Tuesday: On Walking Up to Everything!
WEEK 4
TUESDAY
ON WALKING UP TO EVERYTHING!
Genesis 15:1; Deuteronomy 1:17
We have seen that the disciples were first called on to master Jerusalem—the center of their deepest problem. Jesus was going to make the place of their greatest failure the place of their greatest success.
What would that do to their mentality? Something fundamental and necessary: wipe out all escapism, running from problems, dodging unpleasant issues, failure of nerve. It would save religion from something that has plagued it in all countries and all ages, and earned it the opprobrium, “opium of the people.” The disciples came near falling right into that morass. After the resurrection and before the Spirit came, the account says: “As he blessed them, he left them and was taken up to heaven. They worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem overwhelmed with joy. And they were continuously in the temple praising God” (Luke 24:51-53). “Praising God”—and dodging the issues! The temple authorities had crucified Jesus, and here were his followers in that same temple “praising God” and raising no questions, not confronting the hierarchy with their crime but retreating into their inner happiness—escapism. Had this been the outcome, we would never have heard of the gospel again. It would have died, wrapped in its mystical states, or drugged with devotion and emotion and incapable of shouldering its world task.
Jesus, seeing this possibility, “ordered” them to wait for the Spirit, knowing if the Creative Spirit came upon them, they would not compromise with this guilty religious system but confront it with a demand for repentance. This they did, and Jerusalem responded with tears and repentance, and multitudes were converted in a day. The worst had been met and mastered. Henceforth they were ready for anything. If they could face Jerusalem and master it in his name, they could face anything and master it in his name! Everything else was a play spell—they had met and conquered the real thing. Someone said, “Whenever you raise a question, raise it in its most acute form. Solve it there, and you solve it all down the line.” Jerusalem was their problem in its most acute form. They solved it, and henceforth they could face everything and everybody unafraid. Religion wasn’t opium—it was open possibility. It was victory!
O Gracious Spirit, wipe out of my mind and heart all attitudes that would try to escape and give me the power to confront. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: The Spirit within me is more than a match for anything outside me.