What would you do?
But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. Matthew 8:22 KJV
It’s probably the cry of each generation, but sometimes I really miss the “good old days.” I miss the silly Andy Griffin Show, I Love Lucy, and, yes, even The Brady Bunch. Life seemed so simple and in a half an hour all the problems were resolved.
Unfortunately, that dreaded six letter word always pops up its ugly head. The word is “change” and it always seems ready to show up. “But I just got use to this system,” I say in my anguish. Why, why, why must things change?
He was a pretty successful politician from the start. He was the son of a governor and so his election to that state’s House of Delegates was no surprise. But he needed to make the next, expected step if he wanted to move higher. It was a big change, but a change he knew he had to make.
The Bible tells a story of a man who loved his family. There is not much background to this story and his entrance and exit happen pretty quickly. At least it seems. But for the average person, there probably wouldn’t seem to be anything wrong with his request.
Our politician’s entrance into adulthood could be written into one of those sweet 1950’s comical love stories. You see, the change he needed to make was he needed to find himself a wife and start a family. But it couldn’t just be any wife a governor’s son picked. She had to come from a rich family and of course, she had to be pretty. At a graduation party, a very pretty, brown hair, brown eyed young lady walked into his life. And she was the daughter of a wealthy plantation estate owner, too. It wasn’t long before they began their four year engagement.
It’s easy to get caught in the moment. Whether it’s a sales pitch or a person who catches our eyes, we step out of our sane minds and start to knock over the blocks of reason. Our hearts lead us to places where we might not normally go. Then one day reality wakes us up to her thunder. Now we are left holding our passion and our feet start to get cold toward our commitment.
Our Bible friend is just about to experience those feelings. The crowds are great and his heart is caught in the moment. Right now he will do anything to keep the excitement going. Then Jesus issues his command.
Not much is known about our politician’s four year engagement. But there are love letters that survive. In one of those love letters he confesses about her happiness: “(Your) happiness is now my only object, and whether I float or sink in the stream of fortune, you may be assured of this, that I shall never cease to love you.” It is also known that it was just before their wedding day, that he first summons the nerve to just kiss her on her hand. It is the beauty of young, innocent love and so different than today.
Matthew 8:21-23 describes an encounter with Jesus and one of his disciples. The passage never mentions a name nor does it state whether it is one of the twelve disciples we know. It just states that one of his disciples asked to bury his father. The statement Jesus issued was our opening verse. Then, the next verse, Matthew 8:23 (KJV) simply states: “And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed.” It never actually states whether or not this disciple was one of those who boarded the ship.
John Tyler, our tenth president, was married to Letitia Christian for about twenty-nine years. They would have eight children together. He would survive her by twenty years. He would marry again, two years after Letitia’s death.
So, when passion and reality collide, which one wins? Did John Tyler love Letitia forever? Did our disciple get on the boat?
The Bible is filled with stories that seem to leave you stranded. They don’t wrap up all the answers like a half hour TV show. They seem to leave you guessing. But maybe they want you to be a substitute for the main character. Is there something or someone that requires more of your attention than God? Will you love God forever? So, if you were in this disciple’s place, would your feet be on dry land or in the boat with Jesus?
Prayer: Father, Sometimes our issues can’t be resolved in a half an hour, like a TV show. Sometimes our passions are overtaken by reality. Please don’t let my passion for You be diminished by the changes of life. Amen.
