Sir, Sir . . .

It’s common in India for people to address others as “sirs” and “madams.” I grew up in that culture, and when I returned to India in my early thirties and worked in a college, people called me “sir,” and I didn’t feel strange. But one of my colleagues was from the Netherlands. He hated people calling him “sir” because, in his culture, only those knighted by a king or queen were Sirs. After he told me that, I, too, started feeling uncomfortable when people called me “sir.”

In Jesus’s time, Caesars, kings, landlords, and masters with servants were called Kyrie “Lord” or “Lady.” Ordinary people were expected to call them Kyrie, and the lords and ladies blessed them with gifts for doing that. (This reciprocal relationship is called patronage. Priscilla and Aquila, wealthy leather traders with international trading, were Paul’s patrons, and later they hosted churches in their homes in Corinth, Rome, and Ephesus.)

Because Jesus healed people and taught teachings with authority, people called him Kyrie, “Lord.” But they didn’t always obey his words. So he asked,

“Since you call me Kyrie, why aren’t you doing what I am saying?” (Luke 6:46)

Benevolent patrons expected their clients to obey them. That was the trade-off: obedience for gifts. Should they obey Jesus, they would stand on solid ground.

“Everyone who comes to me hears my words and does them – I’ll show what that person will be like – s/he will be like someone who builds their house by digging deep a hole on a rocky surface and placing the foundation upon it. When the river rises, and the flood beats upon that house, it will not be shaken by the rushing waters because it is built well.” (Luke 6:47–28)

When clients obeyed the patrons’ words and stayed on their good side, whatever disaster struck them, they were safe. Imagine a locust plague came into the land and wiped out the crops of the clients, they still had the security and provisions of the benevolent patrons since they obeyed their lords and ladies.

“Everyone who hears and does not do them is like the person who builds the house upon the land without foundation. When the river rises, and the water rushes against it, the house will fall, and its destruction will be great.” (Luke 6:49).

Patrons provided economic security to their clients, provided the clients listened to the patrons, and obeyed them. If, for example, a patron provided wheat and told the client to wait until the spring to sow the seed, and the client planted it in the fall, before the winter, and lost the entirety of the crops, the patrons didn’t help them. Patrons were investors; they wanted returns, respect, and obedience. Similarly, those who called Jesus their Kyrie, Lord, needed to obey his words, not just listen to them.

This rule applies to us as well. Since we call him our Lord, we obey his words without exception. Only then would he be able to rescue us. We would be like that person who dug deep into rocky terrain and built a strong foundation – difficult tasks – before building the house. Following the Lord Jesus is difficult but worth it.