And
what would a wretch like me do if I were in Jesus’ shoes? I would probably get distracted.
Distractions
are easier to come by than you think.
While
James and John are traveling with Jesus they notice that a village of
Samaritans has not accepted Jesus and his message. It appears that these people will not accept
Jesus’ message of good news, because Jesus has his eyes set on Jerusalem and
rather than Mount Gerizim (the mountain that the Samaritans believe is the holy
mountain of God, rather than the temple mount in Jerusalem).
What
mountain does God prefer? To us who know
that God is everywhere, arguing over which mountain God likes to visit in order
take a vacation from heaven seems like a stupid thing to get distracted over. But, do not most of our distractions look
stupid to someone looking on from the outside?
Does
God really care about the type of pants that someone chooses to wear to
church? Does God really care about which
hymn we would choose to sing?
But,
we make the insignificant top priority all the time; Cats vs. Dogs; Liberal vs.
Conservative; Eagles vs. Steelers; Organic vs. Non-Organic; people who think
blue is the best color vs. everyone else…because it is!
"Lord, do you
want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" James and John declare in response to those
who do not accept Jesus.
What,
James and John? Where did that come
from? How did a theological disagreement
about mountains rise to the level of fire and destruction from heaven? How does such a disagreement warrant the
leveling of houses and the slaughter of innocent animals, children, and women,
all of whom had nothing to do with the disagreement?
But,
I guess that we could also rightly ask how a political comment on Facebook or
Twitter rises to the level of un-friending and never wanting to talk family and
friends again?
Distractions
are easier to come by than you think.
But, Jesus is not distracted. He
has his eyes set on Jerusalem. He has
his eyes set on the cross. He has his eyes
set on redeeming his people. He has his
eyes set of saving those very people who get easily distracted and hateful, and
he will not let anything get in his way.
Did
you know that empathy, the ability of to see another person’s perspective and
imagine how they are feeling, has dropped 40% in college students since the
year 2000? And, no, this does not
necessarily say something about “kids these days” (college students are just
easy test subjects because they will do work for pizza). Rather, it is a reflection of just how
polarized our society has become quite recently.
People
do not even pretend to try to understand another person’s perspective
anymore. Rather, entrenching ourselves in
our own points of view these days is raised up as a high virtue. Sticking to our values and ideals is how it
is described honorably, but in reality it is quite often just allowing ourselves
to be distracted from what God finds important.
And,
what exactly is it that God find important?
Well, if you want to know, take a look at Jesus. Take a look at “God with us.” Jesus has his eyes set on Jerusalem. Jesus has his eyes set on saving the sinner
and redeeming the ones who are lowly.
In
Jesus’ own words he says that, “The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to
the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of
sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the
Lord’s favor” (NRSV, Luke 4:18-19).
Jesus
cares that the lowly are raised up.
Jesus cares that those who are bound up be set free. Jesus cares that those who cannot see might
have their eyes opened. Jesus cares that
forgiveness and a new start rules our thoughts and minds. Jesus cares that the one sheep is sought out,
leaving the 99 behind. Jesus has his
eyes set on the love of the cross, and he will not be distracted by any of us.
A
common refrain that anyone who has dealt with children starts to hear is, “Yes,
but first I need to…” This is what a
parent soon begins to hear when they give instructions to their children.
“Please
pick up your socks.”
“OK,
but first I need to finish eating my snack.”
And,
an hour later, guess what? You got it,
the socks are still there!
If
this is infuriating to parents, imagine how infuriating it is to God to have so
many people uttering their own versions of “Yes, but first I need to…”
“My
children are starving and cold, will you help them?” God asks.
“Yes,
but first there is a list of to-dos at home that I need to attend to.”
“My
children are being discriminated against.
They need love,” God says.
“Yes,
but first I need to attend to…”
Well,
you fill in the blank. In the scriptures
it is a guy who needs to bury a father and a guy who needs to turn back and
say goodbye to his family. As reasonable
as all of these excuses sound, and our excuses always sound reasonable, Jesus
knows that an hour later the sock will still be on the floor. Am I right?
But,
Jesus has set his eyes on the Jerusalem.
He has eyes set on the cross, he has his eyes on setting all of us free
from our distractions and forgiving our past detours away from kingdom living. Nothing will deter him from redeeming us.
In
other words, Jesus has his eyes set on loving the whole world, and no amount of
distractions of other important things will keep him from his saving work.
That
is right, distracted or not; empathetic or not; working to save others or not; casting
fire on others or not; too busy or not; too cool for God or not; Jesus comes to
redeem us, and he will not be distracted.
And, if that love cannot knock down our walls of distraction, I do not
know what will. But, even if our walls
stay erected, God’s love of us is still true.
But,
for those of us who are willing to allow those walls to be knocked down by God,
we strive…imperfect as it may be…to also focus our eyes on Jerusalem. We strive to set our eyes on the love of the
cross. And, in doing so, maybe our lives
will be lives of empathy and love, and not lives of distraction.
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