Saturday of the 10th Week in Course 2024
Following the Lord Jesus is not easy, although His yoke is light and not burdensome. How can I say two seemingly contradictory things? Following Christ is the right thing to do; we probably all believe that or we would not be together in Church, at least worshiping God with our lips. That should never be a heavy burden–doing the right thing. But sometimes in the short run it’s against our own best interests. For instance, if you write a check and mistakenly overdraw your bank account, getting the item you purchased feels good today but creates inconvenience when the bank calls you or another merchant says the bank will not honor your drafts. Double check your math. A brief inconvenience can save a long line at the teller.
So when the great prophet Elijah, the buzz-kill for King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel, called the farmer Elisha to prophetic ministry, Elisha asked permission to go home and bid farewell to his parents. That was all right with Elijah, who then got to join in a barbeque celebrating the new vocation. But when Jesus called a disciple to ministry many years later, Jesus forbade him the time to bury his father, saying “let the dead bury the dead–you follow me.” And in today’s Gospel, Jesus cuts through all the rules set by rabbis with respect to swearing oaths, telling His disciples never to swear at all. Their word should be reliable. When they say “yes” to a question then there is no quibbling. The answer is clear. The same thing with saying “no” to some kind of temptation. "No" really does mean no.
That may serve to be an inconvenience. That’s too bad. The disciple has one overweening concern–the proclamation and living of the kingdom of God. Everything else needs to be left behind. The Lord is our chosen portion and it is His cup of blessing that we share in communion. We can put nothing, absolutely nothing, ahead of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His way of life.
