Serious Business
Is Jesus saying if you are not with me, you are against me?
Once when Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, ‘ who do the crowds say that I am?’ They answered, ‘John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered, ‘The Messiah of God.’ He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, saying, ‘The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’ Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.’ - Luke 9:18-27
There is a lot going on in this short excerpt from Luke's Gospel.
Jesus starts out sounding curious. Who do they say I am? But then he gets serious and asks who do you say I am? When they say he is the Messiah, he seems to get angry. Why?
Perhaps they didn't realize how much danger that puts him in. He tells them he must suffer and die because of who he is, and how hard it will be for people to follow him. He does get serious. And he wants all who follow him to realize that they are doing something that sets them apart from everyone else.
Telling the truth is viewed as blasphemy, so he warns them to keep it quiet until he can do what he came to do.
Most people today don't care what we believe. Live and let live is the way for many. But the day may come when we will encounter someone who demands conformity to a belief we find foreign, and we will have to decide. Do we acquiesce? Or do we stand up for our faith?
Then we will see first hand what Jesus is warning them about.
It is worth thinking of these things now, when there is no risk of death or torture for what we believe. And let us pray we are never put to the test.
Maybe that is what Jesus meant when he taught us to pray to the Father that we do not enter our time of trial.
More to come...