Focus, Focus, Focus

Losing focus can be dangerous to your health. A man recalled in an interview how he had taken his eyes off the road for only three seconds to check his cell phone, when he smashed into the car in front of him. An expert on the addictive nature of digital technology suggested that when driving, cell phone owners should throw it out of reach in the back seat of the car. Cell phones are a danger to our focus on the road.  

Jesus shifts how we usually focus on him today—not as preaching or teaching or healing or shepherding, but as casting fire on the earth; not as peacemaker but as divider. This might not make us too happy. Who wants an incendiary Jesus torching the land, or Jesus the homebreaker causing trouble in our family relationships? But Luke’s focus on Jesus cannot be tossed aside  

Like Jeremiah, Jesus had to tell people what they didn’t want to hear: that  Jerusalem was going to be destroyed, that it wasn’t enough to think God would protect the citizens simply because they laid claim to the temple, the law, or the  Sabbath. Laying claims didn’t matter if you didn’t live them. Laying claim to Jesus  means living as a disciple of Jesus, keeping your eyes on Jesus as our “leader  and perfecter of faith.” Faith ties, not blood ties, are what matter. Jesus came to bring into being a new family through his saving death and resurrection. That’s the faith focus.  

Consider/Discuss

• Have you ever had an experience of losing focus when navigating,  or being called to, the digital world (cell phone, Internet, texting)?
• What is Jesus calling our attention to, when he says he has come to set the earth on fire, or to bring division, not peace?  

Responding to the Word

Jesus, you came to enlighten the eyes of our hearts so that we might see you as our leader, hear you as the very Word of God, and follow you along the way you have led. Do not let us grow weary and lose heart, but set our spirits afire with your life-giving Spirit.