The former things are passing away, and a new world is being born.
Just in time for Lent.
As we live through daily signs of apocalypse (chaos and darkness, fire and smoke, wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, plagues, etc.), we are learning that the former things are dissolving, and a new world is emerging. I’m not a Rapture, guy, but I understand “one will be taken and one will be left” means “fifty percent mortality”. Jesus was talking how worlds end and new worlds emerge, usually with far fewer people.
The world was in a similar change state when Jesus spent forty days in the desert being tempted by the devil. But why would Jesus, of all people, have to be tested?
The New Testament calls it “the flesh.” My body is good because God made it, but my flesh is my single-minded commitment of that body to me and mine, and the heck with everyone else.
As a fully human person, Jesus had the same instincts we all do. In a natural human state, Jesus would have only cared about “me and mine”, and therefore would have been unable to carry out the Spirit’s mission. He had to prove that his faith was more than skin-deep, that, when the time came, he would be able to give up his reputation and his life for the glory of God and for the salvation of humankind.
Lent is the time to ask the hard questions the devil asked of Jesus:
Through Christ, God has given me the Holy Spirit. Will I use it to do Christ’s will, or mine?
Do I think I can say or do anything I want, hurt anyone I want, and God will still save me from the consequences, just because I believe John 3:16?
Do I know enough about what Jesus actually commands, or might I deny him without even knowing it?
Am I ready to give up my possessions, freedom, and/or life for the sake of the Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God?
As his world was dissolving, Jesus declared, “Whoever would be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”
Could I deny myself for the sake of Christ in any real sense? How much of my freedom, property or life am I prepared to put on the line if God called me to do so?
To declare “Jesus is Lord” is “take up my cross”, to reject any human power or principality that claims ultimate authority. If both church and society turn against Christ, am I ready to accept humiliation and persecution on Christ’s behalf, without fighting evil with evil, as he clearly commanded I should not? Am I ready to practice only love, and trust that God will finally rescue me, even if my life, property or freedom is the price for standing with Christ?
Can I follow Jesus all the way to the resurrection? Or will my flesh overwhelm me with fear so that I, like Peter, abandon him for “me and mine”? Jesus said, “Whoever does not hate their mother and father cannot be my disciple.” My family may not understand why I allow my life to be destroyed for the sake of faith in Christ and the little ones he loves, people all over the world I don’t even know. Am I ready for that?
This new world says, “The first shall be first and the last shall be last, and you can’t do anything about it.”
But Jesus says, “The last shall be first and the first shall be last.”
Who, in this new world, will I go after?
