Dear Bro. John:
The Blog sent out on 5/13/09 “Do You Want Jesus to Want You“ and the email on “Respect”, went right along with what I was reading today in Luke.
[57] And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
[58] And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
[59] And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
[60] Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
[61] And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.
[62] And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
There were probably many that day who thought what Jesus said to those men were hard, even rude, sayings. After all, what could be wrong with burying a father or bidding farewell to relatives? But Jesus was respecting his Father and offering LIFE at that very moment to those men when he said “Follow me”. Jesus was the most important thing happening for them, but they chose first to “respect” and give particular attention to things and persons of this world. I like what you said in an earlier email reply: “We are to treat everyone, including those who have wandered off the right road, with respect. But we are foolish if we allow them to influence us after we see that they have spurned the sweet influence of Jesus that was offered to them.” To be influenced by anyone or anything other than Jesus is to become as Jesus said, unfit for the kingdom of God.
[I found it interesting what Webster’s said about the word “respect”: Middle English, from Latin respectus, literally, act of looking back, from respicere to look back, regard, from re- + specere to look]
This story in Luke helps me to understand more about respect. Jesus was not rude. He just told the truth. And by telling the truth to those men, he gave his attention to what and Who was most important for them and for others to follow. The question seems to be: “Do we want to be courteous with the truth or just be courteous with others?” There is a difference.
Thank you for all the good emails.
Sandy 🙂