Luke 7:18-35

     Christians sometimes think of “disciples” as a word belonging directly to the followers of Jesus, although we know it is a word simply designating a follower, adherent, student, etc. John the Baptist also had disciples. In fact, scholars tell us that after the deaths of Jesus and John, there was rivalry between the groups. Adding fuel to it must have been the fact that all the gospel writers report that Jesus went to John for baptism. This may have been used by John’s followers to declare that John was more important than Jesus.
     As a side note to this, we can respect and admire the honesty of the gospel writers. They could have denied Jesus was baptized or simply left out the story. But they all report it. We hear that John himself was uncomfortable about baptizing Jesus, and Jesus only told him it was proper in this way to fulfill all righteousness—a statement over which we still puzzle, for John was baptizing for repentance and it is generally supposed that Jesus had nothing to repent. From a human point of view it might make sense. Jesus had mostly lived a private life until that point. That life must have been enjoyable, filled with good work, friends and family. At his baptism, he was embarking on a public life in which he would be constantly moving from town to town, importuned at every moment by those who needed his teaching, healings and guidance. It was a life which as an intelligent man, he knew would lead to his death. In theological terms, repentance means to be sorry for sins and resolved to change a direction. For Jesus, could John’s baptism be a ritualistic passage, leaving behind his previous life and embracing the rigors of his ministry? We don’t know. Jesus never explained it, or at least none of the gospel writers report it if he did.
     Matthew and Luke both tell the story of John sending word by his disciples to ask whether Jesus was the one to come or should they keep waiting. It has been questioned why he did so? After all he’d baptized Jesus. Some of the gospel writers tell that John recognized something remarkable had happened at the baptism. Why would he need to ask anything more?
     Understanding things from a human point of view, we would remember that John was in prison at the time, which for a man used to living in the wilderness must have been a particular burden. He can be excused for human uncertainties and the need for confirmation.
     The response of Jesus was interesting. He didn’t make a simple “yes” answer. He told them to report what they had seen and heard about the healing and the teaching he had done. It is as if he is affirming John’s ability to decide for himself about who Jesus is. Are God’s purposes being accomplished? Who do you think Jesus is? Doesn’t this remain the question every one of his followers have had to decide for themselves ever since?
     Once John’s disciples had left, Jesus challenged the rest of the crowd. Obviously he knew they had also gone to see John when he was preaching in the wilderness. What had they gone to see? What had they expected? Jesus affirmed that John was not only a prophet, but had gone ahead to prepare the way for him. Jesus lifted up the greatness of John, but typically, turned that around to challenge the people to spiritual growth in their own lives, saying that even the least in the kingdom was greater than John.
     The listeners decided his words were just and that the Pharisees and lawyers who had refused John’s baptism had been rejecting God’s purposes for them. Luke’s wording here makes it sound as though the Pharisees and lawyers had, en masse, rejected John. In truth, this seems unlikely. But by the time the gospels were written, these groups seem to have gained symbolic status for certain attitudes of opposition. We know, for example, that some Pharisees were in support of Jesus while others were not, though the gospels sometimes sound as though the Pharisees were entirely opposed. In fact, it has been suggested by some scholars that Jesus might have been considered a Pharisee at one point. Their frequent opposition could have risen because it was one of their own who was publicizing their hypocrisies.
      Jesus went on to make an interesting, perhaps humorously ironic observations. His generation was like children who want to play a game and call to others to join in (playing at funeral procession, which may seem a strange game to us, but children often imitate grown-up events in play). But the others won’t come and join in the game. John had come in austerity and the serious grown-ups dismissed him with the excuse he had a demon. Jesus had come eating and drinking and they called him a glutton and drunkard, a friend of sinners. Still, Jesus said, wisdom would be vindicated by her children.
      How easily, it seems, did some people reject spiritual enlightenment. They couldn’t respect John because of his self-deprivation and oddities. They couldn’t respect for the opposite reasons- he actually ate and drank.
     Although no stories indicate that Jesus actually ever became drunk or and overindulged, the fact that he was accused of it shows that he did enjoy the pleasures of life, including food and drink. He could fast as well, as he did for 40 days in the desert. But all indications are that he enjoyed the world and didn’t expect others not to enjoy it. He simply had a healthy understanding that life is more than bread or physical belongings and he kept them in their proper priority. In the end, much as he enjoyed life, he was willing to give it up for the sake of others.

     In his comment about wisdom , could it be that Jesus was also challenging other people to make up their minds about him? Should they look at the fruits of his ministry?
What does it mean to know that Jesus enjoyed the pleasures of life the same as we do?
In what ways might we be like the “Pharisees” refusing to join in the “game,” that Jesus invites us to play.

Luke 7:11-17

      Jesus came to the town of Nain. His disciples were with him, along with a large group of the faithful, and the curious.
     A commotion was going on in the town. A young man had died and was being carried out for burial. The mother of the man was a widow and this was her only son.
     Losing a son or daughter must be incredibly hard. There are those who have experienced both the loss of a spouse and of a child and say that latter loss is even more difficult than the first. To lose a son or daughter goes against every instinct a parent has to nourish and protect. It goes against all expectation as well, for a parent expects a child to outlive them.
     Although it may not have been on her mind at that moment with its focus on the grief of her loss, the widow in Nain also faced a desperate future. She was without a husband and now without a son to support her. Women had little status or economic power in that society.
     The story is simple and straightforward. Jesus had compassion for her and he bid the young man to rise. The man sat up and began to speak. Fear seized everyone who saw it. They glorified God and said that a great prophet had come to them. Even more rumors began spreading about Jesus.
     Jesus was not the first to be recorded a bringing the dead back to life. Elijah did the same, and such rumors were spread even about others. Those who find it difficult to credit a death to life miracle might say that the young man wasn’t actually dead. That he was in a coma or otherwise unable to respond. In truth, it was not uncommon for that to happen. Without sophisticated medical equipment, the determination of death was not certain.  It was even a custom in some periods of history to place a string in the coffin connected with a bell above ground, so that if a person was alive, they could pull the string and be rescued from their grave.
      Would it actually be less of a miracle for Jesus to save a man from being buried alive?
      Regardless of how you regard the miracle, the compassion of Jesus is plain. He knew what grief was for those who are left behind. And the scriptures consistently called for awareness of the powerless in society. A widow was frequently named as one of that group representing the powerless. Jesus responded to her need and new life became possible.
     An interesting sidelight is the response of the people. They were filled with fear, yet they praised God. Today we may think of fear as a negative emotion, necessary in the ‘fight or flight’ response, but still negative. Modern people have sometimes been confused by the biblical injunction to fear the Lord, especially when reading other statements that love casts out fear. There is fear as we would experience at the threat of a great danger, and yet great and fierce awe can also be described as fear. God is holy and awesome, mysterious and beyond our control. For the people of Nain, to see this in action, would engender something called fear, but not as the fear they would experience if seeing the Romans advance on their town with sword raised. It was a wholesome fear for they recognized the presence of God in their midst.
     New life was a specialty of Jesus’. A tax collector hated by his society was accepted and renewed. Those who were despised and rejected were loved and given new opportunities. Those about to stone an adulterous woman were reminded of their sin and dropped their own stones. The woman was raised up and her would-be murderers must have experienced a curious release. Even in Jesus’ final hours, a thief reaching out was promised paradise. And when the universe seemed dark and untenable after the crucifixion, a light dawned on the third day inviting the friends of Jesus into an experience of incredible joy.
     What’s the miracle? It wasn’t what he did, but who he was.

What in your life needs to be raised to new life?
Can you write a prayer offering that to God?
Where can you be an agent of Jesus in bringing new life to someone around you or in your community?

Luke 6:43-7:10

     What Jesus says here is common sense. Good trees bear wholesome fruit; bad trees don’t. You don’t get good fruit from thorn bushes either. In the same way are people. When a person has a treasure of goodness in the heart, good words and deeds will be produced. In like manner, evil produces evil.
     Was Jesus challenging his followers to produce good and show goodness within? Was he challenging religious leaders of his day, pointing to hypocrisy? Was he simply leading into the story of the house built on sand? Was he doing many things at once?
     A wise debater will sometimes state truisms, truths that everyone can nod and agree with. Jesus goes on to point out that people might call him Lord, but it is pointless unless they are following through on what he taught. A foolish person will hear his words and not act upon them. That person is like one who builds his house upon the sand. In a rainstorm, a flashflood will come and wash their home away. A wise man listens and acts, thereby building his house upon a rock that can stand in the storm.
     It is hard to know for certain whether Jesus spoke these words in this exact sequence. Matthew and Luke show different collections of his teachings, so it is possible that the two comments do not inherently stand together. At the same time, the one can be said to flow one to the next in at least one sense. What Jesus spoke was sane and true and good. Jesus may not have been tooting his own horn, so to speak, but he may have been challenging his listeners to decide for themselves what his nature was like. If they listened and considered his authority to teach as valid, then it was foolish indeed to fail to live what he taught.
     Luke does not give as extended a time of teaching as Matthew. After this, he tells how Jesus went into Capernaum. A Roman Centurion lived there. The Centurion had a servant who he valued, but who was ill and close to death. This soldier had heard about Jesus, but instead of going to him directly, he asked some of the Jewish elders to approach Jesus on his behalf. These leaders did so, telling how the Centurion loved the Jewish people and had done much good for them, including building them a synagogue. This in itself is a remarkable statement. Luke’s book may well have been written at least partially to explain Christianity to the Gentile world, and to hear about this centurion was important. It is possible that the soldier was a god-fearer, a person who worshipped Yahweh, yet did not convert because of circumcision and the dietary laws.
     Whatever the circumstances, Jesus started immediately for the soldier’s home. Someone must have run ahead to tell the Centurion because he sent some of his friends to Jesus saying it wasn’t necessary to come to him. As a man of authority himself, he knew what it was to issue orders and know they would be followed. He trusted that Jesus, man of authority, could do the same.
      Jesus praised the man’s faith in the hearing of everyone around him, and the messengers returned to the Centurion’s home, to find the servant was healed.
      It may not be coincidence that Luke told a story of teaching that dealt with the authority of Jesus, then we hear this story about the nature of authority and the trust a Gentile had in Jesus.  The authority of Jesus remains in question today. Although millions claim they are Christians, they are largely unaware of what he taught. At a church several decades ago, a pastor decided to memorize Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount and give it for his Easter sermon. He didn’t say that’s what it was because he figured everyone would know. Yet after the service, numerous individuals came to him upset – they thought he had the wrong slant on things, needed to get a better idea of Christianity. Obviously, even Jesus' most active of followers don’t always know what he taught, which doesn’t say much for the authority they ascribe to him, or whether houses built upon ignorance can long stand.
      
What would it mean to truly acknowledge the authority of Jesus in one’s daily life?
What are the storms that might do the most damage to your house?
Where is your building program most active?

Luke 6:37-42

     Do not judge others. It’s amazing how often this subject came up during the ministry of Jesus. He lived when the religious elite found it easy to condemn those who did not have the resources or ability to maintain the rituals that were considered so important at the time.
     Jesus says it in strong words – don’t judge and God won’t judge you. Don’t condemn and God won’t. Forgive and God will do the same for you. Give to others and God will give to you. Then he goes on to say that you will receive a full measure, a generous helping, poured into your life, as much as you can possibly hold. The measure we give will be the one God uses for us.
    It is said that the ancient middle east delighted in hyperbole, that is, stating the extremes to make a point. Perhaps this is what Jesus is doing. The religiously self-righteous needed to be shook up. They’d failed in the very love of neighbor that was the central core of their ethical and spiritual teaching.
      At the same time, the legalists could turn his words into a quid pro quo equation. Give and you will receive, etc. In fact, that’s exactly what’s sometimes happened. Read some inspirational material on tithing and you will often find stories of someone who asserts how they started giving more to the church, then more and every time they gave more, their business started doing better or their income otherwise went up. While we would not doubt their sincerity, the stories could turn giving into a self-centered attempt to receive.
     We give because that’s what God calls us to do. We give in response to God’s love and the sacrifice of Jesus. We give when we are in accord with the image of God in which we are made. We give because causes are important to us and we want to come down squarely on the right side of life.
     We forgive also for the same types of reasons. We refrain from judging (or should!) because we have no business condemning others.
     A more positive understanding of the words of Jesus might come from the old illustration concerning the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is called dead because it contains too much salt to be viable. Water flows into it, but because nothing flows out, the sea does not support life.
     Or perhaps there’s the old scientific truth – two things can’t be in the same place at the same time. How can God’s forgiveness make a meaningful difference in our lives if we’re too busy patting ourselves on the back and judging other people? If we are selfish and self-centered, God’s gifts are neither recognized nor valued. An ungenerous heart finds it difficult to understand generosity when received.
      Jesus went on to tell a parable or analogy of the fact that a blind person cannot lead someone else who’s blind. That would be ridiculous and everyone will end in a ditch. A student isn’t greater than the teacher, but the student can hope to be like the teacher upon completing the course.
     Then Jesus went on to another parable/imagery asking why we would persist in fussing about the speck in a neighbor’s eye while ignoring the log or plank sticking out of our own. The wonderful humor of this image is often missed entirely, but may well have provoked a good chuckle to those who first heard it.
     Earlier, Luke (6:36) had recorded the words of Jesus calling upon being to be merciful in the same way God is merciful. To love enemies, because God is also good to the wicked and ungrateful.
     When Jesus spoke, it wasn’t as if he was speaking to people in whom he saw no hope and no promise. Rather, he spoke to people in the understanding that, though they had strayed, they had great potential, because they were the children of God and could aspire to the standards of God.

What is the hardest part about forgiveness?
How difficult is it to refrain from judging others?
Does bringing a judgmental attitude to life really make anyone feel better?
How do we let go of self-righteousness and grow into forgiveness?