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Tag: Luke

  • Interrupting Jesus 7 – a lowly woman

    Interrupting Jesus 7 – a lowly woman

    Luke 7:

    36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.

    Nice. One of the leading men of your church asks you to dinner. Jesus did just what we would do: He accepted.

    37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment…

    alabaster-jarYou go to a nice house of one of the leading citizens in town and chit-chat while the food is being prepared. You begin enjoying your dinner and conversation; but like so many times during Jesus’ mission, some of the common people in town hear about the Messiah’s dinner plans and just show up uninvited.

    38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.

    Now what?

    39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”

    You are trying to convince an important religious leader that He needs to believe that you are the One God has sent to Israel as the Messiah. (If you or I had been sent all we would need here is a small miracle; or perhaps we would make a more persuasive logical argument from the Law or the Prophets, like so many times before.)

    Jesus (as we know) doesn’t deal with interruptions by people the same way you and I do, fortunately.

    He lifts up the lowly and humble and rebukes the high and arrogant.

    Jesus speaks the truth in love to his host.

    40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”

    (Jesus has a way of telling stories which convicts softly.)

    The impact of a parable is in the love for the hearers convicted.

    41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

    43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.”

    And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

    [Note now the gentle body language of our Lord as He turns to the lowly woman, glorifying her, while He speaks the gentle truth of His rebuke for His host, the Pharisee, Simon.]

    Woman annointing Jesus' feet Olejek44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

    Three strikes for His host: no water, no kiss of greeting, no anointing. Here is where we fail in our everyday dealings with ordinary guests. Simon is most certainly convicted, while Jesus points to the humility of the woman who interrupted them as a better hostess, even though she is a sinner looked down on by society.

    47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much.

    But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

    • Do you dwell comfortably at a table of those with little to forgive?
    • Do you consequently lack compassion for those whose sins seem worse than your own?

    48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

    [The dinner and Bible study continues. The host and invited guests wonder at the compassion of Jesus as He sends this sinful woman away.]

    49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?”

    50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

    Shalom. Your faith in the Messiah Jesus has saved you.

     

  • Blessings and Woes – 2

    Blessings and Woes – 2

    “Blessed are you who are poor…

    “Blessed are you who are hungry now…

    “Blessed are you who weep now…

    22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!

    “But woe to you who are rich…

    “Woe to you who are full now…

    “Woe to you who laugh now…

    26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

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    WAIT! This doesn’t seem right.

    Doesn’t that smilin’ prosperity preacher say God will BLESS you who are rich? God will fill up the baskets in our mega-church. And Jesus gives us every reason to laugh and smile and (don’t worry,) be happy. 🙂

    This is NOT what Jesus is teaching. Jesus is saying the poor are blessed. Jesus encourages those who are hungry now and those who weep.

    tyre-sidon-galileeThere were great crowds from everywhere who came to Jesus, hoping that He IS the Messiah of God, hoping that Jesus would have mercy on their many troubles.

    Don’t we hope that?

    Wouldn’t your troubled friend, who does not know Jesus, hope for that?

    Luke 6:

    Jesus Ministers to a Great Multitude

    17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.

    19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

    WOW! A Rabbi, a Prophet, a man of compassion with the Power of the LORD GOD YHVH! Jesus, whose Name was unknown had become known for His miracles and His teachings throughout the land, from Dan to Beersheba to Tyre and Sidon, in the rich homes of Jerusalem and the poor villages and and in the cities far distant from the hills of Galilee.

    The Living Christ not only teaches the hope and contrast between the godly and ungodly, Jesus teaches those in the crowds with ears to hear: why.

    Why will the poor inherit the Kingdom of God, rather than the rich who have inherited the blessings of the generations of their fathers? Jesus has come to us as one of us, a poor man of simple flesh – yet a Prophet and Teacher with Power more potent than the most powerful King or Emperor (whose Royal Robes and riches the Lord did not desire).

    Miracles! Mercy. Messiah!

    Now hear the rest of the blessings as Jesus taught.

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    The Beatitudes

    20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:

    “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

    21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

    “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

    22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!

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    Imagine the JOY of those in the multitudes, surrounded by the lame dancing, the blind seeing the beauty of their loved ones, the deaf hearing the laughter of children, the discouraged singing with praise and thanks giving. Imagine the HOPE of the defeated sons of Abraham and the hopeful and hated Samaritans from that West Bank. Image even Syrians from distant Tyre and Sidon accepting the love of the One true God.

    The new life in the crowd and anticipation of the spoken Logos, the Very Word of God, must have celebrated this moment as a free crowd gathered for the Super Bowl, the World Cup and the ancient Olympics all drawn here to a hillside in insignificant Galilee.

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    23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

    My GOD! He IS on our side. Jesus loves us as our rulers and managers of the Temple do not. He is the King to come – the Promised One!

    Then the Messiah speaks against those who oppress us.

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    Jesus Pronounces Woes

    24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

    25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.

    “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

    26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

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    We will follow a King like that anywhere. Let Him lead us into Jerusalem, into the captive lands, even into Rome itself! (Will the ushers be taking up a collection for the blessing of swords now?)

    On to the Nations! On to the Riches! On to the oil fields (as false prophets of the sword would say in this day).

    But WAIT! (as the pitch of a recent century once built anticipation.) There’s MORE. (Do you have ears to hear?)

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    Love Your Enemies

    27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

    29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

    32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you?

    For even sinners love those who love them.

    33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

    34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.

    35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

    36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

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    I don’t know if I can do that. In fact, I don’t want to do that.

    What happened to our victory and our blessing? What happened to the King passing judgment of evil and killing our enemies? Is this a King I would follow?

    Come on Jesus. Give us all swords and we’ll cut off their heads and drive them back into the sea!

     Syria 2015 – video

    Judging Others

    37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.

    For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

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    But ROME? Godless men from other lands invading our promised land… What of them?

    IF a “man of god” will not lead by the sword and execute judgement on evil what hope have we?

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    “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?

    40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

    41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

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    Dear brother, dear sister in the Lord,

    Do you desire to be like your Teacher?

    OR do you still desire evil for evil, as taught by the rulers of this passing world and dead prophets of the sword?

    We judge men of false gods and evil unmerciful rulers; but what of a Saul of Tarsus? What of a Muslim who Christ draws unto Himself?

    Are we not murders of these men in our own hearts?

    Yet we do not remove the evil of our own hearts with even a scalpel, let alone extracting the cancer of our chronic wickedness, mercifully covered by the love of Christ’s Blood sacrificed for us on the Cross.

    Where is our fruit of the Lord’s mercy and grace of God’s love in these last long difficult days?

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    42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye?

    You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

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    And I gently suggest to our enemies of the Cross – Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, agnostic and atheist – are you not also one judging Christ’s saints without mercifully removing the blinding log of tradition and rebellion against God from your own eye? Are we not all hypocrites in need of much mercy before God for the unrepentant wickedness of our own flesh?

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    A Tree and Its Fruit

    43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit,44 for each tree is known by its own fruit.

    For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.

    45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

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    Therefore beloved friend, skeptic and critic of every other Christian and every other man made in the image of God seeking to do what is right: What has the love of a Righteous King, a son of man like you taught you this day of blessing? What has Christ Jesus taught you about the woes of this world?

    Do you choose the fruit of reward of the dust and ashes of your grave? Would you inherit the kingdom also ruled in Hell by the false angel who rebelled against Almighty God?

    IS CHRIST JESUS not a teacher of mercy: that our Father God, in whose Image we are made, is known to our soul; that the Creator of all men and judge of all creation did send us Great Grace, in the love of  Christ Jesus, He IS the only Son of Redemption who could possibly have the riches of eternity sufficient for my sin!

    What must you do, IF you are to have eternal blessing in Christ Jesus, in place of the rotted fruit of your sin and woes of our wickedness?

    What must you do, beloved friend, to inherit the eternal Kingdom of Christ Jesus?

    For Jesus IS Lord and King forever. Amen.

  • Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross

    Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross

    Roger is born again in the Holy Spirit!

    I owned a business just across the parking lot and cemetery next to the church where we worshiped each Sunday. It is the church where our daughter was baptized and where I read scripture and ministered communion to shut-ins.

    I made the short pilgrimage down the sidewalk to the Good Friday Stations of the Cross service at noon. We are well familiar with the scriptures read each Holy Week in most every church. I chose to worship during my regular lunchtime.

    I’m not certain if today’s text is the same or just similar. (I have linked it to its source above & only offer it here in part.) May I recommend your prayerful consideration of the entire text.

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    As part of their acts of devotion, early Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem retraced the route of Jesus as he carried his cross to his death. Early pilgrimages varied considerably with different starting places and different routes. As the practice developed in the medieval period, the starting point for this journey through the streets of Jerusalem began in the ruins of the Fortress of Antonia that originally housed Pilate’s Judgment Hall, now incorporated into the Ecce Homo Convent. It concluded at the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulcher that marks the traditional site of Golgotha and the tomb of Jesus. By the sixteenth century, the route this pilgrimage took through Jerusalem came to be called the Via Dolorosa, the Way of Sorrow. Along the Way, certain points on the journey (stations) were associated with specific events recounted (or implied) in the Gospel accounts.

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    1. Christ condemned to death;
    2. the cross is laid upon him;
    3. His first fall;
    4. He meets His Blessed Mother;
    5. Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross;
    6. Christ’s face is wiped by Veronica;
    7. His second fall;
    8. He meets the women of Jerusalem;
    9. His third fall;
    10. He is stripped of His garments;
    11. His crucifixion;
    12. His death on the cross;
    13. His body is taken down from the cross; and
    14. He is laid in the tomb.

    IF you have never truly considered the pathos and suffering which led up to Christ Jesus’ final crucifixion for our sins, Good Friday is a most appropriate time to consider your sin and repent in all thankfulness and grace.

     Station 1:  Pilate Condemns Jesus to Die

    (Matt 27:11-14, 24, 26b)

    Speaker: Jesus, I wish you would speak!  I wish you would proclaim who you are.  I wish you would confront the disbelief of the crowds and the arrogant cowardice of the powers that be. Surely someone will speak up for you!  Where are the lepers who were healed?  Where are the blind who can now see?  Where are all the people who ate the bread and fish on the hillside?  Where are those who followed you so easily when they thought you would become King of the Jews? Yet no one speaks.  No voice in the crowd comes to your defense. You stand alone…

    I have been alone.  I have been falsely accused, and no one has spoken for me.  I have been treated unfairly by those who could have used their power for better purposes. I can understand some of your feelings as you stand silently before Pilate and watch him proclaim his own innocence as he condemns an innocent man…

    Station 2:  Jesus Accepts His Cross

    (Matthew 27:27-31)

    Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. (John 19:17)

    Speaker: Jesus, I cringe at the pain of the thorns. But I am wounded far more deeply at the humiliation and degradation you suffer, that the very thing you came to offer us as a gift becomes a source of ridicule.  The crowds thought of a King in terms of power.  But you came to be the kind of King who shepherds his people, who takes responsibility for their well being, whose principles are faithfulness, justice, and righteousness. And yet, the people are not ready for that kind of King.

    I would like to think that I am ready to follow you who offer a Kingdom of peace and love for one another.  But am I?  Am I willing to yield my ideas of what the Kingdom should look like for the role of a servant?  Am I really so willing to give up my human preoccupation with power and control and accept a different kind of crown than I was expecting? …

     Station 3:  Simon Helps Carry the Cross

    They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. (Mark 15:21)

    Jesus, I can only imagine the awful weight of that cross you carry. It is not just the weight of beams of wood that presses down on you. It is also the weight of the burden you carry for those whom you have loved.  You came to offer them life, and yet they return only death.

    So I see you fall from the crushing weight of pain and grief.  I don’t know how many times you have fallen.  But I know that your physical strength is failing.  The soldiers must recognize this as well, because they force a man from the crowd to help you carry the cross the rest of the way to the place where you will be crucified.  Perhaps they are afraid that you will die before you make it to the top of the hill. The man of Cyrene was just a bystander passing through on his way into town from the countryside.  And yet he bears the weight of the cross to save your strength.

    I would like to think that if I had been there I would have rushed from the crowd and volunteered to carry that cross for you.  But would I have had the courage to face the Roman soldiers and risk being forced to join you on a cross?  Would I have really been so eager to share your cross if it meant that I might have to die on one as well?  Would I have been willing to risk everything to ease your suffering for a few moments by letting you know that you were not alone?

    Besides, I have my own crosses already.  I have as much as I can bear without taking on the added burdens of others. And what would people think of me if I were seen consorting with criminals and enemies of Rome in such a public spectacle?  So instead of offering to help, I tried to become invisible in the crowd…

    Station 4:  Jesus Speaks to the Women

     (Luke 23:27-31)

    Jesus, as you struggle along the road toward that awful place of death, you see a group of women among the crowd following you, already grieving at your impending death.  You have heard this wailing many times before at funerals and tragic events.  But now, they mourn for you.

    You have always shown equal compassion to women you have encountered across the years.  You have always seemed to understand the unique burdens that women bear in a world and a culture that pushes them to the margins of society. So here, as you bear the most unimaginable pain of body and heart, you stop to speak to them. You are about to die, and yet you are more concerned with others than with your own suffering and death.

    But your words are strange and seem out of place on this road of sorrow. They have a prophetic ring to them as if you were still trying to tell people something important that they cannot quite grasp, or that perhaps they do not really want to hear.  You speak of even darker days, of far worse things to come upon the people.  Yet, how can things get worse? …

    Station 5:  Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments

    (John 19:23-25a)

    Jesus, I want to follow you on this journey. But I cannot watch this. I must turn away as you are humiliated.

    You came into this world amid celebration and anticipation…

    They wanted to make you king! Just a few days ago the crowds followed you in the streets of Jerusalem singing praises to God: “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! ”

    Yet now, you are forced to suffer the worst of human indignity. You stand alone as the soldiers strip from you the last thing that you possess, and play games to see who will claim it…

    Are you still trying to teach us something about what it means to serve others?  Is your surrender to such degradation a model for how we are to live in the world as your followers?

    I don’t like such an idea. I would rather walk with you into Jerusalem with the praise of the people ringing in my ears than to risk such humiliation. I want to follow you!  But is this really what it means to be a follower, that I must lay aside everything and risk this kind of degradation?

    And yet, that is exactly what you are doing…

    Station 6:  Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross

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    Our small group of worshipers had now stood at each of the stations along the right side of our small church. We had prayed and considered each as the group slowly processed to Station 6 near the front of the sanctuary. At the words of the following scripture the Holy Spirit pressed me to my knees. I could no longer stand.cross and light

    Now I am not a weak man or prone to fainting; yet in this moment of weakness beneath the Cross of Christ, I would have fallen to the floor had I not grabbed hold of the pew beside me and then sunk into the humility of worship.

    I could not walk further after this station, either, until near the end of the worship. I testify as God is my witness of a powerful moving of the Holy Spirit through our church in weeks to come which slayed many in the Spirit and also attracted false worshipers before the Spirit moved on to other believers in places known only to the Lord.

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    And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.”

    And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!”  In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him. (Mark 15:23-32)

    Jesus, I do not want to see this.  Yet I force myself to watch.nailed to the cross

    I hear the sharp crack of hammer against nail and shudder.

    It sounds so final. Is it over?  Did all those wonderful lessons you taught by the seaside mean anything? You spoke of being a light to the world, but it seems that darkness is winning…

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    From my knees in a pew behind those standing I wept for Jesus and for my sins.

    Lord forgive us. 

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    Station 7:  Jesus Cares for His Mother

    (John 19:25b-27)

    Station 8:  Jesus Dies on the Cross

    (Mark 15:33-39)

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    Link to original complete post: http://www.crivoice.org/stations.html#top

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    Jesus once asked a man,

    “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” – Mark 10:18 & Luke 18:19

    I had never understood this. I thought I had always been a pretty good Christian.

    Beloved friend, that is NOT good enough. You and I can never be anything but sinners!

    Only then, humbled by the cross, did I lose my burden of sin by the love and grace of the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ our Lord on the Cross of our Redemption. Only in that moment was I born not only in the water of baptism, but also born again in the Spirit of the Holy and Living God!

    Praise to our Lord Jesus Christ!

    O beloved, will you not consider how great the Sacrifice for your daily sin?

    Dear friend, will you humble your soul He does love (as do I) in the great hope of the resurrection we have only in Christ Jesus?

    For Jesus Christ was also nailed to the Cross for you.

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