NOTES for Luk 14:12-14
The account of what the Kingdom of God looks like and how it acts is understandable to anyone if, strangely enough, the Kingdom itself is not mentioned. When we seek emotional comfort for ourselves, other people’s remedies rarely work. If we feel very bad, we will of course grasp at the words, “You will feel good there.” But the situation will not improve until we change inwardly. As soon as our inner state improves, problems that caused anguish and sadness yesterday no longer seem so hopeless today. Everything becomes easy for us. It is true that moments of illumination rarely last long, and never for a whole lifetime. The Kingdom’s effect on our life is immeasurably stronger, because the Kingdom is eternal and God’s presence within us is constant. Elsewhere Jesus described this same fact in the words, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls; for My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” We fear the Cross, we fear submitting ourselves to God’s will, and we fear being with Him. If we let the Kingdom enter us, the Cross, the Will, and the yoke will all remain. Only then we will look at all of them not with fear, but with joy.