Luke 22:14-30

Dear RTB’ers,

Here at the Last Supper, Jesus is instituting for us the Eucharist that we celebrate each Sunday: simple bread and wine for which we remember His suffering – His body and His blood. The words in today’s reading may not sound completely familiar to us, because the words that we use at our Eucharistic celebration come from the apostle Paul:

… the Lord Jesus, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

I Corinthians 11:23b-26

Thankfully we are in a tradition in which this is a weekly reminder. We are indeed blessed to be in this together!

Blessings!

Luke 22:1-13

Dear RTB’ers,

Satan entered into Judas… (Luke 22:3). Luke is the only synoptic gospel writer who makes this point. I typically think of Luke as an historian, not a theologian. But here he is making a statement none of the others are making. John makes the same point in John 13:27, at the Last Supper as Judas departs.

What struck me most today was the following verse: He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them. (Luke 22:4) I was struck with “He went away…” because it shows Judas taking the initiative. The Jewish leaders gladly accepted. The next verse says, And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. (Luke 22:5) So it seems that Judas sought out the Jewish leaders looking for a deal. Evidently greed had overwhelmed him! What a sad state of affairs. I’ve always wondered about Judas’ reversal. Matthew is the only gospel that actually deals with Judas hanging himself. Luke covers it in Acts 1:18, so we’ll see that in a few weeks.

It’s always intrigued me (Jesus speaking), “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him…” (Luke 22:10b). How did Jesus know that? Jerusalem was a large city and women were typically the ones carrying water. How did He know that? How did He know that Peter could go catch a fish with a coin in its mouth to pay the temple tax? (Matthew 27:17) How did Jesus know these exact things? His relationship with His Father must have been amazing! And can we, likewise, have anything close to that relationship? I wonder…

Blessings!

Luke 21:25-38

Dear RTB’ers,

Now during the day He was teaching in the temple, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the mountain that is called Olivet. And all the people would get up very early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him.

Luke 21:37-38

I’m reminding myself that in our readings we are at Wednesday of Holy Week. A few days ago we had Palm Sunday. (Luke 19:28, ff.) Then the next day Jesus was being questioned by the Pharisees and scribes and Sadducees. (Luke 20:1-40) Finally, yesterday (Tuesday of Holy Week) we saw Him (presumably) speaking with His own disciples. (Luke 20:40 tells us that his challengers had nothing more to say.) So what struck me today was that Jesus knew that His time was coming, but He still went to the temple every day to teach, with people getting up early in the morning to hear Him. He knew His ministry, but I’m thinking that He was also setting an example for His followers. Later on we’ll see the apostles going to the temple and to synagogues to teach and preach, because that’s where the people gathered.

So, what of us? Wherever we go, do we carry Jesus’ message with us? It’s easy enough for us to be in a conversation with a stranger, a conversation that has moved along sufficiently enough that we can ask, “Are you part of a local church?” It’s a yes-or-no response, with some obvious follow-up questions to ask. David used to say, “You bring the people and I’ll preach the Gospel.” I’m sure that Ben feels the same way. It’s not that difficult, folks! Just reach out – have that question at the tip of your tongue. Jesus set the example. Follow Him.

Blessings!

Luke 21:5-24

Dear RTB’ers,

It seems in today’s reading that the Pharisees, scribes and Sadducees are no longer troubling Jesus, but that He is speaking to a smaller group of His followers. As they praise the Temple building, He warns them of the future destruction, nearly four decades later. I’ve gone back and forth on this “destruction of Jerusalem” vs. “end of the age” issue, but my Study Bible helped out this morning. It suggested that much of Luke 21:8-18 in today’s reading could easily apply to both of these events. That is, we may not be choosing between an either/or position. So that’s helpful. Typically, back in those days, when an invading army was approaching, the citizens would flock to the safety of the city and its city walls. Not so this time, Jesus says, with three warnings: if you are in Judea, flee to the mountains; if you are in the city, you must leave; and if you are in the country, do not enter the city (Luke 21:21). He saw in the future that Jerusalem would be trampled, as it was in 70 A.D.!

What struck me today was a New Testament – New Testament connection. Jesus speaking:

But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

Luke 21:12-15

Some three weeks down the road we will begin reading the Book of Acts. In Acts 4 we will see Jesus’ words played out, as Peter and John are testifying before the Council: Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13) They had been with Jesus. That was enough!

Blessings!

Luke 20:27-21:4

Dear RTB’ers,

It’s always nice to connect the New Testament with the Old Testament. We get an opportunity to do that today, with the Sadducees asking Jesus about the resurrection (trying to trip him up, actually). Their question of seven brothers all dying and all having the same one wife calls to mind Genesis 38. In Gen. 38:6-11 we see Judah’s son, Er having a wife, Tamar, and dying. Then Judah asked Er’s brother Onan to go in to Tamar and raise up children for Er. But he also died. Then Judah withheld his third son, Shelah. So while we don’t have the Sadducees’ seven brothers as in today’s reading, we do see the pattern of one brother raising up children for a deceased brother. God later established this as law in Israel. See Deuteronomy 25:5-6.

I have always had trouble understanding the quotation in verse 44: The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, until I put Your enemies under Your feet.” (I have added the bold for further clarification.) Here Jesus is quoting Psalm 110:1, a psalm written by David. My Study Bible clarified the first six words at the beginning of that quotation by substituting “God” for “The Lord” and “David’s Lord” for “my Lord”, so it now would read, “God said to David’s Lord…”. That is, David’s Lord would be David’s superior – ultimately the Messiah…”. That helps me see how Jesus was confounding the Pharisees and challenging them that David’s descendent (the Messiah) was also his Lord. I hope this helps others.

There have been times when I have spoken in churches about giving. At St. Andrew’s we see tithing as the Biblical standard. But I’ve pointed out that three other Biblical references are quite a bit more demanding than the tithe – “first fruits”; the rich, young ruler; and the widow’s mite. These three all make tithing less challenging!

Blessings!

Luke 19:47-20:26

Dear RTB’ers,

The Lord is risen! He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah!!

The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy Him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on His words.

Luke 19:47b-48

The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on Him at that very hour, … but they feared the people.

Luke 20:19

And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch Him in what He said, but marveling at His answer they became silent.

Luke 20:26

The chief priests and the scribes have one goal during that eventful Holy Week, to destroy Jesus. They ask Him questions, intentionally designed to make Him fail. But He outwits them each time. And even though they are marveling at His answer, they cannot bring themselves to acknowledge Him for who He is. Nearly a century ago another skeptic got fed up with all the Jesus nonsense that he was hearing and set out to disprove the Resurrection. As I recall, he used only “internal texts” (no outside sources) from that first Holy Week, essentially letting the gospels speak for themselves. In the end that skeptic, who wrote under the name of Frank Morison, not only could not disprove the Resurrection, but ended up embracing Jesus and His truth and came to be a believer himself. His search became a widely popular book, Who Moved the Stone?, originally published in 1930. This Easter morning I would encourage you to order that book or maybe check it out from the library, because without the Resurrection we Christians have nothing! One of my favorite verses (with my own paraphrase) from I Corinthians 15:17,19 is , “…if Jesus is not raised from the dead…, we are, of all people, the most to be pitied.” (See I Cor. 15:12-20.) But we do believe and it did happen!! Praise the Lord, this glorious Easter morning!!.

Blessings!

Luke 19:29-46

Dear RTB’ers,

It’s Holy Saturday. At St. Andrew’s we’re ending Holy Week, while in our readings we’re just beginning. Today, Palm Sunday, as recorded in Luke. We just celebrated Palm Sunday last Sunday, so the story is familiar to all of us. Anything new? To me, yeah: …He sent two of the disciples… (v. 29b). He sent two. Did it take two disciples to bring back a donkey? Recall that He sent 72 of His disciples into the Galilean villages two-by-two (Luke 10:1). Something special about working together…!

Two other incidents are reported in today’s reading – Jesus’ prophecy over Jerusalem’s destruction and His cleansing of the temple. Jesus will have more to say about the destruction of Jerusalem in chapter 21, so we’ll wait on that. As for His cleansing of the temple, this incident is recorded in Holy Week in all three Synoptic gospels, while John has it at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (John 2:13-22). It’s interesting that the market was available in the temple for the benefit of travelers who had come from afar and did not bring sacrificial animals with them; thus with the market in place they could purchase them from traders in the temple. However, Jesus refers to this market as a “den of robbers” (v. 46b), so we’ll go with His take on this marketplace.

Have a blessed Holy Saturday!

Fred

Genesis 37-50

Dear RTB’ers,

It’s Good Friday, not a day where we put a “Happy” in front of that salutation, but rather a day for reflection. So it’s a good day for us to ponder Jesus and His sacrificial death on our behalf. I hope we’ll see one another at church this evening.

No new reading today. Instead the authors of Search the Scriptures ask us to consider Joseph’s life, from chapter 37 forward to the end of the book. I’m especially intrigued by their second question, essentially seeing Joseph as a “type” of Christ. So today, out of the ordinary, how about some posts from you? How many similarities can you find between Joseph and Jesus? I’ve found a few already (I even listed one a few days ago) and I’ll post my list sometime mid-afternoon. So, let us all hear from you!

Have a blessed Good Friday!

Genesis 50

Dear RTB’ers,

“…you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…” (Gen. 50:19b). This verse stands out for me in all of Genesis, second only to Abraham’s offering of Isaac in Genesis 22. Things happen, good and bad, over which we have no control. Our response needs to be to trust in God for whatever outcome and move on. It’s Jesus’ Gethsemane prayer all over again (fittingly, on this Maundy Thursday remembrance day), “Not My will, but Your will be done.” And another variant on Jesus’ words that we need to embrace, “You are God, I am not.”

Have a blessed Holy Thursday!