March 8 - Luke 5: An Attractive Veneer

"You said you want to be more like My Son.  You seem to most want more energy, an upbeat attitude, a fulfilling sense of personal significance, to be someone who seizes all the good opportunities for felt happiness and welcomed impact that life offers.  Does that describe My Son when He lived on earth?  In your heart, at least in the part you've so far accessed, you rarely find a desire stronger than your wish to be satisfied with life's blessings, to feel both confident in My goodness that they'll continue and excited about life's opportunities.  Your desire for spiritual formation lies on top of those self-focused desires like an attractive veneer.  It needs to lie beneath as the controlling foundation of your life."  (66LL)

It requires thought, energy and purpose to maintain an attractive veneer.  Especially an attractive Christian veneer.  Depending on the group you're with, it can be more attractive to be emotional or to be dignified;  to be ultra-conservative in your beliefs or to be more open-minded;  to live more sheltered from worldly influences or to live more in the world. 

The list goes on and on and it can sometimes be difficult to navigate what's considered "spiritual formation" by others.  Some define it as serving the social outliers;  some define it as adherence to spiritual disciplines;  others see it as a well-formed theology;  still others say it's primarily about your prayer life or emotionally-healthy relationships.   And those are only the tip of the iceberg of the constructs or images that we have of what a growing Christian should look like.

Luke 5 turns this around, redefines our ideas, and calls out my "veneer management":

• A tired and smelly Simon doesn't enforce his emotional and physical boundaries when Jesus asks him to go back out and let down his nets.  Instead he says, "Master, we've been fishing hard all night and haven't caught even a minnow.  But if you say so, I'll let out the nets." (5:5-7)
• When the haul of fish overwhelmed the nets and two boats, Simon Peter's response wasn't to hold a large, nicely catered celebration with a polished presentation to honor God and his fellow workers.  Instead, he said, "Master, leave.  I'm a sinner and can't handle this holiness."  (5:8)
• On the heels of this great display of His power, Jesus didn't seek out the rich and powerful to capitalize on his success and get support for future endeavors.  He went to a leper, who didn't claim a right to healing or to relief, but "when he saw Jesus he fell down before him in prayer and said, 'If you want to, you can cleanse me.'"  (5:12)
• Then, some men with a paraplegic friend - in a crazy, stupid act - damaged someone else's property to get their friend to Jesus.  And Jesus went against the expectation of these men and the religious establishment and didn't immediately heal the man, but said, "Friend, I forgive your sins."  (5:20)
• After ruffling the feathers of the spiritual leaders, Jesus went to a despised tax-collector and asked him to come along and live life with Him.  Levi (Matthew) was completely irresponsible and walked away from his job, position, livelihood and security and went with Jesus.  (5:27-28)
• From there, Jesus went to hang out with friends of Levi's, more reprobates, and didn't hold a Bible study, but enjoyed a party with them.  (5:29-32)

Jesus doesn't appear to be too concerned with His image.  The people in His presence also didn't seem to care about what others thought or about their own happiness.  Jesus' daily life wasn't lived as a spiritual veneer on top of selfish desires for peace, satisfaction, and recognition.   And I can't read these stories as prescriptive for how I should live today.  But, I must examine the veneer of spiritual formation that I am trying to maintain and get down to the foundation of who I am really loving and seeking to please - myself or my Jesus?