Read Luke 9:51-56
Disciples don’t react to people; they respond to Jesus.
Think about how many thousand opportunities a day you have to react to people. Roommate ignores you. Dude in the SUV cuts you off on the expressway. Professor unfairly singles you out. Girlfriend misunderstands you. Boss gripes you out. You got interrupted. Again.
Doesn’t life sometimes feel like a pool table and we’re all billiards bouncing off each other? Think about how often these things determine whether or not you had a good day. Is this all there is, to be molded and shaped by our circumstances?
I wonder how this story in Luke would look if James and John, instead of reacting out of their emotions, asked Jesus, “What do you want to do?” What would it look like for you the next time your mom disregards your boundaries for you to ask, “Jesus, what do you want to do?”
Disciples don’t react to people; they respond to Jesus.
Consider three things that just might happen when we choose to respond Jesus instead of reacting:
One) We offer people redemption instead of alienation. Consider that story that this same disciple John tells in his gospel about Jesus and some Samaritans in John 4. Same characters, very different story because of how Jesus responds.
Two) We avoid getting sidetracked missing and our main goal in life. What Jesus wants for James and John here, and for all of us disciples, is growth and maturity. Just see how easy it is to be distracted and lose track of the goal.
Three) We start to experience the joy of life God made us for instead of the misery that consumes as a result of revenge. What James and John do is perfectly normal. It’s normal to want to strike back. But Jesus doesn’t invite us to a normal life. As Paul says, “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Who is your master today? Are you going through life simply reacting to other people?
Disciples don’t react to people; they respond to Jesus.
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