Today's Scripture Reading (November 27, 2020): Luke 10
In his 1987 novel "Norwegian Wood,"
Japanese author Haruki Murakami asks this question: "What happens when people open their hearts?" He also
ventures an answer, "They get better." There is a point in our lives
when putting up new walls doesn't work anymore; we have to begin to tear them
down. Of course, that is not an easy point to get to; after all, we are
vulnerable without the walls, and people will see us at our weakest. But the
secret that we don't realize, as we hide behind our walls, is that it is only
without the barriers that we release our real strength. And it isn't until we
reach that moment of vulnerability that we allow ourselves the possibility of
getting better.
Jesus admitted that he was sending out his
followers "like lambs among wolves." It is not an attractive
description. Wolves could easily overwhelm the lambs, maiming and killing them.
That was the truth for every flock that found itself on the hills and pastures
around the nation. The lambs existed in an area that was inhabited by wolves.
Of course, out on the hills of Judea, there
were also shepherds, part of whose job it was to protect the sheep. They were
there to chase away the wolves that might gather at what looked like a chance
at easy prey. And the sheep trusted the shepherd to keep them safe.
Maybe that is the point. As Jesus sends out his
followers "like sheep among wolves," he is promising that he will be
their protection. The disciples were not supposed to be self-sufficient. They were
supposed to be dependent on the shepherd. And so are we. I am not supposed to
have all the answers; I am supposed to be connected to the one that does.
Charles Spurgeon also argues that
there is a note of hope in Jesus's instructions.
"After all, the mission of sheep to wolves is a hopeful one, since
we see in the natural world that the sheep, though so feeble, by far outnumber
the wolves who are so fierce. The day will come when persecutors will be as
scarce as wolves, and saints as numerous as sheep" (Charles Spurgeon).
It
is a nice thought. But it only happens if we get vulnerable, not only with each
other but with the world. I am not sure I have ever heard a Christian political
leader advocate that it is time for us to become "like sheep among wolves."
And yet, Jesus clearly instructed those who had decided to follow him along
that path. Is it possible that he knew something that we don't? Is it possible
that this path of vulnerability is also the path to getting better?
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: John 7
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