sheep of Israel” and his
subsequent understanding that he is sent to all people.]
I know. Some will say it’s blasphemy to suggest Jesus was ever anything
less than omniscient. That’s why we won’t go into detail at this point.
There are other distracting details. What grabs my attention is the
open-ended instruction to “proclaim the good news, ‘The
kingdom of heaven has come near.’” (vs. 7). What does that mean? I’m
pretty sure I know what those who heard it thought
it meant: they thought it meant they were about to go to war with Rome, and
that Messiah would lead them to victory and restore the kingdom of Israel to
the glory it enjoyed under David.
What Jesus really meant probably never will find consensus agreement
among Christians.
Maybe it doesn’t need our consensus. Maybe it just needs our obedience.
Is it possible that the meaning of the ‘kingdom of heaven’ is so many-faceted
that it can have a variety of applications? Is it Possible that the Baptists
and the Presbyterians and the Catholics and the Pentecostals all have valid
proclamations?
In the context of this passage of Scripture, I think the least we can
infer is that in the kingdom the sick will be cured,
the dead will be raised, lepers will be cleansed and demons will be cast out.
Moreover, in the kingdom, those who serve will do so with no guarantee of
success or even of compensation. Those who serve in the kingdom are instructed
not to linger over failures; instead, shake the dust off your feet and move on.
It’s not anything at all like they expected: a
restored kingdom of David. It’s something totally new; in fact, it’s never been
tried before. It’s been preached for centuries by the prophets; but it’s never
been tried.
If I am to follow Jesus, it will have to be on the
same basis: no guarantee of success or even of compensation. For me, the
hardest part might be to refrain from pouting when I’m not successful. But,
Jesus didn’t send the twelve out to be successful. He sent them to be faithful.
God will take care of the harvest.
Whoever has seen me has seen the
Father (John 14:9
NRSV)
‘And I, when I am lifted up from the
earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32 NRSV).
That's the way it looks through the
flawed glass that is my world view.
Together in the Walk,
Jim
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