“9 And he called the
twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure
diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to
heal. 3 And
he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread,
nor money; and do not have two tunics.” (Luke 9)
“16 “Behold, I am sending
you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as
doves.” (Matt 10)
Work,
war, service, art, ask a thousand people why they do what they do and you will
most likely get a thousand different answers. Boil them down and there at first appear to be three major
reasons, three categories to work at something; to fight for something or
someone; or to serve; or to fuel the creation process.
The
first is the most basic, survival.
You simply will not live unless you do this thing. Go hunt for food, grow these crops
before winter, defeat this army, obey this tyrant or you will die. Service is compulsory, joyless, a duty.
The
second is to work for some reward.
A carrot is offered upon completion of the task. It may be real or illusory but in the
mind of the servant, the worker, the artist, the soldier, it is real enough to
strive for. The work may be
toilsome, painful, life-changing or near impossible but if the reward is big
enough, it will all be worth it.
The
third category would be harder to define but I think we would call it,
“Love.” The artist creates simply
for the joy it brings them. The
soldier fights, not for his own survival, not for payment but for his family,
his country, his brother standing next to him. The slave turns down freedom because he or she has adopted
the family they serve as their own, they now serve because it is what they want. The worker works for someone else’s
good or betterment. These
instances have a nobility inherent.
These would seem to be humans at their best.
And
we could leave it all there. We
could say, Christian, why do you work?
For what do you strive?
Just to live another day?
Is Jesus an insurance policy to you? Is it reward you desire? Wealth?
Health? Happiness? Perhaps just eternal life? Christ is a means to an end? Gotcher ticket to heaven so you’re
content? Or do you have your
ticket so now you feel obligated to serve? Is Jesus a stern king with a rod against your neck? Or do you love? Would you serve even if He freed you
from service? Do you obey because
you love the Master? We could
leave it there and have a nice, neat little treatise on work. We could, except I just noticed this stove
goes to “eleven.”
Luke
only records the sending of the twelve with a short list of what they will not
be taking for the journey. (Would
have been a shorter list if it had been what they were taking, “Take only what
you’re presently wearing.) Our buddy
Matt however takes the emphasis away from how much we must rely only on God’s
provision to Jesus’ prophetic warnings, not just for the immediate twelve but
for any who would dare call themselves His disciple. He wraps it up with this frightening paragraph…
“34 “Do not think that I
have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a
sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a
daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person's enemies
will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or
mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more
than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and
follow me is not worthy of me.”
Jesus
does not believe in “Blind Faith.”
He lays it all out ahead of time.
He’s not pulling punches nor does he do a bait and switch. As far as he’s concerned, God proved He
was God in the Exodus. He
prophesied all along Jesus would come.
Jesus came, proved he was the Son of Man and the Son of God with
healings, demon punting, dead raising, good news preaching. And he would soon prove there was a heaven
to go to and a resurrection by resurrecting and going to heaven. He even gives Pete, Jack and Jim a
preview of his glory at the Transfiguration. Jesus has provided a burden of proof. One which the world denies. This is the arena of the conflict,
where we’re dragged before governors and kings. Where we’re turned over by our neighbors. Where we’re hated and scorned and
persecuted and even killed for our belief. The nature of the conflict, the origin of the conflict, one
might even say, the heart of the conflict is what we get when we render down
our three purposes, our three reasons for work, service, war and art and find
only one remaining...
Love.
Everything
we do is for love. The question
isn’t, “Why do we work?” The
question is, “Whom do we love?”
The hunter desperate for game, loves himself, his own body, maybe his
family’s, his honor comes from the reputation as a provider, a good hunter, so
he hunts for food. The soldier
loves himself and does not want to die.
He loves life with his friends and does not want them to die. The servant working for his freedom
loves himself and wants the freedom to do what he wishes. The artist loves the feeling they get
from creating, the sense of accomplishment, the rush, the adulation of their
peers. The mother loves her baby,
but she also loves being loved and feeling needed and necessary and
useful. One can even serve God for
love of self, for the rewards promised, for the benefits.
Jesus
knows this. He also knows this is
the origin of conflict. The devil
loved himself over God. The devil
taught Adam and Eve to love themselves instead of God. The world still loves itself more than
God. Love is the root of all
evil. Love of self. This is why persecutions will
come. This is why Jesus doesn’t
stress earthly rewards. He is
inviting us to something higher, our true selves, our first love, the
relationship we were made for!
Love IS the reward! Put
aside all lesser loves and pursue, work for, fight for, create for, serve the
one who truly loves you, who gave up everything just to have you! Jesus.
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