Plymothian

¹³ That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles^[a] from Jerusalem, ¹⁴ and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵ While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. ¹⁶ But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷ And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸ Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” ¹⁹ And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰ and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. ²¹ But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. ²² Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, ²³ and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. ²⁴ Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” ²⁵ And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

²⁸ So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, ²⁹ but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is towards evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. ³¹ And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. ³² They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” ³³ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, ³⁴ saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Road to Emmaus

The transition among the disciples was not as easy as some of us would believe.  We sometimes think that they were easily convinced that Jesus was raised from the dead.  Those on the road to Emmaus are perplexed by all the happenings in Jerusalem and they are walking away in bewilderment.  People today might picture that the ancients were easily convinced by the idea that someone might pop out of their grave and start walking around.  Some of the people may have allowed for miracles, but in general it was believed that no-one came back from the grave.  The disciples heard Jesus talk about the resurrection regularly in the lead up to his death, but he often talked in riddles and parables.  It would be fitting if all Jesus’ ‘back-to-life’ talk was just another deep saying that they had to fathom.  Those words of Jesus didn’t make sense as a literal saying but only as an allegory. 

The evidence of a risen Lord is in the experience that those on the Emmaus had with him.  There is the power of fulfilled prophecy, and there is the power of a shared experience. 

Upon realising that Jesus is with them, he disappears.  The disciples leave the room too.  They room is not able to respond to their excitement, so they run back to the other disciples to tell them what they have been astonished to accept.Christ is alive and will come again.

Prayer

Give us the faith to walk in the belief that there is a resurrection.  Help us to live the resurrected life and then to communicate that life effectively to others.

Questions

1. Who is going to Emmaus?
2. How does Jesus reason with them?
3. What does this assume?
4. How would you prove from the Old Testament that Jesus would die and rise again?
5. How do you live out a life that is different because he is alive?

²⁶ And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. ²⁷ And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. ²⁸ But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ ³⁰ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’, and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ ³¹ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

³² Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. ³³ And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁴ And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. ³⁵ And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” ³⁶ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine ³⁷ and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” ³⁸ There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

³⁹ One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” ⁴⁰ But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁴¹ And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” ⁴² And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” ⁴³ And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

⁴⁴ It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵ while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶ Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. ⁴⁷ Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!”⁴⁸ And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. ⁴⁹ And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.

Luke 23:26-49 What Does the Cross Achieve?

Jesus is led away and another takes on his cross.  Maybe Simon of Cyrene is a picture of how multiple nationalities are involved in the crucifixion.  Jesus does not die alone in a corner, he is killed publicly in full view of many.  Various people had a hands-on involvement with what transpired.  They were physically touched with his blood and one man carried his cross.  This man was a north African and would have come from the area which is modern Tripoli.  Multiple races and ethnicities were touched by the event.  This probably lays the foundation for the response to Peter’s sermon on Pentecost.  People who had gathered from all over the world, would then spread the news of Jesus throughout the whole world.  Some people have condemned the Bible’s view of Jewish people, especially as portrayed in the New Testament.  However, if we see the different responses of the condemned on the cross we see one Jewish criminal responding with derision and another responding with acceptance.  No station in life, even that of a man during his execution, precludes him from Jesus’ acceptance.

Darrell Bock commentates on what was achieved by Jesus on the cross:

The New Testament uses many images to describe what the cross is and how we should see it.  It is a ransom (Mark 10:45; 1 Tim. 2:6), a payment for the debt of sin.  It is a substitution – Jesus offers himself in our place (cf. the meaning of Barabbas in the previous sectin; see also Luke 22:18-20; John 6:51-52; Rom. 8:3; 2 Cor.5:21; cf. Isa. 53:10).  It is a propitiation, satsfying the justice of God by dealing with sin (Rom. 3:25).  It represents the “lifting up of Jesus,” and through it Satan is overthrown (John 3:14-15; 8:28; 12:31-32; 18:32).  It is the means by which the church is purchased (Acts 20:28).  It is the sacrifice that ends all other sacrifices for sin (Heb. 8-10).  It is the precursor to the Lord’s being lifted up and seated at God’s side (Acts 2:16-39; Heb. 1:3).  It is the basis on which God sets apart his children as a holy community (1 Peter 1:2, 18-25; 2. 1-11).  On the cross Jesus became a curse for us, a mediator of our guilt before God (Gal. 3:13, 19-20).  There reconciliation takes place between God and humanity, as well as between Jew and Gentile (Rom. 5:8-11; 2 Cor. 5:20-21; Eph 2:11-22; Col. 1:21-22; 2:11-15).  So God can now justify us, that is, declare us righteous before him (Rom. 3:21-31). 

This listing has a matter-of-factness about it that obscures just how amazing and comprehensive this work of Jesus is.  Each of the texts above is rich in imaging only one aspect of the complex work of the cross.

I was challenged recently to consider what Jesus finished on the cross when he said, “It is finished!”  I responded that atonement was my knee-jerk response.  However, atonement is not specifically mentioned in Darrell Bock’s list.  It seems that many of the precursors to atonement that ‘remove the offense’ were taken care of at the cross.  However, the challenge of a local I met in our Hidden Pearl Coffee Shop was,  “I have to take issue with the assertion that Jesus was meaning his work of atonement was completed.  Paul says in Romans 4:25 that Jesus was “raised for our justification.”  So, he could not be referring to the atonement.  The atonement could not be completed until his resurrection.”  So what do you think was finished when Jesus said, “It is finished!”?

Prayer

That much was accomplished on the cross is without doubt in my mind.  However, I am still daily throwing my burdens and my varying moods at the foot of your cross.  I am bowed in awe by the fortitude of spirit that endures the cross.  I am grateful for all that is mine through the death and resurrection.  I am grateful for all that was removed through your death.  Sin still aches in my flesh, but I am free to nail it to your cross of burden.

Questions

1. Who are the players around Jesus in this death scene?  Why are they there?
2. What do Jesus’ words teach?
3. What does the cross attain?
4. How do you respond to the cross?
5. What is achieved for the world today by the cross?

Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. ² And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” ³ And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” ⁴ Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.” ⁵ But they were urgent, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.”

⁶ When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. ⁷ And when he learned that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. ⁸ When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. ⁹ So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. ¹⁰ The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. ¹¹ And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then,arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. ¹² And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other.

¹³ Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, ¹⁴ and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. ¹⁵ Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. ¹⁶ I will therefore punish and release him.”

¹⁸ But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”— ¹⁹ a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. ²⁰ Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, ²¹ but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” ²² A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” ²³ But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. ²⁴ So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. ²⁵ He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked,but he delivered Jesus over to their will.

Swayed by the Crowd

Pilate tried many political tricks to release a man who he thought was innocent.  Some people thought that Pilate’s account was added or manipulated to make the account of Jesus’ death more palatable to Rome.  The Bible was originally published in lands which Rome ruled, so wasn’t it convenient that the Jewish people were responsible for his death.  This was especially convenient in developing hatred for the Jews which the Romans had just conquered.  It would also pave the way for making Christianity the state religion of Rome.  However, the people attributed as authors to these accounts are Jewish and so they differentiate between the Jewish leaders who are jealous and the Jewish people who in many ways support Jesus.  The Roman authorities are shown as weak and indecisive in this passage which is hardly a stance that Romans would have embraced.  Also sins of omission and sins of commission are equal before God.  If one does not lift a hand to save an innocent man and another kills an innocent man, they both participate in his death.  Roman authorities and Jewish authorities are both responsible for Jesus’ death.  Herod is a ruler in Israel, but he is not a Jew.  He was a foreigner placed in power by Rome.  Really, Rome is responsible in this passage for standing by and not lifting a finger to save Jesus.  This is shown in both the figures of Pilate and Herod.  Rival political factions unite to do the Devil’s work.  However, deeper than any of the visible players could have known was a plan to rescue all God’s people.

There are many people, like the Jesus Seminar, who put Jesus on trial today and insist that he plays by their rules.  Reza Aslan, in his recent book Zealot, appeals to years of skeptical scholarship to explain his transformation from a born-again Christian to one who sees Jesus as a remarkable man but not in the way the Bible defines him.  There are many like Reza Aslan who put Jesus on trial and change their opinions of him like Herod did.  Because he doesn’t fit their preconceived idea of how the Messiah (Christ) should be, they claim the Christ figure was constructed around the person of Jesus following his death.

Prayer

It is one thing to condemn you ourselves, Jesus, it is another when we just ignore you.  We can not make demands of you or set ourselves up as an authority at your trial.  We can not hide our heads in the sand or pretend that your death and resurrection does not concern us.  In our present climate of social, moral decline there is increasing pressure to redefine what following you looks like.  Let us not to hand you over to the crowd, but let us follow you in the way of the cross.

Questions

1. What three trials are listed above?
2. How does Jesus respond?
3. What ties them together?
4. How is Jesus presented in our culture?
5. Why do you believe it was necessary for Jesus to go through these literal trials?

⁵⁴ Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. ⁵⁵ And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. ⁵⁶ Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” ⁵⁷ But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” ⁵⁸ And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” ⁵⁹ And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” ⁶⁰ But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. ⁶¹ And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.” ⁶² And he went out and wept bitterly.

⁶³ Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. ⁶⁴ They also blindfolded him and kept asking him,“Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” ⁶⁵ And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him.

⁶⁶ When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. And they led him away to theircouncil, and they said, ⁶⁷ “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, ⁶⁸ and if I ask you, you will not answer. ⁶⁹ But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” ⁷⁰ So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.” ⁷¹ Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.”

Jesus Betrayed and Condemned

It seems quite ominous that this is my reading at the moment.  It communicates to us all that no matter how bad it may go for the Christian, it could always get worse.  I posted yesterday and was probably a little more specific than I should have been about why I have been struggling recently.  A good friend asked whether it was wise to post that level of specificity and in deference I took it down.  I think that I can say that life has been a struggle for about three weeks now.  You will see that my posts just dropped off instantly.  A lot of that was some extra work that I needed to do, but some of it was that I just felt really low.

If we look at Jesus in this passage, we can see more fully what he endured and although he knew the suffering (in other words he was not in some way detached from it), he decided to endure it for the sake of redemption.  Jesus had known that Peter would deny him, he had known that Judas would betray him.  He had known that he would be falsely accused, but he even supplies the court with enough evidence to kill him.  The irony is Jesus is telling the truth to those who accuse him, but because they can not accept the truth they will kill him for lying.  Jesus’ strong resolution to walk through the emotional and physical abuse he endures is a lesson to us all.

How does Jesus do it?  He has a strong vision of the purpose of his suffering.  He has a strong relationship with the one who has called him to suffer.  He sees suffering as something to embrace.  He does not see it as punishment. He does not see it as discipline.  He sees it as redemptive.  When I suffer I often do not see the point.  If I am accused falsely, I want my name cleared.  If I am to be physically deprived I tend to complain.  I am a child where Jesus shows his maturity.

God calls us to himself through times of trial and times of temptation.  We learn our dependency and we learn our calling.  I am embraced in difficult times by one who knows my heart and knows its shadows and its light.  The darkness of the flesh is being ripped away and beneath it is the glory of the exchanged life that Jesus has given me by enduring isolation and false accusations.

Prayer

God, you know how hard it has been for us at various times because it has been harder for you.  Your grace has been lavished upon us after it was purchased at such a great price.  Help us to bear all things, to endure all things.  Help us to find wisdom and shalom because you have made it available to us.

Questions

1. What does Peter’s story teach about both Jesus and Peter?
2. If the trials of Jesus broke the laws of the time, why did the Sanhedrin break the law in a law-court?
3. What does Peter’s denial and the outrageous trial of Jesus teach people about God?
4. What is redemptive suffering?
5. How have you endured pain and trial?

²⁸ And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹ When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, ³⁰ saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” ³² So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. ³³ And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” ³⁴ And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” ³⁵ And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. ³⁶ And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. ³⁷ As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,³⁸ saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” ³⁹ And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” ⁴⁰ He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

⁴¹ And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, ⁴² saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade round you andsurround you and hem you in on every side ⁴⁴ and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Stones

Stones that would cry out and stones that are not left upon each other.  When Jesus is revealed as king, the whole of creation, including the stones cry out his name.  It is not that inanimate objects become sentient and conversational.  However, the ground speaks in the biblical narrative.  God tells Cain that Abel’s blood cries out from the ground that swallowed it up.  The heavens pour forth speech and all creation groans in the biblical text.  When we see the world as a created thing, we see the creator speaking through it.  People should be the first to praise God because they are created in his image.  However, in the fallen chaos that Creation has become sometimes people are the most resistant.  However, the rest of Creation speaks the truth that there is a designer, there is a Master, there is a Lord.  The Creation points the way to Jesus, the Logos, through whom all things were created.  In some transcendent way Christ is all and is in all.  When the man Jesus Christ rides into town Creation is in harmony with God and things are as they should be.

However, stones also talk of sin.  Mankind builds with bricks and stones and makes great edifices to honour self or God.  The temple was meant to be testimony to God’s presence with the people of Israel, but the people of Israel relied on the religious system rather than relationship.  When Jesus offered the people relationship with God through repentance and his kingship, some welcomed him, but the crowds turned on him and crucified him.  In turn, the great edifice to God’s presence in the land was dismantled, stone by stone.  The stones cried out a very different message from what they would have proclaimed at Jesus’ triumphal entry.  They cried of God’s departure, of God’s judgement, and God’s wrath.

Creation and history speak to us on a daily basis.  Let those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, see and hear!

Prayer

God who speaks through stones, and people, and all of your Creation, speak to me.  Lead me in ways of wisdom so that I can respond in the ways that Creation was designed to respond.  Let me be in harmony with the will of your Son.  Let me cry out that he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Questions

1. In which two verses are stones mentioned?
2. How does the mention of stones illustrate quite different points?
3. How do people align themselves with Creation in this passage?
4. What does the environment around you tell you?
5. Why does Sherlock Holmes observe so much and yet falls short?

¹¹ As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. ¹² He said therefore, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.¹³ Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas,and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’ ¹⁴ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ ¹⁵ When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. ¹⁶ The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’ ¹⁷ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’ ¹⁸ And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’ ¹⁹ And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ ²⁰ Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief;²¹ for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ ²² He said to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? ²³ Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ ²⁴ And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ ²⁵ And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ ²⁶ ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ²⁷ But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”

Faithful With What We Have

Around this time of year, we remember Jesus coming to Jerusalem in order to die.  Jesus told this parable as a summary of both his going away and his return.  We often focus on Jesus’ love in the death and resurrection, but this story focuses on the judgment.  Some of us who were raised under fire and brimstone preachers and teachers may feel like we have had enough of judgment already.  However, Jesus won’t let us off the hook with a plain reading of Luke 19.  He is going away but when he comes back people will be judged by what they have done with what they are given.  Those who did not accept Jesus as king will be slaughtered in front of him.  In our age of life-sentences and commuted sentences, we find sentences of hours of community service or years in prison to be severe.  We do not kill people in western society for most crimes.  Even for murder, the occurrence of the death penalty is fairly rare.  The idea of people being slaughtered in front of a king to satisfy justice is barbaric.  However, where the death penalty is practiced, it is often practiced with witnesses.  Those who execute the justice and those who have suffered great loss see the just punishment, measure for measure, of the one who committed the crime.  What the Bible has us accept, then, is that opposition to Jesus and refusal to submit to him as king is worthy of death.

Working back up through the passage, there are those who are insiders who do nothing with what they are given.  There is debate as to whether we are talking about the ‘saved’ person.  Whether the person who buried their mina was saved or unsaved, they are in a position that is to be greatly avoided.  Just like the similar story in Mathew 25, the person who wastes their gift blames the character of the Master.  They shift the blame away from themselves and languish in a false view of Jesus.  many who had once understood a simple picture of Jesus develop that picture in unbiblical and distorted ways.  The fundamental question is whether the believer will define Jesus, allow others to define Jesus, or will allow Jesus to define Jesus.  Do we know enough about who he is?  The Bible contains truths that will cause us to meditate and grow in knowledge and depth of insight eternally.

The results of our efforts are in the hands of God.  God rewards as he sees fit.  The truly faithful servant takes what they have and give it to Jesus in humble service.  Although he is an absent king, he is king of their lives and their conduct.  This submission to Jesus has its reward.  However, that reward is not a constant.  We receive as a reward whatever providence allows.  So in exercising the gifts and receiving the reward Jesus is the focus.

Many Christians today have accepted Jesus in a way that serves their own limited agenda.  All the Christians I know are broken in some way and still struggle with self.  However, Jesus is king and grants victory even though he has not returned.  Either on this world or on a new Earth, he will cause his people to flourish.  It is best to set ourselves up as loyal subjects in this life and then the return of the future king will cause us to rejoice.

Prayer

I am still unaware of my gifts and abilities to some degree.  However, I am aware of doors of opportunity that you open. Help me to be faithful with what you have given me, to overcome self, and to build your kingdom.

Questions

1. What was the occasion for this passage?
2. What is Jesus’ emphasis?
3. What would be an appropriate response from his listeners?
4. What ‘mina’ has Jesus given to all people?
5. How do you use the gift that Jesus has given you?

He entered Jericho and was passing through. ² And there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. ³ And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small of stature. ⁴ So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. ⁵ And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him,“Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. ⁷ And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” ⁸ And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” ⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Zacchaeus

Darrell L. Bock writes:

This text, as so many others in this latter section of Luke’s journey material, reveals basic attitudes about how God responds to the humble and to those who recognize the way they have walked is wrong.  His commitment to sinners has been affirmed throughout this Gospel (5:31-32; 7:29-35; 15:1-32).  This text pictures the initiative Jesus undertakes to reveal this divine commitment.  God reaches out to accept the sinner who discovers he or she can turn to God.

Zacchaeus demonstrates how one should respond to the gospel of Jesus.  After recognizing his failures, he not only confesses them publicly but seeks to make appropriate restitution for the wrongs he has done.  Moreover, he embarks on a new, more giving approach to life.  The transformation of his heart in openness toward God expresses itself in openness toward needy people.  Such faith is not an intellectual exercise; it is a change of worldview.  Jesus enthusiastically commends what takes place here, similar to his comments on the faith of the centurion in 7:1-10 and of the Samaritan in 17:11-17.  Zacchaeus is another “outsider” who has turned out to be an “insider” by God’s grace.

Furthermore, we are warned by this passage that how our community  judges us in our associations is not necessarily how God judges.  If Jesus had used the crowd’s standard of association, he would never have addressed Zacchaeus.  But this episode is one of the most picturesque accounts of the essence of his ministry.  The church must become the means for restoring the lost and rejected by seeking them out, not by remaining isolated from them.  (NIV Application Commentary:  Luke)

Prayer

Jesus, you have reached out to me, a sinner, and restored me.  Help me to live a transformed life.  help me to be careful in my associations.  Let me be welcoming to sinners like myself, but help me not to venture further into sin in the process.

Questions

1. What does Zacchaeus want?
2. What does Jesus provide?
3. How does Zacchaeus respond?
4. How do you respond to people whose lives are screwed up?
5. How does God respond to your screw ups?

³⁵ As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. ³⁶ And hearing a crowd going by, he enquired what this meant.³⁷ They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” ³⁸ And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ³⁹ And those who were in frontrebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁰ And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, ⁴¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.”⁴² And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” ⁴³ And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him,glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Blind Man

Having preached on Wisdom last week, it seems strange that today I feel defeated because I feel blind.  I feel like I lack insight and feel called to do what I can’t.  I have felt this way a number of times in my life.  I know the path forward includes two things.  One is that I must accept that I have failings that I have been unaware of.  The other is that I must move forward and follow Jesus’ leading.

The blind man was not in denial about his blindness.  We can contrast this with the rich, young ruler in the previous passages.  The rich, young ruler was blind to his heart-sickness.  Jesus opened his eyes to what he was lacking, but he preferred to move ahead with impaired vision.  The blind man knew he was blind and that he was dependent.  He also had uncommon insight that Jesus is the Son of David.  Jesus responded to the blind man with a simple question, “What do you want?”  The blind man wants to see, but the sight he receives leads to deeper insight into the nature of God.  The result of the whole episode is an individual inspiring a community to worship.

In watching some of my sermons on-line and running through a manuscript for one of them with a friend, I see that I am not the public speaker that I hoped to be.  God can change that, but if I bring my lack of eloquence to Jesus and he asks, “What do you want?” My response is, “I want to write well and speak well.”  When I am forced to answer that question, I am concerned that I want to bring glory to myself.  When I am in Sunday School at McHenry, I am not the main teacher.  I teach from the sides.  I know in that venue my motives are pure.  However, it may be that I don’t have confidence in larger settings because I am constructing something that has too much of ‘me’ in it.  If I was free of self, I would worry how well I communicated much less.

Jesus’ question, “What do you want?”  should cause us all to pause.  “Why do you want it?”  What is our life about?  I still want to become a better communicator.  It means that I will have to learn more from my wife and be humble in entertaining criticism.  It is hard when your eyes are opened to the fact that you have needs that are more poignant than you first realised.  But when a person accepts their need, they can cry out to the Son of David, and he will heal them.  Maybe tomorrow, at the Celebrate Westlake Banquet, I will communicate more clearly and people will leave praising God more because I admitted I needed Jesus’ touch.

Prayer

What I want is so difficult to separate from my selfish flesh.  I don’t know if it is possible to have pure motives in this life.  There is always the potential for wounding of self because I have not died to self.  Help me to take one step further toward being a conduit.  Let self stand aside and let me rejoice more in perceiving your will more clearly and moving with confident obedience.

Questions

1. How did people respond to the Blind Man?
2. How did Jesus respond?
3. What does the passage tell us about both Jesus and the blind man?
4. What do you want?
5. How does what we want reveal our spiritual condition?

¹⁸ And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour your father and mother.’” ²¹ And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” ²² When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack.Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ²³ But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. ²⁴ Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”²⁶ Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” ²⁸ And Peter said, “See,we have left our homes and followed you.” ²⁹ And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, ³⁰ who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

No-one is Good

No-one is good.  Shocking.  Well not really.  I have been thinking about this for a while.  Evil people do good things.  Hitler was nice to children (as long as they were blonder than him).  However, we define people as good very easily. Our society thinks that it is good for us to think of people as good, so why would Jesus object?  If people assume that they are entirely good, they have no needs.  Modern skeptics think that Christian leaders have created needs, or have promoted the sinful nature of man, in order to control people.  However, what if the condition of man is terrible.  Wouldn’t it be better for mankind to know.  The rich, young, ruler in the passage is generally a decent chap.  He has kept all the laws about loving one’s neighbour.  However, Jesus presses into where his heart is with regard to God.  It is a heart estranged from God that is in truth a desperate condition.  The Rich Young Ruler has amassed great wealth and his security rests in that.  This is evil.  This is the banality of evil.  Those who boast about making wealth are doing evil in James 4.  What is the big deal with wealth?

Money is neutral, but the love of money is the source of all kinds of evil.  Evil is that which departs from God or detracts from God.  Evil is a moral term only making sense if there is a God.  Otherwise, good and evil are emptied of meaning to the point that they express personal preferences at best.

Jesus establishes a moral absolute and then he shows that no-one measures up – particularly the rich.  The disciples are astounded that the rich do not enter heaven, but Jesus tells the disciples what in affect means that no-one can work their way to God.  God will provide a righteousness of his own.

Prayer

It is good to be reminded that I am not good.  I find it hard to believe that I am worth something when I know I am not good.  However, you have made me good.  You have changed things because I am dependent on you and not myself.

Questions

1. What does the rich, young ruler ask Jesus?
2. How does Jesus respond?
3. Why does Jesus not just welcome the ruler?
4. Is mankind good, evil, both, or neither?
5. How do people try and prove to others that they are worthy?
6. How do you respond to the picture below?

⁹ He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: ¹⁰ “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed^[a] thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ ¹³ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹⁵ Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. ¹⁶ But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. ¹⁷ Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Believe in Yourself

An Old Spice commercial begins with a weak man listening to a self-help cassette-tape on an old-style Walkman.  After listening to the prompts, the weak man is transformed by saying the following:

I am the best.
I have big muscles… and cool hair.
I have a sophisticated and diverse group of friends.
I own an environmentally responsible sports sedan.
I’m breaking up with Heather Graham because I need my space.
I am winning… all the sports.
I believe in mysmellf.

This is the message of the media, and it is the message of our school systems.  Waiting for Superman quotes results that show American schoolchildren who scored poorly in Mathematics, actually believed that they had done well.  The lack of wisdom is shown in the lack of reality.  Wisdom literature shows us life as it really is and wakes us up to the truth.  Parables are wisdom literature.  In the parable above, Jesus is addressing those who have amazing self-belief.  For religious reasons, they believe that they are the best.  They fast twice a week and they give to the poor.  Based on their performance, relative to the rest of the population, they believe that they are doing well.  If the measure or standard of mankind was the comparison in performance with other human beings, they would indeed be doing well.  However, the tax collector has a true evaluation of self.  It is not because he is a tax-collector that he should be beating his breast and falling face down in the dirt.  It is because he is a human.  Being a tax-collector opens his eyes to the true position of dependency that all humans have.  We do not sustain ourselves.  Without God sustaining the universe, all contingent things would cease to exist.  We are not only dependent, but we are corrupted by sin.  The Bible places us in the category of evil.  Evil pervades the system.  It is more extensive than we can grasp.  All sin is evil, says Cornelius Plantinga, but not all evil is sin.  I make choices where my transgression is obvious.  However, I sometimes ruin things just by virtue of my limited thinking or my inabilities.

We are not to judge others because we are in the same category of fallenness before God.  There is relief from the idea that a community condemns its members like Pharisees looked down in contempt on tax-collectors.  In Jesus’ parable, we see the reality of the Pharisee’s terrible condition.  He sees none of it.  He is not wise.  He does not see reality as it is.  We are accepted by God as we accept our failings.  A failed human being asks for mercy and for grace.  All humanity needs to come to God asking for mercy and grace.  However, many of us hold up a list of our achievements.  Some do so with arrogance. Many do so with fear.  I see many who hope that they will be good enough to be accepted by God.  They need to give up that dream.  We do not earn mercy, or else it would be justice.  God would be obligated to give us good things.  Grace is God giving us good things we do not deserve.  We need to admit guilt and failure, but we also need to open our hearts to receiving grace.  The feeling of receiving grace in a position of surrender is strangely comforting.  I do not feel like scum in that posture.  I want to do better things, but I feel entirely accepted, loved, and appreciated regardless of anything I do.

Prayer 

… Thank you for your mercy, thank you for your grace.  Bless our family and lead us on your adventure.  Amen.  (Taken from the Worrall Family Prayer).

Questions

1. Who is Jesus targeting?
2. What is the condition of each person’s heart in the parable?
3. What role does behavior play in acceptance with God?
4. Do you believe that you are accepted unconditionally by God?
5. How does the parable affect you?