Walking With the Word

What a comforting idea this is.

We have often spoken about having chickens, but our current circumstances make that impossible at the moment. We’ve had them before; living the ‘good life’ collecting eggs and being followed around like the pied piper when I had a tin of sweetcorn for them. My wife found it particularly amusing when they would peck her toe nails or try to steal the lunch she was enjoying in the sunshine.

We do manage with mixed success to home-grow tomatoes, courgettes, raspberries, blueberries and some herbs, but I can’t pretend that it wouldn’t be nice living in a house that will be ours until we pass it on to our children; an attractive proposition, because being settled, having chickens, growing fruit and vegetables, canning and enjoying the fruits of our labour feels somehow grounded—like a proper home.

It can be unsettling sometimes to think that as we make another house our home, it is always going to be temporary—we have moved 3 times in 9 years. It’s also a little strange to answer the question of where we come from. We both know we are from Essex, but we no longer have roots there; the homes we grew up in are not in the family, so visiting parents is not really ‘going home!’ anymore.

Then there is changing our church community: our last (village) church had many folk who have literally never moved away from the area they were born in—a concept I could not wrap my head around, but definitely had its appeal. In our current (city suburb) church, it is a real mix of locals and many people from all over the world. But in either case, we know we will have to move on at some point, which brings a different dynamic to making it your home, but sadly not your permanent church family; we are in fact part of many church families…

By taking up Jesus’ call to ‘follow me,’ we have chosen to follow a way that means we will likely never have the ‘good life’ in a traditional forever-home as we serve Him in different places, living in houses that we can never call ours, then moving on. We can certainly make them homely—fill them with our things and enjoy them—but for us they will never really be home, not in the true sense.

Nowhere to Lay His Head

“The two disciples heard [Jesus] speak, and they followed [Him]. And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.”

1 John 37-39

“Where are you staying?” seems like a strange first question to ask Jesus. Perhaps they were naturally wondering what they were getting themselves into, after having gotten used to conditions following John [the Baptist]. For the next 3 years, however, Jesus would be their home; wherever He went they would follow: being with Jesus should always be our real home.

“Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”

Matthew 8:19-22

Following Jesus comes at a cost. Foxes and birds have their homes; they are in their natural habitat. But being with Jesus meant not being settled: life on the road proclaiming the Kingdom. But also, The Son of Man (Jesus), is, as it were out-of-place on earth, it is not His home or His natural habitat—although He certainly made it so in order to be just like us. In the same way, once we are following Jesus we become sojourners in the world, temporarily, as it were, out-of-place while awaiting removal to our forever-home.

“Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

John 6:68-69

Many Homes; Many Friends

Not everyone who follows Him is required to give up their homes—it is not prescriptive. But everyone is expected to understand that the here and now is no longer what we are to hope in, since it is temporary; all will be burned away. But, there is more for us to gain than to lose:

“Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.”

Mark 10:29-30

Those who go into ‘all the world’ for Jesus sake following His call will gain very large ‘families’ in the places to which they are sent. They are welcomed into many houses in many communities as part of a family with a common cause: of spreading the good news of God’s saving grace to a needy world.

We have certainly experienced this ourselves: we have very likely gained at least a hundred times more ‘family’ members in the church community than we would have done staying in a home town/village with all the people we grew up with — in fact we knew very few people in the place where we lived the longest (and had chickens) before taking up the official ‘call’ to follow Jesus wherever He lead.

Our Forever-Hope

Having hope in eternity is a very real source of comfort while we live in this age. Did you notice in Mark 10 above, the assumption of persecutions? Life is hard enough, without adding persecutions into the mix, so knowing that we have a home in heaven waiting for us—prepared and everything we hope for and so much more—really is a comfort.

In the meantime, Jesus is our home. Our Shepherd leads us and we follow and rest with Him. We can also enjoy a taste of heaven on earth in the temporary homes we are provided: we can grow fruit plants in pots, we can keep chickens, enjoy the fruits of our labour, we can enjoy our friendships, church family and community wherever we find ourselves. We can enjoy the glory of His creation in all the different places we visit, all the while knowing that the best is yet to come (for those in-Christ): our forever-home, ‘and in the age to come, eternal life’ with Jesus.

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me (Jesus). In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

John 14:1-3