So, I am reading the context of the passage Chambers uses; I translate the passage, even taking the verse between the two he uses; I look at the two pieces he uses, look at his title, and think, "Ha! He got this one wrong!" Then he goes and flips it around on me, and puts the onus on me instead of on Jesus where I thought he'd put it (erroneously). In fact, he puts the onus on me much harder than I initially considered in the passage, and rightly so. Once again, I was on my way to excusing myself from my responsibility towards my Master, and Chambers cut the legs out from under that maneuver.
Well, that's all for today. He got me. Actually that can't be all. I'll be lucky to get all my thoughts out before lunch, let alone work. This is an excellent entry in MUFHH, and worth the time to click the link at the bottom. The passage he uses comes from John 15. Jesus is probably on his way from the upper room where the last Passover was celebrated with His disciples to the garden where He will be arrested. On the way, He shares the Vine Illustration of the life of a disciple. Then He gets into this portion without the vine, but still about how to conduct my life.
He basically says, "The greatest love is laying down your life for a friend. You are my friends if you obey my commands. I no longer call you servants since servants don't know what their master is about, but I have told you everything I heard from My Father, so I call you friends." The implication is that, since He calls His disciples 'friends' that they have been and are to continue obeying His commands. What He has done is connect what He goes to do on the cross with what I am to do with my life. It almost sounds as if I am saved by His work on the cross IF I obey His commands. But it doesn't quite get there, and the difference is important.
The question is not whether I am really saved by my Master or not. The question is really am I loyal to my Master or not. Do I treat my Master as my Friend, loyal and loving? Or do I treat Him as less than a friend? He says that friends of His obey His commands. This sounds like a one-sided friendship until you examine His commands. His commands revolve around loving each other. Not a bad command to follow if you get right down to it. Even "hippies" would like the sound of that. The squabble comes around the definition of love, and what loving my Master really means.
In a given day, I run into bad traffic caused by inattentive drivers distracted by trivial phone calls and stuff on the front seat (why clean up your car at a stop light? Why not wait until you get to your destination where you have a better chance of finding a trash can? I just don't get that.). I come across inane customers, grumpy co-workers, and inopportune tasks. These things come into my life, not at my bidding, but rather to my surprise. And yet I stumble upon, and often through, them every day. These are the places where I sacrifice my friendship with my Master for taste of mediocre soup. I am offered space at the banquet table of my Master, and I opt for the immediate taste of trashy responses, resentments, shame, frustration, failed illusions about people and their conformity with my wants, and confusion. That's not a bright choice.
Where I need to change is at these points of surprise. First I need to expect them. In a sense, lower my expectations, but in another sense, lay down my expectations based on illusions. Then I need to constantly respond from within a conversation with my Master. Paul says to pray constantly. Well, here's an excellent opportunity to apply that command. By responding to my circumstances in life (see the above paragraph) from within that ongoing conversation with my Master, I will respond in ways friendly to my Master. I will be obedient to His command to love others. This will demonstrate my love for Him, which is to supersede all other affection.
These circumstances are not supposed to distract me from my conversation with my Master. They are supposed to become part of that conversation. It's when I stop listening and talking that I plow into a wall emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and then relationally. It's not pretty, but is more common than I like to admit. I know the right thing to do, keep listening and talking, but I often want to "take it from here." Bad idea, that. It is just plain silly to the point of comedy to ask my Master to follow me. It's the point in the story where the reader smiles or laughs and says, "What was he thinking?" I have no answer, at least none that I like.
This is not "theology" in the traditional sense, but theology in the more practical sense. It is a word from the category of "anthropology" in systematic theology, God's human creatures. It also bleeds over into "soteriology" in the sense it touches on the experience of salvation. But those words are really lost and seem out of place when I face traffic and other grumpy people. I don't think in those terms, I think in terms of emotions and selfishness. And the answer to the problem is not to think in those terms, rather to simply keep listening and talking to my Master.
So, while the drivers around me have silly useless conversations with others over phones while driving stupid, I will be having a conversation with my Master, and drive with defensive compassion. While my customers will call with selfish emotions running wild, I will include them in my conversation with my Master, and respond with loving compassion. While my co-workers complain about work, I will converse with my Master and reply out of thankfulness for His provision. At least that's what I intend to do. We'll see.
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