Part of the Cast

Something is going on inside of me.  Maybe it’s gaining clarity, but I find myself wanting more of it.

I am old enough to have transitioned through almost every stage of television technology.  Black & white with limited stations and hours; the tube; flat panel; high def; 

Blue Ray 3D (don’t own that one but have seen it).  The picture and experience gets better and better.  But no matter how profound the experience, I remain a spectator.  I can enter in but am still not a part.  It parallels my faith.  I recognize that the longing and the drawing I am experiencing is to become part of the screen play.

How can a person be drawn into the life and breath interaction with Jesus?  When can we distinguish between speaking about the authority of the Christ and speaking his authority?  When does petition move to dialogue?  

Jesus made a distinction between servants and friends.  The invitation was to friendship. I have thought about the difference.  How would my treatment of a servant, assuming I was the best of masters, differ from my relationship with a friend? (John 15:15)  Clearly friendship carries with it a greater level for freedom, entitlement and a different set of expectations.  Friendship relies heavily upon desire where servanthood rests on control.  Yet the posture of a servant is so frequently seen within Christendom.  Jesus himself took up a towel and washed feet.  Yet the profoundness of that act is only recognized when you realize that he was not required to do it.  He chose to do it out of love.  

Have I carried the wrong concept of servanthood into my faith journey? 

I have friends who tell me that we need the “Martha’s” of the Bible.  She was Mary’s sister who was doing all the work while Mary sat and listened to Jesus.  My friends tell me that without “Martha’s”, nothing would get done. So why does Jesus say that Mary has chosen the better thing? (Luke 10:38-42)  It simply isn’t true that “Mary’s” do not work.  I would suggest to you that the “Mary’s” of this world are the ones who have discovered the role of friend and the “Martha’s” still see themselves as servants.  Mary’s are the Mother Theresa’s.  Martha’s are the keepers of the institution.  They fulfill a job, a role, an obligation.

Much more will be done by the person who is responding because of love than the one who is acting out of duty.  Love trumps duty.

It is interesting though to have experienced so much resistance from friends on this very point.  I have come to believe that they have a very difficult time trusting love.  It can’t be controlled.  It can’t be demanded.  It is therefore impossible to predict and we do not have authority over it to force it to conform.  Because its starting point is love and not duty, it cannot be forced.  Once it responds based on coercion, it is no longer an act of love.  It is an act of duty performed by a servant, not a friend.

The difference between the two is that one finds himself as a spectator and the other in the screenplay.  You may have the latest technology but it still leaves you observer.  Somewhere there is a place of discovery in our faith, when realization comes and surrender is more complete. It is difficult to rest in the truth that we are loved, we are friends, we are intimate with God and he with us.  Yet faith is being part of the cast.  The most minuet role is more engaging than observation using the most sophisticated technology.