Thoughts From Luke - Day 80

                                         Luke 18: 31-43


³¹ Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. ³² He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; ³³ they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”
³⁴ The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.
³⁵ As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. ³⁶ When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. ³⁷ They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
³⁸ He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
³⁹ Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
⁴⁰ Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, ⁴¹ “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Lord, I want to see,” he replied.
⁴² Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” ⁴³ Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.


                Last passage I was talking about following Jesus and this has been a theme over the last few passages. The disciples have left everything they had and followed Jesus. They don't know where they are going to sleep that night, what they are going to eat, when the next time they will get to bathe or wash their only clothing or underwear (what they are wearing), but in light of who Jesus appears to be - the Messiah - they have counted the cost and said that he is worth the uncertainty of the future. Then we see the blind man healed and he follows Jesus.  This leads me to several conclusions about following Jesus.

      #1. We follow Jesus because we like what we see and hear about Him. Maybe someone witnessed to you and you saw how Christ changed their life and you want and need that too in your life. Maybe you heard preaching or saw a movie about Jesus and the Word of God penetrated your heart and you said, "I need Jesus in my life." People need to hear about Jesus and we need to open our mouths and proclaim Him. People need to see Jesus and we need to be Jesus to them.

     #2. We follow Jesus all in. There is no plan B. There is no safety net. It's all or nothing. You can't DVR Jesus - do what you want and come back to Him later. We do this despite the fact that it will be unpopular. The disciples didn't realize it but Jerusalem, where they were heading, would not be kind to them. People told the blind man who was calling out Jesus' name to be quiet. Around here, in the Bible belt, kids in the public school don't get persecuted for their faith. In fact, the most popular kids in school can be outspoken Christians. Unfortunately they are headed to Jerusalem (college). Will they continue to proclaim and follow Christ when it is unpopular?

     #3. We follow Jesus even though we don't understand everything. The disciples didn't understand a lot of things He said but they believed in who He was so even in John 6 where He talks about eating His flesh and most people leave, the disciples say "To whom else would we go?" They are following a person even if they don't understand everything. We don't understand everything in the Bible but we continue to follow Jesus knowing that it makes sense to Him and maybe someday He will clarify it to us. Noted apologist and philosopher William Lane Craig discussed in Case For Faith that the one thing keeping him from following Jesus was the virgin birth. He finally decided to follow Christ anyway and once he did he realized that if God is truly God, putting a baby in someone's womb is really no big deal.

     #4. We follow Jesus because He changed our lives. Although a popular teaching is to check Jesus out and follow Him in baby steps and you will want to follow Him more and more, I still think most people have a time of repentance and conversion due to the working of the Holy Spirit on their heart, and in light of that touch and transformation are so grateful to God that they surrender their life and follow Him. This is the picture that the blind man portrays - a touch, a healing, a transformation, and following and worship out of gratefulness of heart. In other words the order is usually we get a changed heart and then we follow Christ rather than follow Christ and then you will get a changed heart.

        Are you a Christ follower or a Christ season ticket owner? In other words are you on the field or in the stands? I watched NASCAR for a brief season of my life. I saw many horrendous accidents and several notable deaths during that time. I was intrigued by Darrel Waltrip, who by the way is a Christ follower so I'm not saying this at all to disparage him. He was famous for the early NASCAR days where he and Richard Petty were the best. When I caught up to him in the 90's, he always finished near the end several laps behind. What happened? My guess is that he would rather drive safely and not get in an accident than risk it all and go for the win. He had too much to live for. I fear this is what we do in following Christ - we play it safe because we don't want to lose our life here on Earth. Lets follow Christ with reckless abandon knowing that He is worth it and there is a prize awaiting us at the end that far surpasses anything this world has to offer.