No Place Else to Go: A Jolly or a Deadly Monday

Last updated on: May 23, 2016 at 11:30 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

No Place Else to Go: A Jolly or a Deadly Monday 2016-05-23T11:30:41-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

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Duccio_di_Buoninsegna_-Disputation_with_the_Doctors-_WGA06768_opt When there is no place else to go, that can be a bad thing, unless the place you are is with Jesus.

During one point in His ministry, Jesus gave a hard teaching. Like any good teacher, He wanted his students to keep asking questions, to follow the argument where it led, and not to run away from hard work and harder thinking. Most students, then as now, are not up to the challenge. They wish to be told what to think. If Jesus had been a modern mega-church pastor, He would have gotten John, the best ghost-writer on staff, to explain His teaching in a punchy scroll available for a love offering. He certainly would not have let his congregation dwindle, but that is what the historical record says Jesus did.

Why?

Nobody can be happy if they will not stick around and learn for himself. Love requires consent and consent must be informed. There is no informed consent if you just follow the teachings of the local guru without question. Instead, Jesus calls us to walk with Him until we see and grasp what He is teaching. Some of our understanding will come with experience and some will come intellectually. The best part will come when the eyes of our spirit are illuminated.

Watching other “students” leave is hard on the teacher, but it is an awesome opportunity for the students. Fewer students means more of Jesus! He may not give simple answers to our questions, but He does listen. He invites us to follow Him and puts up with our political posturing (“Who is greatest?”) and our sheer spiritual denseness (“Now are you going to build the kingdom?”). Still if we followed Jesus because that is what the cool kids were doing (or the smart kids, the groovy kids, the inside kids, or whatever cool term for cool kids is cool in your head at the moment), then when the cool kids leave, it can be discouraging.

Jesus asks Peter if Peter is leaving:

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.

Peter got it. There was no place else to go. He had started in belief and over time ended up knowing Jesus was God’s Holy One. Peter was not discouraged, he understood where he must be.

Jesus does an odd thing. He doesn’t pat Peter on the back. “Well done,” we might have said. “You are the students who get it.”

Instead, Jesus pointed out that there were two reasons to stick around. First, you could stay because Jesus was God’s Holy One. Second, you could stay because there was still money to steal from the common funds and an opportunity to betray Jesus for profit. Jesus knew the same school that was chipping away at imperfect Peter and making him fit to lead the church was also chipping away at Judas and making him. . . a Judas.

And so it goes.

It is safer to run away from Jesus, but less joyous. The words He speaks are eternal Words and this eternal perspective is powerful: it is life to some and death to others. It is always safer to go home in the short run. You will be damned, but nothing like Judas. For a long time, ignorance can be bliss right to the moment when death makes intentional ignorance damnable. Judas busts hell wide open by using the eternal badly.

Where do we have to go?

If we know Jesus, we must stay. If we stay, let’s be sure that we gain an eternal perspective to life and do not use His words for profit, power, or personal gain. We can be loaded down with cowardice and poor communication skills like Peter and still become God’s man or woman if we allow His eternal words to change us. The other option is more fearful: use the power for profit and betray the Lord, better (perhaps) just to go home.

Real education is joyous and joy is dangerous. . . like life.

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