Luke 18:18-30

“Notice what you notice.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved? ”But He said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” (v. 26-27) Although I have pondered these words for the last hour, I don’t have any great thoughts today. But these verses struck me because I know that I cannot save myself. Only God can save me and that only through Jesus’ acceptance of me when I come to Him. It would be impossible for me alone to present myself to God Almighty as worthy of eternal life with Him. Only through Jesus can we come before Him. Glory!

Slava Bohu!

Mark 10:17-31

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” A couple of items different in Mark’s version of the “Rich Young Ruler” than in Matthew’s. First off, the young man ran to Jesus and knelt before Him. Matthew’s account had someone simply asking the question. Running and kneeling seems odd for someone who owned much property. Second, verse 21 says that Jesus looked at him and loved him. That information is also not included in Matthew’s account.

So the man “went away sorrowful” (v. 22). But obviously that is not the end of this man’s story. We don’t know how it ended. He did not follow Jesus right then and there, but we don’t know what he did do. It could be later that he sold all that he had and gave the money to the poor and followed Jesus. Not likely. But Mark’s account does not condemn the man for failing to do so. As I said yesterday, this man could be much like me (or any one of us). We maintain ownership of our wealth, but we also continue to be the best stewards we can be of that wealth. Jesus said How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! (v. 23) I think the sense here is that their wealth is blocking the rich from a full relationship with Jesus. What Debbie said yesterday has merit. He doesn’t want anything holding us back from being with Him. So if there is something out there that is full clouding our vision for Who Jesus is in our lives, that’s what we need to release! Just do it!

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 19:16-30

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete (or “perfect”), go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. (v. 21-22) I often identify with characters in our Gospel readings – all too often it’s the Pharisees! But today it’s the young man, not because he is young, but because he owned much property. And while, in a USA sense we do not own “much property”, relative to the rest of the world we are quite wealthy – and even by American standards we are well off. We have been abundantly blessed and have tried to be good stewards of all that God has given us. But there is always that lingering question when the story of “the rich young ruler” comes up – sell all that we have and follow Jesus. And we’ll have this same gospel story three days in a row…!

For starters, I know that Carol and I have been following Jesus, both before and during our entire married lives. And we have each been following Him at a born-again, Spirit-filled level. We have been a “tithes and offerings” couple – we have always given 10% or more to our church and have also supported missionaries and special causes. Frankly every year our tax package questions the correctness of our charitable contributions. We also offer our time and talents to His service.

I say all this to only a few of you, but seriously there is nothing special about us. Many others are much more generous. Yet still that “rich young ruler” story hits me hard. Do we give enough and have we done enough? I know that it’s by grace, not works, that we are saved, but our Lord does call us to service. But selling all to follow Him…? More reflections the next two days…!

Slava Bohu!

Luke 18:15-17

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” …whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. (v. 17) Debbie commented on Matthew’s version of this passage two days ago and said it about as well as could be said: “I am trying to grow more childlike the older I get.” Trying to do a 180 in life…! When we’re younger we want to be “grown up”. Then we find out “grown up” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be!

To be childlike… People have asked me about Carol and me raising our hands in worship when music is playing. I have two answers. First, I say that if I have both hands raised, it’s the universal sign of surrender. I surrender, Lord, to whatever you would have me do. Then I say that if I have only one hand raised, I am either asking my teacher if I can go to the bathroom or I am wanting to answer the teacher’s question OR I am a little child holding Mommy’s or Daddy’s hand as we walk along. I like that last picture – holding the Father’s hand, just as a little child would hold his or her parent’s hand. Again, surrender – peace, confidence, expectation, comfort. When we’re that little child holding the Father’s hand…

Slava Bohu!

Mark 10:1-16

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” So yesterday I was cutting the Pharisees some slack, imagining that their “testing” of Jesus was consistent with their need to eliminate false messiahs. Today my Study Bible suggests otherwise, that this particular testing was meant to be hurtful. Verse 1 today indicates that Jesus had moved beyond the Jordan (to the land known as Perea), which was under Herod Antipas’ jurisdiction. Herod Antipas was the ruler who had John the Baptist beheaded, at the request of Herodias, his wife, because of John’s challenge to Herod Antipas as to the legality of his marriage to Herodias. So if Jesus came out against divorce, He would also be challenging the legality of that marriage and, as John was beheaded, so might Jesus endure the same outcome. So the question the Pharisees posed was not simply wanting Jesus to take sides in a theological argument, but to bring serious harm to Him.

Just yesterday Archbishop Beach’s message (“A Word from the Lord”) spoke directly to our passage today. It is worth reading, so much so that I am posting his entire message summary directly below:

===================================

Marriage and the family, in current decades, have been under attack to the degree that marriage is now losing its value in our culture. In Mark 10:6-9, Jesus speaks to God’s plan for marriage: “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.’”

In our culture’s attacks on marriage and the family, we see ten ways in which marriage and the family have been and are being perverted: 1) US Supreme Court’s decision on same sex marriage – as followers of Jesus, we don’t believe the courts have the right to define/redefine marriage as established by God; 2) sex before marriage is becoming the norm; 3) sex outside of marriage has become acceptable; 4) the prevalence of divorce; 5) acceptance of cohabitation; 6) birth of children out of wedlock; 7) multi-spouse marriage; 8) escalation and the acceptance of pornography; 9) the acceptance and practice of abortion on demand; and 10) the acceptable “choosing” one’s own gender by some people. These perversions of marriage and the family are chipping away at the value and importance of marriage and the family in the US – even among Christians. Too many of our Christian young people don’t know why they should get married — this diminution of marriage’s value is a failure, mostly, of the Christian Church.

God’s plan for marriage is being increasingly perverted. Therefore, what should we do, as followers of Jesus, about these “attacks on marriage”? We can: 1) stand up, speak up and speak God’s truth – Christians need to stop being trampled upon by this divergent culture; 2) model good and Godly marriage and family life to the culture; 3) you teach your children – you, not the church or school or government – about God and His plan for marriage and the family; and 4) pray and ask God to intervene in these attacks and to support our seeking to achieve His plan for our own marriage and the family – prayer does change things, and it brings the power of God. However, we, as followers of Jesus, hold the key to stopping this perversion though getting our own family and marriage in line with God’s plan and then witnessing and voting to stop this perversion – the time is now.

===============================

I have nothing more to add.

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 19:1-15

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” Some time ago Carol shared what she had learned about the Pharisees “testing” Jesus just the same as they would test anyone who claimed to be the Messiah. In so doing, they were trying to weed out the false messiahs. So whenever I see Jesus being tested by the Pharisees (v. 3), those thoughts immediately come to mind and I tend to give the Pharisees some slack – they were only doing their job. Unfortunately, there were many occasions where this testing seems to have been meant to be confrontational – and the Pharisees always lost when they confronted Jesus in this way.

Today’s reading seems to be testing of a different sort. Both of my Study Bibles discuss the issue of divorce back in those days, hearkening to two different schools of thought, one more liberal than the other. So the Pharisees in this testing case were asking Jesus to take sides, to support one school over the other. They probably did not expect that He would come down so strongly in support of the conservative school, going back to Genesis even stronger than the conservative school would teach. So it didn’t matter whether these Pharisees who were testing Jesus were liberal or conservative – either school got more than they bargained for.

Which brings me to wonder, what kind of Messiah the Jews were expecting. We’ve long heard that they were expecting a strong king-like figure who would overthrow the Roman rule and establish His Kingship over all the world, based in Jerusalem. But I wonder what their thoughts were on this Messiah’s ethics, morals, and behavioral teaching. Would He revert to the Mosaic Law and throw out interpretations that the scribes, lawyers, and Pharisees had put forth? Or did they think about that at all? And it makes me wonder why they would even ask Jesus a question about lawful divorce (except to force him to take sides). Maybe they were truly wondering if Jesus might be the long-awaited Messiah and they wanted to know where He stood with respect to their teachings? So it seems to me that I am giving the Pharisees more slack in this “confrontation” than I have in any other. More confusion…!

Slava Bohu!

Luke 18:1-14

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? (v. 8b) I’m sure that throughout history people have quoted this verse and added their own comments reflecting how little faith Jesus would find in their time if He returned. And we certainly feel it for our own time! What’s more, in our lifetime (for most of us) we have seen a drastic change in our society’s approach to faith and religion. In the 50s and early 60s going to church was the standard, especially if you wanted to get ahead in the business world. But the late 60s – sex, drugs, rock & roll – seemed to usher in a new era and we’ve never looked back! We seem to be going further and further down that slippery slope! I would hope that Jesus would find faith at St. Andrew’s. From my perspective there seem to be a number of people seeking the Lord.

I often cite Luke 18’s persistent widow, but less on the matter of prayer and more on persistence, itself. It was Jim O’Connor’s persistence (and faithfulness) between January 1972 and May 1975 that led me to the Lord. We met in a Chemistry class. He was a 19-year-old second-semester freshman and I was a 23-year-old Army veteran returning to college after nearly five years away. He saw my RSV Bible textbook for my Humanities requirement, a course on the New Testament, and that began a conversation that ended the day he graduated from college. We remain erratically in touch to this day. I am constantly thankful to him for his persistence in staying with me. Thank you, Lord!!

Persistence and faith. It’s a good combination!

Slava Bohu!

Luke 17:20-37

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” The “Kingdom of God” and the “days of the Son of Man”… Two concepts, quite distinct in time and place. Jesus told the Pharisees that the “Kingdom of God” was within their midst. He may have meant Himself, that he represented or that He was the Kingdom and they missed it, or he may have meant that He had established the Kingdom with His coming and they did not see that either.

But the question that the Pharisees asked about the coming of the Kingdom prompted Jesus to speak directly with His disciples about His second coming, the coming of the “Son of Man”. Clearly the disciples must have been confused with this language because He had not yet departed. Jesus had spoken often of His coming death, but it seems that this talk of His death was never really clear to the disciples. So talk of a second coming was even less clear to them. However, to those of us on “the other side of History”, Jesus’ words are crystal clear! Don’t worry about the future, about Jesus’ second coming, just be ready for it whenever it comes!

It’s always an interesting discussion to talk about the rapture, the notion that “…one will be taken, the other left” (v. 35b) – the idea that one of us could be walking with a non-Christian friend and all of a sudden, we’re gone! Or horrors of horrors, that we’re walking with a friend and all of a sudden, THEY’RE GONE and we’re left behind!! As I said above, just be ready. No one knows the day or time.

Have you noticed that you are missing verse 36 in your ESV, NIV, or NASB translation? The NKJV has it: Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left. Intriguing that the other translations acknowledge the missing verse by leaving room for it but not including it. FYI, just that…!

Slava Bohu!

Luke 17:11-19

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” As I read today’s selection, I can easily call to mind words that I’ve known by heart for years: “Were not the ten made clean? Where are the other nine?” (v. 17) But I don’t recall ever noticing that the tenth leper was a Samaritan. To me that puts a very different spin on the entire story.

First, Jesus sent off the ten and told them to show themselves to the priest, an act that was prescribed for the cleansing of lepers in Leviticus 14:2. Nine of the lepers would have understood this directive, assuming they were Jews. But this would have been new to the Samaritan – he had no relationship with the Jewish priests. So as the ten were cleansed, the other nine went off to be OK’d by the priest, but the Samaritan went back to the source of his cleansing instead of following the Leviticus directive. His thinking would have been more in line with Paul the Apostle, “I know Him in Whom I have believed.” (2 Timothy 1:12)

Second, when he was a leper the Samaritan was a common “brother” with the Jews; they were outcasts together. But when he was cleansed he was no longer a part of the “ten brothers”. Instead, he remained an outcast, but now not to society in general, only to his former “brothers”. That is, to the nine Jews, the Samaritan became a Samaritan. So his own thoughts likely would have mirrored Peter’s: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)

So the Samaritan returned to thank and praise Jesus instead of following the nine. It makes me wonder if there are situations in my life where I follow the crowd instead of following Jesus. I’ll have to think on that…

Slava Bohu!

Luke 17:1-10

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty. Welcome home, Debbie!!

“Notice what you notice.” Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? (v. 9) Translations can have similar meanings, but different emphases. The line above is from the ESV. Here’s the NASB, spoken as a statement-question combination, a bit more forceful: He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? The NKJV is even more clear – it’s what struck me this morning: Does he thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. The “I think not” really stood out for me. A small point, but intriguing…

But then I thought more about thanking people for what they do for us. Carol and I never fail to thank our servers when they bring something to our table, nor do we fail to thank craftsmen (plumbers, electricians, etc.) when they have done some work at our house. So I was wondering if the question that Jesus suggested was the local standard? If so, it seems odd to us. Was it really that way back in the first century? Were masters truly so dominating to their servants? Then I thought of our own history of slavery in the South. There were good masters and bad masters. Then my mind flashed to Downton Abbey, to the wealthy being served dinner or tea or having something else done by the servants. And again, some of those wealthy folks were kind and gracious and others were rude to the help. However, we have no excuse. When someone does anything for us, we thank them!

Every morning I make coffee for Carol and me, and in so doing I choose a pair of matching coffee cups. This morning I chose a pair of cups (randomly), one of which said “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, nothing shall be impossible for you,” which is a Matthew 17:20 (edited) parallel translation of our verse 6. We’ve heard David speak of a “divine echo” – when the Holy Spirit calls a particular item to mind on two or three occasions in the same time frame. So I guess the message to Carol and me today is faith. And you…?

Slava Bohu!