Christian Pathway

God takes you places you never expected, physically, theologically, mentally, He alters your view of everything, as love when you encounter it is wont to do, it’s the best bit about knowing him, when you free yourself to the wind, you find he is the wind, and the best you can hope to be is the sail, That’s why I love him so much,

This is the story of some guys who felt the wind and let themselves go

So, the disciples are just average Joes, going about their daily business, and Jesus comes by and calls them Matthew from his booth, a hated man, collecting the taxes from an oppressed people; Simon from his boat, leaving a steady income and inherited wealth and the expectation he would support his family going on. All that stopped in the moment he called, and they answered.

At that moment, the direction of their lives changes and the daily activities change; the fabric of their existence changes; they don’t see families; they don’t earn money; they become his disciples; and they teach in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness.

This is real dedication, upheaval, and effort for days and days.

You would think that might be enough, but NO, Jesus needs more!

He comes out with the line “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. “

You’re like, “What does that mean?” It means. Jesus knows many will follow him, but he is just one man; he needs us to spread out!

And when you do that, what does THAT mean? Well, he lets you in on what’s next.

Some people will welcome you. But others? Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles.

That would scare me. Being flogged in Jesus’ time was one of the most brutal punishments the Roman world used — deliberately designed to break a person physically, mentally, and publicly, naked , tied to a post and struck with a thing that tears strips off you. And they would have known it. He says you are going to be a testimony. The suffering and dedication you will endure will be a testament to others.

Then he comes out with “Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts”. So, doing this, you will have the clothes you stand in, so now you are vulnerable, physically and financially, trying to heal the sick.

So Jesus wants his disciples vulnerable as they do this, and being vulnerable shapes Jesus ‘ entire mission, from his birth in a manger to his death on a cross; everything he did came from this place, all the challenges to power, all the messages of mercy, all the love shown to his enemies. All these things resonate more because they come from a place of weakness. The good news, when it comes from a place where I can do you no harm and not coerce, means you choose and aren’t forced. So it sticks. Ask yourself: apart from the chaos left behind, how much of Trump’s legacy will remain when he’s gone? Not much I daresay, hence his desire for ballrooms, executive orders, and as much money as he can get. All these worldly protections won’t last long compared to a people who are totally bought into your message and the love it shares.

Preaching the good news has to come from this place to be believed, a place of self-giving to really accepting God would start from this place. That, in turn, enables the belief that it’s for my good, because it’s clearly not for his or his followers. This makes people see it for what it is , an expression of love. However, when your heart cant accept that makes their job riskier. I cant accept a place of giving with no advantage, so whats the game, what am I missing. That, in turn, means you see a threat.

So preaching the good news that the messiah is here and that’s going to really threaten powerful people with nice cushy jobs and seats at the best tables. Which is why you are going to be badly hurt doing this…. They are reacting to the unknown, and as a result, when he says he’s the messiah, they see their positions of power threatened. They swapped his message for one of a power grab; hence, when they killed him, they said, ” Hail, King of the jews…

He knows this, which is why he says, When they hand you over (Not IF – – WHEN), do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. So you take that on faith as well.

But this is an incredible amount to ask: family, wealth, income, protection, pain, ridicule, torture, exposure, all manner of threats for this man. As Boenhoffer says

Levi all that he has – but not because he thinks that he might be doing something worthwhile, but simply for the sake of the call.

So our message has to come from discomfort.
If your faith is comfortable now, it means one of three things: you have had discomfort for the sake of it, you are, or you will be. Our faith is hard work! This harvest, the corn doesn’t grow itself, nor does it leap into the flour mill. We are asked to do whatever it takes to do his bidding; the one thing we must not do is wait till we are ready, till it’s comfortable.
Jesus asks a lot of us, and these are quite hard words, but trust me, this is the light version compared with Bonhoeffer’s explanation.

The thing we can learn from this is that these are ordinary people, not experts. Not heroes. Just people who will say: “Here I am, Lord — send me.”

Jesus’ love and response of compassion need us to put it into action, even more now that he is not here. That doesn’t go away without him; in fact, it rests more fully with us, and with us all here?
We probably won’t get flogged, we probably have to leave our families, but the compassion we are shown, we need to share it forward? But the thing we can learn from the wider narrative of this story
Jesus sees our broken world and feels our pain, and then Jesus calls and sends us. He warns us it may not be easy, but he enables us to be more than we ever could be without him
This is a hard job, this Christianity lark, as C.S.Lewis said: “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

The rewards are eternity and the everlasting love of God, walking around with his love inside you all the time, the love and companionship of his church, a family both here and in heaven rooting for you?
That’s amazing, isn’t it? But this grace isn’t cheap; just wobbling along as best we can is hard work.

We have grace to overcome our moments of weakness, we have our church to support us, and prayer to direct us.

But the rewards?

The rewards are eternity in the company of love