Context
I communicated with a young man today. He wrote a blogpost that has gone viral - it's getting wide circulation and bringing him a lot of praise and a lot of criticism. I've experienced both in my writing career - the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. There is a temptation, when you get some success, to begin to play to the crowd, to seek to replicate your success, to lengthen your fifteen minutes of fame.
In today's readings we see some of the counter-intuitive behavior of Jesus Christ. When he was at the height of his popularity, when thousands were following him, when his name was on the tongues of every person in Israel, he did something strange. He did not capitalize on his fame. He withdrew with his disciples and appointed twelve men to be his inner circle. He realized that building into those men was more important to his lasting success than building his fame.
We also see the mention here of Judas the betrayer. Every leader experiences the heartbreak of one on whom he or she counted turning away, proving unfit or unfaithful to the task. Even Jesus had that happen. Even within his inner circle there was a betrayer.
But from this reading and those ahead we will see the high importance that Jesus put on building his inner circle, on preparing the leadership of the church.
In today's readings we see some of the counter-intuitive behavior of Jesus Christ. When he was at the height of his popularity, when thousands were following him, when his name was on the tongues of every person in Israel, he did something strange. He did not capitalize on his fame. He withdrew with his disciples and appointed twelve men to be his inner circle. He realized that building into those men was more important to his lasting success than building his fame.
We also see the mention here of Judas the betrayer. Every leader experiences the heartbreak of one on whom he or she counted turning away, proving unfit or unfaithful to the task. Even Jesus had that happen. Even within his inner circle there was a betrayer.
But from this reading and those ahead we will see the high importance that Jesus put on building his inner circle, on preparing the leadership of the church.
Devotional - Of Mountains and Molehills
But if we can look back on the last 25 years of church life in America when we have heavenly perspective, I am afraid we will be utterly amazed and perhaps a little ashamed at some of the minuscule, insignificant molehills that we turned into Mt. Everest-sized mountains. We made a huge deal over whether or not a church used pianos and organs to sing God's praises or whether the glorification of God was accompanied by guitars and keyboards. Some condemned others as heretics because they used translations of the Bible that did not have thees and thous. We fought over whether the preacher should wear a tie and coat - as if God had put a dress code in the Bible. There are so many things we've fought over, divided over, railed against, and stressed about that simply do not amount to, as we used to say, "a hill of beans." If we look back from glory on these things we are going to wonder why, with our nation collapsing morally and people going to hell by the millions, we played patty cake over things that just didn't matter.
It is another evidence that that church today is way too much like the Pharisees of Jesus' day. That is a dangerous accusation, of course. Social media has "Godwin's law." When two people argue online, someone is eventually going to accuse the other of being a Nazi - it's almost inevitable. But in the church we are more likely to hurl the epithet, "Pharisee." Still, it is uncomfortably true in several ways.
Look at the behavior of the Pharisees in Luke 6:1-11. First, Jesus and his disciples were walking through a grain field on the Sabbath and the disciples plucked and ate a few heads of grain. The Pharisees went apoplectic at this violation of their laws. A man was not supposed to harvest his fields on the Sabbath, but picking a few heads of grain for food as you walked - that was not what God had in mind. The molehill became a mountain. Then, in a synagogue on another Sabbath, there was a man with a withered hand. The Pharisees watched closely to see if Jesus would heal him. Were they rejoicing that a man was set free from his handicap? Did they glory in the mighty power of God? No, they were upset - yes, ANGRY - that Jesus healed a man in a way that didn't follow their rules.
Pharisees cared more about doing things their way than seeing the activity of God. According to verse 11 they were "filled with fury" when Jesus healed this man. Seriously? A man was healed and they were torqued? Why? Because it was about control for them. Do it my way. Follow my rules. Don't change the traditions. They were more concerned about that than seeing the mighty power of God. They had a form of godliness, but not the reality of God.
It is far too easy for us to be distracted from the major issues to focus on hills of beans. Too often we let molehills grow to be mountains when our egos, our desire for control, our rules, or our love of tradition interferes with the work that God is doing.
May we be new wineskins ready to receive the new wine of God's glory, his power and grace!
Father, lead us and guide us to be whatever you want us to be. May the spirit of Phariseeism be chased far from us.
Think and Pray
Think of areas of conflict in your own life and in your (our) church. Are they true mountains (true biblical issues) or are they molehills (personal preference, battles for control, power struggles)?
Commit to Christ that you want your life to be free of all traces of Phariseeism.
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