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!

Matthew 18:21-35

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty – Debbie and Julie too (arriving home today)!

“Notice what you notice.” First point, a numbers thing – my Study Bible said that one talent was worth 20 years wages for a laborer. So 10,000 talents would be worth 10,000 x 20 x 365 denarii, equal to 73 million denarii. Or if they don’t work on the Sabbath, then 6/7 times 73 million denarii. Compare either number to 100 denarii!

What I noticed in this reading was the word “torturers” in verse 34 (“torturers” in the NKJV and NASB, “jailers” in the ESV). I wonder how someone in jail or being tortured is able to raise the cash to pay the debt. But when the debt is so huge (10,000 talents), this must have been a well-to-do servant, someone who could find a way to pay off that huge debt if he were given enough time. That is, I imagine a servant with his own vast holdings of property, for which he had borrowed extensively to buy, and he was highly leveraged.

So I’m imagining that the servant had collateral that he would have had to sell in order to pay off his debt to the king. It’s why he asked for delay and he would pay it all. But even if that scenario is true and he could pay it off over time, the king simply forgave him that huge debt sum, with no expectation of the servant having to ever pay it off – which, if this scenario could be true would have made the servant a wealthy man in his own right. That scenario makes his demands for payment of the lesser debt even more troubling – to demand payment of 100 denarii when you’ve just been gifted 73 million denarii!!

But let’s not forget the header to the story. The Kingdom of Heaven is being compared to this generous, merciful king. The King of Heaven can forgive huge wrongs if we are truly repentant. Let’s not forget that first half of the story! The King of Heaven can forgive huge wrongs, period!! The forgiven servant and the second debtor just adds another layer to the story. Our Lord can forgive us anything we have ever done, period!

But maybe, just maybe, that second debtor is ourselves, …if <we> forgive <ourselves> from <our> heart. (v. 35)

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 18:15-20

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty – Debbie and Julie too (leaving today, coming home tomorrow)!

“Notice what you notice.” It seems like I’m running into a lot of confusing statements these days. Today is another. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. (v. 19) So if a couple of us agree on something, it should be done, yes? But I know that more than a couple of us would agree to ask for complete healing for brother Jim without the need for any surgery or even any more chemo. But I don’t see that kind of healing happening much. And yes, I know that it’s a bigger world out there and I don’t know the full implications of anything for which I might be praying; the Father knows best what is in my or our best interests and will act accordingly. So Jesus’ statement leaves me confused. What is He really saying?

I think the clue is in the next sentence: For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them. (v. 20) If two of us are agreeing with something that we are asking, it must be the case that we are together “in Christ”. And if so, because two or more of us are gathered “in Christ”, then He is in the midst of us. And if He is truly in the midst of us and is speaking to us, then if we hear Him we would most certainly agree with Him. And because He is in the Father and the Father is in Him (John 14:10, 11, 20), He will know the Father’s will and will speak to our hearts accordingly. That’s why we end our “asking” prayers with “…not my will, but your will be done”. We can’t go wrong if we end our prayers with that phrase. My thoughts…

Slava Bohu!

Luke 16:19-31

Let’s continue to remember to pray for Jim and Marty – Debbie and Julie too (coming home Wednesday)!

“Notice what you notice.” This story is so familiar to me that it’s hard to see something new. But there is one thing that I’ve always wondered. Is Jesus telling us in this story of the reality of Heaven and Hell? That these are real places, that they do exist…! Or is it more a parable using then-current Jewish understandings of life after death?

The rich man had five brothers. I also have five brothers and relative to billions of people around the world I am very rich. Immediate ouch…! But three of my brothers are believers – at various levels and in different denominations – while two are not. Carol and I and others of my siblings are actively “working on” one of the brothers, Dickie, while we seldom hear from the fifth (Ron), the one who was absent from the family for a couple of years some 4+ decades ago. If Jesus is sharing a real truth about Heaven and Hell, I fear for the outcome my two wayward brothers might encounter. But from childhood they have known that Someone has in fact risen from the dead and as Paul says in Romans 1:20, “They are without excuse…”. Carol also has two wayward brothers, Roger and Mark. All four are regularly on our prayer list. So the point of all this rambling…? Do you have wayward relatives for whom you need to be praying more intently? They may also be “without excuse”, but they should not be without intervening prayer!

Slava Bohu!

Luke 16:9-18

Let’s continue to remember to pray for Jim and Marty – Debbie and Julie too (coming home Wednesday)!

“Notice what you notice.” “…unrighteous mammon…” (vv. 9, 11) is a confusing construction. The ESV notes say that the Greek word is “mammon”, which means money or possessions and is translated as money in verse 13. The word “unrighteous” seems a bit harsh. Seems like a better translation would be “worldly wealth”. Either way, Jesus does not in any way condemn worldly wealth, but advises us on how best to use it – make friends, but don’t let your quest for money replace your service to God.

Luke writes in verse 14 that the Pharisees were lovers of money and ridiculed Jesus for his treatment of “worldly wealth”. Every one of us has a bit of Pharisee in our hearts. We may not have a major focus on our wealth, but we would rather have more money than less money. And money problems for a single person or a family can lead to a whole host of other problems. I think Jesus is saying that it’s all a matter of perspective – how hard we seek it and what we do with it when we have it. We don’t talk much about money from the pulpit at St. Andrew’s. Our standard is the Biblical tithe and most people understand that. We give generously, especially to needy causes (note our recent experiences with the Odubenas) and typically leave our budget in surplus most years. But even with our generosity, at Vestry meetings we are regularly talking about other things that we would like to do if we had a larger budget. It’s hard to get away from a “love of money”, even when your heart is “right”.

Slava Bohu!