though it is not a spiritual song may well reminds me of the road to Emmaus described in Luke 24. Maria Boulding in "The Coming of God" describes how the disciples must have felt on that road. She writes that the road might've held something like the following for the disciples:
"We had hoped," say that travellers to the Lord. "We had hoped that things would go like this... We had our plans, but now..."
"Don't you see," their unrecognized fellow-pilgrim asks them. Don't you see that it had to be like that? ... Don't you understand that it can't be otherwise for you? You have to jettison your small plans, because the Father's plans for you are unthinkably greater and more wonderful.
From our vantage point, it seems so clear. Of course, it had to be that way. But think of how confusing it must've been to the disciples. But when we're in the middle of our own lives, it's harder. We can't see why it "couldn't be otherwise," we can't understand why our hopes and plans failed. It's important to remember that when we don't understand, the Father is in control. His plans are far more wonderful and great than even our greatest dreams. We need to set our small plans aside and reach for His eternal purpose.
Finding the Road
16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” ~Matthew 19:16-23
At first glance the rich man's request seems decent enough. He's just wanting to find the road to enter the kingdom of heaven. He wants to assure himself a ticket in... doesn't everyone? But on a closer look, it seems more like he's looking for a shortcut than directions. Take a look at the second question he asks. When Jesus tells him to keep the commandments, the man asks "Which ones?" Now clearly the definitive "the" when used without any specification denotes that "all" of the commandments should be kept, but the young man prods. What exactly do I need to do? How much is "just enough" to get in? Hmm... sounds a bit like some of my students. Instead of writing their essays and working hard, they spend time trying to figure out how much they absolutely need to go; they waste time finding shortcuts.
Then, the young man feels pleased with himself. I can almost hear my students retort, "Ah, I've done all that. I get an A." The young man would say, "Great! I'm in. Time to relax." But not so fast, Jesus adds, "If you want to be perfect..." I can almost here the young man's thoughts, "Perfect? Perfect? Who said anything about perfect? I'm just looking for a ticket into heaven, man. Besides, that's crazy talk. Who would do that?" But we are instructed to "be perfect, therefore, just as our heavenly Father is perfect." The status quo, the mediocre, that's not near enough.
All of us are undoubtedly rich compared to many in the world, since we have the privileged of even reading these words on the internet. And Jesus didn't "hedge" around the truth. He told the man straight out, "It is hard." There's no easy way. There's no short cut. It's all or nothing on this road to the kingdom of God. As Brother Alexander Mack prompted, we must "count the cost" and follow Jesus on the road. Not the "just enough" road or "short cut" road, but the challenging long and winding road on which His Holy Spirit works in and through us.
Travelling the Road
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. ~Matthew 19:25-30
The next part of this passage is somewhat humorous. I can almost here the disciples grumbling.
"Aw, man. There goes another hefty tithe." "Jesus, well, who can get into heaven then?" "You're not leaving much room for anyone to join us." "Shh... you're gonna scare them all away."
Who can be saved? And then, the answer that Jesus needed to give. Perhaps this was more important that his interchange with the rich young man. Perhaps he needed to set forth the toll of the highway to heaven to prove that none of us deserve it, none of us can do this on our own.
In fact, there are 2 ways to take this response. 1) We cannot give up everything on our own, but God helps us to live relying on Him. 2) We cannot get into heaven on our own, because the 'price' is too great, but God through sending Christ to 'pay' for our sins accepts us as His own. God has made it possible through His son Jesus Christ. I believe, as is often the case in the Bible, that both meanings are found embedded in this scripture. (In fact, the inclusive nature of "all" would suggest this.)
The second thing noticeable about how to 'travel the road' is that it requires leaving something. "Leaving everything" [material wealth], "leaving brothers, sisters and mother" [family], "leaving fields" [job]. As a young person, I read this verse and thought, "That's it. I need to sell everything... or maybe give it away, and then I'll go. I'll follow." While such service is certainly needed ("the harvest is plenty, and the workers are few"), it may not mean quite this for all of us.
Instead, we may need to metaphorically leave money, family and job... by putting Christ first in our lives. It may mean a reordering of priorities. We may need to leave bad habits, selfish tendencies, old routines. We may need to leave grudges or arguments with family or friends. Yes, leaving is difficult, especially because we often find comfort in our routines. So leaving one path and travelling down another is hard, but as Jesus states, there are blessings for those who leave (v.30).
Brad and I are on the cusp of leaving the church start in the hopes that we can invite our friends and colleagues. What we want more than anything is to grow the church, and we are humbly recognizing that perhaps God wants us to work in existing churches instead of starting yet another. Perhaps God wants us to reach out to our colleagues in our classes instead of our neighbors in the community where we live. Perhaps missional living in today's society means knocking on the hearts of those we interact with daily instead of knocking on the doors next door of those we hardly ever see. And yes, even or especially in this case, leaving is hard. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we find ourselves commenting disheartened, "This is not what we had hoped. Why couldn't it have been as we had hoped?" But perhaps in the end we will see that it could not have been another way. And humbled, we are now realizing what Rabbi Zusya said a short while before his death:
"In the world to come I shall not be asked: 'Why were you not Moses?' I shall be asked, 'Why were you not Zuzya?'"
Not everyone needs to be a missionary in a foreign country, a church treasurer, a Sunday School teacher, a pastor, the founder of a church... Moses. But we do need to be ourselves, the selves that Christ calls us to be, the selves that Christ empowers us to be ... making all things possible in His perfect plan. So we set aside our own plans and seek to be ourselves, as new creations in Christ.
Why have you not been _____ ? Seek and travel the road to become the self Christ calls, empowers and inspires you to be today.
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