On the Surface

Mark 10:32 - Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed. And as they followed they were afraid. Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him...

...the things that would lead to His death. The things that He would bring about because of His death. The life He would give to others.

In a reading one day (Oswald Chambers Daily Devotional Bible, which I occasionally read from) I was touched to the core by a statement. It is the essence of true Christianity. Belief. Total trust. Faith...the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

The disciples had been living in closest intimacy with Jesus, but now they begin to see that there is it dread side to His life. He has an attitude to things which is not easy to understand, and it fills them with fear. There are different kinds of fear. We know what fear is in the physical domain, and in the moral domain; but in the spiritual domain a man’s fear is not for his own skin at all, but, as it were, fear that his hero won’t get through. This was the disciples’ fear; it seemed as if all they had expected Jesus to do would end in nothing. Not one of them knew what Jesus was after, but still they followed and they were afraid. Many of us are supernaturally solemn about our religion because it is not real. As soon as a religion becomes real, it is possible to have humor in connection with that. There are occasions, nevertheless, when there is not only no humor, but when humor is unfit; there is a dread sense of detachment from our ordinary attitude to things which fill us with awe. We are all apt to interpret Jesus from our own standpoint; we get too familiar with Him, and immoral surgery of events is necessary before we can understand His standpoint. (Oswald Chambers)

My takeaway from this, I felt, was in the statement: fear that his hero won’t get through.

This is the faith alluded to in scripture. Faith of a mustard seed. So small. How much are we willing to trust Him? In what circumstances? Are we willing to allow Him to take us through a situation and not fear the outcome? Only when that time comes will we really know. Will we continue to follow Him like the disciples, not knowing what the end of our circumstance might be, the end He has for it?  Not one of them knew what Jesus was after, but still they followed, and they were afraid.

They feared His power, what He could do. We can know better than this. If we are fearful we don’t know Him.

Some say they are believers yet they fear death. They fear they are not good enough; fear whether heaven will be a real thing for them. This should not be if one truly knows the Lord, has repented of their sins and become a true Christian, not just by believing because one is not Buddhist or Jewish or whatever, they are Christian. Just because one goes to a church doesn't make them a true Christian. A true Christian knows they have undergone a change of heart and received Christ.

This change of heart is the relationship Jesus wants with us. It's not about a religion, as I've stated before. There isn't one denomination that is better than another. It's not even about that. It's knowing Jesus, not knowing about Him. Going to church doesn't make one secure in their Christianity. For some it's a ritual. I go to church because I experience God's Spirit and presence there. How many others can really say that?

The disciples followed not knowing the outcome. They didn't follow a religion or denomination. They followed a Man. Their fear and the outcome of Jesus' death and resurrection teach that He can be trusted, without our having to know how something will end because we follow Him. This hero will get through.

As with most of these blogs, I urge people to seek God/Jesus. He's the only way, truth and life. He casts out all fear. He is perfect love.

1John 4:18 - There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.