Our Jesus is a patient and persistent teacher

When you’re 69 years old, you think more about death than you want to. You really can’t help it. For one thing, the time when you see all of your friends is when you’re attending the funeral of another friend. A lot of these friends whose funeral we’re attending are younger than I am. That will make you think. When you preside over the funeral of a friend who died when they were 65 years old and you think, “I remember when I was 65.” 

Other friends are thinking about their own deaths as well. About once a week I get a call from another friend who is pre-planning their funeral. “If you’re still around,” they’ll say, “would you preach at my funeral?” Sure, I’m thinking, I can do that. That’s before I start wondering “what did he mean when he said, ‘If I’m still around? Does he know something I don’t?’”

And what if I’m not around. I’m a preacher. Who preaches the preacher’s funeral? I know I should pre-plan my service, but I’m not ready to think about that right now. Yet, the fact is, we’re all going to die of something. We’re all going to die sometime. My body reminds me everyday that the day of my departure is at hand. I may not have finished the race yet, but I know I’m on the last lap. There’s a lot more road in my rear view mirror than there is in front of me. 

As I read the passages about the last few weeks of Jesus’ life, I wonder what the disciples were thinking. How were they responding to the circling bands of Jesus’ enemies? Did they wince when some of the religious leaders asked Jesus their trap questions? Did they sweat while waiting on Jesus’ answer? They knew the questions were traps. They knew if Jesus misspoke, Jesus would have been killed and his disciples with Him.  

It was Thomas who said the disciples should go up to Jerusalem so they could die with Him. Maybe after being with Jesus for three years, they would have been willing to do anything for Him. Of course, we know they all failed, but maybe at the moment, they believed they would have died for Jesus. 

I wonder what would have given them that idea? They had been working for this moment the whole time they followed Jesus.  Because the disciples, and us with them, have to learn our lessons one step at a time, a little bit at a time. We don’t start out with five talents. We start out with one. If we do well with one, then we’re trusted with two. If we do well with two, we’re trusted with five. No one starts with five. Everyone starts with one. 

We learn how to die the same way. We start with a thousand little deaths until we understand the life we want is always on the other side of death. When we’re first called to follow Christ, we submit our lives to His will, we surrender our hopes and dreams to His. We die a little. As we continue to follow, we find out there are things about our lives that don’t help us stay close to Christ and we give them up. A lot of times, there is nothing evil about these things. They just aren’t helpful to us.  I have friends who don’t have a television. For them, having a TV interrupts their spiritual rhythms. They gave up TV. To hear them talk, however, they didn’t give up anything. They only talk about the things they’ve gained. 

Another little death. Another time we find life on the other side. 

As we grow older, we give up a lot of our possessions. People call it down sizing. We give away or sell off those things we don’t need anymore. We don’t have room for all of the things we have accumulated all of our lives. Those of us who are going through this process see it differently. We give away some of our dreams. The art set is given to a grandchild. We’re not going to learn to paint water colors after all. That’s a little death.

We give away things that require maintenance – like a front yard. We don’t have time or the concern to spend our time pulling weeds. Life is too precious. We’d rather take long walks with our spouses or not be hurried at coffee with our friends. We’ve wasted too much life and we’re not going to waste anymore. 

We’ve realized a lot of things in our lives simply aren’t worth the time and effort. We want our lives simpler. If we had been wise enough in the first place, we’d kept our lives simpler – much simpler. 

Paul talks about dying to ourselves. This is the life-long learning of a disciple. From small ways to eventually the ultimate price, we learn to die as Christians. Along the way, we get braver. Each time, we find a little more courage. Because each time we learn life waits on the other side. 

I imagine the disciples were learning this lesson as they followed Jesus to Jerusalem. They would die following Christ. 

They were confident of the life that waited for them on the other side. They had spent their whole lives learning to die well. 

As we walk the Easter road this year, I pray we’ll learn this lesson of faith at an ever deeper level. Life waits on the other side of death. Why are we so confident? Because we’ve spent our lives learning this lesson a little bit at a time. 

Our Jesus is a patient and persistent teacher. 

This essay was first posted in Scot McKnight’s newsletter.