Grow! Pray! Study! Daily Guide from the United Methodist Church
of the Resurrection - Thursday, 23 January 2014 – “Following Jesus: serious
business”
Daily Scripture: Luke 14: The Cost of Discipleship
25 Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and
said to them, 26 “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife
and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my
disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my
disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit
down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29
Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see
it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was
not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another
king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand
to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot,
then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the
terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do
not give up all your possessions.
Reflection Questions:
In yesterday's reading, Jesus challenged those who made their
"stuff" more important than his kingdom. In today's passage, he
challenged anyone who made family ties more important than following him. He
was not against family love—he cared about his mother even on the cross (cf.
John 19:25-27). But in his day, and ours, following Jesus sometimes strained or
even broke culturally valued patterns of family obedience and loyalty.
Blogger Sarah Dylan Breuer (www.sarahlaughed.net) wrote that
"choosing to follow Jesus can involve stark and difficult choices, and
with any set of choices that could change the world, following Jesus presents
others with choices they may not find welcome." Have you or someone you
know well ever had to choose between pleasing family members and doing what God
is calling you to do? How did you decide?
In 1988, some of All-Star third baseman Gary Gaetti's teammates
said he had disrupted the team's harmony. They were sad that Gaetti had become
a Christian, and no longer wished to join them in certain off-the-field
activities. How can you care about people as Jesus did, and yet be faithful to
your convictions about what God is asking of you? In what ways have you found
new "family relationships" in God's family?
Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, following you is serious business. Guide me and give
me your wisdom for the times when your purposes do not completely match those
of people I love and care about. Amen.
Thursday, 23 January 2014 – Insight from Rev. Glen Shoup
Rev. Glen Shoup is the Executive Pastor of Worship and
Congregational Care pastor.
First and foremost, the cross is an instrument of death. Strange, isn’t it? When the God of the cosmos would choose to
incarnate—(…the Word became flesh, and made His dwelling among us…John
1:14)—when Immanuel…God with us…is born to us at Christmas and then lives among
us to show us what it looks like to be fully human and then chooses an
instrument of death (a Roman cross) as the central representation of His
Lordship…well that seem strange, doesn’t it?
Why would God do it this way?
Maybe He wanted to show us that more important than being
successful; more important than being well-heeled and well-adjusted; more
important than being comfortable and conforming—more important than anything
was living fully human as God intended and designed. Living and serving those whom the system
devalues and marginalizes. Living and
caring about those who are outcast and forgotten. Finding your center and purpose in pleasing
God through loving others whether that gets you ahead or gets you hated. Living to challenge those who view power as
something to be pursued rather than given away!
Living in a way that exposes the hypocrisy, greed and artificiality of
those who would seek to sit in God’s place of judgment and Lordship.
Maybe Jesus chose the cross because he was trying say Look, even
if you live this fully human life of seeking to love God fully and love others
continually and everybody rejects you and ultimately crucifies you, you don’t
have to fear that—because even then—My Love Wins…life overcomes death because
Easter is going to come.
I don’t really know why Jesus chose the dominant culture’s
instrument of death as His central representation, but here’s what I do know:
when Jesus tells us in today’s reading to take up and carry our cross, Jesus
isn’t kidding around—Jesus is calling us to die—and He’s serious. Oh, He’s not being literal (remember, as so
importantly pointed out by our pastor this past week—Jesus clearly doesn’t
always intend to be taken literally but he does always intend to be taken
seriously), but there’s nothing He says with more seriousness. You can’t honestly read what Jesus has to say
about following Him and not understand that Jesus is seriously calling everyone
who would come after Him to take up their own cross…and die; die to ourselves,
die to our own desire to be our own lord, die to materialism, die to our
self-obsession and self-promotion, die to everything that would even hint at
getting in the way of us seeking to fully love God by continually loving
others—die to everything that would get in the way of us following Jesus…even
if that means we get crucified in the process.
And if we’re really going to take Jesus seriously, we’ve got to
realize (as the rest of today’s scripture points out) that there are going to
be costs and we better count them. Do we
take Jesus literally when he says that all who would follow Him must hate their
father and mother? No; but we take him seriously recognizing that in that
culture, where wealth and financial security was passed on solely through your
family blood lines that Jesus means it when He effectively says—following me
has to matter more to you than your inheritance or trust fund. Do we take Jesus literally when he says
whoever would follow Him must hate your spouse, your children, your brothers
and sisters? No; but we take him seriously in His effectively saying—if you’re
going to follow me then that’s got to be more important to you than what your
husband/wife and family think—if it comes down to their approval and support or
following me…following me has to come first.
Make no mistake about it, taking Jesus seriously can be even
more demanding than taking Jesus literally.
Taking up a cross and seeking to die daily to my own tendency to put
what I want first is serious and demanding business. But Jesus says that if we’re going to follow
Him and truly live authentically human as He incarnated and modeled—then taking
up our own cross daily is exactly what we are going to need to do.
Lord help me to choose Your strength today as I seek to follow
You…seriously. Amen!
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United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, KS 66224 United States
(913)897-0120
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