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For my sakeThursday, February 19, 2015
Luke 9:24 Jesus pours gas on whatever fire might be burning. "You unbelieving and perverse generation! How long shall I stay with you and put up with you." Then he rebukes a demon and comforts the child in which the demon had been living. He welcomes the children. "It is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest." Here Jesus welcomes Peter's claim that Jesus is "God's Messiah." And he speaks calmly and clearly when he says he will be "delivered into the hands of men." He climbs a mountain to pray with Peter, James and John, and suddenly he is no longer just the friend they'd known down by the seashore. "His face changed and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning." Moses and Elijah talk with him. And then the voice from within a covering cloud: "This is my Son, whom I have chosen. Listen to him." Are you kidding me? All this in chapter nine of Luke? One small percent of the life of Jesus, and it rocks my world. Let it rock yours. These stories describe ... what, a week? ... in the life of Jesus, whom Dallas Willard calls "the smartest man who ever lived." Duh. I am struck dumb by the beauty of Jesus. What kind of man is this? He loves me and gives his life and stirs every pot that can be stirred, and holds little David close in the market square and says, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me." (What's your name? He holds you too. Feel his breath on your neck? His clothes aren't as soft as they might be. He has callouses here and there on his hands. But his fingers are gentle. Aren't they gentle?) It's all here. In Luke chapter nine. Take some time today. Read a little Bible. Get to know Jesus. And then ... shut yourself up with him and let him tell you something. Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. World Without End. |
Jesus lives high and wide in the ninth chapter of Luke. He lives mostly outside, no longer in the desert but not comfortable in the temple or the living room. Earlier he turns his disciples out itinerant: "Take nothing for the journey - no staff, no bag, no bread, no money." And a bit later in the bounty of this chapter he admonishes a wannabe follower: "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."