Saturday, March 27, 2021

27 March 2021 - counting all as loss


“What are we going to do? 
This man is performing many signs.
If we leave him alone, all will believe in him,
and the Romans will come
and take away both our land and our nation.”

The signs performed by Jesus gave testimony to who he was. But this same testimony, the more strongly and definitively it was given, seemed to put the whole way of life of his people at risk. This was paradigmatic, because when Jesus enters our lives he leaves nothing untouched. To follow him, we must be willing to lose land and nation and anything else to which we otherwise cling for security. What Paul described from his perspective is something that must apply to all of us.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ (see Philippians 3:8).

It does no good to attempt to preserve these lesser goods at the expense of the greatest good in which all others find fulfillment. In seeking to save our lives, our land, or our nation, we end up losing them (see Luke 17:33), just as the land of Israel was lost when the Romans did indeed come and destroy the temple in 70 AD. But  those willing to seek first the Kingdom (see Matthew 6:33) were compensated for this loss of the earthly sanctuary by the gift of access to the heavenly one (see Hebrews 9:24). 

Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD,
    who make Israel holy,
    when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.

Their loss of an earthly homeland was redressed by admittance to a heavenly one. Their loss of earthly rulers was more than balanced by the eternal Davidic prince who would shepherd them forever.

My servant David shall be prince over them,
    and there shall be one shepherd for them all;
    they shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees.

Are we prepared to count all things as loss for Christ? Will we cling to our reputation, our health, our creature comforts over and against obedience? Or will we accept dishonor and suffering for the sake of the name? There is great blessedness and peace offered for those who will make Jesus their first priority.

Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name (see Acts 5:33)

We don't typically relax our grip on our lives all at once. It is often a little at a time that we relinquish control to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, learning at each new step that he is trustworthy. It is good news, then, that God can use even our mistakes to bring about his plans.

“You know nothing,
nor do you consider that it is better for you
that one man should die instead of the people,
so that the whole nation may not perish.”

Jesus does not counter our resistance to his will with force. Rather he meets it with patient love. In doing so we see him offering what we refused to offer, precisely because he loves us. That love which he shows, even and especially to sinners, is an invitation to join him to do together with him, bearing his yoke, what we could not do alone. 

Has clinging to life in this world instead of putting Jesus first ever really delivered the results for which we hoped? Hasn't it degraded us to living as less than fully alive? Hasn't it closed in our boundaries, cutting us off from God and one another? When we set ourselves on the goods of this world apart from God, we don't even get those goods. But God turns even these faults of ours into invitations to let ourselves be gathered back to him.

to gather into one the dispersed children of God.


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