Jesus And His Relationships With People

What exactly do we know about Jesus's relationships with people? At this point I'm not interested in what the Apostle Paul or the other writers of the New Testament had to say. That'll come later in another article.

I'm interested in what Jesus said and what he did. You know the red letter words contained in some versions of the Bible.

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters...yes even their own life...such a person cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26.

In the previous verse the writer notes that while a large crowd was following Jesus he stopped and turned to them. Then he tells them they must "hate" the members of their family, indeed, their very life, before they could be considered disciples of his.

Whoa! This is the same Jesus that commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves and even our enemies. Obviously, or maybe not so obviously, Christ does not contradict himself. So, in some way or another these statements are congruent.

In Matthew 10 the theme is the same as in Luke but the language is different. "Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."

And, finally in the Hebrew Scriptures we read that "God loved Jacob but " hated" Esau. Malachi 1:3.

Now, we know instinctively and by reading the word of God that God loves everyone. Even Esau. Esau and his descendants were given land and blessings( Genesis 25) which although not as lucrative nor all encompassing as the inheritance received by Jacob tends to lend support to the proposition that God "preferred" Jacob to Esau for some reason that fits in God's decree or plan and not that God "hated" Esau.

Getting back to the story. "Hate" in that context simply means to prefer your family less than you prefer the Lord. Jesus seems to enjoy shocking people with his words. I sense a bit of frustration with these crowds that followed him on his from Gailee to Jerusalem. I think that's why Luke noted that he stopped and turned around. I get the sense that Jesus sees through the motivation of this rag tag crowd who probably are less committed to him and his way and more curious to see him perform miracles and get free bread. Who knows? It's the stopping and turning around that signals a tension between him and the crowd.

Jesus later in that same chapter in Luke talks about counting the cost of discipleship. He talks of a man who intent on building a tower committed to the project without estimating it's cost and found to his chagrin that he didn't have enough funds to complete it.

Reminds of me of the building Caterpillar attempted to put up in Morton across from the CAT plant on the northside of I-74. The steel structure or skeleton stayed up for quite some seemingly as a testimonial of the company's apparent failure to "count the cost."

The other example Jesus employed was the King who failed to "count the cost" of taking on a larger foreign army and thus was forced to negotiate a conditional surrender or terms of peace.

This crowd of onlookers and passers-by while following Jesus apparently were not calculating the cost they would have to incur. That cost comes in the form of a cross. Carrying a cross...daily. Giving up all their possessions which for some if not most disciples this meant giving up their homes, occupations and even families...if the Lord required it.

The cost would ultimately involve giving up their very life. Not just in martyrdom but something even more insidious: their secret desires, their ambitions, their agendas.

There is no room for conditions or compromises to be a true disciple. We can be followers of Jesus without great cost just as this crowd Jesus addressed here in Luke; but, we cannot be disciples without full allegiance and love for God. We must be prepared to give our all just as the widow gave up her last two "mites" or copper coins. And, just as the Pearl merchant sold all he had to buy the great pearl and the treasure finder who sold all he had to buy the field that contained the buried treasure we too must be prepared to give our all just as Jesus gave his all for us.

Geez! Now let's get back to the reason for this article! Let's look at how Jesus related to women.

Jesus's relationships with women were profoundly radical, scandalous and unique especially in the patriarchal culture of his day.

We read of several women who followed Jesus as he and the Twelve traveled town to town proclaiming the Kingdom of God. They were Susanna, Joanna and Mary Magdalene. I'm sure there were unnamed others as well.

These women contributed money and labor to provision Jesus and his entourage. But, it appears just as likely that they were more than just hanger-ons and donors. They were probably disciples or "learners" themselves.

Women were considered second class citizens. Their status forbade them from being witnesses in legal matters. They had no right or ability to divorce their husbands. Much like women in today's Islamic culture, Jewish women were not allowed to go out in public without a male member of the family. They were considered unclean ceremonially one week every month.

Women were definitely not to travel with men unless they were closely related. Otherwise, they would be considered prostitutes.

And yet, Jesus made a point of meeting women where they lived, where they worked...all in public arena.

Take the case of the Samaritan woman at the well. Here we find the Lord initiating a conversation with a lone woman who came to Jacob's well to draw water in the heat of the day.

As we all know, for Jesus to be speaking with a woman, alone and a Samaritan to boot this was tantamount to breaking the Law. Likewise, when Jesus allowed the woman at the dinner to anoint him with perfume and to wipe his feet with her tears and her long hair he broke traditional taboos left and right. It was a very sensuous scene to be sure. Jesus developed a bad reputation especially amongst the clerics.

And yet, he didn't care what they or anyone thought. All he knew was that these women represented one of the most oppressed groups or classes in that society and he was determined to identify with them in solidarity. And, he was equally determined to include women in a new alternate humanity, the "Church" equal in every way with men.

That's what Jesus did. He turned societal norms and mores upside down. He didn't just teach and lecture. He was a doer!

Nothing was too sacrosanct for Jesus! He said we should "hate" our families. We shouldn't trust in being members of our nation of origin. We should give up all our possessions. Luke 14:43. Women were equal to men in God's sight. The Temple and all it represented would be destroyed with not one stone left upon another. The Temple for Pete's sake! It didn't get anymore sacrilegious than that!

He pronounced woes against the rich saying it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to gain entrance into the Kingdom of God!

Jesus touched lepers when healing them. He used his spit to make clay in order to heal the eyes of a man blind from birth. He ate with IRS agents and prostitutes and unclean Romans. He raised the dead, cured the lame, rebuked demons, gave hearing to the deaf! As it said in Isaiah 53 he took upon himself our infirmities and disease.

That's how he related to people! And, we should go out and do likewise. So, let's get out of our comfort zones and out of our church buildings and go into the marketplace...into the world and turn it upside down bringing down the Kingdom of God...today!

In other news... today is the 40th anniversary of my conversion. It was June 23, 1976 when I committed to following The Christ. I was just 16 years old and a green horn to boot. Boy, I had a lot to learn the past 40 years to be sure!

My new endeavor, Calvary Idaho Springs Campus, is holding its second and final interest meeting this Sunday June 26, 2016 at 530pm at the Frothy Cup Coffee Shop. Hope to see all my Clear Creek County peeps there!

Well...grace and peace to y'all. See you on the sunnyside!

BR Schoenbein
June 23, 2016- Thursday