April 13, 2010
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Courage, Wisdom, and Trust
Consider these three passages:
John 11
47Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs.
48"If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." ...
53So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.
54Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the country near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples.
55Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves.
56So they were seeking for Jesus, and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, "What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?"
57Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might seize Him.John 7
1After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him.
2Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near.
3Therefore His brothers said to Him, "Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing.
4"For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."
5For not even His brothers were believing in Him.
6So Jesus said to them, "My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune.
7"The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.
8"Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come."
9Having said these things to them, He stayed in Galilee.
10But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as if, in secret.
11So the Jews were seeking Him at the feast and were saying, "Where is He?"
12There was much grumbling among the crowds concerning Him; some were saying, "He is a good man"; others were saying, "No, on the contrary, He leads the people astray."
13Yet no one was speaking openly of Him for fear of the Jews.
14But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach.John 11
7 ...He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."
8The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?"
9Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10"But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."
It's interesting to look at how Jesus exemplified both courage and wisdom, in his encounters with danger... and also, what seems to be an "extremely trusting" attitude toward God's control (to the extent that it almost looks fatalistic).Wisdom, in sometimes avoiding public exposure in places where people were seeking to kill Him.
Courage, in going to bring aid to a friend despite the friend living in that same hostile region where people were seeking to kill him.
Trust, in his expressed attitude: ""Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."
What does this mean?
I think it means, 'If you're doing what you know God wants you to do, you can rest in perfect fearless confidence, because you know that God will protect you 100% until the hour He calls you home. The day of your death is already written in God's book (Psalm 139), and so no one can harm you until the time comes, and similarly nothing you do can prolong your life any longer than the appointed time.'
This "doing what you know God wants you to do" might sometimes look like "running and hiding" whereas other times it might look like "calling the cops", and other times it might look like "it's ok, I'm ready to die."
Examples of "calling the cops" -
- Acts 16:37 - After Paul's having been beaten and thrown in jail, then released, he could have simply sneaked out of the city, but instead he took full advantage of his legal rights as a citizen (probably for the sake of trying to protect the remaining Christians in the city).
- Acts 23:17 - Paul divulged to the police a plot to kill him, essentially asking for police protection during a trip, which they provided.
Examples of "running and hiding" -
- Acts 19:30 - Paul wanted to address the crowd rioting about Artemis, but his friends didn't let him.
- Acts 9:25 - Paul was smuggled out of the city in a basket.
- Acts 12:17 - Peter fled to another city after being let out of jail.
- Acts 8:1-4 - The Christians and their families ran away to other cities when heavy persecution began.
- John 8:59 and 12:36 - Jesus "hid himself" when they were trying to kill him.
Examples of "it's ok, I'm ready to die" -
- Acts 21:10-14 - Agabus told Paul that if he went to Jerusalem he would be imprisoned. Paul said "I'm ready not only to be bound, but to die..."
- John 12:27 - In John 11 above, Jesus knew that 'his hour had not yet come', so he was perfectly safe in all his travels. But at Gethsemane, Jesus knew that Judas would betray him to his death. Jesus could easily have gone somewhere else that night, or brought along lots of armed friends, or whatever. But he was ready to die.
We, unlike Jesus, don't know when it's God's will for us to die. But we can follow where God leads us, whether that is into situations/actions that look outwardly extremely dangerous, or situations/actions that outwardly look safe and sensible. He will give us the exactly right amount of protection we need.
And afterward, we have heaven forever with Him to look forward to....
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