Luke Study #138 – You Choose

The Gospel Of Luke

Luke 13:22-30 (CEV)

22 As Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he taught the people in the towns and villages. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”

Jesus answered:

24 Do all you can to go in by the narrow door! A lot of people will try to get in, but will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and locks the door, you will be left standing outside. You will knock on the door and say, “Sir, open the door for us!”

But the owner will answer, “I don’t know a thing about you!”

26 Then you will start saying, “We dined with you, and you taught in our streets.”

27 But he will say, “I really don’t know who you are! Get away from me, you evil people!”

28 Then when you have been thrown outside, you will weep and grit your teeth because you will see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s kingdom. 29 People will come from all directions and sit down to feast in God’s kingdom. 30 There the ones who are now least important will be the most important, and those who are now most important will be least important.

You Choose

Did you ever read the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books when you were a kid?

You know, the ones where you read a page or two of story and then, when the character had a choice of which way to go, you had to choose between ‘killing the dragon with your sword – p. 47’ or ‘making friends with the dragon – p. 63’.

The choice was entirely yours, but depending on what choices you made, the story might get cut precipitously short, and sometimes it seemed impossible to get to the ending you were looking for.

But Jesus doesn’t leave us in the dark about this story arc.

‘Trying to control everyone and everything – p. 45’ is certainly an option, but it’s not the narrow way that Jesus is referring to. There are, in fact, many people following that route and it doesn’t seem to be getting them very far. Some want to think that they are the big wigs. Some go around Jesus’ world flaunting their wealth and their power and their prestige and get quite hacked off with Jesus for showing up and contradicting them. Some are, in fact, so convinced of their ways, that it’s not likely that they will get to the banquet at the end of the story. Not because Jesus doesn’t want them there, but simply because they don’t seem to want to come. 

‘Living out the Kingdom message of love – p. 79’ is the option Jesus suggests. It’s a narrow, rugged trail – not because it is inferior, but because it is simply unusual. Anyone who likes to out-trip will tell you that some of the most beautiful hikes or canoe trips they’ve gone on have been the most rugged ones. You’re not likely to meet too many people on these hikes, not because there are checkpoints preventing people from entering, but because they take intentionality, the right equipment, and a certain level of grit, determination and commitment to achieve. These trails and paths and routes call out to people all around the world – and all are welcome. There is something breathtaking about their beauty that will attract people from near and far to come and hike or paddle through the wilderness for the sheer pleasure of it.

And it doesn’t matter what your day job was back home. Doesn’t matter if you’re male or female. Doesn’t matter if you’re young or old. There is a new pecking order on the trail. This person might be a high powered executive back home, but they have only got the rudimentary basics of packing down, and they’re still picking their way carefully around the rocks and twigs, while that person might work at Wal-Mart during the year, but has a pack on their front, another on their back, a canoe (with paddle lashed to it) over their head and they’re still outpacing the first person by many meters every minute.

The option on page 79 might well feel like the harder of the two choices. Trying to control all the variables might seem relatively simple. We write out a list, we check off the boxes, and as long as we never lose sight of the list, we can probably achieve it.

Living out the Kingdom message of love, on the other hand, will require us to ground ourselves in an understanding of God as gracious and loving and compassionate; to root ourselves deep into a knowledge that God loves the person God made each of us to be; and to lean into the practice of loving those around us – the ones we like and the ones we can’t stand and everyone in between – out of that same love.

But like the spoiler on the back of the Choose Your Own Adventure books, Jesus has already told us how the story gets to end if we choose the right path.

There is a banquet.

And there is joy.

And there is laughter.

And there is a space for any one of us who wishes to attend the feast.Journal Questions:

  1. Every few pages in a Choose Your Own Adventure book you get a choice.
  2. Which page of the book are you on right now?
  3. Where are you at in the plot?
  4. What are the current options in front of you?
  5. Which one leads to the banquet?
  6. Which adventure will you choose today?

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