"Stuck up" Disciples - Devotion for 8/14/07

“Stuck up” Disciples – Devotion for 8/14/07

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I was born and raised in the South, and I have lived my entire life in the state of North Carolina. There are many stereotypes about the south, some of which are appropriate, some of which are just plain wrong. One of the stereotypes is about “Southern hospitality” – which is the image that southerners are friendly and welcoming to all, which is something we all know is only partially true. The part of that that is true is the part about being friendly, at least on the surface. By that I mean that most genuine southerners will commonly greet a stranger. You can drive down almost any country back road and if someone is out at their mailbox, they will wave. If you pass a pickup truck on that same country back road, the driver may raise one finger off the steering wheel as a way of greeting (no – not the middle finger – that’s what they do around DC). If you go to the local country store, almost any stranger you pass will speak to you. That is what is meant by southern hospitality – extending some form of friendly greeting to almost anyone and everyone (except Yankees – just kidding). And I never realized how strange southern hospitality must seem to people until I went to New York and spoke to just about everyone I passed – man, did I get some strange looks!

That’s why I have such an issue with something Jesus once said. In Luke 10, Jesus is commissioning and sending out the 70 (or 72, depending on your translation) to “the harvest.” As he is giving them the instructions that we have all heard before (carry no money, no bag, no shoes, etc.), he adds is one thing that is often overlooked – “and greet no one on the way.” (Luke 10:4) Greet no one? Now for a good ole’ Southern boy that just seems wrong. Is he actually telling these “harvesters” to be “stuck up”? Where is the hospitality in that? I know that there were other occasions (such as 2 Kings 4:29) where a prophet was instructed to not speak to anyone else on their journey as a way of demonstrating the importance of their mission, and I understand that that is exactly what is going on here – but I still have difficulty with it. If I am on a mission from God, am I really not supposed to greet someone else with a “hey – how are you?” And then I was able to relate it to my cell phone.

If you ever call my cell phone, there is more than a decent chance that you will get my voice mail. It is not because I do not want to speak to you. It is not because I am screening my calls. And it is not because I have lost my cell phone (which I haven’t!). It is most likely because I am in conversation with someone else, and when I am conversing with someone else, I will almost always simply hit the silent button on my phone instead of answering it. That is because when I am with someone I am giving them my full attention. In that same way, sometimes Jesus wants us to be fully committed and devoted to whatever mission he sends us on – even if it means we seem like we’re “stuck up.”