Radical

I’ve been reading the book Radical by David Platt (2010). In the briefest of synopses, Platt asks his readers to consider what Jesus is worth to them. I will not even attempt to claim “everything” because, in doing so, I would most definitely be lying. Oh, how desperately I would like to say he is “everything to me”, but the hard truth is that if Jesus commanded me to “follow him” at the cost of losing my home, my family, my friends and having “no place to lay my head” and being told to not even return home to bury my father, I honestly am not sure I would be jumping up and down with enthusiasm (Luke 9:57-62). How often have I said, “I’ll be obedient if...” or “I’ll follow you, but first…” or even “I know Jesus wants obedience, but I don’t think He meant _______”.

There has been some debate as to whom Jesus was speaking in Luke 9 (specifically whether these men were believers or not). As a believer, the words “leave it all behind for Me” are terrifying; I can’t imagine the impact such words would have on someone who was encountering Jesus for one of the first times. In my opinion, it seems we make excuses for not following Jesus whole-heartedly. One of these reasons being “love”. For example, “It would be ‘unloving’ to follow Jesus without saying goodbye to family” or “It would be ‘unloving’ not to attend a family member’s funeral”, etc., etc.

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not encouraging you to skip town and to follow Jesus… unless He gives you that specific direction. Not everyone is called to go overseas, and it’s ok if some of us are blessed with “much”. What I take from this passage has less to do with specific behaviors/possessions and more to do with a willingness to follow Christ at the risk of losing everything we ‘value’. Let’s pretend you do not live in America, and you have to travel 50 miles by foot each time you wanted to meet with believers, taking a different route each time, so the authorities would be less likely to follow due to suspicions. Then you would meet in an underground room infested with roaches, spiders, snakes, rats, and other such creepy-crawlies; there is no band or flashing lights. No heat or air-conditioner, and the only place to sit is on the jagged gravel floor that penetrates your flesh. Would you go? Would you still be willing if you knew that getting caught would mean the torture and execution of your entire family?

It’s easy to love Jesus in America. We have comfortable seats in our churches, air conditioning, heat, electricity, nice houses, and exterminators, and despite the fact that we might get teased every now and then, persecution is, comparatively, at a minimum. In our pictures Jesus is a handsome man with a halo casting a soft glow upon blond hair, blue eyes, and tiny drops of blood dripping from small holes in his hands and feet. He is almost always smiling. I never really “got” these pictures because 1) “He had no beauty of majesty to attract us to Him; nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him” (Isaiah 53:2b) and 2) I have a really hard time imagining Jesus experiencing enough delight to put a smile on His face as His Father turned His face away from Him. Yes, the crucifixion was horrific; however, I believe the real horror was in the separation. This is the hell from which Jesus’ death and resurrection saved us… quite a radical way to say “I love you”… and yet I still have difficulty responding with as much abandonment.

In David Platt’s book, he mentions a woman from India who actually thanked her persecutors as they skinned her alive! She thanked them for “tearing off [her] garment, for [she would] soon put on Christ’s garment of righteousness.” Years ago, I heard the testimony of a woman who served overseas with her family. While in a secretly held Bible study, she and her family, among other believers, were attacked, and as shrapnel flew, she threw her body over her child. This woman shared that a piece of shrapnel lodged itself in her back and remains there today because it was too close to her spinal cord to remove without further damage. I will never forget what she said after that. She said the pain she felt was joy. She experienced joy in being able to protect her child and joy in being able to experience the sufferings of Christ. She loved Jesus that much, and to think, I shudder when I stub my pinky toe.

Could I do it? Could I let go of anything and everything for the sake of One who sacrificed His life for me?

“Leave it ALL… for Me.”

Crazy?

Maybe a little; however, “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).