Misery Loves Company
The last year so far has sort of felt like a Bizarro Aladdin and His Magic Lamp. “Tell me your three wishes, and I’ll give you the exact opposite!”
I wished for business to get back to normal, for everyone to come back to church, and for baseball season to come soon.
“Ok, here’s a labor shortage, an exodus of church members, and an MLB lockout.”
I know I don’t have it that hard. In fact, I have dear family and friends who are dealing with much worse. I attended a funeral in January for my uncle, and I saw how rough it is for my poor aunt and cousins. I have friends who are suffering through sickness, death and broken relationships.
I also know that regardless of unanswered wishes, there is a right and a wrong path. Our choice is not between misery and ecstasy, although we are all tempted to think that. No, what we have is a choice between the way of the world and the way of the cross.
Jesus presented it as a choice between either “the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod” or crucifixion (Mark 8). The Pharisees and Herod didn’t hang out in the kitchen baking bread together, by the way. They were enemies, yet Jesus kneaded them together in this story to make a point. What they had in common was the same thing that tempted Adam and Eve—a path of self-determination. Interestingly, Satan tried to tempt Jesus with the bread of self-determination (Matt or Luke 4), but Jesus chose obedience and suffering.
The path of the cross seemed at the time to be in nobody’s best interest. Peter, at least, thought that. His rebuke of Jesus resulted in a very unpleasant conversation. Jesus returned Peter’s rebuke by plainly calling out what the options were. His followers had to choose between a road of self-determination or the worst death imaginable—the cross. Both paths, either the self-path or the cross-path, can be marked by pleasure and pain. The right path, the one Jesus took and expects us to take, guarantees suffering.
The leaven of self-determination might result in your plans working out your way with many pleasurable experiences. I might get that baseball season when I want it, but getting what I want when I want it is not the path of our Lord.
Christ’s path, the right path, promises suffering but gives us an incredible promise. Our savior will be with us on that path. Do you honestly want to walk any path without Jesus? I don’t care how smooth and easy the road is; if Jesus isn’t on it, it can only lead to one place, and that place is hot in the bad sense.
So I will leave you not with three wishes but a challenge. If you are experiencing misery, remember that joy personified will keep you company. Are you walking with Jesus? Are you praying to him, enjoying his Word, loving your neighbor as yourself? Do you have the fruit of the spirit? If not, the right path is nearby. He will accept your repentance (i.e., switching paths). If so, you’ll get much better than three wishes—you’ll get an eternity with Jesus!
