We're Thinking Too Small

Best line from Gladiator 2: “A slave dreams not of freedom, but of his own slaves” (attributed to Cicero). He wasn’t speaking about slavery itself but rather about the way we limit ourselves to living within the power structures that we see around us. We think in the well-worn images of what we already experience. We plug ourselves into preferred roles in a narrative that we believe is true because it feels like the only thing around us. This is not the way of the gospel.

In Mark 13, we see one of the disciples, probably Peter, pointing to the temple and saying, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” Don’t miss Mark’s sense of humor. He wants us to smile at the irony of a disciple pointing to the beauty of a stone temple when its purpose is to point to himself. Jesus responds, saying, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” Jesus is pointing out that the disciples are still living in reference to the religious structures they grew up with, and he is telling them to start living in reference to his older, and now visibly present, gospel-drenched Kingdom. He is saying, “Yes, I see the stones, but you need to think much bigger. You need the courage to stop living in reference to that and start living in reference to Me.”

At a practical level, he is saying that we need to think about marriage, career, church, chosen friendships, etc., in a kingdom-centered way. This is perhaps the riskiest thing Jesus calls us to do. It means we may not marry the most attractive person we possibly can. Instead, who we marry should be about finding a partner for kingdom work; choosing a career should be about connecting your abilities to the world’s needs; church should be about worship and being equipped to proclaim freedom to your neighbors; and choosing friends should be about who God is calling you to love rather than who is most entertaining or makes you feel good about yourself. 

There are two kingdoms present, and Jesus does not allow us to spend our focus folding into the one we see every day. He will not endorse efforts to master this visible kingdom. He wants to cut us loose to be agents of change, speaking up when needed and quietly serving otherwise. This may make us less “successful,” but we are not allowed to dream of our own slaves.

“It was for freedom that Christ set you free. Do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).

So what should I do about right now? Write down answers to these two questions:

1. What do I want most from the world? This is a likely path to becoming a slave-owning slave.

2. What do I want most for the world? This is a likely path to freedom.