Oh, We Mean Well!

OH, WE MEAN WELL!

LUKE 14:25 35

Read Luke 14:25 35...............PRAY

There is a story about 2 men from New York who had never been out of the city. And they got so fed up with city life that they bought a ranch down in Texas so they could live off the land like their ancestors had done.

The first thing they decided they needed was a mule, so they went to a neighboring rancher and asked if he had a mule to sell. The rancher said, "No, afraid not." Well, they were disappointed, but as they visited with the rancher for a few moments, one of them saw some honeydew melons stacked up against the barn, and said, "What are those?"

The rancher, seeing they were hopeless city slickers, decided to have some fun. So he said, "Those are mule eggs. You take one of those eggs home and wait for it to hatch, and you'll have a mule." The 2 were thrilled to death, so they bought one...put it in the back of their pickup...and headed down the bumpy road to their own ranch.

But on an especially treacherous bump, the honeydew melon bounced out of the back of the truck...hit the road...and burst wide open. Seeing what happened in the rearview mirror, the driver turned the truck around, and drove back to see if he could retrieve his mule egg.

Meanwhile, a big old Texas jackrabbit came hopping by and saw this honeydew burst open in the road. So he hopped over to it, stood right in the middle of that mess and began to eat. Now, here come these 2 city slickers. They saw the mule egg busted open and this long eared creature in the middle of it. One of them shouted, "Our mule egg hatched! Let's get our mule!"

But seeing those men coming toward it, the jackrabbit took off hopping in every direction, with the 2 men in hot pursuit. And they gave everything they had to catch him...but finally couldn't go any further.

Both men fell to the ground exhausted, while the jackrabbit hopped off into the distance. The one said to the other, "Well, I guess we lost our mule." The other nodded sadly and said, "Yeah, but you know...I'm not sure I wanted to plow that fast anyway."

I think there may be some common threads between the Scripture passage I read and the story of these 2 city slickers. These 2 men had good intentions in going to Texas. They meant well...but they sure didn't know what they were getting into. We laugh at the idea of mule eggs, but there may be a "mule egg" or two in our lives...spiritually speaking. That's what I want to look at this morning.

As we consider our passage for today, we should first take a look at what is happening at this time in Jesus' ministry. Jesus and His disciples were on their way to Jerusalem..and this was to be their final, fateful journey to the big city. Jesus knew there would be a big showdown with the civil and religious leaders...and the outcome was pretty grim.

Now, Jesus had quite a crowd making the journey with Him...and they were comprised of two different types of people. The vast majority was "the multitude" ...who were men and women that half way believed that He was the Messiah. They wanted to be there for the grand opening of the kingdom that He said He was going to bring.

This coming of the kingdom was supposed to be a day of great glory and triumph, according to tradition...and there would be rewards and great rejoicing for all the people. And they wanted to be a part of the celebration.

The other group He had with Him was the disciples. And this wasn't just the 12 that we normally think of. There were many people who faithfully followed and believed in His teaching. And they somehow felt this was no ordinary trek to the holy city. They realized that this was the day...the long awaited time when God, through His Son, would announce and unveil His kingdom.

The Christian life is the best possible life anyone could ever live...but it's not an easy road. And Jesus doesn't want any of His people chasing "mule eggs" because they had no idea what they were in for or what they were doing.

Luke14 16 record several parables which, according to most scholars, are warnings against half heartedness in following Christ...and also starting something and then not following through. Jesus had tried to bring all of these people to an understanding of this truth about wholehearted commitment before...but without much success. And it must have been frustrating for Him...just like it is with any teacher, to know that He was saying one thing and they were hearing another.