Impossible-to-follow-instructions!

August 20, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
Have you ever noticed how often Jesus gave people specific instructions, obviously intending for them to be obeyed, even though He knew they could not possibly comply? Take this, as an example: “And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, and saying, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David!’ And after He had come into the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ They said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord.’ Then He touched their eyes, saying, ‘Be it done to you according to your faith.’ And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, ‘See here, let no one know about this’” (Matthew 9:27-31)!
Could someone please tell me how Jesus expected these two blind me not to let any-one know what had happened to them? I can see it now: one of them went home, walked into the den and started watching TV, pointing at the characters, laughing his head off, and his mother walks in and never even notices. The other man returned to his job at the local nursery, and began admiring all the flowers, “oo-ing” and “ah-ing,” but his boss is completely oblivious. Yea, right! Or better yet, the wife of one of them meets him for lunch, and he tells her how pretty her new shoes are, but it never dawns upon her that he can see. Sure! You can rest assured that these two men, in obedience to Jesus’ instructions, continued walking along the streets, tapping their canes, and begging for money. [You really don’t believe that, do you?]
Actually, the next verse gives credibility to my thesis: “But they went out, and spread the news about Him in all that land” (vs. 31; italics added). There was no way these men were going to follow Jesus’ instructions; in fact, they could not. Doing so, would be about like a woman, 8 ½ months into a pregnancy, hiding the fact that she is expecting a child. I mean, there are some things we, simply, cannot hide, regardless of Jesus’ instructions, and He knows it. So, why does He give such impossible-to-follow instructions?
There are many other examples; actually, too many to list in this brief article, but here are a few of them:
1. “Love you enemies . . .” (Matthew 5:44a NASB). Oh, I am certain that you are doing a fine job of this, but before you admit it, wait until you meet a real enemy.
2. “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; . . .” (Matthew 6:1a NASB). I feel sure that you would never be guilty of doing this; you are much too humble, even to consider doing anything to be noticed by anyone, but, then, you might (I say might) attend a funeral visitation so the family won’t think ill of you.
3. “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe” (Mark 5:36b NASB). Just to remind you: Jairus, the synagogue official, had just learned that his little daughter had died, when Jesus spoke these instructions to him. He twisted his right ear, punched his nose, grunted three times, and his fear left on the morning train! Yea, right! I am betting that Jairus’ fear didn’t leave until his daughter sat up in the bed and smiled. You can tell me all day long that nothing ever happens that scares the wits out of you, but I am going to tell you that I do not believe you, nor do I think you have mastered these instructions. Why would Jesus tell anyone not to be afraid, only believe, when it is apparent that the earth is about to fall into a black hole?
4. “And when it was evening, the disciples came to Him, saying, ‘The place is desolate, and the time is already past; so send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat” (Matthew 14:15-16 NASB)! My wife would shoot me, if I should call her at suppertime, telling her that I was on the way home with two guests, not to mention ten; only God knows what she would do, if that number were 5,000! One only needs to read the next verse, to learn of the disciple’s frustration: “And they said to Him, ‘We have here only five loaves and two fish” (vs.17)! The passage doesn’t say this, but I am sure they thought, “How do you expect us to feed this crowd, when we have no McDonalds, no grocery store, no any-thing but these few fish and this soggy bread?”

If you want more examples, look them up for yourself, but in the process, accept the fact, that most of what you think you know about Jesus is evidence that you really know very little—very little indeed. This just might be the best thing I have ever learned; to be sure, it removed the pressure of my having to make Him fit into my ideas of truth, into my ideas of how He should live His life.
Now, why did Jesus give us so many impossible-to-follow instructions? Isn’t it obvious? Apart from Him we can do nothing—absolutely, positively nothing—and He wants to be sure that we realize it. We can’t heal the sick, raise the dead, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, encourage the downhearted, give sight to the blind, love our enemies, treat others as we want to be treated, pray, teach, fast, preach the gospel, cast out demons, or even inhale our next breath—we simply cannot do these things. If they get done, it will be His doing, not ours—not in any way, shape, form, or fashion. We just need to get over our-selves and accept the fact most of what Jesus told us to do, He never expected us to do; instead, He wanted to teach us our desperate need for Him, not to mention our desperate need for Him to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
What kind of student have you been?