Is it just me or are these extremely challenging verses? What's Jesus' point here? What's He trying to tell us? Surely He can't be serious?!
These verses, and others like them, are so quickly dismissed in many churches as not applicable for today or as foolishness if we take Jesus' teaching here literally. To take this lesson literally is often viewed as foolish as taking His lesson on cutting off a limb or cutting out an eye or His lesson on eating His flesh and drinking His blood (though many Christians do believe this. See transubstantiation). Are we really required to maim ourselves or become cannibals?
Take a look at Jesus' lesson on eating His flesh and drinking His blood: "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63). The point I believe Jesus is trying to make in this particular lesson is the importance of faith and the intentions of our hearts. However, as we are now, our flesh and spirit are intertwined. As we discover in reading the book of James we quickly learn that our actions are linked to the state of our hearts.
Here's the real question: What are we chasing after and to what end?
Interesting that Jesus starts this lesson in Luke 12 with "Do not fear", inferring that it is fear, more than greed or lust which often holds us back in our faith and from receiving blessings. It is also interesting to consider self-justification and fear as the two biggest motivators behind nearly all decision making. These two motivators are addressed extensively throughout the bible as detrimental. This is why true Christianity and the lessons Jesus taught are so challenging and essentially "earth shattering". Interesting how these two human motivators are so diametrically opposed to faith, love and hope.
I believe one primary lesson Jesus is teaching is against fear and how fear imprisons us. Here Jesus is specifically addressing fear in the context of wealth and provisions. Jesus took the time in the previous verses to emphasize God's love and promise to provide, so long as we don't resist Him. Essentially, if we set our eyes on the kingdom of God, we will be provided for. Yet we still wane in our faith and look to our bank accounts more than Jesus... Am I the only person who struggles with this?
Does this mean we should all sell everything? I believe the point Jesus is making here isn't to look at our income and savings, but to consider what or who we are truly putting our trust in. However, perhaps most of us should take this lesson literally? I don't know for sure. The older I get the more I feel Jesus' words ought to be taken both figuratively and literally. Take a moment to consider what would happen to your life if you did sell everything you owned and gave it to the poor. However, in considering this we must also consider 1 Corinthians 13:3 which states: "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing."
At the end of the day, and perhaps our lives, we need to look to Jesus and ask Him. We need to develop a better dialogue with Him. The disciples asked Jesus many questions. God is not offended at our questions or mad with our doubt. He wants to dialogue with us. Maybe some of us need to sell everything we have and give it to the poor? Maybe we all need to do this? Maybe not? Maybe we need to take sin so seriously that we would be willing to sacrifice a limb if it meant we could live without sin in our lives? Since this isn't possible, perhaps we should consider we need this level of dedication and sacrifice (see Genesis 22, particularly verses 12-14) to truly understand what Jesus did on the cross to free us from the bonds of sin.
"He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8
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