Saturday, December 31, 2011

Luke 4: 14-30

The old church expression, ‘You’ve gone from preaching to meddling’ comes to mind after reading today’s passage. Or, as the great preacher Fred Craddock has noted, there are two kinds of preaching people won’t listen to: Bad preaching and good preaching. Bad preaching wasn’t the issue in Nazareth.

History reveals that the Jewish people were longing for God to rescue Israel from the oppression of their enemies. Jesus announced he is the Messiah, the One whom God has sent to save Israel. What was so offensive about Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah? It’s all about control. Jesus was saying the Messiah was coming to proclaim God’s grace for all people, including the Romans, the enemy of Israel. The people very much wanted God’s grace, but just for Israel, no other nations. The people wanted to control God’s agenda, to be the ones who determined which nations were redeemed and which were not.

The people in Nazareth wanted to be like God. That’s a familiar theme. Not just for first century Jews. In our world today we still suffer from the sin of wanting to control God’s agenda. The devotion in today’s Daily Guidepost (New Year’s Eve) said I only need to remember two things in the New Year: “Love God with all that I am, and love my neighbor as much as I love myself.” Yet today we struggle as much as the Nazarenes with wanting to determine who our neighbor is.
There is irony in the response of Jesus’ home town. They wanted Jesus to demonstrate his power by performing miracles. Jesus’ refusal resulted in him being pushed to the edge of a cliff. Didn’t we just read something about stones to bread; about being thrown from a high place? Could that mean when I am seeking to control the agenda I am doing the devil’s bidding? (See Mathew 16:22-24)

What word or phrase in these verses
attracts your attention?
Reflect on that word or phrase.
What insights come to you?
How does this passage touch your life today?

1-Jan-12       Luke 4:31-5:11

Friday, December 30, 2011

Luke 4:1-13

There are two primary obstacles for the Christian seeking to live the life in Christ as their way of life. The first obstacle is our self. What the Apostle Paul calls our flesh, or our fallen nature is tempted to sin, that is seek our self-gratification over the will of God in our life. The other obstacle is the evil one. Jesus tells us the evil one comes to kill, steal and destroy the people of God. Jesus says he is a liar, the father of all lies; the truth is not in him. The liar’s mission is to disrupt and destroy the work of building for the Kingdom of God.

Interestingly, the evil one does not tempt us with overt evil. Jesus was not tempted to kill, steal or destroy people; he was tempted to prove he was God’s Messiah. The people were poor and hungry. After fasting for forty days wouldn’t it have been a good thing for Jesus to turn the stones into bread and feed himself as well as feed the people? The alternative ways to fulfill his role of Messiah offered by the evil one were essentially shortcuts that avoided suffering or crucifixion for the Messiah.

There were no shortcuts for Jesus and there are no shortcuts for his followers. The Christian vocation is unique to each individual as we each have our own gifts and graces given to us by God. Developing our vocation takes dedication and hard work, just as a musician must apply these attributes in learning to play a musical instrument.

We all will be tempted to take short cuts which, if taken, will compromise our Christian integrity. However, Jesus has shown us the way to respond to temptation. No dilly dallying, no debate; just immediate responses using the Word of God as our authority. Since the Reformation Protestant churches have maintained that the Bible is our sufficient guide for faith and practice.

Certainly if the scriptures were sufficient for Jesus, so shall they be for his followers.

What word or phrase in these verses
attracts your attention?
Reflect on that word or phrase.
What insights come to you?
How does this passage touch your life today?

31-Dec-11     Luke 4:14-30

Thursday, December 29, 2011

luke 3: 15-38

It may seem that everything we’ve read since Jesus’ birth is just background material leading up to the launching of Jesus public ministry in chapter four; but still waters run deep!

 In Luke two the angels told the shepherds the Messiah had been born. At Jesus’ dedication we were introduced to Simeon, who we were told was eagerly waiting for the Messiah. In chapter three Luke writes that everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon. Our reading today tells us three things about the Messiah.  

The inclusion of Jesus’ ancestry all the way back to Adam reveals that the Messiah is coming for the entire human race, not just Israel.

John the Baptist’s preaching reveals the dual mission of the Messiah. The Messiah will judge the oppressors and set free the oppressed. God’s justice will work into the world through the lives of the followers of the Messiah.

God message to Jesus, the Messiah, at his baptism is both endearing and chilling: “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” The endearing part is obvious.

The chilling part is in the similarity of the words to the witness of two other Biblical passages: Isaiah 42:1, “Look at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one, who pleases me.” Isaiah 42 reveals the Messiah of God as the suffering servant; and Genesis 20:2, “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much . . .” This is God’s call for Abraham to sacrifice his only son. Ultimately Abraham did not sacrifice Isaac; instead, God sacrificed his only son.

God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son to save the world. When God’s son was baptized God spoke to him saying, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”

When a person is reconciled to God through faith in the Messiah Jesus, God speaks into the life of the believer, ““You are my dearly loved son/daughter, and you bring me great joy.” Could it be that God expects all of his children to live sacrificial lives that proclaim God’s saving grace in the Messiah; and sacrificial lives that work God’s justice into the world?

What word or phrase in these verses
attracts your attention?
Reflect on that word or phrase.
What insights come to you?
How does this passage touch your life today?

30-Dec-11     Luke 4:1-13

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Luke 2: 41 - 3:14

The first part of today’s reading tells the story of twelve year old Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem. The way Luke tells the story has an interesting similarity to another story Luke will tell; the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in chapter twenty-four. In both stories there is a period of three days where Jesus was ‘lost’ and then found again.

In both stores Jesus used an imperative to explain what happened: “I must be in my Father’s house”; “the Messiah would have to suffer all these things.” From Jesus’ perspective in both stories, he is not the one who is lost; he is just doing what was necessary for the Messiah.

Jesus perspective creates a dichotomy for me. On one hand I know from the Apostle Paul that nothing can separate me from Christ because Christ lives in me. (Romans 8:35-39 & Colossians 1:27) 

But, on the other hand, from Luke’s account, Jesus is going to be doing what Jesus needs to do and it is possible that I might lose sight of him.

I cannot go off in any direction I choose and assume God’s presence; God’s favor will be with me. I can rest in the knowledge that if I do lose sight of Jesus, he can be found again. I just have to look in the right places: The sacraments, prayer and the Bible.

What word or phrase in these verses
attracts your attention?
Reflect on that word or phrase.
What insights come to you?
How does this passage touch your life today?

29-Dec-11     Luke 3:15-38

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Luke 2: 21-40

Luke has done something most story tellers try hard not to do. He’s pretty much told us how the story is going to end and we’re not quite through the first two chapters. It doesn’t look like he’s leaving much room for suspense. Why does Luke seem to give away the ending? I think it’s because he knows his first readers would be overwhelmed by the ending, so he is preparing them for the shock.

Like Simeon, many of Luke’s readers had been looking for God to redeem Israel. Unlike Simeon, their expectation of God’s way of redemption was completely different than what God was beginning to reveal through the births of John and Jesus. Today’s reading is a reminder to guard against thinking I know what, when and how God is going to act. God’s ways are not my ways, and if I allow myself to become rigid in my expectations I’ll become like the many in Israel who missed the Messiah because they were intently looking for something else.

One temptation that snares many in our time is the temptation to think that what God did in Christ, he did for me. Sometimes we’re told to take John 3:16 and substitute the words ‘world’ and ‘everyone’ with ‘me’ and ‘I’. Yes, Christ is my salvation; but he’s not mine alone. At least twelve times in the first two chapters Luke makes clear that God is at work in the lives of his people; not just Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth and Zachariah, but all of Israel. And, not just Israel; there are also several references of what God is doing for all the nations, all the world, through these miracle births. I am convinced that a major portion of being transformed by the renewing of my mind is in learning to think in terms of Kingdom values, in terms of inclusivity.

God’s Kingdom is revealed by bringing diverse people together. There are the young, Mary and Joseph; and the older, Elizabeth and Zachariah; and older still, Simeon and Anna. There are the well off, Mary & Joseph (the gifts of the Magi made them so); and the poor, the shepherds. There are the people of God (the Church) and other people we didn’t know are included by God, the Magi. The births of John and Jesus have already brought all sorts of people together for worship and fellowship.

What word or phrase in these verses
attracts your attention?
Reflect on that word or phrase.
What insights come to you?
How does this passage touch your life today?

28-Dec-11     Luke 2:41-3:14