The Best Way
One of my favorite stories in the New Testament is the healing of blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10: 46 – 52. I’ll write about this miracle in a later post. Right now I want to focus on the word ‘way’ and why the way Bartimaeus chose is the Best Way.
“And Jesus said to him, “what do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Go you way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed Him on the way” (Mark 10: 51, 51. ESV translation).
In the NIV (1984) translation the ‘way’ is replaced by ‘road’, as in “and followed Jesus along the road.” The ‘way’ or ‘road’ that Bartimaeus chose was the way that followed Jesus. Some might call it the Jesus Way. I noticed one other difference. In the ESV (and KJV, NKJV, and Holman Bible) Jesus tells Bartimaeus “go your way”; in the NIV Jesus just says “go”. I believe that Jesus was telling Bartimaeus “now go in whatever way you choose, whatever way seems best to you.” Of course, he chose the Way of Jesus and followed Him on the road.
Recall that Jesus encountered Bartimaeus outside of Jericho on His way up to Jerusalem for the Passover, and unbeknownst to His disciples and the other followers, to the cross. The road from Jericho to Jerusalem is steep; Jericho is the lowest city on Earth — 853 feet below sea level. Jerusalem, called the Holy City or Zion, is about 2500 feet above sea level. The two cities are about 23 miles apart, making the climb from Jericho to Jerusalem steep, about 3000 feet, treacherous (even today), and very hot. In David’s and Jesus’ time part of this road was called “the valley of the shadow of death” which recalls the 23rd Psalm and the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37). I can imagine Jesus thinking about this difficult climb from the ‘lowest’ city on Earth to God’s Holy City as a metaphor for the journey we call life when He admonished us to choose the narrow gate:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7: 1, 14 NIV). The word ‘road’ in this passage is Hodos in Greek. It is the same word used to describe the road or way that Bartimaeus chose. So, Jesus is telling us to enter the narrow gate and walk on the way that leads to life. Hodos means a journey (like the journey of life); also a systematic course of action, pursuit, or conduct. It also means a system of doctrine. And notice: there are only two gates which lead into two kingdoms. We all choose one of the other as we begin this journey we call life: we enter the the Kingdom of God through the narrow gate and journey on the Way of Holiness; or we enter the the kingdom of self through the broad gate and journey on the way of destruction. We all live in a kingdom.
The narrow gate opens the way to life. Jesus tells us that He is that gate.
“I am the Gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved” (John 10: 9 NIV).
On that day when Bartimeaus received his sight, he chose the way that Jesus was going. It was a steep, uncomfortable way, arduous and dangerous; leading directly into and through the ‘valley of the shadow of death’. It would ultimately culminate at the cross, crucifixion, and finally, resurrection. But it was the road to life. Bartimeaus could just as easily chosen to follow the road along the Jordan river — a broad flat road that led in the opposite direction that Jesus was going. This broad inviting ‘way’ was the other option. But it was, and is, the way to death. It is not only ‘not the best way’, it is, by far, the worst way. Unfortunately, many will take this way.
God tells us about the best way in Isaiah 30:
“O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious He will be when you cry for help. As soon as He hears, He will answer you . . . Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying “This is the way; walk in it”. Then you will defile your idols . . . you will throw them away” (Isaiah 30: 19 – 22 NIV).
And in Isaiah 35. Speaking of men and women climbing up to Jerusalem or Zion on the physical and spiritual journey or way toward holiness that we embark on when we enter through the gate called Jesus:
“And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness . . .But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing” (Isaiah 35: 9, 10).
This is the way Bartemeaus chose when he chose to follow Jesus. His choice was rooted in faith, not just gratitude or the thought that Jesus was the best ‘game in town”. Bartimeaus made a commitment to trust his life to Jesus — we see this in how we cried out to Jesus, leaving his cloak behind, and his audacious request: “restore my sight”. It was a request made with certainty, expectancy, and not preceded by “if you can” or “if you will”. He chose a “systematic course of pursuit or action”, although he wouldn’t have dreamed of defining his choice this way. He chose to pursue Jesus, even though he knew it would involve hardship and danger. He chose it because he, of all people, living as a blind beggar in Palestine in the First Century, knew that it was the best way; really, the only way.
What does this Way, the Way of Holiness, look like for us? Why is it the best way? After all, Jesus tells us the broad gate/way certainly looks enticing, fun, rewarding, and relatively easy. Why is the difficult, dangerous way the ‘best way’?
I had an email conversation with my friend Dave not too long ago about this topic (which is what inspired me to write this post). Dave made this comment “Living in the kingdom of self (the broad gate) is . . . more difficult and more painful than living in the Kingdom of God (which we enter through the Narrow Gate — Jesus). Is it harder to be an atheist than a Christian?”. As part of his note Dave mentioned ‘The Spirit of the Disciplines’ by Dallas Willard, especially the first chapter titled ‘The Secret of the Easy Yoke”. This is one of the many paradoxes in our walk with Christ (such as “the first will be last, the last first; or “you must die in order that you might live”) — the abundant life can only be found through death; the narrow, dangerous ‘way’ is, in the end, the easiest way (the best way). What follows is my email answer to Dave about why I think the Narrow Gate, following Jesus on the road or the Way, is the best way to live our lives”
Dave,
I have the book ‘Spirit of the Disciplines’. It is one of my favorite books and Willard has had a big influence on my life.
I just looked over his first chapter ‘The Secret of the Easy Yoke’ and agree with almost everything he says. Here is how I see it: The Way of Christ is the way of obedience, repentance, crucifixion of self and pride. But it is the only Way to joy, peace, power, love, and life. We find this Way only as we choose the Kingdom of God. Jesus has opened the door to this way, He is the gate. We do can do nothing to open the gate even a hair, but we do have to choose to enter (just as Bartimeaus chose to follow Jesus on the way). Or at least, we can reject the offer and choose to remain outside the Kingdom of God.
Life in the kingdom of self is ‘easy’ in the sense that our default position in life is pride. We just slip into prideful thinking and living. It takes little or no effort. But paradoxically life in the kingdom of self is ‘hard’. It is a life of pain, bitterness, resentment, hatred, disappointment, fear, anxiety; fighting to protect those idols that give us our value and that the world is constantly trying to strip away. It is a life of slavery to the enemy whose purpose is to “steal, kill, and destroy”.
The secret of the easy yoke is the transformed life, and that is only possible as we strive (and we do have to work at holiness) to live in the Kingdom of God every day. Willard says it this way “It is part of the misguided and whimsical condition of humankind that we so devoutly believe in the power of effort-at-the-moment-of-action alone to accomplish what we want and completely ignore the need for character change in our lives as a whole. The general human failing is to want what is right and important, but at the same time not to commit to the kind of life that will produce the action we know to be right and the condition we want to enjoy . . . we intend what is right, but we avoid the life that would make it reality.”
He goes on to say: “some people would genuinely like to pay their bills and be financially responsible, but they are unwilling to lead the total life that would make that possible.”
In both cases Willard is saying that to live the life that we know we should live, it is not enough to believe that Jesus is who He says He is. We must choose to find our value, acceptance, and life in Him by totally denying our other ‘gods’, that is our self-life and surrendering/submitting to Him in the Kingdom of God. We must stop living in our own power in the kingdom of self and enter into His power, rest, joy, and peace in the Kingdom of God. This is called faith, and while faith is a gift, it is a gift we can refuse.
And this move from one kingdom to the other results in the transformation of our character, even our very nature. That transformation is done by the Holy Spirit, not by us; but only in the Kingdom of God with our participation. Never while we are living in the kingdom of self.
This move from one kingdom into the Other involves our work as well as God’s. Our work, which must be done in the deepest part of who we are, is to repent and crucify our self-life. That is the road to character change, done in the power of God, and that is what Willard is talking about. We can’t just act like Jesus, we have to become like Jesus and repentance and crucifixion are the necessary steps; the sine qua non of the journey on the Christian Way.
But we don’t like to hear the ‘r’ and ‘c’ words. As Willard says “Ironically, in our efforts to avoid the necessary pains of discipline we miss the easy yoke and the light burden”.
I think God is not as concerned about our sins (our anger, hatred, lust, selfishness, harsh words to our spouses from time to time, our lying and cheating, etc) as He is with our Sin (our idolatry). (If you are interested, you can read my thoughts on Sin and sins in my previous post ‘The Nature of Sin and the Crepe Myrtle Tree). Because if He can turn our hearts (with our participation) to Him so that we find our value and acceptance in Him alone (Psalm 62) — requiring repentance and crucifixion — all the other sins will fall away. He wants to go to the root of our fear, anxiety, and despair and transform our hearts. But He will not generally do this apart from our participation and invitation.
And this is hard, sometimes painful and even dangerous work, but leads to resurrection in this life, now. As I have said before: If I confess that I lied during the week, but do not repent (deep, true heart-felt repentance, which is a gift from God but which I must participate in) I am still a liar. Because I don’t just repent of what I have done (sins) but of who I am (Sin), the self-life, which is my real problem. This is the work that Willard is advocating and which I have been writing about. If you haven’t read it yet, check out my latest post “Enter My Rest – Belief and Faith”. I use the same passage about Jesus’ rest that Willard uses in his first chapter.
The journey on the Way requires trust, commitment, discipline, and some pain as we give up the things that for decades have been our ‘life’ (but really bring death). We do not journey on the way alone — the Holy Spirit is always with us, saying “this is the way, walk in it”. This Way is the only way of freedom, power, love, joy, peace, and purpose! It has meaning, fulfillment, and satisfaction because most fundamentally it is no longer about us. It is about following Jesus and making His Name famous, giving Him glory. As we take our eyes off of ourselves, and put them on Jesus we see the richness and the beauty of this life in a whole (and healed) new way. We experience life through His eyes — The Best Way.
Blessings, Dave. We are on the Way together and it is exciting. There is no better place to be.