Loyalty

 Read Luke 6:12-23

     This passage starts with the Lord seeking the Father's will in an all-night prayer vigil on a mountain.  When He had finished, he went to select twelve from the mass of His disciples to set aside for special teaching and service. These He called apostles, and among them were Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew -the four we met earlier. Additionally He called another James, Matthew, Thomas, Simon the Zealot, and two Judases, one of whom later proved to be a traitor.
     He came down with them and stood in a level area surrounded by a great number of His disciples and people from all over Judea, Jerusalem, Tyre, and Sidon. Many came to hear Him teach and to be healed of their diseases, and many who were plagued by evil spirits were cured. People surrounded Him, trying to touch Him because power was going out from Him and healing them.
     He looked on His disciples and began to teach. He called the poor, the hungry, and those who weep blessed; for the poor will inherit the Kingdom of God, the hungry will be satisfied, and those who weep will laugh. He called those who are reviled and hated because of His name blessed, for He said that those who are called evil because of Him would receive a great reward in heaven.

     There are, of course, many other things He said after this. He spoke saying the wealthy, the well-fed, and the jovial have received their consolation in full. This is a hard teaching, but from the full counsel of the Word of God, it can be discerned that it is not the riches themselves which prove to be the spiritual downfall of man, but the love of them; the idolatrous serving of wealth in the place of serving God. It is the man whose identity is wrapped up in his wealth that will find it an unstable support. The man who trusts in God in prosperity as much as in adversity; who does not stake his being on the riches but on the God in whom he trusts implicitly--this is the man who is not doomed by the very weight of gold that makes his temporal life easier.

     But aside from those speculations, the thing that truly stands out to me here is the incredible example of my Lord here. He spent an entire night in prayer before choosing the twelve men to whom He would shortly entrust the beginnings of His Church--and the one who would betray Him to his gruesome and shameful death. Jesus understood the weight of importance of the task in choosing His apostles, and He did not neglect diligence in seeking guidance for it. The task was great, for He chose the eleven who would learn from Him and go on to become leaders, evangelists and in most cases, martyrs for the sake of the Good News of salvation through Christ. He also chose the one man who would follow Him, become intimately acquainted with Him and His ways, take meals with Him, and eventually would turn Him over to those who wanted His death for a mere 30 pieces of silver. Knowing that God's plan involved the giving up of His own life in a bloody and tremendously painful way, He chose this man, Judas, who would be the catalyst for His crucifixion. He knowingly and willingly chose His own betrayer. There is no act of surrender greater, perhaps, except for Gethsemane.
   
     I wonder if it is a small thing that Luke chose to write immediately after the introduction of these men the words of Jesus that indicated an imperishable, spiritual blessing for those who were willing to undergo persecution, hatred, defamation, and even death for the sake of the name of Jesus the Christ. Eleven of the twelve would receive this blessing someday. One of them would, in a fit of shame and guilt, throw the blood money back at those who gave it to him and hang himself--forever separating himself from the forgiveness that could have been his with a heart of genuine repentance. Judas did not have to die. He, like Peter, could have repented and been saved, but he allowed his shame to drive him, not to the Lord, but further from Him.

     I wonder, too, if it is a small thing to us. Are we, the Church in America, willing to undergo inconvenience and discomfort for the sake of our Lord and our God if He should call us to it? Are we willing to turn away from wealth, from our abundance of food, and even from our consuming love of pleasure for His name's sake? Are we willing to be called intolerant, narrow-minded, and even evil? Will we focus only on the love and forgiveness of Christ without acknowledging the reason we need forgiveness? Will we polish up the cross until it shines, scouring out the stains of gore that serve as a painful reminder of what our own disobedience and pride cost? Are we willing to become fools for Christ? When it finally comes to a choice, will we choose the ways of the world or the ways of God? Will we prove faithful, or will we, too, turn traitor and forever cut ourselves off from the grace and mercy of God that is freely given to the truthfully penitent?