Luke 6:12-23 Choosing Disciples

Posted on July 8, 2014 by Plymothian

12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

Choosing Disciples

Jesus bathed his choices in prayer and in this passage he makes a significant choice of twelve disciples.  These are people in whom he would invest time and energy on a greater level than he would others.  He chose twelve because it marked a new beginning for Israel. The twelve tribes would be represented by twelve individuals and Jesus would be the new deliverer, like Moses.

The disciples would be well organised into three groups of four, each with it’s own sub-leader.  Jesus would cause a revolution that would change history through the centuries.  The unchanging ideas of Jesus are becoming once more revolutionary and radical in the post-Christian west.  Just as the Pharisees saw that Jesus’ teaching and his disciples needed to be repressed, so Jesus call to self-denial and radical service is in the face of radical self-service and self-obsession.

Are we hungry for something more than the capitalist consumerism that has seduced us?  Then Jesus says, come follow me.

Prayer

I keep feeling the need to spend money to buy a good time.  I keep thinking that I want to follow myths on how to be happy.  You offer the truth and the way of truth satisfies our hunger and our longing.

Questions

  1. What kinds of people does Jesus call?
  2. Who is blessed?
  3. Did Jesus only have twelve followers?
  4. What marks a sincere follower of Jesus today?
  5. Who is truly blessed in the 21st century?
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Luke 6:1-11 Lord of the Sabbath

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Plymothian

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. 2 Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

3 Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” 5 Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

6 On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. 7 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. 8 But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.

9 Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

10 He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. 11 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Lord of the Sabbath

N.T. Wright puts it well when he writes:

A relative of mine likes to tell of an occasion when he flew with some business friends, to Ireland to watch a rugby match.  When they got off the plane , there were no customs officers waiting to receive them.  So two or three of them went into the official booths, put on the caps they found there and inspected the passports of the other people who were arriving.  they had no official authority, but it seemed to work.  I have often wondered hearing that story, what happened when the real customs officers arrived;  but at that point of the story, as so often, remains silent.

That must have been how Jesus appeared to many onlookers.  He held no public office.  He wasn’t a priest (priests had the job of teaching people the law).  He wasn’t part of any well-known pressure group, such as the Pharisees, who had their own opinions on how the law should be kept, which they tried to insist for society as a whole.  He hadn’t had any formal training as a teacher.

And yet there he was, so to speak, in the airport arrivals zone telling people what to do, giving some people permissionto do things they were not normally supposed to. Who did he think he was?  That is, in fact, the main question Luke wants us to ask.  Luke is not so interested in asking, ‘Do we or don’t we keep the Sabbath?’ but rather, ‘Who did Jesus think he was?’

Prayer

I have some idea of who I think you are, but it is not nearly grand enough.

Questions

  1. What did Jesus’ actions show?
  2. How did the Jewish leaders respond?
  3. How did the common people respond?
  4. Does Jesus boss you?
  5. Who is the boss of you in your daily living?
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Luke 5:27-39 New Wine

Posted on July 5, 2014 by Plymothian

27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

New Wine

Older wine is often seen as worse than old wine because it is not properly aged.  As a wine ages it matures but if it is stored in a sheep or goat gut wineskin the skin will have to expand as the wine effects it.  Unfortunately it can only expand so far and then if it is reused it will try and expand again and it will split, releasing the wine and spoiling both the skin as a container and the wine that is spilled.  Old, rigid people will not allow themselves to change and so the changes are wasted on them.  You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

Followers of Jesus are not just called to a one-time change.  They are called to a one-time salvation that leads to a life of change.  They are constantly adjusting to the effects of the new wine that is within them.  Even pastors can buy into a life-draining idea that they must show they have arrived and teach others to do the same. However, their attempts to portray perfection will result in a charge of hypocrisy from the present generation.

If a life of constant change sounds draining, a life of maintaining a facade is more so.  However, many people are miserable without being fully conscious of those things that hold them back.  An open conversation with Jesus will change that.  We should pray the ‘examen’ prayer where we ask God to examine our hearts and reveal how the wineskin needs to change.

Prayer

Examine my heart, O God.  Let me continue to grow into the healthy individual you wish me to be.

Questions

  1. Who is changing in the passage?
  2. Who is resisting change?
  3. Why does Jesus ask others to change when he does not change himself?
  4. How do you resist change?
  5. How do you embrace change?

 

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Luke 5:17-26 Lowered Through the Roof

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Plymothian

17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.[a] 18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralysed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you’, or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralysed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Lowered Through the Roof

Although a group of friends take the initiative to take their paralyzed friend and lower him through the roof, it is neither the friends nor the paralytic who are the focus of the passage.  It is the character of Jesus that is the focus.  It is the way that Jesus lives that astounds those around.  Jesus deals with the root cause of the man’s paralysis, his sin.  Most people deal with the symptoms in life.  Most of us deny that illness and death are related to sin.  We might concede that smoking or alcohol abuse can lead to illness, but in many cases sin is a wasting disease that silently sits like acid bile in our bodies.  We are born into impurity and iniquity and Jesus is the only one who can cleanse.

It seems this kind of message has become very unpopular today in modern psychology.  In fact starting with a child’s feelings about themselves we try and make a child feel happy just by virtue of the fact that they are alive.Evangelism is seen as psychologically damaging by some.  However, it reflects the nature of the way the world really is and leads to deeper feeling related to grace and gratitude.

Prayer

Jesus I am tired and my sin fatigues my body.  Please work in me to sleep and eat healthily.  Help me care well for the life that you have bought at such a price.

Questions

  1. What did Jesus do?
  2. Why were the Pharisees annoyed?
  3. What was the response of the people?
  4. How does sin affect your body?
  5. What would you want Jesus to do for you?
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Luke 5:12-16 Touch

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Plymothian

12 While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 13 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded,for a proof to them.” 15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Luke 5:12-16 Touch

Jesus touches the man.  One life touches another life.  This would have been a man who had been isolated by his disease for years.  We seldom put people in an absolute quarantine now in the western world, but in a world without the medical knowledge that we have isolation was more often the remedy for a disease.  Loneliness is a powerful motivator.  Imagine if you think that someone can remove the stigma that keeps you removed from others.  Imagine if finally, after years apart, you can be reunited with your family.

In contrast with this forced isolation is the kind of alone time that many of us crave.  Jesus wanted time to himself so that he could draw near to God.  His first relationship was the one he has with the Father.  Notice that the locations themselves are lonely and isolated.  We need a space in the day for as few distractions as possible so that our primary relationship can be enhanced.  Then we will have the strength to reach out and touch the lives of others as Jesus did.

Prayer

Jesus, give me the strength of character and the clarity of my call so that I may make time to be fully focused on you.  Then help me to speak to those who need support and help me to touch those who need your healing.

Questions

  1. What did Jesus do for the leper?
  2. Why is the focus on Jesus’ wanting to do this healing?
  3. What do you think happened when Jesus was praying in desolate places?
  4. Where is your desolate place where your focus is sharpened?
  5. How does your life touch others for their good at the moment?
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Luke 5:1-11 Contrast with Christ

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Plymothian

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Contrast with Christ

When we know very little about him, Jesus seems like an ordinary man.  Gandhi did remarkable things for India and the cause of peace in the world, but he was an ordinary man.  The book of James tells us that Elijah was an ordinary man like us, but when he asked his extraordinary God to keep the rains from falling, or to come once more, his prayers were powerfully effective.  However, when Jesus commands the fisherman to fish in ways that are miraculous, Jesus’ power over nature causes them to fall down and worship.  Peter knows that something about Jesus is exceptional, other, or holy.

Sometimes I treat Jesus like he is a mere idea to be thought about.  At other times I think of Jesus as I would think of a wise teacher among other wise men.  However, Jesus transcends all our expectations.  In fact he brings new expectations to our lives and takes us to unanticipated locations to perform deeds we would not have dreamed of.  The times when I have been most alive are the times when I have been most aware that Jesus is not just a man, but that he is both man and God.  Modern scholars often laugh at the idea of the Christ.  They feel that the idea of the God-Man is an idea for simpletons.  When one intellectually grows up, one puts away myths and fables to embrace the historical Jesus.  This Jesus is merely a zealot, a revolutionary, or a primitive physician.  However many people reinterpret the gospels to make them palatable to our cynical minds, the eye-witness accounts point beyond a social reformer to a cosmic reality that transcends time.  God was working a plan in time that was born in eternity.

How do we respond?  Do we grow beyond faith to rational indifference?  Is faith a sign of immaturity?  Kierkegaard took issue with Hegel’s worship of reason and retold the story of Abraham and Isaac at Mount Moriah to illustrate his point.  The greatness of Abraham was his capacity to trust and to have faith.  The greatness of Peter is not to rationalize how an itinerant preacher knows more about fishing than he does.  The greatness of Peter is his immediate humility and submission to a power that he knows to be infinitely greater than himself.

Prayer

Jesus, I see that you are no mere man, but you are a man.  I see that you worked miracles, but you are more than a miracle worker.  You are the one who calls us.  Equips us.  Sends us.  May our response be more like Peter.

Questions

  1. Where is Jesus preaching?
  2. What is the fisherman’s role to begin with?
  3. Why does Jesus perform a miracle in their own line of work?
  4. If Jesus performed a miracle in your line of work, what would he do?
  5. If he walked away from the results of the miracle and asked you to follow, would you go?
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Luke 4:31-44 Capernaum and Authority

Posted on June 14, 2014 by Plymothian

31 And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, 32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. 33 And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” 35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. 36 And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” 37 And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

38 And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. 39 And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, 43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” 44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Capernaum and Authority

We encourage distrust of authority in such a way that our social structures are undermined.  Undermined social structures don’t stand.  Our alternative is to set up a social structure of anarchy.  We become disassociated from each other and self-referential.  We think we ‘know’ only when we know it for ourselves, we are skeptical if someone else tells us.

This is not just a problem for the modern world.  Jewish people in Jesus’ time had even more reasons to distrust authority than current day western democracies.  They were occupied by foreign legions, they were ruled by puppet kings, they were taxed by corrupt officials, and their religious system was strict and legalistic.  Jesus comes into that environment and does great good accompanied by a great message.  His plan for redemption is total.  He is a social reformer as well as a religious reformer.  He takes care of illness and he brings a new voice to the political sphere.  Some people today separate the religious and the political, but if you stir up the people in some way it is a political move whether it follows established forms of government or questions them.  Jesus is calling people back to the rule of God in their hearts.  He is doing so with powerful acts of liberation.  He is freeing their bodies from sin and he is freeing their minds from sin.

We can learn from this to speak God’s truth powerfully and to bring redemption wherever we have opportunity.  We must come close to God to be a channel for his redemption of people socially, bodily, spiritually and emotionally.  I pray that God will continue to work in me so that I can be an agent of his grace to others.

Prayer

Dear God, let me be an agent of redemption to those around me.  Let me not only speak words of truth but be an agent for the good.  Let me be healed in mind, body and soul so that I can be a clear conduit for your goodness to others.

Questions

  1. Where is Jesus?
  2. Why is he there?
  3. How are his actions and his words communicating the same message?
  4. How are people around you flourishing because of your presence?
  5. How could you further develop yourself as an agent of God for the good of others?
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Luke 4:14-29 Rejected at Home

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Plymothian

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all spoke well of him and marvelled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb,‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your home town as well.” 24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his home town. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up anddrove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 Butpassing through their midst, he went away.

Rejected at Home

I once sat dejected in the living room of an elder who was recounting with his wife a list of offences that I had committed since being a pre-teen in my home church.  I had made numerous mistakes and it seemed that they had not missed any.  My behaviour had not improved over the years as much as I would like, but the elder and his wife asserted with total confidence that I should never be involved in ministry and that I should only ever sit as a silent observer in church forever.  I was so shamed in that situation that I made some broad concessions and that meeting is one of the main reasons that I find it harder to think of preaching or teaching in my own home town or church.  I was glad to fly away from England at age 23 with the thought of never returning.

I am a human who has sin and Jesus saves me from its clutches daily.  However, even Jesus himself found his own home town difficult to negotiate.  His own people had narrow, limited expectations for him and they had prejudiced and nationilistic views of the world.  When Jesus spoke the truth of scripture to them, they rejected him.  Because of this incident, I feel like he understands the kind of rejection that I faced at the hands of an elder.  However, his rejection was exceedingly more significant.  His rejection signifies a rejection of the Messiah by those he was sent to save.  His rejection was the rejection of salvation in favour of a cherished myth concerning national identity.  And he walked away.  He just up and left.

Jesus comes to us with situations and truths that are hard to endure and we have a chance to respond favourably or with anger.  Some of us fear whether we will be well cared for by God and so we balk at his truth.  Others surrender to the Master because they have nowhere else to turn.  When he is forced out, we leave with him.  Where he sets up residence we call home.  We can not force Jesus to fit into the world that we have created – we need somehow to follow him to where he lives.  When we arrive we find we are living in another world.

The other elders in my home church in England did write me a letter repairing a lot of the hurt that I carried forward from the incident I mentioned earlier.  I think that I can say that the elder who acted on his own did not represent the grace and love that most of the elders exhibited.  However, I did learn that there is nowhere on earth that is home like living in the presence of Jesus wherever he may call us.

Prayer

As I remember rejection and judgment in my home town church growing up, I feel an emotional connection with your rejection in Nazareth.  I know that your rejection was significant, but I feel empathy for your plight because of my limited experience.  You know what we endure.  You have endured it to.  And more.  May we turn to you and Your Holy Spirit as comforters because you know what it is to be an outcast.

Questions

  1. What was Jesus reading?
  2. What did he claim?
  3. Why does he quote, “Physician, heal thyself?”
  4. Have you found yourself prejudged by those who have known your past?
  5. How does Jesus’ rejection in his home town affect you?
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Luke 4:1-12 Tempted

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Plymothian

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were over, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” 5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
    and him only shall you serve.’”

9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    to guard you’,

11 and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Tempted

The Holy Spirit takes Jesus away into the wilderness where he will be tempted.  His identity has just been confirmed, but now the concept of being Son of God will be put to the test.  After prolonged time without food and in the heat of a desert wilderness, Jesus hears voices telling him shortcuts to success.  These voices either come from a subtle voice inside his head or from a personal tempter who comes out of the wilderness to meet him.  N. T. Wright in his Luke for Everyone commentary advocates for the voices coming to him in his own head.  The tempter within is more like many of our personal experience.  We humans are tempted by subtle impulses or vain ideas as they whisper shortcuts, doubts, and reasons to fear into our minds.  Jesus is tempted to perform a miracle to escape his hunger, he is tempted not to wait for his father’s timing.  He is tempted to gain his Kingdom without the path of suffering and the death that will rip him to pieces emotionally and physically.  He is tempted to gain acceptance through an overwhelming act of showmanship.  In short, Jesus is tempted to a path that avoids the cross.

We are tempted in some of the same ways.  The recipients of the gospel of Luke would be under a lot of pressure to give up on their new faith.  However, Jesus endured temptation because he had a singular focus.  He accepted the authority of God over his life.  He accepted that the scripture was God’s word on living.  He then subjected himself to the words of scripture.  Jesus had memorized the book of Deuteronomy which flies in the face of those whose emphasis is solely on the New Testament.  He saw the Old Testament as foundational to understanding the way life should be lived.

Angie, who works security at Moody, just texted me a quote from Dr. Green in the Grad school, “What you focus on changes you internally.”  We all need to focus on the persons of God and the content of his word.  Then when temptation comes we can run into the words of the one we love.  Many of us cultivate ignorance and apathy.  When the temptation comes we are impoverished for resources to fight.  When we fail, we blame God like spoiled children who expect their parents to rescue them from the consequences of their choices.  God’s only begotten son did not take an approach like that, and he was tempted in every way like we are.  We should walk like him.

Prayer

I am tempted in ways that are so trivial compared with avoiding crucifixion and gaining the power that you could.  However, under stress and in a barren landscape, you prevailed over the tempter.  Help us all to walk in that way.

Questions

  1. Who leads Jesus into the wilderness?
  2. Who tempts Jesus?
  3. Why do God and the tempter collaborate with regard to Jesus?
  4. Do you believe in a literal Satan?  What difference does it make?
  5. How do you prepare for a life that will be tempted?
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Luke 3:21-38 Jesus as Man

Posted on June 10, 2014 by Plymothian

21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son;[c] with you I am well pleased.”[d]

23 Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel,[e] the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah,36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Jesus as Man

Some people steer away from the man Jesus and make him solely the Christ.  The Christ,in their mind, transcends the Messiah that it is derived from.  He becomes some cosmic force that is shrouded in a human body for a time before becoming what he truly is, the cosmic God figure.  However, Jesus is both God and man.  As man he was born into a line of other men.  The genealogy is not just an irrelevant intrusion into a good story, it is Jesus’ real heritage.  Daryl, my son, inherits the Worrall legacy because he has been adopted into the Worrall family.  Jesus inherited the body and life of a Son of Adam because he is a man.  However, mankind is a creation of God and Jesus is the Son of God.  Both aspects of his identity are declared in the passage.  He is the Son of Man and he is the Son of God.

We can look to Jesus as one who has lived the life humans live.  This does not mean that he was an alien life form borrowing a body, but he felt the body’s aches and pains.  There is nothing sinful in thirsting or being tired and Jesus faced both.  In such a way we can look to him both as our saviour and as our model for how life is to be lived.

Prayer

May I live life in a way that follows the model of life that you lived out as a Son of Man and as a Son of God.  May I be submissive and obedient, but also in harmony with what it means to be truly human as you have designed humanity to be lived.

Questions

  1. Who is Jesus?
  2. What key figures are in his lineage?
  3. Where do both of these passages lead?
  4. What is your lineage?
  5. How do you have dignity because of your identity?
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