Harder
Read Matthew 19.
Several years ago, our family visited Atlanta, Georgia and one of the places we went was to Stone Mountain. (Kind of a funny name, isn't it? What else would a mountain be made of but stone?) In a fit of energy, we decided we would hike up to the top of Stone Mountain, so we took the train around to the trailhead, got off and started walking.
In the beginning, it wasn't too difficult. It was a nice, somewhat shady, easy slope. The kids were at the age where they were noticing everything, and it was a fun family outing. Then, about two-thirds of the way up, the mountain got mean. The slope increased, the trees disappeared and the hike got harder. The kids, energetic as they were in those days, didn't notice. They charged on up to the top. But me, heart patient that I am, suddenly began to breathe very heavily and I needed to stop more frequently. (Cathy, at one point, was concerned about getting me off the mountain!) When we finally arrived at the top (and found a blessedly air-conditioned gift shop there), I wondered why we didn't take the cable car UP and then hike DOWN. That would have been so much easier.
But easy doesn't make us stronger. (And besides, I wouldn't have had this great illustration that I've used over and over again.) I get the same feeling as we enter these last chapters of Matthew. The "hike" with Jesus has been challenging, to be sure, but not continually difficult. The disciples didn't up and run away the first time he started preaching and laying out his vision for the kingdom. But now...well, now it's getting harder. The easy stuff seems a long way back and the difficult stuff is looming.
Ask the rich man how hard it's getting. He's certainly got an interest in the things Jesus is saying, but then Jesus goes and tells him he should sell everything he owns and give his money away to the poor. Get rid of what he can see and trust that there is some unseen treasure waiting on him. It's hard—and Jesus knows that. He compares a rich man entering heaven to a camel going through the eye of a needle. I've never tried to push a camel through the eye of a needle, but I imagine it doesn't go well.
Or ask the Pharisees, who have just heard that Jesus is superseding Moses' word. He's tightening it up, making is in essence harder. (The issue there is only about divorce and remarriage on the surface. The Pharisees are really testing Jesus to see if he follows Moses' law or his own.) They have dedicated their lives to proclaiming and urging people to follow Moses' law (even if they didn't always follow it themselves). Now, everything they have given their lives to is being overturned. This is a hard teaching, Jesus. Not everyone can follow it.
And that's the point. We've rounded the bend. The trees are gone, the sun is hot and the walk is steep. And it's about to get steeper as we near Calvary. Jesus is not soft-pedaling the kingdom. He's giving a true vision of what it's really like. And he's urging us to keep up with him, follow him. The top of the mountain is worth it, if we'll just hang in there, even when it's hard.
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| Stone Mountain, Georgia |
Several years ago, our family visited Atlanta, Georgia and one of the places we went was to Stone Mountain. (Kind of a funny name, isn't it? What else would a mountain be made of but stone?) In a fit of energy, we decided we would hike up to the top of Stone Mountain, so we took the train around to the trailhead, got off and started walking.
In the beginning, it wasn't too difficult. It was a nice, somewhat shady, easy slope. The kids were at the age where they were noticing everything, and it was a fun family outing. Then, about two-thirds of the way up, the mountain got mean. The slope increased, the trees disappeared and the hike got harder. The kids, energetic as they were in those days, didn't notice. They charged on up to the top. But me, heart patient that I am, suddenly began to breathe very heavily and I needed to stop more frequently. (Cathy, at one point, was concerned about getting me off the mountain!) When we finally arrived at the top (and found a blessedly air-conditioned gift shop there), I wondered why we didn't take the cable car UP and then hike DOWN. That would have been so much easier.
But easy doesn't make us stronger. (And besides, I wouldn't have had this great illustration that I've used over and over again.) I get the same feeling as we enter these last chapters of Matthew. The "hike" with Jesus has been challenging, to be sure, but not continually difficult. The disciples didn't up and run away the first time he started preaching and laying out his vision for the kingdom. But now...well, now it's getting harder. The easy stuff seems a long way back and the difficult stuff is looming.
Ask the rich man how hard it's getting. He's certainly got an interest in the things Jesus is saying, but then Jesus goes and tells him he should sell everything he owns and give his money away to the poor. Get rid of what he can see and trust that there is some unseen treasure waiting on him. It's hard—and Jesus knows that. He compares a rich man entering heaven to a camel going through the eye of a needle. I've never tried to push a camel through the eye of a needle, but I imagine it doesn't go well.
Or ask the Pharisees, who have just heard that Jesus is superseding Moses' word. He's tightening it up, making is in essence harder. (The issue there is only about divorce and remarriage on the surface. The Pharisees are really testing Jesus to see if he follows Moses' law or his own.) They have dedicated their lives to proclaiming and urging people to follow Moses' law (even if they didn't always follow it themselves). Now, everything they have given their lives to is being overturned. This is a hard teaching, Jesus. Not everyone can follow it.
And that's the point. We've rounded the bend. The trees are gone, the sun is hot and the walk is steep. And it's about to get steeper as we near Calvary. Jesus is not soft-pedaling the kingdom. He's giving a true vision of what it's really like. And he's urging us to keep up with him, follow him. The top of the mountain is worth it, if we'll just hang in there, even when it's hard.
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