The way ahead is going to be hard…not magical.
Some days are more tell-tale than others, some days your vision is clearer. Some days, your thoughts seemingly all come together.
This is where it started.
The road ahead once so spirit filled and so spirit led – now seems darker. Much darker.
Like a sixth sense if you will, Jesus suddenly …is seeing things a little differently.
You just don’t know where the thoughts come from…they drift in…they drift out. They do not seem possible or plausible – so you quickly discard them…
Denial and second guessing yourself is not a safe place to be…
But sometimes the thoughts return…they return with a vengeance. They keep coming and you cannot turn them off…there is no denial.
Jesus was having “one of those days.”
The crowds were no longer – appealing.
The crowds were becoming a concern.
Jesus is beginning to sense the “all” that lies ahead for him personally will include – betrayal and denial by his closest companions, followed by “false arrest,” torture and brutal execution.
And then, there are the crowds – who are acting like they are on their way to Great America…
They way ahead is going to be hard…not magical, no matter what the crowds think!
The direction they are headed in does not lead to fun and games.
Jesus is doing a sober re-assessment – while the crowds are counting on free-food and good times for all. …With healings and miracles occurring on all sides of them…
The crowds are expecting pyrotechnics and fireworks, with jaw dropping –mouth open amazement everywhere you look.
No doubt about it – Jesus had a large and popular following and he was loved and adored by the multitudes of people.
Jesus turned and addressed them. In Luke’s gospel this is nothing unusual. Jesus is said to “turn” and speak to someone or to some group on at least six separate occasions.
But on this occasion his message is stark and disconcerting: If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, that one – is not able to be my disciple.
It is a tough message, saturated with tough words.
Consider it like this:
You are a part of the multitude. You are a part of the crowd. You (yourself, are following Jesus. From your vantage point you can only see his back. Occasionally he turns around to deliver a difficult saying, almost as if “daring the people” to continue following him.
He does something exactly like that here. His message is completely uncompromising.
You…you…and you…and you …are not able to be a follower… if you place anything, even your own life…above following…
It is in Luke’s gospel that you will find several sayings of Jesus which could be interpreted as “anti-family.” This is a case in point. It is abrupt.
In the ancient world…hating one’s family meant doing something that injured them, particularly by disgracing them. Life was family centered. The honor of any given family was highly valued. Every family member was expected to protect the honor of the family.
If some members joined a “suspect movement” and abandoned “home and family” — this brought disgrace to the entire family and village.
We actually have letters that have survived to this very day and time – from Roman families who complained that their son or their daughter had “run off” and joined some group called the “Christians!”
Jewish families too, felt the strain of divided family loyalties.
Jesus told them. He tried. He did his best. And still the crowds kept coming and growing.
They wanted razzle dazzle and Jesus was already suspecting that pain and disillusionment lay ahead.
Nothing magical!
No free rides into the kingdom…but pain and suffering…
With each step forward – he became more aware of “what it was” that lie ahead…