Day 11: Jesus is Comfortable being Uncomfortable

When Jesus saw a large crowd around him, he gave the order to go to the other side of the sea. A scribe approached him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” MATTHEW 8:18–20

MY DAD WAS LIKE John Wayne in miniature, and when I was a little girl, I wanted to be just like him. When I found out he rode bulls in the rodeo to help put himself through college, I was determined to do the same thing and secretly began training by leaping on our very docile and unsuspecting milk cows on the far side of the pasture out of Dad’s sight. But the first time I tried to pounce on one of our bulls, I ended up with a very bruised behind. When Dad noticed my limp and made me spill the beans about how I’d gotten hurt, he was quiet for a minute or two. Then he put it plainly: “Lisa, if you want to be a champion bull-rider, you’re going to need a harder heinie.”

I have no idea how tough their posteriors were, but there was a group of ancient Christ-followers in the 1400s called stylites or “pillar saints” (based on the Greek word stylos, which means “pillar” or “column”), who certainly had tough feet! They followed the extreme and ascetic practice of moving away from civilization into the wilderness and making their “home” atop pillars that had been dragged there for that sole purpose, so as to avoid distractions and devote themselves entirely to God. This incredibly uncomfortable practice was initiated in 423 BC by Simeon the Elder and continued until the mid-1400s. One saint named Alypius is recorded as standing upright on a column less than four feet in diameter for fifty-three years until his ankles collapsed. However, instead of descending from his pillar and going to a podiatrist, he laid down on his side and spent the last fourteen years of his life prone on that airy altar!

Now quite frankly, I think the pillar saints’ “statuesque” acts of faith, while well-intentioned, are a bit bonkers. I’ve been studying the Bible for almost forty years and have yet to find a single verse that advocates hanging out alone on a glorified column to please God. However, as bizarre as their devotion appears in the context of our modern, comfort-obsessed culture, I find myself admiring their radical willingness to kick ease to the curb for the sake of Christ.

And remember, comfort wasn’t high on the agenda of our Messiah either. He didn’t begin His ministry with a parade, where He was lauded a populist hero while riding in some cushy carriage. Instead, His everlasting reign as the King of all kings commenced in the obscurity of the wilderness, where He fasted from food for forty days and still perfectly resisted satan’s temptations. Then the Prince of Peace spent the next three years of His public ministry as an outlier, shunned even in places you would’ve thought He’d be celebrated (like the hometown He grew up in [Luke 4:16–30]). And while His divine purpose was beyond difficult and utterly depleting, He didn’t fly first class or stay in nice hotels to recoup, but was effectively homeless with no place to lay His head.

Furthermore, our Savior wasn’t simply a mortgage-less sojourner who had to crash on friends’ couches or camp out in the fields. He was also betrayed by those closest to Him. His mom and dad literally forgot Him at the temple when He was just a kid. His neighbors tried to kill Him. And one of His closest friends threw Him under the bus at His greatest point of need, just prior to His murder on the cross.

Based on all the Bible tells us about His experience on this earth, it’s probably not too much of a stretch to describe Jesus as rarely comfortable or comforted. Which makes sense in light of His self-proclaimed mission statement:

Jesus called them over and said to them, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. But it is not so among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you will be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42–45, emphasis mine)

If we want to live more Christophormic lives—which just means lives that are shaped like Jesus—we’d better learn how to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

• WHICH IS easier for you to give up: physical comfort (like air-conditioning or nice furnishings) or emotional comfort (like support, encouragement, and/or approval from other people)? Why?
• READ MATTHEW 16:24–26. What constitutes a figurative “cross” you’ve chosen to pick up and carry in order to closely follow Jesus?
• IF YOUR WALK with God has been mostly comfortable and easy lately, how might Jesus’s example challenge you toward change? What might He be asking you to sacrifice in this season that perhaps you’ve been putting off?