Daily Lesson for April 22, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke 4 verses 42 and 43:

42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, 43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”

A pastor friend of mine told me that saying no is always necessary in order for us to then say a deeper yes.

Most of our lives are filled with constant demands on our time.  It's one thing after another -- work, kids, grand kids, ball games, volunteering, church.  It's one incessant demand on our time after another. And it's all good stuff. It's very god stuff.  But is it our stuff?  Is it what we are supposed to be doing with our lives right now?

Jesus came preaching and healing in the little village of Capernaum just beside the Sea of Galilee. He had a great little ministry going with enough to say grace over a thousand times. It was great work and people loved him for it. It would have been enough to keep him busy for all his life.   He would have been the best thing that ever happened to the little village of Capernaum.

But there must have been something inside of Jesus telling him that this wasn't it -- that there was something else. He was doing what he felt called to do thus far, but something in his spirit told him it wasn't what he was called to do next. 

So, the text says he went away to a desolate or deserted place. He found some stillness. He sought quiet.  He sought God. And when those with their needs came to him to beg him to come back Jesus had the courage within himself to say in order to say a deeper yes.

The "tyranny of the urgent" is what most often stands in the way of the important. In order to do what is important, we have to step back from purports to be urgent; for anything and everything will insist on its urgency. The truly human task is to step from the incessant demands of what we are doing now in order that we might discern and discover what we are called to do next. This involves distance, disengagement, and probably the disappointment of others.  Only those with the courage to say no to today will be able to say the deeper yes to tomorrow.

I know Jesus must have disappointed all those back in Capernaum with all their legitimate human needs. But I'm also glad he said no to them, so that he might say yes to the world. This was his purpose in life. Among many competing voices he listened for this purpose and found us. May we do the same. May we find the courage to say no so that we might also say a deeper yes.