Here's to the knuckleheads

Three times Jesus explained His mission. Three times those closest to Him proved they were not getting it. Three times He patiently corrected them. Not only was their misunderstanding worldly-focused; their motives were self-seeking. Jesus could’ve given up on them, but He didn’t. In word and deed, He kept bringing them back to this idea: His was a different kind of kingdom.
 
He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him….
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  –Mark 8:31-32, 34 (NIV)
 
There are a couple of potential applications here for us. How often are we obtuse in response to God’s truth, overlooking the obvious because it doesn’t fit our preconceived narrative of how we think things should work? How often do we involve ourselves in “kingdom work” with one eye on raising our own stock in circles where we over-value admiration from others?
 
As we discussed these things in foxhole this week, a new idea emerged. Yes, we need to consistently be asking the Spirit to give us vision to rightly interpret truth and check our motives. But before coming down too hard on the apostles or ourselves, let’s notice Jesus’ response and the end result.
 
He was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”  –Mark 9:31-35 (NIV)
 
Jesus had prayerfully chosen these men. They may have been knuckleheads, but they were His knuckleheads. He continued to invest in them. It took a while, but they would eventually find the meaning of “denying self, taking up their cross, and following Him.” They would discover the message of a crucified and risen Savior not only compelling enough to share, but worth dying for.
 
As they had hoped, they were in on the ground floor of a movement, just not the one they expected. Jesus hadn’t miscalculated – these were the right men for the job. We owe our lives to Jesus, but we owe a debt of gratitude to those leaders who started out as knuckleheads.
 
Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”…
“Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”….
Jesus called them together and said, “…Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.”  –Mark 10:32b-34, 37, 42a, 43-44 (NIV)
 
Jesus is still patient with knuckleheads. I’ve been one and I’ll bet some of you have too. Just stay in the game – He isn’t done with us yet!