Over the last several years I have learned Jesus is God. Of course, I should have known this before. After all, I was saved at around 10 years of age. Why did I miss this? Why did I not understand this? There were several reasons. I didn't read the Bible. I wasn't brought to church regularly. I did not pray daily. I did not hang out with Christians. These are things I do now, so consequentially I am learning about Jesus. That is why this blog is entitled "Who is Jesus?". I am learning about how clearly Jesus shows who he is. The Bible is my standard. Thank you Lord for bringing me out of the darkness into the light.
VERSE OF STUDY FOR TODAY
Luke 10
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
I am struggling with the below passage from Luke 10:1-4. Specifically I am focusing on verses, 3 and 4 because they seem to be jumping out at me today. In verse 3, Jesus is tellling me to go into the world. First I ask this obvious question. Is Jesus even talking to me? The fact is he was talking to 72 followers. He was not talking to the 12 disciples was he? It doesn't appear so, because in verse one he calls them 72 others. Wait, I've always been taught that I was a disciple of Jesus. Am I? I would argue based on this that I am one of these 72 others and not a disciple. Why? First off, I don't want to give myself even that much credit and second, I don't spend all day with Jesus yet (big grin) just a few hours in the morning. So, I will say for arguments sake, and the fact that no scholar will prove me wrong (since no scholar will read this blog), that I am more of a "follower" than a disciple. Let's say for the purposes of this discussion that I am 1 of the 72 and not 1 of the 12. (Don't get me wrong here. I want to be a disciple. I just wonder whether I have even reached the disciple level yet, if there is such a thing.)
So, using that premise of being one of the 72 followers mentioned below, Jesus is telling me to go into the world and make other followers, right? He says, go into the world as "lambs among wolves". So, here I go with my little lamb self surrounded by wolves. I can relate to that. I am not even a grown up sheep. Grown up sheep are dumb, and I am even dumber than them. Sounds about right (smile)! But let's move on to Verse 4. Jesus says, to the little lamb, to not to take purse, bag, or sandals and to not greet anyone on the road. What!? I have learned about sheep a bit. Sheep are helpless creatures. Here Jesus is telling these baby sheep, lambs, to go out into the world with nothing. He tells the baby sheep to take no money, clothes, or shoes. So Jesus tells the baby sheep go on out into that pack of wolves with nothing to protect them. How long does he expect the baby sheep to last? I imagine that a pack of wolves will tear apart a grown sheep. A herd of grown sheep would probably be scattered and several would be killed by a the wolf pack. What would they do to one baby sheep with nothing to protect itself?! They'd have their meal served to them, that's what would happen. They wouldn't have to run after the lamb at all. They would just surround the lamb, kill it, and begin the meal. But wait! Jesus says I do get a companion. Great! I am not alone! I have someone to watch my back! I have... I get help from a ... lamb?!!! Another lamb with nothing to defend itself!? (Yes I am being incredulous here!) Are you kidding me Jesus?!! Well at least the wolves will have more lamb meat to go around. So, why does Jesus make this statement? Come on, it's obvious! Even a kindergartener who's been raised in a church knows the answer! Jesus is protecting the lambs! Wait, so that means they will not be killed! Yah! Jesus will protect them!!! Great! I don't have to be afraid!!! I will be taken care of! I won't get eaten by the wolves (nothing about not getting banged up a bit though). So, it's all good. So why am I so sad about this scripture. It's clear to me why I am sad. I am sad because I haven't done this, or if I have, I am not doing it enough. Not nearly enough.
You see, one of my goals is to bring one 1,000 people to know Christ. I made this goal around a year ago. I made this goal, because of what Jesus has done and is continuing to do for me. He is giving me joy, peace, love, and the ability to believe in Him more and more. I have more power and purpose than ever before. I am free of many sins that have plagued me for years. I am becoming someone I actually like to see in the mirror. The closer I get to God, to Jesus, the closer I want to become. He has given me a new heart. I want to love like he loved. I want be like Jesus. I know that some of you will read this and mock me. Some of you may read this and say, "Well Jon was always idealistic." or "Jon has always had such a good heart." or "Has Jon lost his marbles?!" Heck, I might have said those things about you several years ago had you been writing this stuff. The truth is that the person I used to be would likely I not have read the first sentence of this blog simply based on the title. Well, thanks for reading this. If you got this far God bless and forgive me if I revealed too much. I do that sometimes.
I love you all. I know God will help me in this journey. Thanks and Praise to God.
I must admit, as a professional scoffer (before christ that is) i am absolutely in agreement with you. Jesus,i was taught, was the Son of the most high God, yet almost the equivalent of a prophet in his importance. You used his name to pray and remembered his death once a year. The bible clearly states that (john 14:6) Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."....kinda important shoes to fill for just a prophet. Not saying we were taught he "WAS" a prophet, there was just way more emphasis placed on GOD, and less placed on Jesus being a main player in the Godhead. I would compare it to the rook in a game of chess...very important..but ...if ya lost it, you could still win ( best analogy i could come up with). As a human, we find it very difficult to believe that God, to show his love for us, split a piece of himself off (in crude terms for i lack poetic talent in this particular description)and created a perfect being,(His Son) that after the fall of man, he took that perfect being and created a human , perfect in every way, to show us how to behave, live, love, and pray, then ultimately, show us the limit to which we have to sacrifice ourselves for his purpose, is actually without limit. we can't cut a piece off of ourselves, so we don't understand in concept how it could have been done. yet, we are perfectly capable of believing he created a perfect human being in the first place..named adam and he cut a piece of man out, and formed a woman as a companion.... ok...so he could only do it once? did he not buy a refill for his "creation card"?
ReplyDeleteThankfully, I have since "unlearned what i have learned" (Thanks Yoda!) Jesus is the King we now serve. He died to buy us back from our sins and Satan's dominion. As his servants, property, slaves..whatever floats our boat, we now have authority over this world again, and everything in it. The way i see it, that makes him my Lord and savior. The least i can do is what he asks of me. Thanks for posting Jon...God Bless You Brother!