Looking at the right things

YOU CANNOT SAY JESUS WAS NOT CLEAR

AND YET PEOPLE STILL PUSH AT HIM

I doubt anyone in Jesus day would have accused him of being unclear. Some days we seem to make it harder than it needs to be. Today, with a little bit of background in the Bible you will see two things…how he is clear…and how people still pushed at him to change what he is saying…in some ways we still do that today…because we are not looking with our eyes at the right thing.

In the Bible (in 1 Kings 10:1-13 & 1 Chronicles 9:1-12) we read about the Queen of Sheba coming to visit King Solomon. She is impressed, this non-Jew, this foreigner, gives glory to Almighty God based on what she has seen.

In the Bible there is a Book of Jonah. You may know the story. Jonah gets himself swallowed in the belly of a large fish for three days, is delivered from this predicament, and then goes to the city of his (and his nations) mortal enemies, tells them to repent and follow Almighty God…one single man named Jonah is called to do this…and his enemies hear Jonah and repent.

So some people see evidence for God in action, others hear truth from God…and both follow God…but not so for the people following Jesus. They accused him of being from the devil. And so he tells the people following him who know these stories inside and out…that something (not someone) is happening and they cannot see or hear it…therefore they will be judged by the Queen of Sheba and the people of Nineveh…foreigners!

The problem…they are focused on…they are looking at the wrong thing. The bit in verses 33-37 is curious. If you read it fast you think it is about light shining outward…but it is not. Read 33-37 closely and then at the end I have some comments about the second half.

29When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. ³⁰ For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. ³¹ The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

The Light in You

³³ “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. ³⁴ Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. ³⁵ Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. ³⁶ If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”

Woes to the Pharisees and Lawyers

³⁷ While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. ³⁸ The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. ³⁹ And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰ You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹ But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.

⁴² “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. ⁴³ Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴ Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”

⁴⁵ One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” ⁴⁶ And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. ⁴⁷ Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. ⁴⁸ So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹ Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ ⁵⁰ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. ⁵² Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”

⁵³ As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, ⁵⁴ lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

Light does shine outward, but how does light get into your body? Jesus says the eye is the lamp of the body and when the eye is healthy the whole body is full of light. Hmmm. Might that mean if your eye is looking at and focused on the right things, then your body fills with light…with the converse being true as well. I think our Lord is pointing out that people are focused on the wrong thing, and it causes them to reject Jesus.

We see this in the remaining verses. Jesus is having a meal and the Pharisee is critical because he did not perform a ceremonial washing…so what is the Pharisee focused on…answer—ritual rules. Jesus points this out sharply. A lawyer tells Jesus that his tone is insulting…so what does Jesus do…he reinforces the point about being focused on the wrong things. Their eyes are filling their bodies and minds and hearts with wrong ideas and values…with darkness.

So what are your eyes looking at? Seriously, if you made a list of the top 3-5 things you look at today, what would they be? Jesus is serious about filling ourselves with Light. Consider focusing on the Cross, or Prayer, or reading God’s Word just a little bit longer today and see what the result it for you.

Blessed are those who hear...and do

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HEAR…

“Blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it” Jesus is not big on lip-service…he wants us to actually obey God’s Word. And today these 28 verses seem to really cover a wide range of topics.

But with a little work, we can break it down into two broad pieces. The first is about praying. We read Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer (most of us know Matthew’s). It starts by focusing us not on our needs, but on God’s kingdom. It moves to our needs, and lest we be concerned God does not hear our prayers, Jesus offers a parable. Some read this parable and think it is saying God only answers prayer if you persist. Well persistence is good, but the point is not that He won’t answer unless you persist…but more if a human would answer, then certainly God would…and this is followed with “ask, knock, seek” to make this point.

Then we have two mini-parables (or sayings) regards how God will answer our prayers. Perhaps the most striking point, and we can miss it, is that statement Jesus makes about the Holy Spirit. God will give it to those who ask!

I suggest to read through the text, thinking a bit about prayer, and then at the end I have some comments about the second half.

11 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” ² And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
³ Give us each day our daily bread,
⁴ and forgive us our sins,
    for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”

⁵ And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, ⁶ for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? ⁸ I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. ⁹ And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. ¹¹ What father among you, if his son asks for^[d] a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; ¹² or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Jesus and Beelzebul

¹⁴ Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,”¹⁶ while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.¹⁷ But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. ¹⁸ And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²¹ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; ²² but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. ²³ Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Return of an Unclean Spirit

²⁴ “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

True Blessedness

²⁷ As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” ²⁸ But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Beelzebul and demons being cast out…well that certainly gets our attention. Beelzebul is a name for the devil. And so here is Jesus freeing someone from demonic possession and people actually turn on him and accuse Jesus of being from the devil.

Jesus of course points out how this is not logical with his comments about a divided house. But then he presses the point as he speaks of a strong man being overcome by a stronger man…so he has just cast out a demon…who is stronger? Answer Jesus. But then he says you are either with me, or against me…OK, but…but it gets even more serious. He notes that if the devil is cast out, and you do not then become part of God’s kingdom, then the devil will return…you see you cannot be neutral…as Jesus said, you are either with him or against him.

What appeared a bit cryptic is actually fairly logically…which is why a woman cries out that the womb that bore him is blessed…people have been saying he is from the devil and he has responded and someone agrees…and yet Jesus, now vindicated by at least one person takes no credit, but rather encourages everyone to keep God’s Word…which means we go right back to the beginning and pray.

Ask the right question

ASK THE RIGHT QUESTION

Thousands of people, Christian and non-Christian, know this parable. People view it as the quintessential definition of neighborly love, and Christ’s people view it as the exemplar of loving thy neighbor. The Samaritan is the one who sees the needs of another, and having the resources to meet those needs, does so without prejudice or concern for personal circumstance.

Yet while all that may be true, there is a deeper lesson in the parable and the clue is in the question asked by the person seeking to test Jesus. Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Most of us know the parable, I suggest you read through it again, and then I have closing thought about the question that was asked.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

²⁵ And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” ²⁷ And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁸ And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

²⁹ But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰ Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.³² So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. ³⁴ He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.³⁵ And the next day he took out two denarii^[c] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ ³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Martha and Mary

³⁸ Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. ³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” ⁴¹ But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, ⁴² but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

So what do you think of Jesus’ answer? Is it a good answer? You might say, “Of course it is a good answer, Jesus gave it!” Yes and Jesus “answered the man.” In fact he gave a specific argument to a specific question. Jesus said you must do what the two great commandments tell you. Jesus said you must do what the Samaritan did. The problem is the question…two problems really.

First, the Scriptures are unified in their teaching that no one can keep the commandments perfectly…no one can do what Jesus said needs to be done. Don’t blame Jesus, he was answering the question asked…it was just the wrong question. Remember the text begins with the lawyer seeking to “test” Jesus. In Romans 10:5 we read the theory about this idea of righteous perfection, but Romans 3:20 tells us no one can do this. We cannot consistently do it.

Do not misunderstand, we should have this as the standard. Jesus wants us to do our best, but he does not beat us up when we don’t. Do not let failure paralyze you. Jesus asks when we fail, we be honest, ask for forgiveness, get up, dust ourselves off and try again. Now back to the parable.

Jesus’ use of the Samaritan is brilliant. He is highlighting that we have trouble with some people. We should not, but we do. Is Jesus merely taunting the questioner, is he taunting us, or is he suggesting we look a bit deeper.

A deeper look reveals two problems with the question…think about it…what must I do to inherit eternal life? You know the answer…what are the requirements to inherit something? You do not do anything, you simply must be an heir. No amount of doing will make you one. Keeping the law is a way of life, not a way to life.

So how do we become and heir? We know that answer to that. Turn and follow Jesus. We have been in this part of Luke where everyone is following him as he moves towards Jerusalem, towards Calvary. Along the way we will each will be confronted with the question of moving from being a fan of his, to being a follower...and don’t think busyness will change that…the story of Martha and Mary is placed in the text to reinforce the point about doing versus being with Jesus.

The Way

Yesterday, as we began in 9:51, we were starting the second of three parts of Luke’s Gospel. Up until that verse, Luke’s narrative mostly followed Matthew’s and Mark’s. Up until now, we have read about many deeds that Jesus did…yes we also read of some of his teaching, but in this section we will read much more of it.

Jesus as teacher is what we will be dealing with, and for all the sermons I have heard, and all the classes I have taken, I still need to listen. Because in Jesus’ day, to learn from a Rabbi is not too merely “know what the Rabbi knows…it is to be like the Rabbi.” The idea of being a follower of Jesus, a disciple to use the fancy religious word, is to be like him.

We read in 9:51-53, the start of this middle-third, that Jesus has set his face to Jerusalem, and we will be with him on this way until 19:44. And we are, in a sense following Him on this way. He invited the following yesterday in three verses: 9:57. 59, 61. But Jesus pointed out yesterday how our following him was not to be a “Sunday recreational event,” but instead a life commitment.

Following him means we will come to forks in the road. Sometimes taking the path that follows him might be a decision as to something in your workplace, an event you attend or not, a group you hang out with or not, a policy you support, or not…sometimes it may be as to where you work (Luke 5:37). Following him comes in a myriad of ways, and what we learn today is that to follow Jesus…is also to be sent.

Read through the text and then I have a closing thought or two at the end.

10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. ² And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. ³ Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. ⁴ Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. ⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ ⁶ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you.7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. ⁹ Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹² I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

Woe to Unrepentant Cities

¹³ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴ But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ¹⁵ And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.

¹⁶ “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

The Return of the Seventy-Two

¹⁷ The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” ¹⁸ And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹ Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. ²⁰ Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Jesus Rejoices in the Father's Will

²¹ In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²² All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

²³ Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! ²⁴ For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

We are all to be heralds of the gospel. One of the commentators I am leaning heavily on this Lent (Michael Wilcock, The Message of Luke, Bible Speaks Today Series) notes that Jesus did not send out the 12, but rather the 72. The numbers are important. The 12 would indicate the apostles, while the 72 would indicate the church…in other words all of us are sent to bear witness to Jesus.

We could talk a lot more about how we “bear witness” but let’s hold that off for another day. I want to press into the part where the disciples return. Jesus explains to them the point of this spiritual battle is they did not “do the things they did” in their own power. Yes they were obedient. Yes they went and proclaimed the Good News. Yet they were given authority (10:21-24). He is making them into his messengers. It is not about them (or us) running out on our own. We must allow him to make us and send us. We must, like those who have gone before us say, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” (Gal 2:20). This is the nature of one who is on The Way with Jesus.