Extra-Emphatic Loyality

When I was a child and would ask my father about being able to do something he would often say, "We'll see." That drove me to insanity, and then I had children and found myself saying the same. There was something about not wanting to be decisive and emphatic. We tend to want to leave our options open. You never know. Things change and we need to be able to adjust to new circumstances. This kind of thinking works in some arenas but is tearing our houses down, notably the home and the local church.

In John 6:37 Jesus reveals his mind about his relationship with those the Father gives Him. First, Jesus did not seem to have a choice about who God would give Him. Parents have little choice as to what the child they produce will be. Parents are to take a child "as is." I know we are seeing the idea of "designer children." With advances in DNA research we think we can have "Build a Bear" kids. China has taken the idea to extremes with a one child policy that leaves out many female babies. In Hebrews 2:13b quoting from Isa.8:8 referring to Jesus we have this phrase, "Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me." That is church. Jesus and His kids, as is, warts and all.

Second, Jesus says of these kids God has given Him that he will certainly not cast them out. The Greek he uses to get this point across is an extra-emphatic phrase, ou me. It has strong intent. One Greek scholar says, "...ou me rules out even the idea of being a possibility." From Jesus' point of view there is no "we'll see" at work here. He has made up his mind to keep us. It is a certainty. This extra-emphatic is used in Hebrews 13:5 as a deterrent to becoming too dependent on money: "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you." There are two ou me phrases in this sentence. Jesus does not desert nor does He forsake His people. It is not a possibility.

I have recently read one book, reading another, and have seen the movie, Lincoln. There are many reasons the civil war was fought but the reason that rises above them all is that the Union must be preserved. Even after the war, another war was fought over how to treat the South. Lincoln and others insisted that the South not be treated as second class citizens, but be allowed full and complete place at the table. All of this family shopping, church hopping, keeping our options open mentality flies in the face of what we expect of Jesus and others, i.e. loyalty, extra-emphatic loyalty.