Luke 9:46-62

I know what you're thinking. "A new post? What's this? Hath hell frozen over?"

Quit with the sarcasm, will ya?

Luke 9:46-62

Who Will Be the Greatest

46An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. 47Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. 48Then he said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest."
49"Master," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us."

50"Do not stop him," Jesus said, "for whoever is not against you is for you."

Samaritan Opposition

51As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" 55But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56and they went to another village.

The Cost of Following Jesus

57As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."
58Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

59He said to another man, "Follow me."
But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."

60Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."

62Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."



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Verses 46-50 remind me of how so many of our churches (mine included) write children off and send them off to do their "own thing" during services. My wife and I are as guilty of this as anyone -- I'm SO thankful for childcare during "church time!" Sure, it's not just childcare -- my kids learn a LOT at church, thanks to all of the classes and groups that are prevalent at our large church. Yet sometimes we need to worship with them, spend that "church time" with them so they are exposed to it. We need to worship as a family. And our churches need to make time for that, make it more commonplace, so that the old people (and even some preachers) don't shoot dirty looks at every family with loud young kids!

A few of us Gen-Xers put on a "worship night" every once in awhile, and for one of them on a recent Friday night, we said there would be no childcare. "Bring your kids in with you, so you can worship as a family!" Some of them were rather shocked and annoyed. "Family worship" is not a common thing at many large Protestant churches -- after all, kids can't sit still for an hour, and we don't want them to be a *distraction*! But it was fine, it was fantastic, and it was great to see so many young kids in the aisles and pews, singing even if they didn't know the words, offering words of scripture and encouragement.

Enough on that tangent. "Whoever is not against you is for you" in verse 50 reminds me of what Desmond is apt to remind us: "All truth is God's truth." I also love what the disciples say in verse 54... "Lord, the people in this town didn't welcome us! Do you want us to call down fire from heaven and kill them?" Nice, huh? They had obviously been focusing a bit much on some Old Testament fire and brimstone! But that wasn't what Jesus was about. "No, let's just go somewhere else," he says. Something to keep in mind for those of us that like endlessly arguing (aka beating our heads against the wall) on Internet forums!

Verses 57-62, however, paint a picture of what it should be like to follow Jesus: It's a full-time commitment that should require some sacrifice. It's putting Jesus' message to the forefront, not compartmentalizing it so it only pops up on Sunday mornings or whenever it's convenient. A lot of us don't like to look at it that way.

We'll ease back into this blog slowly and see if anyone actually comes back over here to read and comment...