The Cost (rewind with additions)
“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Luke 6:27-28 NIV
Do good/bless – So you want to follow the Messiah. You want to live by his instructions, obey him as your master, incorporate his rabbinic teaching into your way of life. It sounds good, doesn’t it? With a little projection, you can imagine yourself in a Hollywood version where everything turns out right in the end. Oh, not so fast, please. Maybe we need to look a little deeper before we start planning the color scheme for that mansion we’ll get in heaven.
In order to fully appreciate these two verses in Luke, we need to recognize and embrace the role of suffering in discipleship. That role started long before Yeshua made these remarks.
“Israel’s suffering is not a penalty, but a privilege, a sacrifice; its endurance is a ritual, its meaning is to be disclosed to all men in the hour of Israel’s redemption.”[1]
If Yeshua represents the fulfillment of the task assigned originally to Israel, then his suffering is an integral and unavoidable element of his mission. It is a divine calling. Do you want to follow the Master? Well, then, you’ll need to pay attention to Peter’s exhortation: “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,” (1 Peter 2:21 NASB 1995). Suffering is a calling; a calling to each and every one of his disciples. Of course, all suffering is not divinely inspired. “Suffering as chastisement is man’s own responsibility; suffering as redemption is God’s responsibility.”[2] So be careful. Sort out what you deserve as chastisement from what you bear as the Messiah’s representative. You can do your best to avoid the first. You should do your best to embrace the second. Maybe planning what colors you’ll use in your mansion isn’t quite the task at hand.
I can think of no better way to embrace the divine call to suffer than to follow the Master’s advice concerning enemies. If you’re going to do good to those who hate you and bless those who curse you, you’ll suffer. First, because no one in your company except citizens of the Kingdom will understand what you’re doing. You’ll become a pariah. Rejection will be your middle name. But it won’t stop there. Do you think your enemies will suddenly become friendly? Not likely. They will go on hating and cursing, so you’ll go on being shot at from both sides of the war. Welcome to the seventh Beatitude. No peace for you in this life. Is that what you expected? Peace? Did Yeshua experience peace? Did his disciples? What made you think you should have anything more than what they had? Oh, maybe you listened to the “wonderful plan” promise a bit too much. There is comfort in fulfilling a divine call, a call that will eventually bring reconciliation to the world and redemption to human beings. But you might just be an Abraham, who knew but never saw what God promised. Or a Job who suffered without even knowing why. That’s okay too, right? Be sure before you answer.
Topical Index: suffer, do good, curse, 1 Peter 2:21, Luke 6:27-28
[1] Abraham Heschel, The Prophets (Hendrickson Publishers, 1962), Vol 1, p. 149.
[2] Ibid., p. 151.
This is no deep revelation to anyone who visits here regularly, but the idea that entering into a relationship with Jesus will make your life better is very deeply ingrained in our Christian culture. I lived it. I responded to a “gospel” that sounded something like, “come to Jesus and He’ll make your life better and you’ll be happy”. In my late teens and early twenties I went through a series of phases that were based on thoughts like, “when I achieve this I’ll be happy”. There were two of those, neither happened. Then there was “when I have this woman in my life I’ll be happy”. Didn’t happen. I was depressed. A friend who had been preaching the gospel to me called me and told me I needed to forgive everyone who had hurt or disappointed me. Didn’t say pray the sinners prayer. I needed to forgive before God, and the list was long. Two hours + later I finished. I experienced a weight being lifted off of me. I could feel it and a brush of wind as it lifted up and away from me. In a couple of months after that I experienced nothing short of a miraculous series of relocations, that put me in a town I had never lived in, and I was mostly alone. Everything was looking up. But what followed in summary was 34 years of the strangest twists and turns and disappointments. So many dreams died. So much disillusionment with church and Christians in general, including myself. I read an article by Steve Brown the other day, and he said something like, “our proclivity to wear a mask is directly proportional to God’s inclination to rip it off.” Not an exact quote, but vintage Steve. Hearing Steve say repeatedly that “God’s not mad at you”, may have saved my life.
Steve’s mask comment is shorthand compared to exegeting the story of Jacob in Hebrew. Thank God that He never gave up. I realized along the way, of late, that when Yeshua said “count the cost” He really meant it. Eyes that see and ears that hear come with a price, but there’s nothing more worth having. And I certainly haven’t arrived.
I write this for anyone who may have “stumbled” upon Skips material and are having their faith paradigm rocked. I was really mad when I started to read this kind of material. But that’s gone now…keep going. I hope this doesn’t come across as sanctimonious or self-centered.
“Eyes that see and ears that hear come with a price, but there’s nothing more worth having.” Emet… amen and amen.
🙂 I’m “old-school” in this regard, but when someone addresses me verbally or in text from, I feel compelled to respond. It won’t (I hope) always be long! But I’ve always felt it was rude to not respond to someone who gives you their attention. My “old-school” tendency has been updated upon reading and understanding better what the scriptures teach. Per Simone Weil, attention and/or attentiveness to another person is the highest form of love you can show them or offer them. Seems to fall right in line with, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your being and all your resources” and “your neighbor as yourself”. I’m a “boomer” what can I say?