Year 7, Day 232: Luke 23

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Yesterday, Jesus taught His disciples about being great in the eyes of God.  What does it mean to be great?  Jesus is clear.  He came to serve.  He came to be in the lives of others.  He didn’t come to bend people to His will; He came to work in the lives of others.

That is the story of the crucifixion.  Jesus goes before Pilate and Herod.  He could have called upon the power of divine and freed Himself.  He could have called the power of nature and destroyed those around Him.  What do the stories say that He did?  He stood there, honestly answering their questions, and allowing them to play their part in God’s overarching plan.

Where I see Jesus’ servant nature most clearly, though, is upon the cross.  Before He dies, He cries out.  He gives us the famous words of the servant.  “Into your hands I commend my spirit.”  This is the rallying cry of the one who is not in a position of power.  Jesus knows that what remains is in the hands of God.  The Father will sort out the pieces from here.

Jesus succumbs to death.  He gives up His spirit.  He releases His hold on life and allows the Father to do His work.  His blood has been shed; His life was cast aside by human beings.  God accepts the sacrifice.  The curtain is torn.  The sky darkens.  It is over.

Before I end, there is one more detail that is worth bringing out.  Notice who it is that understands the role of Christ.  The centurion sees.  The centurion declares that Jesus truly was the Son of God.  The centurion is by definition a servant of Rome.  Here is a man who knows what it means to give up his ultimate freedom in service to the will of another greater power.  The centurion looks upon Jesus and recognizes a kindred spirit.

Sometimes the only way we can understand and value the servant nature of the people around us is to be a servant ourselves.

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Year 7, Day 231: Luke 22

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As Jesus approaches the cross, the conflict between the divine will and the human will intensifies.  Human beings want their own way.  The more stress and pressure we are under, the more we are likely to try and get our way through direct or even aggressive means.  Yet, God is all-powerful.  His way will happen if He desires it to happen.

We see this conflict all over the Gospels as Jesus’ death draws near.  We begin this chapter with words of the plot to kill Jesus.  The religious leaders are feeling the conflict of having Jesus around.  They realize they need to get rid of him, and soon.  They begin to plot and scheme and overtly accomplish His death.  Their human will is clashing with God’s will.

Take the stories about Peter and His denial.  Jesus tells Peter that he will deny Him.  Peter denies that!  Peter’s human will rises up against God’s will in a massive conflict against Him.

Look at Judas.  Here is one of Jesus’ own disciples.  For whatever reason – I’d like to attribute it to a horribly misguided attempt to force Jesus into overthrowing the religious leaders – Judas agrees to identify Jesus publicly when they come to arrest Jesus.  Judas rises up to assert his human will and have his way.

Here’s the thing.  In all of these stories, what the people fail to see is that God’s will shall ultimately be done.  God’s will is the most powerful force there is.  It is immutable when he wants it to be.

When the religious leaders desire to get rid of Jesus, God is working to bring a path to Him through forgiveness and atonement.  When Peter denies Jesus three times he realizes that no matter much he would speak his love, the reality is that God knows Peter better than Peter knows himself.  When Judas comes out to identify Jesus, Jesus already knew that it would happen and God’s will is being done.

We can writhe against God’s will.  We can force our will to dominate our life.  We can make our existence the sheer and utter pursuit of our own desires.  When we do that, though, we stop following God.  In those moments – like the religious leaders, Peter, and Judas – we stop being a part of God’s plan and find ourselves at odds with God and His people.  Fortunately, like Peter, we can find forgiveness should we realize our place and repent.

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Year 7, Day 230: Luke 21

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As I look at Luke 21, I am drawn to the theme of relying upon God.  Certainly, this is a theme that runs throughout the entire length of the Bible.  It is absolutely a theme that runs through the life of Jesus.

We see this first and foremost in the teaching of the woman who gives at the temple.  What is it about this woman that is praised?  The woman is praised because she gave out of her poverty, not out of her abundance.  Her is a woman who gives knowing that she is giving out of her ability to live.  She’s giving away money that she really needs for food, clothing, and other necessity.  She’s giving away because she knows that God can provide for her.  Her is a woman who is living a life that relies upon God.

Another place that we see this in in Jesus’ warnings about the future.  He tells the disciples that there will be wars and rumors of wars.  There will be earthquakes and other natural disasters.  There will be persecution.  We are not to be led astray.  We are not to listen to the panic of the people as they fret about what is going on.  We are to rely upon God.

Furthermore, I am challenged by Jesus when He says that we aren’t to meditate upon what we are going to say.  For an introvert who thinks deeply about everything that they do, this is an incredible challenge.  I like to think and plan and rehearse.  I like to organize and order and process.  But I need to realize that when I do these things, I am also susceptible to thinking and planning God right out of my life.  There has to be an openness to the moment and the movement of the Spirit.  There has to be a time when I step back and am led not by my planning and organization but by the hand of God.  It’s not a bad idea to plan and think and process; it’s a bad idea when our plans ignore God and His voice.

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Year 7, Day 229: Luke 20

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Luke 20 is all about the issue of certainty for me.  I’m not talking about certainty of salvation.  I’m talking about public certainty.  I’m talking about our witness to others.  I’m talking about how people look and see faith within our lives.

This whole chapter involves various groups coming to challenge the authority of Christ.  The first group to come forward challenges Jesus about His authority.  These are the temple leaders.  They are used to authority and being in the public eye.  Notice, however, that Jesus doesn’t even answer their question!  Instead, Jesus flips the table upon them and forces them to make a choice between divine authority and the public eye.  These leaders prove indecisive.  They have no public witness.  They aren’t willing to humble themselves by acknowledging spiritual truth; they aren’t willing to admit what they genuinely believe for fear of the crowd. They have no witness at all, and Jesus doesn’t acknowledge their question.

We should stand firm with what we believe in.  If we don’t, we have no witness.  If we don’t, we can’t ever find and fix our mistakes.

Next, we see the religious leaders ask Jesus about taxes.  They are once more trying to trap Jesus between religion and government.  Once more, they aren’t taking a stand.  Jesus doesn’t take one, either.  Jesus turns to them and basically says to honor God in God’s things and to honor government in the area that government governs.  He doesn’t force the division of God and government.  His witness is that God and government can govern their own areas of life.  Certainly, the areas of God are more significant.  Yet, this doesn’t mean that government should be cast away, either.  Jesus’ witness is not embracing one and casting out the other.  Jesus’ witness is to embrace each in their own arena.

Finally, we get the witness of the Sadducees.  I will say this about the Sadducees.  At least they are up front about their witness.  People knew that they didn’t believe in the resurrection.  When they ask this question, the trap is obvious.

The great part of Jesus’ response is that He actually honors the Sadducees in His response.  He doesn’t agree with them, but He at least gives them an opportunity to learn.  Jesus takes the opportunity to give a witness about the resurrection and its eternal perspective.  We don’t know what the Sadducees did with that and if any of them heard Jesus.  But Jesus gives them an opportunity because they at least owned their perspective.

As I said, we need to have a public witness.  The only time we ever hear other positions is when we are willing to lay our own witness out there.  The only time we can inspire others is when we lay ourselves out there.  When we hedge our bets and stay non-committal,  we only invite other people to do the same with us as we see here with Jesus.

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Year 7, Day 228: Luke 19

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In Luke 19 we begin the end of the story.  We have arrived at the Triumphal entry.  That means over the next few days we’ll finish Jesus’ teaching and end up at the crucifixion.  Then we’ll move on through the resurrection and, because we are in Luke, we’ll hear a few stories of Jesus and His disciples after the resurrection.  That’s the context of the end.  That’s what we look forward to as we read these stories today.

In this light, look at the story of Zacchaeus.  What do we see Zacchaeus doing in this story?  We see him going out and doing what it takes to get the attention of Jesus.  For this reason, Zacchaeus is one of my favorite minor characters in the Gospels.  It isn’t so much that Zacchaeus goes out and gets what he wants.  It is that Zacchaeus wants to get to Jesus.  How do we know this difference?  Zacchaeus finds himself changed by Jesus.  If Zacchaeus was out to get what he wanted, he wouldn’t be changed.  But Zacchaeus is out to get Jesus, and he finds himself changed.  I’m left asking myself these same questions.  Am I pursuing Jesus so that I can be changed or am I pursuing Jesus so that I can get what I want?

This ties in nicely with the story of the ruler who goes on a journey and leaves wealth in the hands of his servants.  Jesus wants us to be proactive.  He wants us to look out into the world and see opportunity to win territory for Him.  He doesn’t want us to sit back.  He doesn’t want us to do nothing and return His power unused and ignored.  He wants us to go out, do His work, and come back changed from it.

I think we can see the inverse of this concept in the portion of the chapter that speaks about Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem.  Look at what Jesus says about Jerusalem.  He wishes that they would be able to see what is being done among them.  He wishes that they would be able to take notice and embrace God’s work around them.  But they can’t.  God’s work is hidden from them.  They are about to be torn down because they are ignoring God.  They aren’t interested in going out and getting the focus of God.  They are interested in getting their own way.  This causes them to be blind.

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Year 7, Day 227: Luke 18

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When I read Luke 18, I am left with the question, “How bad do I want it?”  Luke 18 is all about what I am willing to part with in order to follow Christ.  Are there limits to what I’m willing to sacrifice?

The last passage is very inspiring along these ways.  A blind beggar outside of Jericho hears Jesus approach.  This blind beggar does anything to get Jesus’ attention.  He goes so far as to be ridiculed by the people around him.  But He’s got a plan.  He wants Jesus’ attention.  He knows that Jesus has the power to heal him.  He’s willing to risk the ridicule of the people around him for just the opportunity to have a few moments with Jesus.  He recovers his sight; he glorifies God.

Naturally, we have the story of the rich man who refuses to give up his wealth to follow Jesus.  The point here is the same as with the beggar except that it is a negative example.  Are we willing to risk our wealth for the opportunity to be discipled by Christ?  Are we willing to potentially give up our livelihood for the sake of obedience?  For me, I find it easier to think about being ridiculed by others than to think about having less means to support myself and my family.  That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t give up my livelihood; it just means that it is a harder choice.  Then again, when it’s been asked of me in the past, I’ve had the courage to do it more than once.  It wasn’t easy any of the times.

Then there’s the story of the Pharisee who goes to pray.  He thinks himself better than the tax collector.  He finds himself the goat of the story, too.  I can’t help but wonder if I am willing to give up my ego for God.  Am I willing to see my faults and flaws?  Am I even willing to allow others to see my faults and flaws?  Am I willing to see myself as less than perfect and give God the opportunity to work in me and through me?

This is why I love the fact that Jesus’ third prediction of his death is a part of this chapter.  It’s a great reminder as I consider what I would be willing to give up.  Jesus was willing to give up his life.  Jesus knew what was coming and he embraced it.  He was willing to give up everything.  He followed God into death.  He also followed the Father into life.  That’s really the point, isn’t it?

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Year 7, Day 226: Luke 17

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I love the humbleness of Luke 17.  We get it in so many shapes and forms here.  We get the obvious and the hidden.

Let’s start with the obvious humbleness.  Jesus compares His followers to slaves.  When a slave does his job, should he expect to be praised?  No!  He’s just doing his job.  We shouldn’t expect atrophy for just doing our job.  Humbleness within us should be able to accept that if we are just doing our job then that is all we’ve done.  That doesn’t mean that people around us – or even God – won’t appreciate a job well done.  But that does mean that we’ve just done what was expected of us.  True humbleness allows us to realize that we’ve just done our job.  It allows us to remain humble.

We also get humbleness in the opening passage regarding forgiveness.  Some people can forgive.  But only the truly humble person can forgive repeated offenses without being bothered by the reoccurring offense!  Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t think Jesus is saying we shouldn’t be wary.  Elsewhere, Jesus tells us to be shrewd and to figure people out.  But here Jesus tells us that we need to genuinely forgive genuine repentance, even repeated offense.  It’s how we help people get past their darkest tendencies.

We get another perspective on humbleness with the ten lepers.  In fact, we see how being humble amplifies gratitude.  It’s the flipside of the story about forgiveness.  Instead of humbleness leading to our ability to forgive, humbleness leads us into a proper response when being blessed with grace.  Most of the healed lepers immediately go back to their life, grateful to be free of the leprosy and ostracization that comes with it.   One, however, a Samaritan, has what it takes.  He comes back and thanks Jesus.  He is humble enough to be gracious before going back to his life.

Finally, we get to the last story.  In this story, we find a truly hidden perspective on humbleness.  Jesus warns us that we won’t see the days of the Lord coming.  They will take us by surprise.  Like the lightning, we might know it’s coming but we can never predict exactly where the strike will happen.  Where does humbleness come into this?  Humbleness comes in through our response to the unknown.  The ones who will be praised on the day of the Lord are those who are found doing the right thing and living in obedience to God.  In other words, the ones who humble themselves to God’s will and follow God instead of following their own desires.

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Year 7, Day 225: Luke 16

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When I read Luke 16, I always feel like it is easy to get a muddled message.  On one hand, Jesus seems to be talking about how we need to treat people with grace and build relationship. Then Jesus talks about how the Law is the Law and the Law is not made devoid of meaning.  Then we end with the story of the rich man and Lazarus and feel ourselves pulled back to the side of grace.  If we’re not careful, the message gets confused.  I’ll try not to do that here.  If we study this chapter clearly, though, I think there is a solid message that comes out.  I’ll endeavor to do that.

Let’s start with Jesus’ teaching on the Law.  Jesus says that it is impossible for a single part of the Law to fall away.  In other words, no amount of grace changes the Law.  Just because a person receives grace doesn’t mean that they didn’t violate the Law.  They are still guilty.  What’s changed is that the person is not having to pay the full consequence of violating the law.  That’s what we often forget when we are talking about Law and grace.  The Law is and always will be the Law.  God’s ways are immutable.  Wrong is, and always will be, wrong.

That being said, we are all guilty.  To borrow the end of a parable we read a few days back, those who are forgiven much will love much in return.  Since none of us can fulfill the Law, we all lean upon grace.  The more we come into an understanding of just how much we lean upon grace, the more that we love God in return and have an appreciation for His compassion.

This brings us to the relationships and the life that we live in the world.  Since we are the incredible recipients of an undeserved grace, it is good for us to pass that grace on to others.  In doing so, we receive their love in the same manner as God receives our love by depositing His grace upon us.  This is the point of the dishonest manager.  When we bestow an unexpected grace upon those around us, we place them in a position off appreciating our place in their life.  It’s how God deals with us; it how we are to deal with others.

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Year 7, Day 224: Luke 15

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Luke 15 is a great chapter when it comes to looking at our relationship in the kingdom.  It’s also an incredible chapter to read for a person who has recently begun a relationship with God or who is considering a relationship with God. This chapter is full of grace.

The reason that this chapter is so full of grace is because it begins with a legalistic question.  The best way to diffuse a question that is too focused upon the Law is to bring more grace into the conversation.  The Pharisees grumble because Jesus is hanging out with the wrong crowd.  To answer them, Jesus talks about why He is choosing to do so.

Jesus gives us the stories about the lost sheep and the lost coin.  I’ll add another few perspectives.  Every day as a teacher I see kids come in with a notebook full of paper.  But when a child has lost their homework, they are only focused on that one piece of paper that has what I want to see on it.  As a homeowner, I have plenty of bills to pay.  But on the day when I have a deadline, I really only want the bill that is due on that day.  Or, let’s take a positive spin.  There are days when I am hungry for a chocolate milkshake.  There’s plenty of chocolate foods out there, but when I want a chocolate milkshake none of those other chocolate foods are likely to satisfy.

The point from Jesus isn’t that there is anything wrong with the other sheep or the coins that the woman might have.  In my examples, there’s nothing wrong with any of the paper that a student has, any of my other bills, or any other food made out of chocolate.  However, they aren’t satisfying the immediate perspective.  When a sheep is lost, the shepherd is focused on the sheep.  When a coin is lost, the person is focused on that coin.  Hen homework is lost, the student wants that page for credit.  When a bill needs paid, I need the bill for my specific account numbers.  When I walk a chocolate drink, I’m looking for a specific experience.  In all of these cases, there’s nothing wrong with any of the other options.  These aren’t stories about the problems with all of the other options.  These are problems about the focus of the central figure.

That’s why we turn to the story of the Prodigal Son.  Of course, we see the grace of the father in redeeming the younger son in spite of his rebellion.  That’s the overarching point of the whole chapter.  The father just wants his son back.  The father just wants that relationship restored.  That’s where the perspective is.

Yet at the end of the chapter, we do address the older son.  The older son is hurt.  He’s been with the father all the time.  Yet he sees the father fawning over the younger son and it hurts.  That’s why the father has to come to the older son and explain this lesson.  It isn’t like there is anything wrong with the older son.  The older son has had the father’s love every day.  It’s been a consistent, steady, and reliable love.  But for this moment, the surge of the father’s excitement is focused towards the younger son.  But that doesn’t change the steady ever-present love that the father has for the older son.

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Year 7, Day 223: Luke 14

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Luke 14 is truly all about following Jesus.  I’m sorry if that sentence sounded like something Captain Obvious might have said.  Perhaps I should say that this chapter is truly about the cost of discipleship.

Naturally, we have a section in this chapter entitled the cost of discipleship.  What this section is all about is making sure that we understand what discipleship will cost.  Jesus tells us that before we set out on the journey we need to stop and ask if we have what it takes to stick with it and finish the task.  It’s just as bad to start following Jesus and then turn away as it is to never start at all.

However, there is more cost than just our inner drive.  Look at what Jesus talks about in terms of our own opinion of ourselves.  Jesus tells us in public that we should sit at the lower places.  In other words, we are to have humble opinions of ourselves.  That doesn’t mean that we can’t have a healthy self-image, it just means that we need to be willing to the think of others and ourselves.  Besides, when we are humble we will either be affirmed in our current place or even elevated.  If we aren’t willing to follow Jesus in humility, we have every chance at finding ourselves lessened in the eyes of others.

There is also the teaching about whom to invite.  As a follower of Jesus, we need to look within people rather at their exterior.  Do you see that when the master of the feast is ready to feast he cares more about inviting people who want to be there – regardless of their station in life – than he cares about inviting people of high status?  That’s part of the cost of discipleship.  We must be willing to go where God wants, do what He wants, and minister with whom He wants.  It isn’t about trying to be with the elite or the put together.  It is about walking through the doors that God has opened so we can be with the people who are desiring to be with God, too.

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Year 7, Day 222: Luke 13

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It’s easy to see why Jesus is crucified when you read chapters like Luke 13.  I don’t mean that sentence flippantly.  I am very serious about it.  It is chapters like Luke 13 and the teachings contained within that led to the crucifixion of Jesus.  This is important to understand, because if we desire to embrace the teachings of Jesus and then embody them, we need to understand that it may not do any wonders for our popularity, either.

For example, look at what Jesus teaches in the opening section.  There are some people who hear about bad things happening to Galileans and feel justified.  They think that since the Galileans had issues in their moral, ethical, and spiritual codes that they deserved what they got.  Jesus confronts that opinion.  He tells us that we are no better.  He tells us that unless we humble ourselves to the point of genuine repentance, we will perish in a similar manner.  Do most people want to hear that they shouldn’t be smug when their enemies come across hard times?  Do most people want to be told that they are no better than the people upon whom they look down?  No!  Teaching things like this is likely to get us scorned and outcast.

Take the healing of the woman who had a disabling condition for 18 years.  Jesus heals, but it is on the Sabbath.  We know that makes enemies among the religious leaders, who will do anything to stick up for the sanctity of the Sabbath.  But look at Jesus’ response.  Not only does Jesus lower the sanctity of the Sabbath to a position lower than showing mercy upon others, but He turns on the religious leaders and calls them hypocrites!  People in power don’t like being called hypocrites.  People in power don’t also care to have the status quo messed with.  Jesus is doing both of these things here.  Jesus is challenging what true power is as well as challenging the best way to apply true power.  To quote another cliché, Jesus is upsetting the apple cart in more than one way here.

Take the story about the narrow door.  Jesus tells the people that many people will be locked out beyond the narrow door and not allowed into the presence of the Father.  He goes even further than that.  Jesus says that being in proximity to God is irrelevant!  Eating and drinking in the presence of Christ and listening to His teachings isn’t enough!  To be in the presence of God we must actively seek Him out.  We cannot be content being near Christ when He comes to us, we must seek Him out and follow His ways.  Once more Jesus is attacking the status quo.  Remember that the Hebrew people were a people based on lineage – that is, their proximity to Abraham.  Jesus is telling these people who believe themselves to be special because they could tract themselves back to Abraham that their proximity to God through Abraham isn’t enough.  It isn’t good enough to be in the presence of greatness.  We must strive to pursue the greatness ourselves and imitate what we find.

In the end, these passages are difficult passages.  They challenge us to the core of our being.  They force us to analyze what it is for which we stand.  Again, it is no surprise to me that when Jesus taught these things that He was crucified.  It’s a shame; but it isn’t a surprise.

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Year 7, Day 221: Luke 12

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When I read Luke 12, I think about the interaction between an individual and the community.  I think the core of this chapter is Luke 12:8-12.  In this section, Jesus tells us that we need to acknowledge God before humanity.  We need to live a life that demonstrates our faith.  If we live in such a way, we will be demonstrating our relationship with God to the people around us and opening up opportunity for conversation.  As Jesus says, we need not fear the conversation – even if it has potentially dangerous conversations.  If we don’t live in such a manner, we will be demonstrating to God that our relationship with Him isn’t really the priority that we claim it to be.

How does this play out in the rest of the chapter?  First of all, it demonstrates where we consider our wealth to lay.  Some consider their wealth to be literally wealth: money in the bank account, retirement accounts, cash in hand, etc.  Other people consider their wealth to be their relationships around them and the opportunities at their doorstep.  Keep in mind that none of these things are inherently bad.  We need a certain amount of money to live.  It’s good to have relationships and opportunity.  But Jesus tells us that our wealth should be in heaven.  This goes back to acknowledging God before mankind.  When we live in such a way as to acknowledge men before mankind, we will live in such a manner that our treasure is found in heaven.

Take the teaching about not being anxious.  If God is our focus, why should we have anxiety?  If we live in such a manner as to proclaim God, why would we think that God would fail us?  If we are living as though our treasure is in heaven, we realize that God cannot fail us because He is the master of the place where our treasure resides!

We can keep going.  There is the teaching about the servants of the master.  The blessed servants are doing the work of the master until the master returns.  In other words, the servant who is blessed is proclaiming God before others by living in such a way as God desires.  However, when the servant is convinced that God isn’t coming back imminently, they start to live for their own desires.  They begin to abuse the people around them.  They take advantage of others.  They aren’t proclaiming God before others, they are proclaiming their focus on themselves!

It shouldn’t surprise us to hear that our witness to the community around us should be at the forefront of our life.  It affects how we treat others.  It affects the decisions we make.  It affects the anxiety and stress in our own life.  It affects our goals and aspirations.

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Year 7, Day 220: Luke 11

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Luke 11 has much to say about the state of things.  The area that much of this chapter focus upon is the inside versus the outside.  Another way of saying this is motivation versus action.  Jesus cares more about the motivation and the inside than He cares about the action and the outside.  Of course, I’m not saying that Jesus doesn’t care about the outside or our actions.  I’m simply saying that Jesus truly cares far more about hearts that are after Him even if they make mistakes occasionally than He cares about the person who looks completely put together and yet cares nothing about God and His ways.

The most obvious place here is the conversation about the eyes.  Jesus tells us that the eyes are the lamp to the body.  He tells us that when our eye is pure, we are full of light.  Yet, when our eye is evil, we walk in darkness.  In other words, our actions will follow our being.  If we are pure on the inside, we will tend towards pure deeds.  It is our insides that guide our actions, not our actions that determine our insides.

Or, take the story about the unclean spirit who returns.  A person who finds deliverance in the hands of Christ has an opportunity to overcome sin and that which oppresses them.  However, we cannot leave our insides clean yet empty.  We cannot allow ourselves to feel God’s cleansing and not begin to fill ourselves with righteous thinking and behavior.  If we feel God’s cleansing but don’t fill ourselves with His purity and follow Him in His ways, we will find ourselves right back where we started.  In fact, Jesus tells us that not only will we be right back where we started but we’ll actually be worse off!  We need to make sure that our insides are following God and our hearts are not only receiving His grace but actually inclined towards Him and becoming more like Him in thought, word, and deed.

Or, take the accusation of the Pharisees in the last story.  Jesus is accused by them for not going through the ritual washing prior to eating.  In turn, Jesus looks to them and accuses them of doing all the things that appear righteous on the outside without filling their insides with righteousness.  He calls them whitewashed tombs.  In other words, He is saying that they look pleasing on the outside but their insides are really just places of death.  Once more we hear Jesus indicate that the status of the inside is more important than the status of the outside.  Better to have mistakes in our life but be genuine in our pursuit of God than to appear perfect but have no relationship with Him or anything righteous.

The last example I’ll lift out of this chapter is the obscure passage regarding the woman who tries to bless Jesus’ mother because she bore Him.  Do you hear Jesus’ response?  He says, “blessed, rather, are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!”  In other words, the woman is claiming that Mary was great because she bore Jesus.  If Jesus is great, then Mary must be great, too.  But Jesus calls that line of thinking out.  Jesus says that one’s proximity to greatness doesn’t make us great.  What makes us great is our pursuit of God, His Word, and His ways.

Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t think Jesus is trying to slam His mother, here.  I believe Jesus is not tackling the issue of how great Mary actually was.  Remember, God chose her for a reason.  What Jesus is attacking here is the evaluation of greatness.  The woman evaluates Mary as great for the wrong motivation.  That’s the point here.  Greatness comes from within and our pursuit of God.

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Year 7, Day 219: Luke 10

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Luke 110 is all about the presence of Christ.  We’re going to start in the middle, circle back around to the beginning, and then finish off with the two stories at the end.  Lord willing, it will be a good circle to complete.

Let’s look at the little snippet that Jesus gives to us after the Seventy-Two return to Him.  When they respond to Jesus by telling Him all that happened in His name, Jesus says, “I saw Satan fall from heaven.” So often, this little passage only gets used to point out that Satan was once an angel in the court of God. 

While that certainly is true, I don’t think that is actually Jesus’ reason for stating it here.  Jesus says that He saw Satan fall from from heaven.  While we put the emphasis upon the object of the verb, Satan falling from heaven, I think Jesus’ emphasis is on the subject of the verb.  Jesus saw Satan fall from heaven.  In other words, Jesus is more powerful than Satan.  Jesus is more closely tied to the Father than Satan.  When this is true, the rest of the passage makes sense. 

Why shouldn’t Jesus’ name be able to do powerful things like overthrow demons and their strongholds?  If Jesus is more powerful than Satan, then Jesus’ name should be more powerful, too.  When we take it this way, we understand why Jesus would choose this response with respect to the disciples’ surprise at what they were able to do.

Therefore, we can now cycle back to the beginning.  Look at how Jesus equips them.  It’s not about the clothing they wear or the protection they bring with them.  It’s not about how well supplied they are.  They are going out with the power of Jesus.  That’s all they need, because there is no greater power than God’s power poured through Him.

This naturally takes us to the Good Samaritan story.  Who is the Good Samaritan?  The Good Samaritan isn’t the wealthy one, or the priestly one, or the proclaimer of the Law.  It’s not about what’s on the outside that counts.  The Good Samaritan is the one who reaches out with the grace and love of God and impacts the world.  The Good Samaritan is good on the inside, where it counts.  The Good Samaritan is good because God shines through him as he truly acts as a neighbor should.

Or, take the story about Mary and Martha.  Martha is trying to serve Jesus with hospitality.  There’s nothing wrong with hospitality!  Much of the Old Testament has to deal with how we treat people in our hospitality towards them, especially the poor and defenseless.  But outward hospitality is nothing when compared to inward perspective.  The greatest acts, when done for the wrong reasons, are no longer great.  That’s why we have sayings like, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”  Doing good things isn’t enough.  What is enough is to have the condition within our heart that desires to sit at the feet of Christ, listen to Him, and obey Him.

The Seventy-Two were able to do what they did because Christ was in them and working through them.  The Good Samaritan was good because he was living out the teachings of Christ on goodness and mercy.  Mary is lifted up over Martha because she desires to be with Christ and focus on Him to have as much of His teachings within her as possible.  If He truly is the greatest power in the universe, why should we want anything else?

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Year 7, Day 218: Luke 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I like to call Luke 9: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.  This is a great chapter to have occur smack dab in the middle third of the story about Jesus’ ministry.  The plethora of stories to be found within should encourage, shame, and challenge us.

For encouragement, we have the good stories.  This is how the chapter opens.  Jesus imparts His wisdom and power upon the disciples and they go off and do some very amazing and incredible things.  From the witness of the other Gospels we know that demons are cast out in His name, people are cured of disease, physical disabilities are overcome.  The disciples take nothing with them except the power of God and they prove it to be mighty power indeed.  This should absolutely encourage us.  With God, nothing is impossible.

Or even take the story where Peter proclaims Jesus as the Christ.  Here Peter boldly proclaims a truth that he cannot even fathom.  God imparts in him a wisdom to appreciate something about which he cannot even know the true depth of God’s action!  When we are open to God, He can speak wisdom and obedience into us, even when we do not understand.

On the other hand, we have the bad.  Take the story of the disciples when Jesus is gone and they are unable to cast out the demon from the boy who convulses.  Or take the disciples who doubt Jesus’ words when He tells them to feed the multitude.  Or again take the disciples who argue among themselves about who is the greatest of Jesus’ disciples.

These stories should cause us to pause.  Remember, all of these stories come after the disciples have embraced the power of God and done some incredible things.  This isn’t a case of weak disciples.  These are stories about strong disciples who allowed their focus to lapse.  These are the bad stories.  These are the stories that remind us that we are all flawed human beings who are capable of making mistakes.  These stories tell us that we are prone to mistakes especially after something really cool and spiritual happens!  We can walk with God.  We can utilize His power to be obedient to His will.  But that does not guarantee that we will not get out focus wrong and our priorities out of whack.

And then there is the ugly.  For this story, I see Peter’s involvement in the Transfiguration.  Peter is up on the mountaintop during the transfiguration when he tries to convince Jesus to forego the rest of Jesus’ mission, all the people whom Jesus is going to reach, and even the cross just so that he can stay here with Jesus on the mountaintop.  Don’t get me wrong.  Peter’s heart seems to be in the right place.  Peter just wants to hang out with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.  That’s not inherently a bad place.  But it’s an ugly place because out of this seemingly good intention comes a suggestion that if followed would railroad Jesus’ ministry and bring it to a crashing halt!  Here we can see that sometimes even our good intentions could have utterly undesirable but dangerous consequences.

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Year 7, Day 217: Luke 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here

As we’ve looked at Jesus, we’ve seen that He came to fulfill God’s plan.  We’ve also seen that He came to break the mold.  Just when we think we have Jesus figured out, we find there is a new dimension that we never would have considered.  When we think we’ve got God all figured out, that’s the same moment that we often stop following Him and start following ourselves.

What, then, is the secret?  I don’t think that it is that hard.  In Luke 7 we have the parable of the sower, which would truly be better called the parable of the seed or even better the parable of the soils.  We know that point of the parable as Jesus explains it to His disciples.  The types of soils are the types of hearts among human beings.  Some hearts are hard and have no room for growth.  Some hearts are open, but not capable of true depth.  Some hearts are open for a while, but cannot stay focused of God for too long amidst the pull of the world.  Still others are fertile ground, giving fruit of the harvest of God.

The truth lies without our heart.  God cannot be completely understood because there are so many people among human beings.  He needs to reach us all, and we don’t fit into a box!  God cannot be completely understood because there are so many human experiences into which God needs to speak, and our lives don’t fit into a box!  The breadth of God is so incredible because He desires to reach a humanity that has incredible breadth!

Much of the rest of the chapter bears out this truth.  Do you see the comments about the women who follow Jesus?  First of all, note that we are talking about male and female followers.  There’s diversity right there!  Among the women, there is Mary Magdalene, who could have been anything from an average woman who had demons cast out of her to perhaps even a prostitute.  There is also the manager of Herod’s household.  There are many others.  The point here is that women of all walks followed Jesus.  It wasn’t about the rich or the poor.  The followers of Jesus followed because of the condition of their heart, not their worldly condition.

Then, of course, there is the story about Jesus’ mother and brothers.  Jesus defines His family not as a matter of blood but as a matter of obedience to God.  Anyone can be God’s family as long as they are willing to be obedient to Him. Again, we have reason to think of God as being broad and unable to be put in a box.

We end the passage with two neat stories.  The demon possessed man of the Gerasenes, who is told not to follow Jesus personally so he instead spreads the message of Jesus’ work in the area of the Decapolis – perhaps even laying the groundwork for the feeding of the four thousand!  He is asocial reject who becomes a highly passionate follower of Christ.

Then we have the healing of Jairus’ daughter.  Here is a highly respected man within the Jewish community who comes to Jesus and submits to Him.  Jesus is willing to reach all people regardless of their place.

Look back over the chapter.  We have demon possessed men and women following Jesus.  We have respected religious leaders.  We have managers of Herod’s household.  We have ordinary everyday people, too.  When we look at Jesus and the Father that He came to reveal, we truly see that it is the condition of our heart and not our outward appearances that matter.

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Year 7, Day 216: Luke 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

There are some great themes that come out of Luke 7.  The first two stories deal with Jesus and His incredible power.  Jesus heals a centurion’s servant without having to be near him.  Jesus raises a young man to life even though the young man is on a funeral bier!  Jesus shows us that proximity and even death are not issues where God is concerned.  God can do great things from anywhere and to anyone.  Death and distance are no obstacles for God.

Next, we have the story of John the Baptizer’s question from within prison.  When I was younger, I used to really look down upon John and wonder how he could miss Jesus being the Messiah.  As I’ve grown older, I’ve begun to feel for John.  Throughout history there have been people that were confused for the Messiah.  They did special things.  The led people in special ways.  I can understand John being able to hope for Jesus as the Messiah yet still have a seed of doubt in the back of his mind because other people were confused for the Messiah, too.

Furthermore, notice that Jesus doesn’t give any lasting condemnation to John.  In fact, He calls John great in the kingdom!  What this tells us is that God understands that while we may have hope and faith we will also have doubt and historical precedent to overcome, too.  God knows this about us.  He expects it.  He wants us to move past it, but He expects us to have questions because we cannot possibly know much with the absolute certainty of God.

At the end of this passage, we have the story of the man who forgives debts as told by Jesus in Simon’s home. (Simon the Pharisee, not Simon the disciple) What we learn here is that although God is all powerful, our reaction to God has more to say about us than about God.  Jesus is invited into Simon’s house.  Yet, Simon doesn’t welcome him very well.  Simon allows him to come into his house, Simon feeds him, but there isn’t any great excitement about the presence of Jesus.

The woman, on the other hand, has shown incredible excitement to Jesus.  She has kissed Him and washed Him and dried Him off.  She has cared or Him and it shows.

This is the same Jesus.  The difference in reaction doesn’t have anything to do with Jesus at all.  The difference is in the people.  Those who are forgiven much – those who are aware of their sin and the truth of their fallen nature – are excited about God’s grace. Those who are not convinced of their sin and who do not acknowledge their nature see no need to be exited.  That doesn’t change their need for God; it changes their reaction to Him.

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Year 7, Day 215: Luke 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

When I read Luke 6, I feel a bit of the spiritual whirlwind.  I’ll admit that part of the feeling comes because it is a long chapter with a number of individual stories.  I think part of the whirlwind is what is supposed to happen when it comes to meeting Jesus.  If you’ve spend any time pondering spirituality, you understand that faith and its application are seldom ever pinned down and understood perfectly.  There are always different perspectives to consider.  There are always growing edges.  There are always places for us to let go and embrace the better nature of God.

We begin with two interesting stories.  Jesus teaches that He is Lord of the Sabbath and then He flies against tradition by healing – doing work – on the Sabbath.  Both of these stories are clearly present because they fly in the face of the establishment and seek to get under the skin of the religious leaders.  These are anti-establishment stories.  Jesus wants to teach us that in order to have faith and live it out, we have to think and not simply follow what other people have laid before us.  There’s nothing wrong with tradition, but it has to be meaningful and what God desires of us.

However, just when we think we have that lesson mastered, we hear Jesus call disciples and then tell people that the disciple is not above the master.  In fact, when disciples are fully trained – and no longer the disciple – Jesus says that the person will be just like the teacher.  Clearly, mentoring and imitating the faithful people who have come before us is part of God’s plan.  Jesus did exactly that.

In the midst of all of this, Jesus is healing the people.  His power is going out among the crowds.  They are responding to Him and continuing to come.  They are even seeking to touch Him simply to experience His power.

Yet, in the midst of all of this Jesus teaches the Beatitudes.  Blessed are we when we are persecuted.  Blessed when we are poor.  Blessed are we when we are hungry.  Blessed are we when people hate us.  While the Beatitudes certainly fit with Jesus’ experience with the religious elite and the first couple of stories in the chapter, it seems at odds with the immediately surrounding passages of healing and acceptance.

I think that this is why I truly love the witness of the Gospels.  Anyone truly familiar with the full story of Jesus will hear about all of the contrasting perspectives in this chapter and not be surprised at all.  Each of these stories and perspectives makes sense when we consider the breadth of the witness of His life.

It’s not about setting the goal of being liked.  Neither is it about telling off the world, either.  It’s not about being loved by everyone.  It’s about doing God’s work in the moment.  It’s about being willing to be flexible enough to do what is required at the time.  It’s about having a faith that is broad enough to apply to a grand variety of contexts.  It’s about being able to reach people through love and challenge.

We can’t put Jesus in a box.  We can’t put mission in manual and do it the same way every time.  Being God’s people is about God’s plan in a multitude of context.

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Year 7, Day 214: Luke 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Luke 5 picks up where Jesus left off.  As He goes out for ministry, He starts to call disciples.  These disciples start following him.  Now we see Jesus’ ministry starting to multiply.

There is a really neat tie in to the pattern we saw yesterday.  We went from temptation to rejection to ministry.  Today we see the fruit of that labor.  People look into Jesus’ life and want what He has to offer.  We see that temptation and rejection may lead to ministry, but ministry leads to discipleship.  This is a neat dynamic to observe.

I also want to return to a theme that carried us through Moses and Joshua in the Old Testament.  We say it occur in John and now we see it in Jesus.  I’m talking about speaking truth. I’m talking about starting with what needs to be said in spite of what the people want to hear.  Do you hear what Jesus says to the Pharisees when they question Him about eating with tax collectors?  Jesus tells them that He did not come to save the healthy.  He tells them that the healthy do not need a doctor.

Jesus’ point is the same as Joshua’s point back in Joshua 24:19.  We can’t save ourselves.  The first step in salvation is accepting and acknowledging our brokenness and our inability to come to God.  God must come to us.  He must save us.  He must do all of the heavy lifting.

Again, though, as I have said all along, notice that this doesn’t stop Jesus.  The sick are in need of the doctor.  Once Jesus identifies the sick, He introduces them to the doctor!  Jesus doesn’t say, “The sick need the doctor, but the doctor won’t see the sick.”  God isn’t interested in putting off the sinful, He is interested in working with the sinful to restore them to health.

Once more we see the importance of genuine truth.  To receive the greatest thing that Ogd has to offer us – restoration – we must acknowledge our brokenness.

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Year 7, Day 213: Luke 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Reading a whole chapter of Luke is a bit like drinking from a fire hose.  Blogging on a whole chapter of Luke – and keeping it concise with a common thread – is an equally difficult task.  These chapters are so rich with stories and depth and meaning that it is impossible not to leave out an interesting point.  In truth, it is impossible not to leave out more than I include.  I confess that upfront for the whole Gospel.

What I am going to look at today is the thread of progression in the early story of Jesus.  We begin with the temptation of Jesus.  I don’t think that there is any accident that the story of Jesus’ ministry starts with His temptation.  He must go out into the desert and demonstrate His dominance over his human flesh and over Satan prior to having much at all to offer other human beings. 

I think this is a highly important point.  What makes a mentor interesting isn’t really all the wisdom and insight they have to offer.  What truly makes a mentor worth having is their ability to take their insight and use it to conquer the flesh and temptation.  In other words, what makes a mentor worth having is being able to look into their life and see how their beliefs and worldview makes them different and unique.  What makes mentors so valuable is being able to see in them something that we desire to have within us.  This is why it is necessary for Jesus to go and be tempted and come out the victor.  In this act, Jesus is not only showing His dominance but putting His ability on display.  He is giving us an example to imitate.

Once He goes into the wilderness and lives out His faith, He then comes to His hometown and experiences rejection.  I think that this is another neat story to have so near the beginning.  The truth is that when we start overcoming our humanity, we will experience rejection from the world.  When we start living the truth and becoming different because of it, we will be rejected by those who don’t want to see that example.  Rejection goes hand in hand with a lived-out faith.

However, we blessedly don’t stop with rejection.  As Jesus goes out into the world, He seeks those who are willing to listen.  He finds those who will have Him make a demonstration of faith in their life and evoke change.  He seeks out those who are desiring to experience Him, embrace Him, and imitate Him.  After overcoming His flesh, after experiencing rejection, there is victory and ministry.  People are healed.  Demons are cast out.  Changes are made.

What we can learn is that while temptation is never fun and usually quite dangerous, overcoming temptation is a very good thing and leads to ministry.  The same is true about rejection.  Nobody enjoys rejection, but rejection can help define us and refine our ministry.  When we are at places in our life where we experience rejection and temptation, it is important to overcome and look for the lesson to be learned.  From that, we will often get direction within our ministry.

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