When he was at table with them, he took the bread. He blessed the bread, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him!(Luke 24:13-35)

Monday, May 24, 2021

Give up everything, Lord?

 


The kingdom of heaven is a great challenge for those with much in this world.  Seeking things of value in this world is clearly a distraction to our Lord and His saving grace. Personally, I find little difficulty in assigning the value of faith to be greater than the things of this world when the things of this world are things, but when the things of this world are family, I am truly challenged.  I don’t find it difficult to place my faith over things like a large house, a nice car or even basic cable, but I’m not so spiritually free as to put God before family.  I recognize the commitment of true faith means making the Lord and his service the single central focus of my being.  I confess that I’m not ready to go that far.  My reflections actually take me in a different direction.  I find that I grow in my understanding of my faith through analogies to familial love.  I find it more central to my being to have the experience of a worldly loving father and even the challenges presented by child, than to have the transcendent experience.  I have felt the glow given by a loving God, but I admit my weakness and continue to hold my ultimate emotional investment in people in this world.  I know some who have interpreted this passage in a sense more along the lines I would like to hear, but really have concluded that faith asks us to truly make the Lord and His offer of salvation our ultimate end.  I recognize this doesn’t mean giving up those I love, but only establishing a new set of priorities.  I find myself in the role of the man who Jesus asked to sell his possessions and follow Him (Luke 18:18-23, Matthew 19:16-22, Mark 10:17-22).  The man walked away sad because he was wealthy in the things of this world.  I don’t find myself walking away, but I find myself sad in my faith prospects because of the ultimate priority which I assign to my worldly family.

Love is, among other things, a union of two individuals in such a manner that the two actually do become one (or at least move steadily in that direction.)  One of the aspects of living such love out is that each of the lovers must empty himself or herself and surrender completely to the other, or else the other can never fill them.  This cycle of exchange turns "mine" and “yours” and "me" and "you" into "ours" and "us."

God began His love for us with His eager calling us forth from nothingness, by His great desire to gift us with His very selfhood, and then continued by emptying Himself of His Son and even the Spirit whom the Son lavishes on us.  God has surrendered Himself to us utterly, in a way and to an extent that it’s hard for even faith to grasp or accept.

As for our part in this exchange, Jesus calls us in the Gospel (Mark 10:28-31) to abandon our limited and earthly ties in our attempt to turn absolutely everything over to the Father, even things that are incredibly good, but because of the nature of God's love for us we receive father, mother, and all the rest back at least a hundredfold.  Then we no longer merely hold what we possess as individuals, but we constantly receive them anew in our exchange of love with God and hold all as brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, in common.  This open-ended possession will be fully evident only in the fullness of the Kingdom, but for now we can at least glimpse a hint of this love and begin to live it in freedom.

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