What possess us to stay here?

I’ve changed my mind about Jesus.

I used to think that the wilderness of temptation for Jesus was essentially limited to 40 days when he was alone in the desert.   After that the devil was said to have left him alone for a while, perhaps a long while.   So I thought all along that the temptations of Jesus Christ were what happened when he was alone, unaccompanied by friends or family or followers.   Perhaps unaccountable to anyone else.

No more.

I now believe Jesus was tempted as well when with other people.  Which was pretty much wherever he went, come to think of it.  Starting with his homies there in Nazareth.  In fact, it was there that the devil tempted him for the 4^th time.

The 4^th temptation of Christ?  Really?

I believe so, and for this reason.   There was something about going home to Nazareth that tempted even Jesus to be conformed to their world.   To be their homeboy.   To be Mary and Joseph’s son.   To stay home and take care of his own people.   To be……and here’s where it gets downright demonic…….possessed by his own past, and by his own hometown.    

If we will notice the places Jesus went, including his hometown, it was not unusual for the people there to want Jesus to stay.  Instead, he always left.  Oh, sometimes they wanted him out of town, but maybe more often they wanted him to stay.  Keep him all to themselves.   They wanted to possess him.   They hoped he would come and stay longer.   But he never did.  Ever.  At least that I can recall.  Always moved on.  No one ever possessed him.  Not even his own disciples, who wanted him to stay in Galilee instead of leaving for his ill-fated Jerusalem.  As in "get thee behind me, Satan."   

I believe Jesus was tempted, though.  Tempted to stay.  To be conformed to “their” world.  To fit in and belong with the people around him.   Call it his 4^th temptation by the devil.       

And I have to wonder about ourselves in our own world today.  Are we only tempted when alone in some isolated wilderness where no one is around to hold us accountable?    Or are we also temped when with other people who want us to be conformed to their world?  To fit in and belong and behave like they do, to stay with them and not leave, and to be possessed?

People can be very possessive of us.   Where the temptation to conform is concerned, people can be downright demanding of us.   Stay the same as we were.   Stay where we already are.   Don’t leave.   Don’t grow.  Don’t change.  

Tempting?

Perhaps there is a Nazareth in everyone’s life.   Some place we go where we find ourselves tempted to just stay.   Conform.  Serve their needs.  Ignore that urge to move on, or that call in our lives to go out into all the world and serve the needs of others.   Perhaps we are more possessed to stay here than we ever are to go there.   Perhaps the most possessive people in our lives are those where we were or still are.   Perhaps this is our own 4^th temptation to contend with.

Jesus resisted that 4th temptation in his own life, starting in his hometown of Nazareth.  So I believe we as followers of Jesus can face, and also resist, that same temptation.   Say no to conformity with the world of our own Nazareth, wherever that may be.   Refuse to be possessed by anyone, even our own friends, family, or followers.   Like Jesus, I believe we can say no to those who would hold us back in order to say yes to the God who calls us forward.  

Yes, when we face temptations in the lonely places of this world, we will most likely return to the familiar places of people where we can again be welcomed home.   That was true of Jesus as well.   But when we are then tempted to just stay home and not risk those further wilderness temptations ever again, let’s all try and remember Jesus.  Remember his refusal to stay in Nazareth.   Remember what he said about going out into all the world, to make new friends through baptism, to serve their needs, and to take along one constant companion wherever then and there happens to be.   Himself.

“Therefore go and make disciples in all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and then teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you; and be sure of this—that I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (Matthew 28:19-20 TLB).      

Pit Bulls and Presidents

I’m a dog lover.  But.

I’m the kind of dog lover who takes his Dachshund to the dog park and, upon seeing a Pit Bull running loose off leash, turns around and leaves.  Too risky, in my judgment.

Truth be told, I know there are some Pit Bulls that are perfectly safe to be around.   I’ve never owned or wanted to own a Pit but I have nothing against the breed itself.  I just don’t trust the people who do want to own a Pit Bull.   Call it my prejudice, or whatever.  Just saying.  I’m more leery of that breed of owner than I am that breed of dog. 

On a few happy occasions, I have met Pit Bull owners who were very loving and highly responsible.  They rescued or adopted a Pit and have one of the most loving and loyal dogs I’ve ever seen.     

But then on several more occasions, I have met Pit owners who had very different motives in mind.   They were afraid.  They wanted a dog who would fight for and protect them.  Love was not their aim; rather, it was self-protection. Their choice of breed was all about fear, not love.  And, hence, their dog was far more scary than loving.

Which reminds me of Donald Trump and the people who chose to vote for him as their President.     

No doubt some people chose Trump for the same reason they might rescue a Pit Bull.   They believed he could be reformed and could make a good pet.   Would be trainable.  Was smart.  Would learn on the job.   Would make a good president.

But then here comes my prejudice.  

Based on my experience, on far more occasions I have found Trump owners to have very different motives in mind.  They were afraid.  They wanted a president who would fight for and protect them.  Love was not their aim; rather, self-protection.   Their choice of president was all about fear, not love.  And, hence, their president is far more scary than loving.  

You see, in my humble opinion, governments are like public dog parks.   Leaders are like alpha dogs.   My dog and I have as much right as anyone to be in this public place.   My tax dollars help pay for this park.   But there are times when our own government is one where I’d prefer to just take my dog, turn around, and leave.   Alpha dogs that are unleashed are like unaccountable politicians.   Pit Bulls are like Presidents.   And I want to leave not because of the other dogs so much as the other owners.   They are the ones I have the hardest time trusting.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

Getting unstuck?

Have you ever felt stuck in a situation you felt helpless to get out of?   Maybe a bad job?  A bad marriage or other close relationship?  A house or apartment, or a neighborhood?  A town or city?  A financial debt?   A chronic illness?    Or anything else from which you wanted to “just get away” but…………you couldn’t?  You were stuck.  

If so, welcome to the human race.   We’ve all been there.  Stuck.   Somewhere.  Wanting to get away, but maybe no place to go or any way to get there.   No way out.  Feeling helpless.  

There’s a Greek word in the Gospels of the biblical New Testament, apollumi, that is used to quote Jesus in at least two different places, John 3:16 and Luke 15:24.   In John, that word is translated as “perish” and in Luke, it is translated as “lost,” for it refers to the prodigal son in that famous parable Jesus told.   In the most general of terms, apollumi means loss of all hope.   In my world as a clinician, think “depressed.”  Loss of hope.  Helpless.  Stuck. 

Which is why I happen to believe God so loved the world of “stuck humanity” that he sent Jesus to be our difference-maker.  For the purpose of our getting unstuck.   And solving our universal problem of apollumi.     

  

Try reading the Gospel red letters sometime and notice the people Jesus came to and those who came to him.   They were people in the throes of apollumi.   They were stuck.  Dead end diseases without treatment or cure.  Blindness, leprosy, psychosis, paralysis, etc.  Dead end jobs working their Dad’s fishing boat.   Or collecting taxes and having to stay with it despite the abuse, because no other job would pay that well. People who were too short or too greedy.  Too female or too menstrual.  Too mulatto or too Samaritan.  Too Gentile or too Roman.  Too stuck or too helpless.  Apollumi.   That’s who Jesus came to.   That’s who came to Jesus.  For help to get away from their stuck places.  

So can Jesus help us get unstuck today?   And can we still come to him even today?

I believe he can.  And I believe we can.  

If.

You see, the question is if we are willing to convert from our present lifestyle of helplessness to a new lifestyle of helpfulness.  Are we?

If we are willing to convert from stuck to unstuck, from helpless to helpful, then we are ready to follow Jesus.   Those are the people Jesus called then.  And, I believe, still calls today.   

To be a Jesus follower means nothing more than to give up on being helpless, to take up our mat and walk, to just go and help somebody.  Anybody.   I love the analogy in Mark 2 of the paralytic’s mat.   To me, anytime we are stuck in a lifestyle of helplessness, can't stay sober, can’t get a job, can’t this, can’t that, we are paralyzed on one of life’s mats.   And Jesus calls us to take up our mat and walk.   Go help somebody.   Take up a new lifestyle.   That, to me, is the crux of the Gospel and the core of Christianity.  

I doubt that Jesus was sent to the world God so loves so we could argue doctrine, proof-text our apologetics, or get out of hell free on the day we die.   If anything, that’s the mat of paralysis Christianity itself needs to get unstuck from.   The real message of Jesus for the world both then and now is get up and walk.   Convert.   Throw out the old wineskins of helplessness and hopelessness.   Take up a new lifestyle of helpfulness.  

If we follow Jesus into this new lifestyle, more than we can ever imagine we will be helping other people, apollumi people, in also getting unstuck.