Who Are You Following?
Daily Reading: (Luke 6:39):
He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit?”
Following someone today doesn’t mean the same thing it did back some 2,000 years ago. With a click of a button, we follow lots of people on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok etc… Who you followed in Jesus’ day was way more involved. “In the first-century Jewish world, being a disciple/ follower was all about one key word:imitation.When a disciple followed a rabbi, the goal wasn’t merely to master the rabbi’s teachings, but also to imitate the way he lived: how he prayed, studied, taught, served the poor and lived out his relationship with God day to day. Following a rabbi meant living with the rabbi, sharing meals with him, praying with him, studying with him and taking part in the rabbi’s daily life. A rabbi’s life was meant to be a living example of someone who was shaped by God’s word. Disciples, therefore, studied not just the text of Scripture but also the “text” of the rabbi’s life.”[1]
This is why Jesus didn’t simply ask His disciples to listen to His preaching in the synagogues. He said “Come and follow me”.
In today’s text Jesus warns about how those we follow can have a dramatic impact on the path we are led down. Let’s put up our text see what I mean and then we will work back from it.
He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit (Luke 6:39)?
One of my favorite stories I like to share happened in the jungle in Grenada as I went on a Hash House Harrier trek. When we started our adventure of trying to find our way through the jungle to the finish line, a group of people decided to follow me as their guide to the end. To make a long story short, we almost fell into a pit. The idea that many people who were native to the island, would follow me to lead them out of the jungle was absolutely crazy. Why are you following me? God is so good, He gave me wisdom and somehow I found the paper trail that was hidden that led us to the right path. If you know me, you know that was a miracle. The beauty was in the simplicity that I knew my own limitations and it worked out because people followed my lead as I prayed and followed God’s lead. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
The pit that Jesus is talking about is not a literal cliff or pit but a destructive path that leads to ultimately the pit of hell. Jesus is talking about the spiritually blind leading others who are spiritually blind. They don’t know the path to life so they can only lead others down the wrong path (Luke 6:39).
The way to righteousness lies in finding not other people’s sins, but our own. We will miss the path to life, Jesus Christ if we never come to the end of ourselves and see our own depravity. And when we begin to follow Jesus, we will imitate His life as ours. We do not judge. We do not condemn. We instead forgive and we give. This is walking with spiritual sight toward your fellow man. You can see the needs of others and help guide them to the path of life. You do this and you’ll experience the One who has given you everything good that you have, pour so much blessing into your life it will overflow. So much you won’t be able to contain it because the real overflowing blessing is found when we will bless others with Christ (Luke 6:38).
“The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher” (Luke 6:40). The question becomes who do you want to be like? If you want to be the best cake designer in the world it would help to have Duff Goldman as your teacher. Spent time with Duff. If you want to improve your golf game, you might want to hang around a PGA Pro. But if you want to live your life supernaturally where you don’t judge others, you forgive and you give, spend time with Jesus Christ.
God is strengthening you, perfect, whole, complete and as you ought to be. His desire is that we will be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). We imitate or reflect Jesus as we do not judge, as we do not bring condemnation unto others, and we instead forgive and we give and we love. The incredible thing is as we follow Jesus and live as He lived, it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. So, we can now be givers. Blessed to be a blessing. When we give out of good motive to advance God’s Kingdom, we will receive overflowing blessings in return.
[1] Focusequip.org
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