Today’s scripture: Luke 9:18-22 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Steve Adams):
Karen and Debbie have their heart set on adopting a child, but they need to wait until they’re financially able; and after that, the adoption process itself will take awhile. Keith and Katie’s dream is to have children, but they’ve got to wait for a few years too — after Katie’s out of school and can get a better-paying job, and Keith hopefully gets a promotion. Yes, both couples could go ahead and go for what they want now, but it just wouldn’t be the wise thing to do. When they consider all the ramifications, they know wisdom says “wait.”
Jesus knew he was the Messiah, and that God wanted his message and ministry to spread to all people, but it wasn’t yet time to let everybody know that. Did the disciples intuitively understand it wasn’t time? No, they didn’t! Isn’t it a no-brainer for them to think (especially the impetuous Peter),”This is the Messiah the world’s been waiting for! Let’s not waste any time — start telling the good news to everybody you see!” Jesus’ position on “immediate evangelism” — a firm, absolute NO!
When I started thinking about the lesson this teaches us, I remembered when my spouse Dan and I found a dog we wanted to adopt at Home for Friendless Animals, a no-kill shelter in Waynetown, Indiana. Becki was a beautiful dog with long, shiny black hair accented with a golden nose and feet, a flip-up tail, and big, shiny brown eyes that seemed to say, “I’m a little afraid, but I want to come home with you!” So we filled out the papers, paid the fee, and were ready to take her home. There was one problem, though. She was being treated for heartworm, and because of the treatments, she couldn’t run because that could cause a heart attack until the worms had cleared her body. So, we had to stop the momentum of our emotions and accept the fact that the loving thing to do was to leave her behind in the cage.
So why did Jesus know it was time to wait before fully declaring who he is? Here are a couple of possibilities that make sense to me. First, timing — if the word spread too fast that he was the Messiah, then his opposition could possibly have driven him to the cross much sooner. If this happened, then he wouldn’t have had time to fully declare his message — his ministry would have been cut short. Imagine the Gospel story ending before he had the chance to encounter the rich young ruler, or heal the blind man. How much (spiritually) poorer would we be? And God’s plan would not have been complete.
Jesus also had to deal with why people followed him. If the word spread too soon that he was the Messiah, the crowds would have flocked to him for physical healing. But how many of them would be able to grasp that Jesus wanted to heal more than their physical bodies? Equally important was healing their hearts — giving people a chance to realign their priorities, to understand that God is bigger than their religious framework — to embrace a higher way of thinking than they’d ever been exposed to before.
Thought for the Day: God, I ask you for patience and restraint when your wisdom requires it.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.