They Think They Were Stressed?!?!
Lenten Greetings,
The other day I read something that totally surprised me. In my devotions from “A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God” there was a reading from Rueben P. Job who is a retired Bishop of the United Methodist Church. His comments took me aback.
The interesting part of the reading was that he claims the disciples were stressed. The disciples were stressed? The disciples were stressed!! If the disciples were stressed, what are we?!?
There are variations of this list, but here are the top 10 stressors of life:Death of spouse
Divorce
Marital separation
Jail term or death of close family member
Personal injury or illness
Marriage
Loss of job due to termination
Marital reconciliation
Pregnancy
Change in financial state
Retirement
We don’t know totally everything going on in the disciples lives, but as I run down the list of stressors I wonder what their lives were like.
Did any of them have a spouse die or did they get divorced - if so then their spouse may have died by stoning. Double whammy.
Marital separation:: That did happen in a way with all their travels and meanderings following Jesus around. Would a wife want to walk forever from land to land with the kids in tow? The Bible doesn’t say. Were all these men single? Or, did the wives stay at home to hold down the fort while their husbands went off on this great adventure with God?
Jail term: Happened to some later.
Death of a close family member: Probably happened in that 3 year span or so.
Personal injury or illness: Injury definitely to their ego at times and later their bodies. Emotional abuse undoubtedly.
Marriage: I don’t recall Jesus presiding over the wedding of one of his closest friends, but possibly.
Loss of job due to termination: I suppose they did leave their nets as Jesus terminated their job but gave them an even more challenging one.Yet, it seems like they very willingly left their nets and jobs.
Marital reconciliation or retirement: There was no retirement in their future, as with most of us; and, again, we aren’t sure about their marital status. When they returned home, if they were married, I’m sure there was a great time of reconciliation.
Pregnancy: For them personally, nope. Their spouse? Possibly although they weren’t home much.
Change in financial status: Oh yeah. No more fish to sell or taxes to collect. It sounds like they lived mainly on donations of food and water and they didn’t have much clothing and were told they didn’t need it. So, their financial picture did change quite a bit.
This is somewhat tongue in cheek, of course, and interesting to think about. It made me want to read up more on these 12 men. We do know though that the crowds were pressing all around them and kept growing larger as the three year ministry went on. As Rueben Job says these men were hearing things that were often over their head. Often they just didn’t get it which had to be very frustrating. They were under a heavy load for a long period of time. This probably led to their fighting over who would be first. They wanted to be rewarded for enduring this kind of stress. They wanted to be named as Jesus’ right and left hand men. They needed some kind of reward.
Ever get to feeling that way? I know I do. The other day I sat through something I just didn’t want to sit through. During it I kept telling myself that I deserved something after sitting there for 4 hours. All I could think of was bread pudding. If I made it through the ordeal then I would make or buy some really good bread pudding as my reward. After I successfully talked myself out of eating something I shouldn’t, I gave myself the gift of time - browsing through one of the only stores I like to go to - Archivers. My rewards and the disciple’s rewards are far different from God’s rewards.
Of course we have the promise of eternal life which is spectacular, but while here on earth - well let me type what Rueben P. Job says:
“The world’s system of reward has nothing to do with the disciple’s system of reward. A disciple of Jesus Christ is called first to be servant of all, and the leader is to take the lowliest position of service. This system turns the world’s concept of leadership upside down. The first disciples found it hard to understand and even more difficult to live by such a value system but Jesus seems to say there is no other way. Disciples serve.”
So, the disciples did have their share of stress as we do. Fortuanately we all have the same Lord who is there with open arms to comfort us and give us that amazing grace to release our fears and stress. I love this video by a 2 year old singing Amazing Grace. Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS93Q4jQAO0
Those are my random thoughts for this day.
God is with us in stress and always!
Hope
