Getting Through

I've been in Luke 16 for a while. It is typical of many of the teachings of Jesus where He struggles to get through to his hearers. In the chapter He tells a story about a steward who is accused of mismanagement, and foreseeing his firing the steward finds a way to avoid digging ditches or begging. Jesus gives some instruction on the use of money, leveraging the earthly in order to secure the heavenly, using money instead of being used by money. He was talking to folks who loved money, who esteemed what God detested. God provided  several centuries of foreshadowing and prophesies contained in written form in the Law and the Prophets to show what God was doing. This was proclaimed up until John the Baptist who then began to talk about the kingdom that was near. When folks heard this they started forcing their way into this kingdom based on their own misunderstanding of what the kingdom was designed to be. They were trying to get through the door expecting some earthly utopia on the other side. But, then Jesus tells the story of a rich man who esteemed what God detested and a poor man named Lazarus who was the beggar the steward tried to avoid becoming who both ended up on two sides of a great chasm. One was in torment and the other was in Abraham's comforting bosom. The one in torment wanted his brothers to be warned so they would not come to where he was. But, Abraham tells him that they have Moses and the Prophets, the message preached up until John's day, and that is enough. And even if one rises from the dead, which many believed John to be the resurrected Elijah, the message would not "get through."

In one form or another Jesus message is about "getting through." How does the Son of Man get through to people? How does God through centuries of preparation get through to the hearts of men who are bound up in earthly thinking, earthly comforts, and earthly ambitions? John came preaching the kingdom as did Jesus Himself. It was to be what men would seek first (Matt.6:33). It was to be what people would enter, not force their way into. It was to be what we were to "get." Worries and wealth choke out the message of the kingdom. Daily business crowds out kingdom business. Keeping our house in order spiritually and relationally so that the kingdom can advance is essential for the message of the kingdom to get through to us. Hearts are being walled up today. People are building barriers to relationships and to the Spirit of God. But it was also so in Jesus' day. Jesus, the Son of God, had a hard time getting through to people. The humility and trust it takes to allow Jesus to rule and reign is the key to getting through. He knocks and we have to open. He uses people to walk through our doors, but we have to be open to them.

God to Jesus on His return from his sojourn on earth: "Son was it hard to get through to my people?" Jesus to God: "Father, it was incredibly difficult to get through to them. They have a lot on their minds and a lot of personal business to conduct. Their attention span is not very long. They are distracted by many things. They have a hard time sitting and listening to Our Word. They aren't very smart because they do not study. And, there is little room for Our Word in their crowded hearts. Yes it was hard, and I cried a lot."

Cure for Restlessness

 I've spent a lot of time in Luke 15 lately. What more can be said about the Prodigal Son? It is an oft-told story. It is pregnant with meaning. It is the type of story that draws you in and makes you think, about yourself, your life, what is meaningful. Among other things it is a story about restlessness, about fight and flight, lost and dead, saved and found. Jesus spoke to our core issue. He nailed our common experience. Humans are restless, contentless, lacking beings. We are seldom satisfied, at peace, and whole. We fight loneliness, insignificance, meaninglessness, and never feeling like we are enough. It is hard for us to be OKAY. We seem to have this sense always that something vital, essential, and important is missing from our lives. We believe that if we could just capture it (what is "it"?) we would be complete. Our strivings would cease. Desire would be rewarded, and we would rest in peace even while we are alive.

 

We have a list of clinical diagnoses for these conditions. We probably have a pill that can simulate the real thing. Even then we think that if we threw away the crutch we could not stand. Restlessness breeds dependence on something to prop us up and make it appear that we are strong even while we carry weakness deep within. We expend huge amounts of energy to cover up the insecurities and the vulnerabilities. We invent and learn to play countless games to insure that no one will know what everyone knows because everyone has the common experience, i.e. we are not enough.

 

Both boys in the story are restless. One runs and the other fights. One seeks it outside the home and the other longs for it inside the same home. When we consider that this home is God, the Father's home, it makes the story even more interesting. It has always amazed me that the Old Testament depicts God as a divorcee and an ineffective father. Israel is His wife and child, and as each they were unfaithful and delinquent. Couldn't God keep His wife and child happy? Yet they both were restless. They ran away from Him and they fought Him. Fight and flight are powerful within the human. But, yet again it was not the Husband/Father who failed. It was the wife/son who failed to see that what they longed for they had all along.

 

Luke 15:31 is the cure. It is the key. It is the essential truth that can provide us with peace, security, and relief from the restless life syndrome. "And he (the Father) said to him (the older son), 'My child you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.'" It may be so simple we miss it. If we could just realize as Christians that we are always with the Father and that all that is His is now ours, would we seek for substitute relationships and substitute possessions? When being with God and possessing His possessions becomes enough for us we will know we are enough, we have enough, and we don't have to do enough for contentment. Both boys had what they were looking for all along. It was right in front of them. It was all around them. Believe it. Enjoy it. Celebrate it.