Total Obedience
"But when Herod the tetrarch was reproved by him [John] on account of Herodias, his brother's wife, and on account of all the wicked things which Herod had done, he added this also to them all, that he locked John up in prison."/"And summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, 'Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?' And when the men had come to Him, they said, 'John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, "Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?"' At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He granted sight to many who were blind. And He answered and said to them, 'Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me.'"/ "Herod said, 'I had John’s head cut off;'" (Luke 3:19-20; 7:19-23; 9:9)
Maybe as modern day Christians, we are too expectant of a happy ending, a Hollywood finish to every story. And as heirs of the New Testament church, maybe we subtly think that everything will come out all right. That we are with Jesus and He will win in the end.
There is truth in this. Yet maybe in emphasizing all that He has done, all that He will do, we ignore what He may ask from us. After all, Jesus was right there when John was in jail, yet Herod still cut off John's head. John sends word to his cousin from his cell asking, "Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?" And Jesus replies by quoting from Isaiah 35 and 61, "the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them." But the quote from Isaiah 61 is truncated. It goes on to say, "He has sent me ... to announce release to captives and freedom to those in prison."
Surely this was partly what John had in mind when he sent to Jesus asking, "Are you the one? Are you the one who will release prisoners? Because I happen to be a prisoner right now on account of you." And Jesus sends back word (he doesn’t even go to see him), "Yes, that’s me. That’s who I am." And Herod cuts off John the Baptist’s head.
My mother found this very difficult, that God would ask so much from His people. Wasn’t it enough that her husband has been taken away by the communist authorities and she didn’t even know if he was alive or dead? Wasn’t it enough that then she and all her children were imprisoned? What more could God ask? Would God really take one of her children in death as well?
She writes, "How difficult it is for me to give total obedience, when Jesus' total obedience led Him to a death on the Cross, yet He gave it."
God doesn’t promise us a Hollywood happy ending. But He promises Himself.
[AV, (c)2006]
Maybe as modern day Christians, we are too expectant of a happy ending, a Hollywood finish to every story. And as heirs of the New Testament church, maybe we subtly think that everything will come out all right. That we are with Jesus and He will win in the end.
There is truth in this. Yet maybe in emphasizing all that He has done, all that He will do, we ignore what He may ask from us. After all, Jesus was right there when John was in jail, yet Herod still cut off John's head. John sends word to his cousin from his cell asking, "Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?" And Jesus replies by quoting from Isaiah 35 and 61, "the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them." But the quote from Isaiah 61 is truncated. It goes on to say, "He has sent me ... to announce release to captives and freedom to those in prison."
Surely this was partly what John had in mind when he sent to Jesus asking, "Are you the one? Are you the one who will release prisoners? Because I happen to be a prisoner right now on account of you." And Jesus sends back word (he doesn’t even go to see him), "Yes, that’s me. That’s who I am." And Herod cuts off John the Baptist’s head.
My mother found this very difficult, that God would ask so much from His people. Wasn’t it enough that her husband has been taken away by the communist authorities and she didn’t even know if he was alive or dead? Wasn’t it enough that then she and all her children were imprisoned? What more could God ask? Would God really take one of her children in death as well?
She writes, "How difficult it is for me to give total obedience, when Jesus' total obedience led Him to a death on the Cross, yet He gave it."
God doesn’t promise us a Hollywood happy ending. But He promises Himself.
[AV, (c)2006]
posted by CS at 10:16 PM
3 Comments:
Amen. Did you write this or excerpt it from a book? Either way it was thought-provoking and clearly points to the tension Jesus himself set up by healing some but not all, by a tantalizing taste of immediate rescue but a delayed final victory. A headless John the Baptist is I suppose a perverse comfort to a beat-up missionary. Jennifer (Uganda)
Hi Jennifer -- like many of the things we post, this was just a pre-meal devotion that we heard at the house of a friend here -- we try to write them all down because they are so fresh to us. "Perverse comfort" is a pretty good summing up.
P.S. Thanks for taking the time to post the comment, Jennifer. Dialogue with you and others is so nourishing and encouraging.
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