Homeland

— Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

 It seems like almost all of the confusion and fighting in the world has to do with national borders and historical rights to a certain piece of land and things of this sort. Nearly everyone in the world either has a land to call their own, a national ‘homeland’, or they are fighting to create one for themselves.

 Americans have fought for their freedom for nearly 300 years now. We now have something called ‘Homeland Security’ which is a government office created to deal specifically with the protection of the land of America and the people that live within its borders.

 At this very moment Hezbollah is fighting with Israel primarily over land that each side claims as its own. The Israelis have ocupied Hezbollah territory in southern Lebanon because Hezbollah has been kidnapping Israelis along the border and launching rockets into cities all over northern Israel. Hezbollah exists to destroy Israel. Why do they want Israel to cease to exist? Israel has made its home on land that at one time belonged to the descendants of Hezbollah. Or so they say.

 What is the big deal about a ‘homeland’ anyway? In a very literal sense, one piece of land cannot be ‘better’ just because at one time it belonged to an ancestor. Land is land. Some of it is prettier than others, or more useful in reaping a good harvest. But rarely, if ever, is that the reason for people wanting to protect or fight to get back what they consider to be their homeland.

 I think it goes much deeper than that. Having a place to call one’s own is as natural to humans as finding a mate or eating the next meal. We long for something permanent, somewhere secure where we can live comfortably forever. But that word ‘forever’, that is where most people leave the world of reasonable thinking and begin to act and live in ways that just do not make sense.

 How can I truly cling to my ‘homeland’ here on Earth knowing that in just a few decades I will no longer be around to even live in it? Do people just not think about the reality of their mortality and the reality that every man will one day be separated from his earthly ‘home’?

 I am sometimes tempted to do the same as the rest of the world. How nice it would be to have my own ‘place in this world’, and to make myself feel secure and at home here. But I have to ask myself if that is what God has called me to do as a Christian. In light of eternity and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, does having a homeland have any importance whatsoever?

 A man once told Jesus that he would follow Him wherever He went. The response that Jesus gave to this man should make us all think. Foxes have holes and birds have nexts, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Those were Jesus’ words to those who would seek to follow Him.

 I don’t think Jesus was literally stating that He had no bed to sleep on. But He was saying that He did not have a home, a place in THIS world to call His own.

 In light of what Jesus said, I do not think He would be too impressed with the love and attention a lot of us give to our earthly homes. The sin is not in having a home, but in longing for our earthly homeland instead of our Creator and the eternal home that He has waiting for us in Eternity.

 The truth is that God has indeed created us to desire a homeland that will truly be ours forever. Unfortunately, most of the world cannot take their minds off of their earthly homes long enough to catch a glimpse of the eternal one.

 Those who set their mind on the Eternal will never be disappointed nor shaken from their hope and joy. Their Homeland will be in Heaven, with God Himself, for all eternity.

 Those who look for a place to call their own on this earth will soon find that what they spent their entire lives grasping for was never even theirs for the taking. They will be the most pitiful, without a homeland on Earth, or a home in Heaven.