If you ever jump around on YouTube, you’ve
probably run into a “TED Talk.” On the TED Talks website it says this about their
origin: “TED was born in 1984 out of Richard Saul Wurman’s observation of a powerful
convergence among three fields: technology, entertainment and design. The first
TED included a demo of the compact disc, the e-book and cutting-edge 3D graphics
from Lucasfilm, while mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot demonstrated how to map coastlines
using his developing theory of fractal geometry.”1
TED Talks now cover
a large range of topics, and TED conferences are held around the world. One of the
recurring topics is “simplicity” or the “simple life/lifestyle.” Author Dave Bruno
mentions the freedom that comes from ridding our lives of so much stuff. In fact,
he tells of an experiment he did that changed his life. For one year, he reduced
his possessions to 100 things. That decision led to huge changes in his life and
in his perspective on life.2
One hundred things. Sounds impossible
for us, doesn’t it? How could we reduce all our stuff to just 100 items? Maybe we
could keep 100 things from each room, or from each closet, or ... well, you get
the idea.
Our scripture today tells of a day when
Simon Peter, James and John left everything
and followed Jesus.
Jesus’ growing reputation
In the fourth chapter of Luke, we read
the account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Luke also records the beginning
of Jesus’ Galilean ministry in which he “returned to Galilee in the power of
the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in
their synagogues and was praised by all.”3 Then Jesus read in the synagogue
in Nazareth from the prophet Isaiah, where it said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me ...” Upon finishing the reading, Jes
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