Foxes and Birds

Luke 9:57-58

⁵⁷ As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” ⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 

If you have never had the chance to listen to Rich Mullins last album before his tragic death in 1997, I encourage you to listen to “The Jesus Record”.  There is an album within an album on this CD. “The Jesus Demo” is the original recording of this album that Rich Mullins made on a tape recorder that sat near an out of tune piano in an old abandoned church where he wrote the music.  He finished his demo nine days before he died. You can actually hear the tape recorder click on and off as he starts and stops each song.  Every song on this album is about Jesus, about the life of Christ and how he lived, walked, loved and sometimes how Rich struggled to love him back.  After his death, some of the day’s top Christian artists went to the studio and recorded these songs professionally and that album is “The Jesus Record”. 

Amy Grant has a beautiful voice, but to me, her professional recordings of Rich's songs don’t touch my soul nearly as much as hearing those taped church sessions and hearing the sincerity and imperfection in his voice. My favorite song on the album is “You Did Not Have a Home” based on Luke 9:57-58. The lyrics are as follows:

“Birds have nests, foxes have dens
But the hope of the whole world rests
On the shoulders of a homeless man
You had the shoulders of a homeless man

And the world can't stand what it can't own
And it can't own You 'cause You did not have a home”

       When I first heard this song, I had never thought about the sacrifice that Jesus made to be an itinerant teacher, prophet and Messiah.  I had always been grateful that he gave up his life for me, but I had never really considered that he gave up what we would consider “a life” to fully live into his calling. He made his home wherever he was welcomed.  He gave up childhood friendships, family, the chance for a wife or a child, and chose homelessness so as not to be tempted to put his or his family’s comfort above ministry and his sacrificial call. He couldn’t be owned or tempted by anything the world afforded.  Through his life of poverty and minimalism, Jesus freed himself to die.

       The scripture the song is based on calls me to evaluate if my earthy comforts free me to serve my God or if they serve as my God.  Do I work towards His calling to come and follow in His footsteps or towards feeling free to put my feet up?  What owns me? How am I being called to put service ahead of comfort?

I supposed that is the question for all of us. What owns you, calling or comfort?

Prayer:  Holy God, thank you for your sacrifice of earthy comforts so that you could be about your heavenly calling.  Help me to choose the same each moment and day. -Amen