Disciples are Slow

Can you imagine Jesus hurrying somewhere? Eugene Peterson calls discipleship "Long Obedience in the Same Direction." The shaping of souls takes time, both for ourselves and those we disciple. Expecting quick or instant changes would be the downfall of any farmer, and it would be a huge mistake in being or making disciples of Jesus. Settle in, slow down, practice the fruit of patience, and get on Jesus Time. 

Hurry!

Last week, Saturday evening, Drew set a new Horizon High School record for the 800m run. He broke it on Wednesday… then again yesterday (Friday). That’s a half a mile in just over 2 minutes. Wild. Super impressive.

This week I set a new record for the slowest walk with the dog I have ever taken. Impressed? Less so, maybe?

Our culture glorifies speed. Hurry. Multitasking, getting it done… and if you can get it done faster, that just means you can get even more done, and that makes you more valuable, more worthy.

Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

100% true story. As I said last week, I was motivated to relisten to this book on Audible. “Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” by Comer. I’ve listened to it before, so let me just listen again.

Can anyone see anything funny about this image? If you look in the lower left-hand corner, you see the speed. 2x. Pure habit, especially for things I have heard before.

Hurry up and give me the content!!!

Oh. Consider the irony!

But, it turns out, Discipling is slow. Why? Because Jesus is slow.

Jesus in a Hurry!

Can you imagine. This is what AI is for, by the way, helping us imagine Jesus in different appropriate scenarios.

Jesus traveled at roughly 3mph for his whole life. That’s slow. Maybe slightly faster than that when he was in the boat sleeping.

Jesus, like a wizard, is never late. He arrives precisely when he means to.

But those around him I think often thought he was slow, was delaying unnecessarily, and either did accuse him of being slow, or late, or tried to hurry him up… or wished they could.

Two big ones come to mind, both matters of life and death.

I want us to pay attention to how we would think, feel and react in this moment… and contrast how Jesus does.

Little Girl Dying

Mark 5:21–23 ESV

21 And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. 22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet 23 and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.”

Now, if I am Jesus, you have me on the hook. Drop everything, go save the little girl.

Mark 5:24–25 ESV

24 And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years,

Just to pay attention, she has had this malady for 12 years! It is awful, it is painful… but it is not urgent. Not urgent at all.

She touches his garment, and she is healed.

Now is it urgent? At all? Not even a bit!

But Jesus turns

Mark 5:30–34 ESV

30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

Now imagine the man, the ruler of the synagogue, a man of influence and authority… waiting for Jesus to come and heal his daughter who is “at the point of death.”

Jesus looking for the woman, her kneeling before him “telling him the whole truth.” Was that just the story of the healing or also the 12 year history of the malady?

The ambulance, sirens on, has stopped to a well check on a healed patient. That’s the image here.

And sure enough:

Mark 5:35 ESV

35 While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”

Jesus is in no hurry, even in a life or death moment, and I think he knows he is right on time even now.

Literally everyone would say he was late and TOO late.

He goes in to where they are weeping and wailing, says she is sleeping and

Mark 5:41–42 ESV

41 Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement.

I would have hurried, been anxious the whole way, missed the woman being healed on the way, because THERE’S NO TIME… and maybe seen the girl healed at the last minute.

But God did a greater thing, right on time, at the right time, no hurry involved in the heart of Jesus.

Here’s another, more personal to Jesus himself.

Lazarus

John 11:1–3 ESV

1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

What’s the subtext of that message? “Hurry, Lord.” But I don’t think they are wrong to say “he whom you love.” This is a dear friend of Jesus, not just in “Jesus loves everybody” but in a way that others recognized and Mary and Martha felt they could call out in a letter without even naming Lazarus. But just in case we were confused it points out:

John 11:5–6 ESV

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

… how does that make any sense? Now, more than “not hurrying” Jesus knows what he is about to do. But that’s in there.

Everything that is human in me that would want to hurry to save my friend… that’s in Jesus. He feels the urgency, he feels the temptation to rush. But He chooses what the Spirit is doing and leading him into.

Then Lazarus dies… and only then does Jesus lead the disciples back to Bethany.

John 11:21 ESV

21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

John 11:32 ESV

32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

John 11:35 ESV

35 Jesus wept.

John 11:36–37 ESV

36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

Maybe they are only speaking of Jesus’ power, his ability, but maybe there is a sense of his timing there too.

If Jesus had moved earlier, rushed here sooner, been on time, not messed around for a couple extra days… then he could have saved and healed and done the right thing! Many times have I felt that, prayed that prayer.

Again Jesus surrenders whatever “hurry” he may have felt to the leading of the Spirit.

Again Jesus ignores the urging and accusations of those around.

And God does a greater thing:

John 11:43–44 ESV

43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Jesus was slow to the eyes of most. I could pick others. His cousin John the Baptist wondering if Jesus was the real deal, I think because his Messianic expectations were slow to fulfillment. Many argue the same about Judas, that perhaps even Judas was really trying to hurry the whole Messiah thing along.

Jesus was beautifully unhurried. Led by the Spirit, and from incarnation to crucifixion to resurrection to ascension… every time it was when the “time was right.”

And this is a Jesus habit we desperately need today.

Jesus’ Command to Hurry

I did find two commands of Jesus to hurry.

Luke 19:5–6 ESV

5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

I love this, the Greek word here for “hurry” is

σπεύδω (speudō), hurry; hasten.

As in “Speedo” :D.

I love it.

John 13:27 ESV

27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”

(That one is different, taxeos, where we get tachyon from).

So if you’re coming to Jesus, hurry up and receive Jesus joyfully.

And if you’re possessed by Satan to betray Jesus. Don’t.

In all other circumstances, be like Jesus, be slow.

The wisdom literature, Proverbs and many Prophets, use another word for hurry. “Hasty” or Hastiness.

Don’t be hasty

Hasty action leads to disaster. Or hasty word, leading to foolishness, to poverty, to ruin.

If I were to boil down our church covenant into a very few words:

Love God, Love Others, Be and Make Disciples of Jesus.

Every verb in there is slooooooow.

Slow Love

Love takes time. What is the first description we read in the “love” chapter 1 Corinthians 13? Love is patient, love is kind.

When I am yelling at my kids to get into the car because they chose to snooze instead of get up the 3rd time I woke them up, and they are “just grabbing one more thing” and “I’ll be there in a second” and I am frustrated and late… and I have all the good reasons in the world to be frustrated and feel rushed and hurried and be hurrying them along.

And my tone and my language gets harder and harsher and louder… and I may or may not be getting results…

But you know what I am sure my kids are NOT thinking or feeling at those times? “Man, that guy sure loves me!”

That’s not one of those times.

But I do look back and see the hours upon hours, nights and weekends, my parents drove me around to shows and practices and baseball games. Them waiting and reading, my mom reading or crocheting, my Dad reading or practicing his sorcery. Giving me time out of love to do something I loved and that was good for me.

Love doesn’t happen on fast-forward. There’s no shortcut to it.

In fact when we try…

Pressure Cooker vs. Crock Pot

In one of the books on blended families KK and I read before we got married, they used this metaphor I love.

To blend a family, you are really talking about all the inter-connected relationships learning to love one another in their own different ways.

You can have a salad, just let it sit there, do nothing, no intention, that’s not going to work. You have to be intentional.

But the opposite, shove everybody in a pot, clamp the lid down, and apply heat. That is a recipe for explosions and damage.

A crock pot, on the other, low and slow. Intentional heat applied, but also a whole lot of patience, and let everything cook. And that takes time, but it’s the only way to do it.

Isn’t that the way God does it with us? Teaches us love, not even only on our years here on earth, but for eternity?!

Love is slow. We love God, not in one dramatic fast flash, but e’ry day, an hour at a time, all of life for all of life.

We love each other. We give each other time, our most valuable treasure. Time to listen in a conversation, time to learn about one another, time to encourage, time to meet a need, time to serve, time to find out how to love you, how you receive that, and time to learn to do that well. No shortcuts.

This is an advantage of a small family church like we have. You can learn to actually love these folks well… and that teaches us better how to love all those we encounter outside these walls well.

This is true of all the fruit: Love, joy, and peace—the fruit of the Spirit—are all incompatible with hurry.

“Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day.” -Dallas Willard

Slow Discipleship

And discipleship is slow. The metaphors of discipleship: a farmer sowing seeds, the plentiful harvest, a vine producing fruit.

How does a farmer rush the crop? Produce the harvest faster? He doesn’t.

My mental image of the old farmer dude, probably shaped by Hollywood more than anything, but is of the patient and methodical “It’ll happen when it happens” guy. The rain comes when it comes, the season changes as it changes, and the harvest comes in season.

It doesn’t mean there isn’t a WHOLE lot of work and effort involved. But it is the right work at the right time… and you can’t hurry it up!

Say you take on a disciple, by name, to disciple on purpose. I am going to teach you to “be as I be, do as I do.”

It may well be years in process. Now that role can shift over time, and it should. But this is not a 1 week or 1 month idea.

How long did the disciples have with Jesus? Something like 3 years… and they wish they had WAY more. They were probably expecting to disciple in person until they were 30!

Did any of them ask “how long is this going to take?” And that’s Jesus!

Let’s learn the commands of Jesus, follow me as I follow Christ. If you go through these books, could take a year, one a week, roughly. Frankly, that’s fast… and even then there’s a lot more to learn, but that’s a beautiful start!

Slow Next Steps

How do I intentionally practice slowing down?

An antidote to “hurry” in my daily life.

Comer, our friend Richard Foster, and many others have called us to a Spiritual Discipline of Slowness. It is, perhaps, a kind of fasting. I could eat, but I choose to go without in order to shape my soul, let my hunger drive me to God, paying attention to those cravings and giving it to God.

I slow down, intentionally, I could go faster but I don’t in order to shape my soul, let my sense of urgency turn to God instead. To love him, to see and notice and love others.

This is ultimately all about the heart, not the actions. And so I have been paying attention to when I feel hurried.

In the car.

Take the slow lane on purpose. Drive exactly the speed limit, there’s a thought. Pay attention to what your heart and head are doing when you do that. Sure, I got to get where I am going… and I left early enough to do so. I’ll get there when I get there, what does God have for me on the way?

In the grocery store.

Choose the slowest checkout line. See the people before you as people. See the checkout staff as a person… not a self-scan robot. Maybe there is a divine appointment in front of you, maybe just a “hey, how are you.”

In conversation.

When you’re talking to a loved one, take a moment to question whatever you are rushing back to or off to, especially if what you are rushing back to is on your phone! Is there anything more important than the eternal human soul in front of you? Loving on them, even just by actually listening… and isn’t that the kind of person you want to be?

Turns out the funny meme, or great book, or rage-inducing social post will still be there later.

On my phone.

I am learning more and more lately how poisonous these things can be to us. Not because they are giving us cancer, though, you know, probably somewhat. But in particular, the massive economy built for grabbing and maintaining our attention. Choose your vehicle of choice. Tik Tok, Twitter, Facebook, clicky games, rage bait news articles, funny memes, YouTube shorts…

Especially the ones that are hitting your brain with dopamime ever 5-10 seconds… it is intentionally training us to hurry up and get to the next bit. So that they can own my attention and sell it to the next bidder, advertiser, whatever. I am the product in that economy.

And they know it is horrible for us, for our mental well-being, for our sanity. Countries are starting to outlaw social media for kids under 16, Facebook just lost a lawsuit showing that they knew how horribly this was hurting kids and they pressed forward anyway.

All that to say, this is a powerful way you can choose to practice slowness. Turn it off. Put it away. Delete the apps, or at least put major limits on them.

Read a book. Look at a human. Be bored with a friend, all the best adventures and memories start that way.

Slow down enough to pray and talk with Jesus. Take a slow stroll with the dog and Jesus.

You may think Jesus is being too slow. Too quiet. You may be so trained on TikTok and television that it is nearly impossible to wait on the Lord.

But He is worth it. He is right on time every time. And when he seems slow, the right place to be is right with him. And when he seems too late… He isn’t finished yet and that’s when the greatest miracles happen.

Isaiah 40:28–31 ESV

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.