" If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor." John 12:26, KJV
Today I want to talk a little bit about what Jesus was really asking when He invited, or perhaps a better choice of words would be when He challenged people to follow him. In order to do this justice, though, I feel need to offer a brief lesson in Biblical hermeneutics which is the “methods and principles of interpreting the Scriptures”.
It sounds like a snore, right? But when people ask me to explain a verse or a passage of the Bible that is confusing to them, I feel that the money I paid for the class was well spent, and you are reaping the benefits for free!
In any case there are eight basic principles for interpreting scripture (or any other kind of writing for that matter). They are as follows:
1. The rule of definition – how is the word defined? What does it mean literally?
2. The rule of usage – who was it written to and who was it read by? What did they understand it to mean? It cannot mean something to us now that it didn’t mean to the readers then.
3. The rule of context – every word must be interpreted through the lens of the words that come before and after it.
4. The rule of historical background – there needs to be some sense and knowledge of the society and culture of the author, so the interpreter can have some understanding of what they had going on in their mind when they wrote it.
5. The rule of logic – does the interpretation make sense logically speaking?
6. The rule of precedent – are the words being interpreted being given the same meaning that they had when they were written? (see rule number two)
7. The rule of unity – is the interpretation of the passage consistent with the document as a whole?
8. The rule of inference – new truths, or larger more inclusive truths must be derived from and consistent with smaller truths that we already know to be correct.
If you make a habit of applying these rules of interpretation to any passages that you find especially challenging, I feel confident that you will find the Holy Spirit more than willing to shine His light on their meaning.
All right, back to the call. Joshua Moss in the article “Discipleship, What Is It?”, wrote,
“The New Testament is a Jewish book! With one possible exception (Luke, who may have been a Gentile proselyte) every author is Jewish. But more than that, the very structure and flavor of the New Testament reflect the Jewish culture of its time.”,
It was a culture of solid tradition and rigid rules and values. This makes a profound difference to people like us who live in a culture of seemingly fluid definitions, disposable values and a decidedly commercial approach to traditions.
When Jesus said “…serve me”, it would have been understood to mean “caring for the needs of others (in this case Jesus Himself) as the Lord guides in an active, practical way.”. When He said “follow” his followers would have understood it to mean “…to cleave steadfastly to one, conform wholly to his example, in living and if need be in dying also.”.
This was not a mere profession of faith type of walk Jesus was calling people to. It was more of a “If you really want a piece of this, be prepared to put some serious skin in the game!” kind of call. And He was requiring his disciples to follow Him, to go where He went, because it was not enough that He tell them about how He and His kingdom were different than what they were used to, He wanted to show them first hand!
He wanted his followers to see the king washing the feet of the commonest of the common, of having sit down meals with people most considered the off-scouring of humanity, of him touching the untouchables and mending the broken, accepting the rejected, loving the detested.
He seemed to prefer demonstrations of compassion over religion, action over talk.
Jesus is the world-changer and He invites whosoever will to come with Him. He doesn’t want you to be all you can be; He wants something better for you. He wants you to be everything He needs you to be, for this moment, for this world. He wants you to be a world-changer with Him!
Not everyone hears the call, and even of those who do, not all of them are willing to walk the path with Him. Not all are shepherds. Some are sheep. Not all are world-changers. Some are citizens here. I’m not here to judge. Personally I’ve never been accused of being an overachiever. I just want something better.
Before the Lord revealed Himself to me, I used to look around and ask myself if this was all there was. Then Jesus opened my eyes to see that there was so much more! It seems though that for the last little while I have been lulled back to sleep; back to a place where too little seemed like good enough. I traded out following Jesus for going to church, and now, after the shaking that God has accomplished in the last year, I’m awake again, ready to serve and ready to follow. Returning to normal is the last thing I want!
How about you? Are you really willing to merely “return to normal”? Was normal good enough to go back to? Really? The King is calling you to something better!
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” John 1:12
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