Chapter 14c

vs 15 – 24

A familiar passage to most Christians is the story of the banquet. We all know of Jesus’ story of a great wedding feast, to whom many were invited, yet refused; by contrast, the master sends his servants out to bring in people from all around to enjoy the feast.

It’s familiar and nice. But sometimes I wonder if it’s too familiar.

I certainly hadn’t thought too deeply about it until now.

The thing is, we often think of how stupid those people were who gave up the opportunity to be at the wedding feast. And for what?

Well, let’s have a look.

v18: Bought a piece of land.

v19: Bought a team of oxen.

These two were hung up on the things they own. Now, in reality that would seem ridiculous. But isn’t that what we do to Jesus? Repeatedly? On a daily basis? We all know that we tend to see the acquisition of goods and currency as important; it’s the reason we work, mainly. So this is certainly believable!

v20: Just got married.

Get that. This person is being dragged away from the experience of a lifetime by his marriage. Perhaps, by extension, by sex and the pleasures of the flesh. And would you dare to try and tell me that real people don’t get caught by this one? Getting sexually involved with someone who isn’t a Christian is one of the classic ways someone loses their faith (note that it’s not so much losing faith as recognizing that one has to choose either the things they believe or the way that they live!).

By contrast, though, there are all sorts of people who don’t look to be ready. They’re not religious. They’re not trained. But they have one important feature – they’re ready!

Lesson over. Message received!

Chapter 14b

vs 7 – 14

These verses continue on from the last section, and it would appear that Jesus says this at the same dinner party where his host has just tried to trap him. As I said in my last blog (a fair while ago unfortunately!), Jesus manages to keep his temper, which is better than many of us may otherwise have done. More than that, though, He uses it as an opportunity for some teaching.

Notice how organic Jesus’ teaching is – He seems to have the perfect words for the situation (yet again!). At a dinner party, he neatly segues into a stealth anecdote on pride – with the concept that one should see others as being better than one’s self. In this way, rather than being humbled when your host demotes you, you can thrill at the joy when your host promotes you!

This is such good advice that it seems obvious. Yet when we apply it to similar situation in life, it can be difficult to do.

Let me illustrate. When you are driving along, it costs you nothing to let the other driver merge with you . . yet how often do we keep going selfishly on our own way?

It’s wired into us to be selfish. The atheist evangelist Richard Dawkins believes that it’s basically what our biology is supposed to do. Yet Jesus is calling us to be more than what our flesh wants to be.

He gives a good reason that goes beyond the spiritual here – think of the humiliation caused by demotion! – but the ultimate attitude Jesus wants is one of humility, and the reason He really wants is not because “I might get caught out,” but “It’s not right to see myself that way.”

Finally he gives some pointed advice to the host. “Next time, don’t just invite your rich friends and family, the type who could return the favour.”

Now, note that there was one person there that wasn’t a rich friend – the man with horrific arthritis that Jesus healed. On the Sabbath. But Jesus isn’t just talking about status – once again, it’s attitude that Jesus is interested in.

You see, the man may not have been rich or powerful, but he still had something the host wanted – and without that, he may well not have been invited.

It’s hard not to see this as a subtle but effective rebuke. “Next time don’t just invite people because they suit your purposes,” he could be saying. “Be genuine!”

Chapter 14a

vs 1 – 6

So Jesus is eating with a Pharisee. And this Pharisee JUST CONVENIENTLY HAPPENS to have another guest who JUST HAPPENS to have really bad swollen joints, and, golly gee, it’s the Sabbath Day. And a whole bunch of the Pharisee’s mates are here, presumably to yell “Gotcha!” when Jesus heals the man.

Haven’t we dealt with this issue enough in this book? I mean, really! It’s now been on the agenda three times. And three times Jesus has given the same rejoinder – if your animal fell down a hole on the Sabbath, you’d get him out. And really, isn’t a human worth more than that?

Jesus maintained His temper and healed the man.

I have to say I’d find that difficult. Because I don’t know about you, but this situation reeks of a setup.

Are you telling me that this guy just happened to be there on the Sabbath, when they’re already having trouble with Jesus healing people on the Sabbath? Somehow I can’t see this being a mistake.

And that kind of cynical behaviour is reprehensible. Totally reprehensible. In today’s legal terms it would be descrbed as “entrapment” – they were setting things up so Jesus would be likely to act.

This upsets me. They’re taking a person, a human being, as a tool to catch Jesus (God in human form, no less!). How dare they? And note that Jesus shows this man the compassion that the Pharisees will not display!

What can drive a person (who in all other respects is a good, gentle and religious man) to be so cruel?

We don’t really know; but experience tells us that people who are losing their power tend to get difficult; and this is perhaps why, in coming chapters, the plots against Jesus will intensify. The Pharisees and teachers of the Law don’t like Jesus changing things, so . . .they go against Him.

A showdown is coming.

Chapter 13: 18-35

vs 18 – 35

In the business of scripting movies, they talk about scenes that have “exposition” and scenes that have “narrative”. This is very much a narrative scene – it outlines the next phase of Jesus’ ministry, in Jerusalem. But along the way there’s still a lot happening.

Jesus starts with a couple of kingdom parables. The images Jesus selects for these – a mustard seed, some yeast – suggest that Jesus was simply using things that they saw along the way as sources of metaphors. And they’re good metaphors at that – describing the way the Kingdom grows (like a mustard seed, from small seed to large plant) and the way that the Kingdom penetrates the world (like yeast).

In the middle of all of this we see Jesus visited by some Pharisees – remember, some were on His side! – who warm him that Herod is going to try to kill Him.

Perhaps it’s because Jesus is too busy to worry. Or maybe it’s because He knows that His end isn’t coming up just yet, and He knew that He was invulnerable until the Plan was complete. Either way, Herod doesn’t impress Him. In fact, Jesus even tells Herod right where he’s going to be for the next three days – almost daring Him to try something.

But Jesus isn’t full of bravado. In fact He’s deeply moved.

Alone of the people in His group, Jesus is able to tell what is coming soon, and this leads to His lament for Jerusalem.

The accusation He tearfully declares to Jerusalem are surrounding the big mega theme for the last few chapters – hypocrisy. Jesus sums up the point nicely – “I wish”. Jesus wishes there was some way He could “call” Jerusalem and have it respond.

Alas that would not be; at least not now. Jesus knows He’s going to face at least part of the next few days totally alone.

Chapter 13b

The Sabbath seems to have been a big issue for the Pharisees.

Several times over the last few chapters, Jesus has been challenged for working on the Sabbath. This is the SECOND time that he’s upset people by healing in a synagogue on the Sabbath.

The woman was affected by arthritis. I have seen people with bad arthritis, and it’s a distressing sight. The passage says that she “couldn’t straighten up at all”. Poor woman. She’d have been hard to watch.

I’ve read this dozens of times and it hasn’t affected me much; it was just what Jesus does. You know, heals people, that sort of thing.

But this time I have imagined the woman. Bent so much she was doubled over. Face set in a permanent grimace as she walked. I can even hear the little sighs of pain with every step. All in all, I can just imagine being there; I wonder if I might have tapped Jesus on the shoulder, pointed to her and asked “can you do something for her?”

Then again, I can be pretty hard-hearted. Maybe I’d have said nothing.

Jesus, however, was obviously affected. So much so that he couldn’t just stand idly by when there was something he could do!

So he lays hands on her, heals her; for the first time in years, the woman is standing up straight, and giving Glory to God.

What reaction do we hear from the Pharisees? Did they celebrate with her? Did they say “It’s wonderful what you’ve done for her”?

No, they just say “You should have healed her another day. This is the SABBATH. Remember? Do no work! And healing counts as work!”

This is where I get angry, and Jesus did too – remember that anger isn’t wrong when it’s a reaction to some wrongdoing that you see, and that is exactly what is happening here. A woman has been given her life back by Jesus, and yet they’re more concerned about what rules he’s broken. When it comes to the PERSON, they couldn’t give a tinker’s cuss!

I think this can be an issue for us too. It’s possible for us to have very little compassion, whilst following the letter of the law. For example – if a guy came in to church who confessed to being gay, how would we react? Would we be more concerned with demonstrating Christ’s love and compassion? Or would we be more concerned with whether the rules have been followed?

Now, there are things that are right and wrong, and we are correct to be concerned with those things. But Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Surely these are the lost that Jesus was talking about!






7

Chapter 13a

vs 1 - 9

Just the other day I was having a discussion with a friend, an atheist. We were going over that well-worn territory “Either God is not all-powerful or He is not good”.

It’s a tired argument, but it doesn’t stop some people from trotting it out now and again. But here in Luke 13:1 – 9, Jesus makes a comment about just that.

Word has just reached Jesus and the Disciples about the latest atrocity committed by the Romans – Pilate has had a group of jews murdered as they sacrificed, their blood profaning the altar in as deep a way as can be imagined.

What is interesting here is that the disciples immediately seem to have begun speculating on what these people did to be so treated. And like my atheist friend, everything is seen in terms of God’s judgement. The attitude is similar to that seen in this cartoon:



The problem is that it assumes that everything that happens in this world must take place according to a program, a list of events that God has pre-ordained. That is what it means for God to be all-powerful, right?

Maybe. But then again, maybe not.

The paradox of predestination is that God’s ultimate aim was for people who would love Him. And for this to mean anything, those people need to have free will (after all, what good is love from something that is only following its program?).

But freedom is a risk, and what God is risking is that some people will abuse their freedom.

I can remember a youth group game which made this point quite graphically – half of a group of kids were handed rolled-up newspapers, and were told to form a circle around the other half, and they were given ten seconds to use their newspapers. Naturally, they used the newspapers to beat the living tar out of the other kids. Nobody told them to do that – they could have used the newspapers any way they liked! – but abuse was the natural reaction.

Humans do that. We’re selfish and violent, and it’s in our nature to ignore God and to hurt each other.

Jesus, typically, cuts through all the bull and keeps things very simple – Bad stuff happens. It’s not a judgement, it’s just stuff that’s part of living in a sinful world. And also typically Jesus, He sees through to the heart of the matter and points out that, just like all other bad things that happen, this should be seen by the people as a call to repentance.

He finishes with the parable of the tree – the tree has failed to bear fruit, and the owner wants it cut down – but the gardener says that he’ll give it one more year, and give it the absolute best treatment. Then if it still fails to bear fruit it will be cut down.

We are that tree, and we need to recognize that God’s patience will not last forever. We have a limited time to respond to Him.

Chapter 12e

vs 49 - 59

So we have this image of Jesus. I remember a song from Sunday School (actually, it’s sufficiently long ago that I can remember singing it but no more than the first line!) – “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild.”

Yeah, well, this “Gentle Jesus” is being so meek and mild that he describes what he has come to do as “to turn three against two, and two against three . . father against son, and son against father. . .”

Why is it someone who is so well known for being the good guy is saying something so seemingly harsh?

Well, it’s pretty simple. Jesus us making no bones about it; this world is completely and utterly broken, and He’s here to fix it. Not to fluff around. Sorry if that offends you but sometimes the truth does. Don’t like it? Get over it.

Let’s make it clear. It’s not like He delights in that sort of conflict. Far from it. In fact in some places in the Bible Jesus is in fact the influence who settles a conflict. But Jesus is above all else realistic, and if others might be fooled into thinking that everyone is going to hear Jesus’ message, slap their palm to their head and say “Of course! You’re right!”, Jesus is not. He knows that his message will be very unpopular in some quarters, and He’s telling His disciples to be ready.

This leads to one of those awkward questions – If we’re not facing opposition, could that mean we’re not doing anything useful for God?

Chapter 12d

vs 35 – 48

Many of my atheist friends find the concept of Jesus’ second coming one of the hardest parts of the Gospel to swallow – perhaps even harder than the concept of the very resurrection itself!

The idea that there is an end coming – within this age, perhaps even today! – is simply ridiculous to people who don’t understand Christ. Yet it is a keystone of the concept of the Gospel.

The idea that we don’t have forever, that one day Jesus will return (this time in Glory) is critical for several reasons.

1) It is a motivator. In the parable we read in Luke tonight, there are servants who are ready for the Master’s return. They continue to do his work and keep the house shipshape until he arrives. And when he gets back, the master does what is amazing within this culture – he waits on THEM and allows them to share the party!

In the same way, we can be motivated by knowledge of the Master’s return. We should be working to prepare, because we don’t know when He will be back. And we know that when He returns, we will share in our Master’s joy.

2) It is a comfort. Sometimes life gets hard, and keeping on with our work as Christians can get really burdensome. It’s good to know that this work doesn’t continue forever, and that there is an end.

3) It is a warning. As for the servants in the parable who DIDN’T pay heed to the warning of the Master’s return, well, it didn’t go well with them! And in the same way, we should pay heed lest we find ourselves goofing off when the Master gets back.

Sermon: 1 Cor 13 - 16

Good evening all!

As I will be preaching at Sanctuary tomorrow, there will be a sermon here instead of the usual blog. If you're a Sanctuary member, be warned that here there be spoilers!

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1 Cor 13-16: Love – the Crucial ingredient

Houston, we’ve had a problem . . . with the roster. It’s a fairly minor problem, and it’s one I can actually fix today. The problem is that we’ve missed a sermon on 1 Corinthians somewhere, and so we’re actually 2 chapters behind. No problem, because today I’ll simply speak on 4 chapters instead of 2!

(pray)

Picture this: You are a flight controller looking after a mission to the moon. A few hours ago your measured, organized life suddenly went to pot. Something has exploded on the spaceship, and you’ve made a disturbing discovery . .

(cue DVD)

The * figure of 45 hours represents the amount of breathing oxygen in the tanks. Most of the crew thought that this was the main problem.

In the same way, over the last few weeks we have seen how the * Corinthian church thought that the main issue was the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and therefore took any opportunity, fair or foul, to exercise those.

But * John Aaron’s realization was that although breathing oxygen was important, power was * more important – * Every system in the space craft ran on electricity, and without it the astronauts couldn’t breathe, communicate, operate equipment. In short, electricity under girded everything that the spacecraft and its crew did – and without it, the bald fact was that they would die.

In the same way, although the Holy Spirit’s * gifts are important to Christians, the critical factor in a Christian’s life, and even more so in a church’s life is * LOVE – without it, we may as well shut up shop now and distribute the funds amongst ourselves. Without love, evangelism is pointless. Without love, Social concern is nothing more than being nice. Without love, Kid’s clubs, youth groups and beach missions are a pointless waste of time and effort. Love is the * crucial ingredient to the Christian life, and without it, we are nothing. Although the passages we are examining today go on to other topics, I have given this talk the title “Love, the crucial ingredient,” because it is the starting point without which everything else is worthless.

1 Cor 13 is one of the best known chapters in the Bible. I believe most of us have heard it being abused many times. Did I say “Abused”? Yes, I did! It is abused every time you hear it read in isolation, without understanding the passages around it. This includes, I am sorry to say, nearly every time it’s read at a Christian’s wedding. It includes a plaque we used to hang in the toilet at home. It even includes a well-known printing of the Good News Bible – “The Greatest is Love”.

When you hear this passage read on its own, it sounds pretty nice. It * isn’t. When you read it all together and place this passage in its context, it’s * not romantic poetry – it’s a desperate last ditch effort to save a church from complete self-destruction!

The previous chapter has been discussing the use of Spiritual gifts in Corinth, which was anything but spiritual. People were seeing their spiritual worth in terms of the gifts they have been given, for example treating a person with Prophecy as if he was worth more than a lowly administrator. Paul sees this as unacceptable, and in the last chapter he strongly states that this attitude has to go.

But he can’t stop here. Let’s try an experiment – I command you * not to think of pink elephants!

Who here thought of a pink elephant straight away? Probably most of you. A common trap we fall in to is to spend a lot of our time focusing on where we don’t want to go.

But Paul is smarter than that. He recognizes that it’s not enough to tell people what not to do, they need to know what TO do. And so we * have his response:

* DON’T make Spiritual gifts your main yardstick. They are gifts, not markers of your standing before God.

* DO focus on love. Love is paramount, and is behind everything the Christian does.

But Paul goes further, and these famous words make much more impact on us when we remember the situation he speaks to.

Some people in the Corinthian church (and indeed, in churches today) measure themselves by speaking in tongues – but Paul points out that “If I * speak in the tongues of men and angels, but * have not love, I achieve * nothing more than annoying people with the racket, like fingernails down a blackboard or a guitar with one string out of tune.” My own version, of course!

Other people set great store on prophecy, wisdom or faith – again, this is visible in many churches today – but Paul says that “If I have the * gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a * faith that can move mountains, but have * not love, I * am worthless.”

Still others were relying on their generosity and concern for those less fortunate than themselves, or on their commitment – ouch, I think that’s the one where Paul has ME in his sights! But Paul dismisses this too: “If I * give all I possess to the poor and * surrender my body to the flames but * have not love, I * get nowhere!”

Do you get the point? It’s tempting to see these passages as attacking Charismatic Christians, but it’s not discriminating; it gets all of us! It’s a bit of a paradox – if you’re comparing yourself with another Christian or church on anything except love, you’re wrong! And if you’re comparing on love, well, you’re not really being loving anyway, so you’re still wrong!
But * what is love? It was difficult enough to define in Paul’s day, and back then they at least had four different words, so you knew roughly what he meant. Today, the word love can refer to your feelings or your actions, and can be used in so many ways - for example, “I love Holdens” means something different to “I love my daughters,” and different again to “I love Char Siu Beef with fried rice”. So rather than produce a long dictionary definition, Paul * gives some examples of love in action. As I go through this list, replace the word “Love” with your name, and ask yourself if what follows is a truthful statement.

* Love is Patient – meaning that it puts up with the actions and attitudes of other people for extended periods of time.

* Love is Kind – meaning that it does good things for others no matter what.

* Love does not Envy – meaning that it cares more about people than it does about what they own.

* Love does not Boast – meaning that it doesn’t seek to make itself seem important to other people.

* Love is not proud – meaning that it recognizes that in God’s eyes, it is no more and no less important than everyone else.

* Love is not rude – meaning that it chooses not to be offensive.

* Love is not self-seeking – meaning that it does not do what is right for itself and forget about everyone else.

* Love is not easily angered – This one is pretty self-explanatory.

* Love keeps no record of wrongs – meaning that it doesn’t remember what people have done or said to use against them later.

* Love does not delight in evil – meaning that it doesn’t find it funny or satisfying when someone gets what they deserve.

* Love rejoices in the truth – meaning that the facts of the matter are more important than whether or not it’s a great story.

* Love always protects – meaning that it puts itself in harms way for the sake of those weaker than itself.

* Love always trusts – meaning that even when others would say “he’s proved himself untrustworthy,” it gives another chance.

* Love always hopes – meaning that when everyone else gives up, love is still in there encouraging.

* Love always perseveres – meaning that it’s in it for the long haul.

* And here’s the ultimate test of love – LOVE NEVER FAILS.

How many of those statements were true? Two? Three? THIS is how we need to be measuring ourselves. And notice that it doesn’t say “is more patient than others,” it says “is patient.” Paul isn’t after us comparing ourselves to each other, he wants to see us thinking in absolute terms. Not “am I more loving than Brendan?”, simply “Am I loving?”

I wonder what impact it may have on us if we were to go through a “love checklist” every day? So we’re going to have homework. Now, I’m not going to check this, it’s between you and God, but it could be good to discuss it with someone you trust – perhaps your husband, your wife, your best friend or your mentor.

Paul then puts the previous issue of Spiritual gifts – especially the outwardly visible gifts of tongues and prophecy – into the context of love, because once we understand what love is, and can honestly say we have applied it to our lives, then issues like these become a lot easier to manage.

Now, for those who don’t know what we mean when we talk about tongues or prophecy, I think that it is useful to take a moment to define these and understand exactly what they mean.

When we talk about * speaking in tongues, there are two extreme ideas about what it may mean:
1) * One idea is that speaking in tongues is talking to God in an unknown language. Some suggest that the first verse of Chapter 13 hints that these are the languages spoken by angels, but at any rate they are not understood by the speaker or by those around the speaker.
2) * The other idea is that speaking in tongues refers to the miracle that occurred in the beginning of Acts, where people from many different language groups heard the Disciples speaking fluently in their own languages, despite the fact that these uneducated men had never learned these languages.

Chapter 14 seems to imply the first idea, but it certainly does not automatically rule out the second. Either way, this issue is a hot potato in the Church, and has led to bitter debate for many years. Unfortunately, over history, this issue has divided us and split us again and again. Even within our own church it has split us. It is common to hear Charismatic Christians say that if you don’t speak in tongues, the Holy Spirit isn’t living in you. On the other hand, more conservative Christians will counter by saying that the speaking in tongues heard in Charismatic churches is fake, something people do to make themselves seem spiritual.

Do you know what the tragedy of this is? It’s simple. If we truly took chapter 13 seriously, then THIS ISSUE WOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM. I will say again, THIS ISSUE WOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM.

The ENTIRE ISSUE is to be handled with love, BOTH WAYS. Say Harry speaks in tongues – fine. He is responsible for loving Sally, who does not. Equally, she is responsible for loving Harry! Of course, they may never come to complete agreement, but if they practice a humble, loving attitude, they won’t be comparing themselves with each other, and that means that this issue WILL NOT DIVIDE THEM. It is time we in the church, on both sides of this issue stopped being arrogant, proud and self seeking. BY THIS SHALL ALL MEN KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES – IF YOU HAVE LOVE ONE FOR ANOTHER. Red letters!

One thing is important to note – Paul accepts the value of tongues, and is quite clear that some find this gift of benefit. Verse 4 of chapter 14 tells us that speaking in tongues builds up the speaker. But whilst he does not devalue this gift, he points out that another gift, * Prophecy, is of value to everyone present.

When most people hear the word prophecy, they generally think of the * future. God has knowledge of the future, and if the situation demands it, he sometimes reveals it. But there is * more to prophecy than foretelling – much more.

Prophecy is * telling others what God has spoken to you. Again, there are different ideas of what this may mean. To some, it may * involve interpreting God’s word in the Bible and applying it to a certain situation. Other Christians say that it is * God directly giving a person a word of knowledge. Which is right? I believe both. I believe that at least once, God has spoken directly to my mind. But for me, he speaks more often through His revealed word, the Bible.

There is a subtle but important difference between the gift of teaching, and the gift of prophecy. Teaching gives people general principles that can always be applied; prophecy is about specific situations in which God speaks.

It’s also worth mentioning the difference between Prophecy and wisdom. Both are gifts listed in the Bible, and both are important. Wisdom uses human skill and intellect to process ideas through to a logical conclusion. Prophecy takes information from God, and uses that to get His perspective on a situation. Put another way, Wisdom answers the question “Will this work?” Prophecy answers the question “Is this what God wants?”. Which is more important? Like the wings of an aircraft – the one which isn’t there!

The Principle is simple. Paul says we are to eagerly desire God’s gifts, and when we ask God – remember, if we demand them, they’re not a gift – we should concentrate more on the gifts which benefit a greater number of people.

We are running out of time for this talk, so I won’t go into too much detail on chapter 15, which is about the resurrection. I will content myself with a simple, but profound statement.

Paul says that *the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead was REAL, and it was PHYSICAL. If it is not, Paul says that Christianity itself is completely invalid! So don’t let anyone pull a snow job on you and say that the resurrection is “a story”, “a metaphor” or “a hoax”. Does it matter? You bet it does. Either it is true or it is false. If it is false, don’t bother being a Christian. But IT IS TRUE, and that means we have to respond to the greatest demonstration that God could give that He is who He says He is.

Chapter 16 is interesting and relevant to each of us as we try to get inside the mind of Paul, but we are now out of time, and I want to ensure that we focus on the main points of today. I encourage you to take the time to read this yourself.

As the band come up for the last song, I want us to finish by checking over today’s progression of ideas:

1) We should not compare Spiritual gifts (or anything else!) with other Christians.

2) Love is everything. Without love, we are useless.

3) In this context, Spiritual gifts (including tongues and prophecy) should be used to benefit the church.

4) The resurrection is real and non-negotiable.

Remember your homework – the Greatest is Love!

Chapter 12c

vs 22 – 34

Yesterday we looked at a passage which can (and should) give us all the willies. But there’s a different way to look at the issue of wealth and the Christian, and it’s found right here, in the next few verses.

After warning us that the time spent seeking after wealth will ultimately wind up pointless and futile, Jesus then changes tack. Instead, he demonstrates that seeking such things is also UNNECESSARY.

Worrying and fussing is futile. This we know. We learn that lesson time and time again as part of our lives. And yet, so easily do we fall back into such patterns!

Jesus says here, so clearly – the very flowers of the field are ‘clothed in splendour’, without their ever worrying or caring. We can’t out-give God!

Does this mean that we’re not to work for a living? Of course not. It’s all about where our attention is meant to be.

Growing up, the song “Seek ye first” was popular among Christians. In that song we learned verse 31 by heart. But there’s a catch – we also lost much of its impact. As the language drifted, the phrase “Seek ye first the kingdom of God/ And His righteousness/ And all these things shall be added unto you” became less and less understandable.

That’s why I appreciate the message version – “Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.”

It’s all about where our attention is.

The irony of all this is that the topic on which I find it easiest to worry is my work for God! So this is something I really have to keep focused on. If I am to steep myself in God-reality, doing God’s work, surely I should be able to have faith in God’s ability and willingness to supply my needs!

Chapter 12b

vs 13 – 21

There are some stories you read in the Bible that are truly frightening. Sometimes it’s because there’s something horrendous happening. Other times – like this one – the fear is understated; but it’s definitely there.

In this story I fear because of something that lurks in the back of every human’s consciousness – the realization that some day, sooner or later, life as we understand it comes to an end.

Our hero is rich. There’s no hint that his wealth is in any way ill-gotten; we have no reason to believe he achieved wealth by any other means than hard work and diligence. Let’s be clear here – the fact that he is wealthy isn’t condemned.

But this man HAS spent his entire life working for the goods he’s accumulated. He is now at the point where if he builds larger barns, he can relax to some extent.

Then like all of us, he faces death.

We are forced to look at the question of whom will receive his money and goods now that he is dead.

And you know, we’re really looking at ourselves.

The horrible thing about death is that we can’t really imagine it. We can’t imagine what it is like to not be here. Mostly we try to avoid thinking about it; but we’re fooling nobody but ourselves.

Today Steve Jobs died. He’d amassed an incredible fortune; yet who has it now?

The reality is that we all must face this and come to terms with it. This is how it will be if we gather up things for ourselves but are not rich with God.

Chapter 12a

vs 1 – 12

If Jesus had been a mythical character, created by a particular group for their purposes, the Bible would show him being nice to his own people. And as I have written here before, the people he’d be most nice to would have been the Pharisees – all his teaching was in line with their ideas. In fact, Jesus was an extreme Pharisee – he taught that one should go over and above the rules that the Pharisees set.

So in some respects it’s remarkable that Jesus saves most of his snarkiest comments for those who are most like Him in their theology and attitudes!

And boy, doesn’t He ever let rip here!

The metaphor of yeast is particularly stinging to the Pharisees – Jesus is comparing them to something which, during the great festival of Passover, must be eliminated from the cooking! Something that is, in a sense, unclean. Incidentally, this is not the only time Jesus kicks the Pharisees right where it hurts; but it is a very strong rebuke to them.

At the end of Chapter 11 we saw a group of Pharisees muttering together how they could trick Jesus into saying something incriminating. At this stage, at least as far as Luke is concerned, they’re not yet discussing how they could kill Jesus. But He knows it’s not far away. To be blunt, He doesn’t need divine powers to figure this out; any person would be able to see that it’s only a matter of time. Outlining what is going to happen is Jesus’ way of saying that He aims to misbehave, and He won’t be stopping because the Pharisees are offended. Bluntly, it’s a declaration of war, aimed at those whose views are as close as possible to His own.

Jesus ensures His disciples know that they are loved and valued – the famous comparison with sparrows. “You are worth more than many sparrows,” He says.

But often that passage is taken out of context. Although it gets used this way, it’s not just a vague and general statement of the worth of humanity (though God certainly DOES value us!); Rather, it’s something Jesus reminds His people of just before He tells them of the bad situations they will face.

And those situations are indeed bad. He makes it very clear that there will be moments when they will have to stand up for Him, and it will be difficult (this is one test which we know the outcome of – Peter, one of Jesus’ closest disciples, will fail this test; yet he won’t be rejected). Jesus also warns that when they are called upon to show themselves to be His, they MUST hold firm.

He finishes off with an encouraging word – His promise that the Holy Spirit will help them to know what to say during these times. This is a big thing for the disciples – remember, in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit comes on a person only for a brief period, and even then only particular people (like the King or the High Priest). What Jesus is promising is that they – ordinary folks that that they are – will be controlled by the Holy Spirit!

So, in wrapping up, what difference does this passage make?

We all hope it won’t happen – but face it, some Christians DO get called upon to make that big call of declaring themselves on pain of death. Usually this is in other countries, but there was the infamous incident at Columbine High School; When the two boys carrying guns walked into the school, shooting many, they selectively sought Christians and demanded that they declare themselves (and if they did, they’d often shoot them anyway).]

Would we have faced death?

I like to think that I’d be okay in that situation, but who knows?

We need to read this and understand that we too could be the ones in that situation. And just like his declaration of war on the Pharisees, so too Jesus today calls us to be at war with the world.

I’ll finish with a quote I once read:
“If being a Christian were a crime, would there be sufficient evidence for a conviction?”

Chapter 11d

Note: As I'll be visiting family for the next week, my access to the internet will be sporadic at best. The commentary will resume the following Tuesday evening, 4th October.

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vs 37 - 54

Jesus has had some hard words in this chapter, but they come to their culmination in the last part. A Pharisee that had invited Jesus to dinner made a snide remark about Jesus not washing correctly[1] for dinner.

It looks like this comment is some kind of last straw for Jesus.

There are a lot of things that Jesus hated, but it’s clear that the top of his list of “things I really don’t like” would have been hypocrisy. The worst thing that Jesus ever says to someone is “You hypocrite!”

Hypocrisy is saying one thing and doing another. Sadly, it’s something we’re all guilty of from time to time. I know that I am far from immune.

Hypocrisy is tied to self-righteousness, in that when you act hypocritically you are trying to appear better to others than you really are. You want others thinking “Gosh, what a good guy/girl!”

It’s worse when we try to fool God. He’s not fooled, and anyway, it’s stupid to try!

Jesus goes off here. I mean, right off.

And the theme is the same throughout this tirade. Always it is the triumph of style over substance.

For many years I, like many Christians, had assumed that the Pharisees were Jesus’ natural enemies. I know differently now. Of all the religious groups in Judea at the time, the Pharisees were closest to Jesus’ own views.

So perhaps the anger he feels here is inspired partially by hurt. Perhaps Jesus is feeling “Of all the people in this world, THESE ones should know what I’m about! Of all people THESE should look after the poor! THESE should care more about what’s inside than what’s outside! THESE should be the ones pointing the way to God – BUT THEY ARE NONE OF THESE THINGS!”

Sometimes we can catch a glimpse of how Jesus is feeling. We all know what it’s like to see a prominent Christian who has said or done something stupid, getting themselves plastered on the headlines for the wrong reasons. I know at times like that, I have felt the intense shame of realizing that another Christian has been the cause of the names of all Christians being dragged in the mud.

Worse than that, though, I have BEEN the Christian who did the dragging. We all have been at times.

How would Jesus react to us?

I think a crucial thing would be our awareness. One attitude that shines through in these passages is the snobbishness of the Pharisee who started the whole thing. There’s a general sense that he doesn’t seem to realize that he has a problem.

Perhaps we need to regard ourselves as being somehow like the people who meet at Alcoholics Anonymous – “My name is Johno, and I’m a hypocrite”. A bit of humility and self-awareness seems to be very much in order.

[1] It’s worth considering here that the Pharisee’s problem was the fact that GOD IN HUMAN FORM didn’t consider it worth going through the motions of symbolic cleanliness. Ironically, he should have been taking notes from Jesus!

Chapter 11c

vs 29 - 36

I guess in a sense you could call me a professional non-believer.

See, I’m a science teacher. So not only do I have an instinctive mindset that says “Don’t believe it!”, I teach other people to have that mindset too!

Does this mean that I am one of those people that Jesus condemns in verses 29-30?

I can certainly imagine some of the more cynical atheists I know in the crowd where Jesus was speaking. “Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence,” they would say.

Would Jesus be angry at them for their unbelief? Or would He treat them gently, demonstrating gently that He is who He says He is?

Complicating this matter is that Jesus certainly did BOTH at various times. There are times (such as this one) where Jesus went OFF. He basically gave it to those wanting a sign, saying that they really just wanted a show (the different translations of the Bible use different words for it, but that’s basically what it boils down to). On the other hand, when Thomas doubted Him – someone who’d been in the team, traveling with Him for 3 years, someone who knew Jesus and what He was capable of – Jesus gave him the kid gloves treatment.

What is it about this crowd that got on Jesus’ nerves?

I don’t know, but I have an idea. It’s not so much the ACT of asking for evidence that Jesus targets. My scientific friends would be safe in that respect. What Jesus is targeting is an ATTITUDE.

If you look further down, in verses 31 and 32, what Jesus talks about is the attitude which has people squabbling about the nature of proof required when it is given.

You know, when it all comes down to it, the one attitude God can’t stand is PRIDE. All sins and all bad attitudes seem to stem from this – the basic idea that “I’m the one who’s important here.” And what Jesus is targeting is one outworking of a prideful attitude – the desire to prove that one is right.

We’ve all met them – people who are so concerned to be right, to win the argument, that they’ll do anything.

Met them, huh.

Maybe not a few of us have BEEN them. I know I certainly am. I’m getting better (I think/hope), but I’m still pretty proud. So maybe I’m the sort of person that Jesus is firmly kicking into next week here.

No, my atheist mates would be fine, so long as they’re prepared to accept the evidence that Jesus gives. It’s me that has a problem; I’m the one with a prideful attitude towards God!

An honest curiosity and desire for evidence isn’t wrong, and won’t keep you separate from God. Pride in your own abilities just might if you’re not careful.

Chapter 11b

Jesus’ enemies are desperate. And why wouldn’t they be?

After all, this man who can heal the sick and raise the dead seems to be muscling in on their turf! A conundrum to be sure.

What makes it all the more alarming is that they (most of Jesus’ enemies) saw themselves as the good guys. And quite simply, that must make Jesus one of the BAD guys. . .

. . . Only problem with that – if he’s a bad guy, how come he’s forcing demons out of their hosts?!

This is a big problem, because although Jesus is asserting His authority over anything bigger than a mosquito, the religious leaders REALLY don’t want to hear it. Just remember how intense they got when Jesus’ disciples were just picking grain in the fields!

They’re at the point where they’re ready to believe ANYTHING except the truth. And that’s where you get this bizarre idea – that Jesus is casting out demons with the power of Demons Himself!

Now, at first this seems fairly far-fetched. But take a moment to think about the idea – it’s not as crazy as it sounds!

The idea is that the Prince of demons (to ancient Jews, Beelzebub) had authority over his troops and could stop them at any time. So one way to defeat a demonic attack was for Satan to order it to stop. So there’s the first reason why this idea isn’t as strange as it looks.

Another reason is that the Pharisees, let’s face it, were grasping at straws. Any idea this upstart was go going to deal with all this with a smile? Doubt it! So any idea that was half-way plausible would be pounced on like the last steak in the world being dragged through a dog pound.

Now, we’d never do something like that, right? Attributing to the devil what God has done?

Scary thought – it’s very close to the unforgivable sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit!

Yet putting myself in their place, I think I may well have done similarly. Whatever it is to make people ignore obvious flaws and stick only to their previously held idea, it’s something that may be found in all of us. It’s worth giving ourselves an occasional shake up, just to ensure that we’re thinking straight.

Otherwise there’s every possibility we might be missing something important.

Chapter 11

There is something fascinating in Jesus’ prayer habits.

What is remarkable to me is that when the disciples looked at Him, they asked Him to “Teach us to pray.”

Do you catch this?

A partial list of what we’ve seen Jesus do since the beginning of Luke:
* Calm a storm
* Heal sick people
* Drive out demons
* RAISE DEAD PEOPLE (Seriously!)
* (most miraculously of all) convince a Tax Collector and a Zealot to be in the same group!

And after Jesus has done all this, what do they want Him to teach them?

How to pray!

What was it about Jesus’ prayer life that seemed so astounding that instead of asking Him to teach them to raise dead people, they asked Him to teach them to pray? I don’t know for sure, but there are a few things that stand out.

Certainly there was real (and obvious) intimacy to the way that Jesus prayed – “Our Father” is a fairly commonly used expression for God today, but in Jesus’ time that was familiar to the point of scandal. It’s like walking up to the Queen and saying “Hey Babe, how’s it going?[1]”

There was also simplicity. In a world where people tended to gabble and use big words as though it impressed God (and no, we wouldn’t do anything like using archaic language in our prayer lives, now, would we?), Jesus simply says to lay your requests before Him, in simple terms, and to not forget our Spiritual needs and the needs of the world in the rush.

There is one other thing in the prayer Jesus taught; something He wouldn’t have needed, but which would have made a real difference to people. It’s confession. People have a deep need for forgiveness, and the idea that one could confess sin to God without sacrificing a sheep every time must have seemed wonderful to 1st Century Jews!

In any case, Jesus teaches His disciples this simple prayer, which has been called “The Lord’s Prayer” by Protestants, and often the “Our Father” by Catholics (who often name prayers after their first two words – sometimes in Latin, in which case this one is the Pater Noster). For nearly 2000 years, it’s been repeated in Church as part of the standard service or mass; In my opinion, that’s kind of missing the point, since it seems to be more of a model for peoples’ prayers, rather than a form letter to God. But in any case, most of us know it.

I will break with tradition tonight and come back to chapter 11 tomorrow night. There’s simply too much in this chapter to leave it here!


[1] The interesting thing about this one is that it’s something that’d be shocking if any of us did it – but for the Queen’s husband, on the other hand, such a remark would be completely appropriate. In the same way, Jesus calling God His “Father” seemed scandalous only because people were reluctant to accept His claims of divinity.

Chapter 10

I have never really understood Jesus’ instructions to his disciples when he sent them out. Why impose such difficulty on them as they were off to preach His word? Surely that work is going to be difficult enough! Why make it any harder than it has to be?

Now, some of you may be wondering what I thought would be so difficult. Well, there was the fact that they had to go with no spare clothes or food, for a start. And there was the whole deal of picking one place and staying there until they left town (wouldn’t that get their host annoyed?). And they had to eat whatever they were given (for me, this was a particularly scary concept).

That’s why I was surprised on reading this passage in The Message. For the first time in my life, I GET what Jesus is saying (and before you ask, it’s not interpolation, either – I checked back in the NIV, and it REALLY DOES say this!).

He’s not saying that there’s any need to make the mission hard. He’s not imposing conditions. If anything, he’s making things easy!

Before we go into this, it’s important to remember the traditions of hospitality in the Middle East, both in this time period and today. Hospitality was a sacred duty, and it was seen by the community to be important to look after guests. In other words, you might stay with one family, but you’d be looked after by everyone.

In this context, the idea of the Disciples staying in one place makes a lot more sense – Jesus is just saying “settle down in a town, don’t muck around looking for the classiest digs and the nicest food.”

He’s also telling the disciples to travel light, taking only the bare minimum that they need to live, and to trust God for their needs to be met. In doing this, He’s doing two things. Firstly he is instigating a culture of trusting God to provide. Secondly, He’s making things easier on the Disciples – remember, they’re walking all the way, so even a little bit of extra kit would make things quite difficult for them. By telling them to basically only take what can be held in the hands, Jesus is ensuring that the disciples can move quickly and easily wherever they go.

And that’s another thing – Jesus is impressing on these men the URGENCY of the mission. He doesn’t want them being bogged down in all kinds of unimportant affairs; he wants them preaching the good news to all and sundry, and the best way to do that is to ensure that they simply take the path of least resistance when they enter a town.

It’s interesting the change of pace that happens here. After Jesus has finished describing his instructions to His disciples, we’re immediately brought face to face with the Pharisee who asks “Who is my neighbour?” And, of course, we have the parable of the Good Samaritan. This is a parable on which I have previously written much, so I shall leave it for now.

And then another change of pace. This time we see that Jesus followed his own advice – he settled at the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha in Bethany. Curiously, we can see one of the contrasts that characterize Jesus – although His mission is urgent, He is unhurried, and He encourages His people to have the same attitude.

How does all this affect us?

I think for me, the running theme is “simplicity”. We tend to overcomplicate ministry. I don’t know if you’ve considered this, but in many churches it is now default to use at least 2-3 computers in a regular church service, to say nothing of major evangelistic events!

By contrast, Jesus’ approach is simplicity itself. He simply sends people to preach.

There is certainly room for complex Gospel Presentation events. But let’s not get bogged down. Jesus calls us to get out there WITH OR WITHOUT the complexity.

Chapter 9

So it’s not enough that Jesus has the authority to do pretty much whatever He likes. Now we discover that He can delegate that authority!

Jesus sends out his 12 disciples, and with little fanfare or ceremony gives them the power to perform miracles.

This is one of those ideas to which we become jaded by the fact that we’re so used to it. But I’m fairly certain it’d be far more amazing (and threatening!) if you were one of those disciples! Think about it – you are given the ability to heal the sick, to drive out demons and other kinds of stuff, just with a touch! Just imagine how that would be – knowing that the sick person over there could and would recover if you touched them. It’s amazing!

At this point Jesus looks to have been at the peak of His popularity. And it continues. The 5 loaves and 2 fishes are used to feed a crowd; so now they’re on side (in a shallow sense). People will walk incredible distances just to hear Jesus speak.

With all this going for Him, it’s NOW that Jesus chooses to announce for the first time that “the son of man will be captured and handed over to His enemies.

It’s a little difficult to imagine, but rest assured this would be VERY likely to influence public opinion.

Chapter 8

When we do basic Christianity courses such as Alpha or Christianity Explained, one common theme that we need to tackle is the authority of Jesus.

If you are struggling with this concept, you could do worse than to simply read Luke 8.

But be warned – it will strain your credibility to breaking point if you read it correctly.

Jesus is asserting authority over an amazing array of things – death, nature, illness, demons. A synagogue ruler (you’ve probably never thought of that one). His MOTHER (I hadn’t though of that one either until right now!).

This is actually quite hard to accept in a lot of ways. I don’t know if you have ever considered this, but to simply assert one’s authority is not a normal thing you do.

Oh, we DEFY established authority regularly. But to simply and confidently assert your own authority over something is completely different. What Jesus does here is unusual.

To be fair to Him, He backs up His claim with evidence. To claim to have authority over death doesn’t do much unless you can demonstrate such a thing.

Jesus does.

I don’t know about you, but that would scare me. It’d rock my nice, neat and explainable world to its core.

There’s the thing, right there – how do we feel about this authoritative Jesus?

If you find it hard, spare a thought for those who are there. For us it’s just hearing stories about Jesus’ activity. For THEM, of course, it’s right there right now.

How do you react when the nice normal friend you’ve spent so much time with nonchalantly heals a serious illness? Or worse, what about if he walks up to a dead kid and commands him to get up – AND THE KID DOES!

Chapter 7

An interesting thing here: In chapter 7 we read of three well-know events in the life of Christ, yet they actually come together pretty surprisingly.

Firstly we have Jesus healing the centurion’s servant. No problem there.

Then Jesus raises the widow’s son. Again, no hassle.

Then we have John the Baptist asking if Jesus is the One.

What?!

What was John expecting? Why was he skeptical of Jesus?

Hadn’t his followers told John about the amazing miracles Jesus has done?

Clearly John is more concerned with what he thinks Messiah should look like than what He is doing!

In so doing, though, John has missed the obvious. Really obvious.

This man is RAISING THE DEAD!

It says something for John’s idea of what the Messiah was going to do that he was able to miss that out. Yet I think we all do something similar when we underestimate the grace of God! God is both willing and able to forgive any sin. So why do we beat around the bush?

In any case, Jesus treats John’s struggles with faith in a very gentle way. He simply tells him that “The blind see,
The lame walk,
Lepers are cleansed,
The deaf hear,
The dead are raised,
The wretched of the earth
have God's salvation hospitality extended to them.”

The answer to John’s faith crisis is not to talk about what WILL happen, so much as to discuss what HAS happened.

Jesus has dealt with us all well. When worried about your FUTURE with Him, consider all He has done for you In the past.

Chapter 6

There are those who say “Jesus didn’t really claim to be God, did He?”

There’s always some kind of question behind that question.

Almost always it’s a matter of Jesus either not meeting or going beyond someone’s expectations. Muslims see Jesus as a prophet, not (repeat NOT) a messiah, and certainly not God; to them, only God is God, and for anyone else to make that claim is simply blasphemy, unless the claim is true. Muslims believe that Jesus is not Allah, so he mustn’t be making these claims. Christians must be lying.

Meanwhile, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons, because otherwise I’ll be typing this all night), meanwhile, would say that for Jesus to make this claim would imply that it was not true of everyone. Part of COJCOLDS theology is the concept of everyone ultimately being promoted to God-status and being given command of their own world. If Jesus claims to be God, he’s kind of puncturing this – if it’s what happens to everyone, why make an issue of it? Christians must be mistaken.

It even gets said by people without too much of an axe to grind, theoretically. Jesus is a pretty awesome guy by ANYONE’S standards, and therefore everyone kind of wants to claim him as their own; and atheists are no exception. But the snag for them is that they don’t believe in God at all – so if Jesus is claiming to be Him, then he’s as crazy as the religious people, right? Christians must be deluded.

Well, if you read here in Luke chapter 6 we have the first of Jesus’ claims to deity. In fairness, it’s a rather indirect one. But the point is that these indirect claims are coming all the time, throughout the Gospels.

This time Jesus simply declares Himself – Twice! – to be the Lord of the Sabbath.

No prizes for guessing that one. That’s an indirect claim, but there is nothing ambiguous about it. He’s claiming equality with God.

Now, the Pharisees are pretty upset. That’s understandable. They’ve spent years working on, refining and defining the concepts of working on the Sabbath (among many other things). They’re the authorities on this topic.

Then a thirty-year-old Rabbi comes along and blithely tells them ‘You’ve got it wrong, I’m the one in charge and I say differently’.

Such an audacious claim, and it’s easily understood that they would be upset.

Perhaps that’s why Jesus (usually very shy about doing miracles just to prove a point) is willing to do one here – needless to say, his audience will require some convincing.

The trouble for them is that they continue being unconvinced (and, dare I say it, stubborn) when Jesus gives them all the evidence they could possibly want.

How foolish; yet could I honestly say I wouldn’t do the same?

Chapter 5

Jesus is making a transition in this chapter. Up until now he has been largely working as a one-man-band.

This is inefficient (although there are fewer people to screw things up). And also, there’s a hidden issue – Jesus knows his ultimate fate is to face a cruel death on the cross, so he has this urgency about him. He knows that his time here is short, so if he wants his work to continue after he had left the disciples, he will have to get them ready to do the ministry on their own.

What is interesting is the relationship Jesus seems to have with the disciples-to-be. I think many of us have an image in our minds of Him just walking up to random strangers, saying “Follow me”. But it doesn’t look like that here. Jesus knew Simon Peter AT LEAST well enough that it wasn’t weird for him to ride in the boat.

The other thing is that he seems to know just how to get through to this man!

I don’t know if you’ve picked this up, but it seems to me that Simon Peter is just a little thick. I like the guy, because I relate to him (I think I have said that before!) – all brash, shoot-first-ask-questions later and all. But he had his weaknesses, and one of those was that he was slow on the uptake. There’s another feature I share with him.

So what was one way that Jesus could get inside his head? Well, it looks like at this point, all he cared about was fish.

Obviously there was something more inside. We know, because Jesus was able to bring it out. But right now he was totally focused, and Jesus had to make sure that he could see who he was dealing with.

I think Peter was trying to decide whether going with Jesus would come at too great a cost. And Jesus was sending a message straight back. Jesus tells them to shoot the nets to the other side of the boat, and they end up with a massive haul.

“You want to fish?” He is saying. “Well, all the fish you could ever catch, all the money you could make from them – they come from me. You’re scared about coming with me, right enough – but you need to know who you’re dealing with here.”

This chapter also includes another important character. It’s Levi, in other places known as Matthew. Levi was in the same town as Peter, and it seems logical that he was Peter’s tax agent. Elsewhere we see that Levi was near the beach, so maybe he would stand there near the fishermen and extract their taxes from them as they sold their fish! If so, there’d be little love lost between the two.

How is it that Jesus manages to forge these two (not even counting the Zealot, Simon!) into a world-beating team?

I guess we’re going to find out!

From left field . . .

Good evening all!

Tomorrow I am preaching again, but it's a bit of a different format. We're going to have a study of Hosea chapters 4-6. Not much to give you . . .

Except this:

Read this version of the story. I challenge you. It nearly brought this jaded old cynic to tears. Want to know God's love? It's right here in the book of Hosea.

See what you think.

Johno

Chapter 4

It is here that Jesus actually really begins his ministry.

There’s something about the wilderness that grabs peoples’ imaginations.

Not all people, I have to admit. I’m one of the people it’s NOT so great on. As far as I am concerned, the wilderness is a place with a leaky roof and faulty air conditioning, which alternately tries to burn you, blow you away, dissolve you and hurt you in any other way it can. It’s a hostile environment.

But then, perhaps that’s why it is connected with religious ideas. Somehow there’s a purity of man vs elements.

Anyway . . .

The devil tempts Jesus. This is a passage I’ve been familiar with for many years, and I really have to concentrate to avoid simply writing down all the stuff I’ve picked up in sermons over the years (I could do that – but I really want to think this passage through).

Instead, I intend to chronicle my thoughts as I read this.

. . . So what’s so wrong with wanting the stones to turn into bread? Yes, Jesus answers from scripture “Man does not live by bread alone.” But I don’t get it – why does that mean that eating would be somehow wrong?

A few thoughts.

Maybe Jesus has promised that he’d fast for a certain number of days. If that’s the case them it could be a straight violation of a promise that he’s concerned with.

Or maybe it’s the abuse of miracles. Maybe Jesus has some protocols set out, some times when miracles are appropriate and when they are not.

Some with whom I have discussed this or read have other ideas. Some say that the problem would be an unhealthy focus on physical needs. But for crying out loud, the guy had been without food for 40 days – a little hunger is warranted!

Actually, that’s something – perhaps it’s a living parable. The natural reaction here is to want to focus on food; but Jesus is wanting so much more than that. He wants the focus to be on His Father’s Word.

In any case, Jesus models the best answer to temptation – scripture. It is written. It is written. It is written.
Then Jesus finishes his time in the desert and his ministry begins in earnest. He preaches in the Synagogue, and casually remarks that he is the fulfillment of a prophet. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he gets thrown out of the Synagoge!

Then we see Jesus healing diseases. Every kind of disease, every kind of demon possession is no match for Him.

So what do we make of all of this?

I think that scriptural answer to temptation is important. So is having your mind on what God really wants.

Most of all, though – there’s Christ’s authority. We’ll see more of that as time goes by, but for now it is enough to just say that there’s no doubt as to who is on charge!

Chapter 3

I find John the Baptist an interesting, heartbreaking character.

Interesting because when you look at him, he seems to be crazy – but boy, does he ever have FIRE. You can easily see why the crowds come to watch him – the kind of passion John exudes is infectious, and something that people always would love to watch.

(Especially if there’s some chance of a punch-up).

But he’s also heartbreaking. Perhaps this is because of my perspective.

I am quite extroverted, and I absolutely love being noticed, being the centre of attention. I know that’s not the same for everyone, but that is me. So to see someone whose lot in life is to decrease at the expense of someone else is horrifying.

But the real kicker for me is that John doesn’t seem to have a problem with it. And this challenges me.

There is an expression (it may have come from a song): “I’d rather not be a star, but a moon.” A star generates its own light. By contrast, the moon does not actually shine, reflecting the light of the Sun. That’s exactly what John the Baptist does – he declares himself to be only a side-show (the Message has John declaring Christ to be “the main character in this drama,” whilst saying of himself “I’m a mere stagehand.”). He is content to decrease if it means that Christ increases.

Wow, that is commitment.

When I look at my own life, I find myself to be somewhat deficient in this matter. Really, I do a lot of stuff (yes, even stuff within my faith life) which, if I am honest, I am doing mainly for applause. I’m good at being pious and saying “Give the glory to God,” but really deep down I’m doing it for the fame. And not only that, the same can be said for a lot of things; my attitude to work, my attitude to church, my attitude to all kinds of other things.

What would I look like if I actually did take this seriously?

Chapter 2

What strikes me immediately about chapter 2 is the detail that Luke goes into. This is a little atypical of the ancient world; billions of years ago when I was a history student, most writers that I used to read seemed to see stuff like that as unimportant detail.

Not Luke.

Luke wants to nail down just where and when Jesus was born. He uses a lot of material from Mary’s viewpoint, so it would appear that he has interviewed her extensively. And he not only describes the birth of Jesus as happening during the census, he specifically tells you which census it was.

This has made him the target of derision by some atheists and agnostics – they have said things like “There was no census then.” However, there are now at least some grudging admissions that indeed it is arguable that a census took place at that time, so it looks like Luke may well know what he is talking about.

The fact that people are required to go to their ancestral home to register is interesting, but perhaps that’s an option which Joseph and Mary take up. Now, I have pointed out elsewhere that the idea of a pregnant Mary being taken from pillar to post while Joseph frantically seeks for an inn is a lovely image, but probably complete nonsense. Joseph had relatives in Bethlehem, and it seems highly likely that he used the census as an excuse to take his wife where he believed she’d be looked after. The room that’s often translated “inn” could just as easily mean “upper room”[1], so it seems likely to me that Mary and Joseph were staying in a home. Perhaps an overly crowded home, but a home nonetheless, and a place where there were people on hand to help Mary through her delivery. The baby was placed in a manger because, in such a crowded home, that was the best that could be done (and really, it’s not bad).

Moving along, I could say stuff about the Shepherds, but I won’t. Instead I’ll comment on one of my favourite pieces of scripture – verses 21 – 40, Anna and Simeon bless the child.

The image of these two, visiting the Temple every day in their old age, forms a lovely picture in my mind. These two old people (probably knew each other; after all, they’d both been prowling in the Temple, looking for Messiah) demonstrate true faithfulness.

The thing to finish with here is Simeon’s prayer – “Let your servant now depart in peace. (v31, 32). Do you have that kind of calm assessment of your life so far? Can you imagine being able to simply say to God “ “I’m ready to go”? That is, to me, the ultimate in trust - and it is where I want to be at the end of my life too.

[1] In many 1st Century Middle Eastern homes, the upper room was for people, and the lower room (during the night time at least) was for animals to stay in. Hence the presence of a manger.

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 of Luke sets the tone for the rest of the book in a lot of ways. It’s detailed and long, and includes as much background information as the good doctor can find.

Once again, the book is addressed to the enigmatic Theophilus (see the discussion of Acts 1 for more about this character). Short version: We don’t know if this is an actual name, a title or a generic name for a reader (it means “one who loves God”, so it’s not all that descriptive).

As to the narrative itself, Luke goes back further than the other Gospels. I mean, WAY back. Mark and John both start with the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, and Matthew begins with the conception and birth of Jesus; but Luke goes back before the conception and starts with Jesus’ cousin, John (aka John the Baptist).

We track John’s life from before his conception. It turns out that although she was much older than Mary, Elizabeth (Mary’s relative) acted as what we might today call a “belly buddy” for Mary. And that would have been very greatly needed. Not much is recorded of the family’s response to Mary’s claim that she was pregnant with God’s Son, but despite Joseph’s willingness to go ahead with the marriage, it seems likely that she’d have been viewed AT BEST as a scarlet woman, a woman who couldn’t stay chaste until she was married; and Joseph would have been tainted by association.

Meanwhile, we see Mary begin her pregnancy and visit her cousin; and thus we get to read on of the most beautiful poems in the Scriptures – the “Magnificat[1]”. Also coming at the end of the chapter is another poem, the “Benedictus” in latin.

Finally we have the birth of John, together with the story of his father’s miraculous healing from being struck mute.

This story is so familiar as to almost be a cliché. Yet it is so important. What I notice immediately is the courage required of Mary.

Picture this – you’re praying and minding your own business, when God asks if He can use your body for His greatest ever work.

How would you respond?

I’m not sure if I could manage Mary’s calm poise at this moment. Hats off to her.

[1] In the latin, the first word of this poem is “Magnificat”. The usual pattern for naming prayers in the earliest translations of the Scriptures is to simply give them the name of the first word appearing in it.

Introduction to Luke

INTRODUCTION

The reason I am in a position to write these commentaries is because of an intervention from a frequently non-interventionist God.

What do I mean by that? Simply this: The reason I am a Christian today is because one day God declared that NOW was the time for his plan to be enacted, and in some mystical way that our best words are still not equal to the task, shrank himself down enough to fit into a human form.

Have you ever stopped to think how amazing that is?

The stories in Luke are familiar. Very familiar. And they should – I have read them over and over again. The challenge this time around is to dig up things that I haven’t mentioned before, so that I actually can get surprised!

What do we know about Luke?

We know he was Greek, we know he was a doctor and a personal friend of Paul’s. Anything else will have to wait until next time!

Next time: Luke 1.

Chapter 31

All good things come to an end, and Proverbs is about to finish.

I am often a little curious at this. Why, in a world that was so male-dominated, did Lemuel (not Solomon any more) choose to finish his work on wisdom by discussing what amounts to the perfect woman?

Probably it’s a matter of finishing with what is important in life. After all, the assumption is that it will be a male reading this (sorry to all my female readers – I know that this is sexist! But times were different back then . . . ); and the most important thing that he can really do on this planet is to marry the right person.

A wife of Noble character.

I can remember a friend of mine having a book called “Help! I’m intimidated by the Proverbs 31 woman!”

Great title, really. But it does demonstrate something.

This woman is so perfect that she can scare people. Hey, she’s threatening to me, and I’m a male.

She’s incredibly smart, has good business acumen, works hard, is beautiful . . .

A woman could be forgiven for asking “How can I compete with that?!”

Well, to all of you I should answer that you don’t have to. She is an ideal, not a reality. The Prov 31 woman has every quality that a real woman should aspire to, but if you haven’t got there yet, don’t despair!

That said, I believe myself to be married to her . . .

What a pity Mere doesn’t usually read my blog entries!

Chapter 30

10/8/11

CHAPTER 30

There are a group of people who call themselves the “new Atheists.”

New atheists are exactly like old atheists, but much more strident.

Meh, whatever. But somehow they’re gaining a lot of publicity these days. Atheism isn’t significantly more popular than it used to be, but these people seem to have a higher profile than before.

As a young man, I used to debate atheists, a LOT. When I was at uni, I dreamed of being the atheist’s worst nightmare. I knew all the counters to common atheists’ arguments. I could demonstrate the reality of God from History, Science, Philosophy, whatever was your area of expertise. You know, I’d even let you pick the home ground – I was comfortable on your turf even if you were a PhD.

I have some more thoughts on this, but before we do, we’re reading Proverbs 30 today.

It may interest you to know that atheism isn’t new. There have been atheists for at least 3000 years – at the very latest, they existed when Solomon was writing.

We know this because Solomon addresses that very issue.

Verses 1-4 of Proverbs 30 list off a few typical atheist phrases – “There is no God! I can do whatever I like! I see no evidence of a holy God!”

Given that Solomon is the wisest person ever to walk, it’s interesting to read how HE handles this question.

Does he come up with cunning arguments? No.

Does he refer back to the authority of various writings by the atheists’ favourite authors? Again, no.

Does he rubbish and insult them? No.

So what does he do?

Solomon is quiet and gentle. He doesn’t argue or debate; he simply comments on the faithfulness of God.

Note this – he doesn’t argue or convince. Rather he simply says “Every promise of God proves true;
he protects everyone who runs to him for help”. Effectively, Solomon takes God as an axiom (a self-evident truth) and works things out from there.

I used to debate a lot, as I said at the beginning of this commentary. Things have changed – I don’t really see constant argument as a valuable use of my time or the atheist’s. But recognizing God’s hand in things and pointing that hand out to others seems to be the best way to react.

And since Soloman and his cronies are wise – the wisest ever – I’m willing to trust that Solomon knows what he’s talking about.

Chapter 29

A theme that runs through a number of the proverbs in this chapter is this:

Our decisions (wise or foolish, or anything in between) have consequences.

Since this is written by a king for a king, naturally the consequences that he focuses on are those relating to the subjects the younger king will rule; and therefore we can see some issues that may be found when someone is in government.

For example:
• “When good people run things, everyone is glad; but when the ruler is bad, everyone groans.”

The decisions of those in high places have a strong tendency to trickle down. A leader may think they can get away with it; indeed, in my experience the problem with bad leadership isn’t so much a direct tendency for bad decisions to happen, so much as a general bad “vibe” within the organization, the church or the country. Somehow, when the leader misbehaves, everyone begins to follow suit, even people who shouldn’t be able to sense what is happening.

• “A leader of good judgment gives stability; an exploiting leader leaves a trail of waste.”
Interesting contrast here – Stability vs waste! But we’ve all experienced leaders who weren’t really in the job because they believed in the organization’s goals, but because it furthered their own goals. And indeed, waste is a hallmark of this particular type of leadership.

• “A gang of cynics can upset a whole city; a group of sages can calm everyone down.”
It doesn’t take a lot to do a lot of damage, as far as leadership is concerned. If people get cynical in one area of life, it tends to spread; and cynical leadership generally becomes abusing leadership. On the other hand, wise leadership can make all the difference.

• “When degenerates take charge, crime runs wild; but the righteous will eventually observe their collapse.”
It’s an important comfort to us all that the evil people won’t get things their own way forever.

No, wisdom and foolishness among leaders impact those being led. We forget this at our peril.

Chapter 28

Curiously, many of us seek wisdom – but most usually, we seek it when things have already reached such a serious underpass that we’d give anything for the problem to be fixed.

Sometimes our cries for wisdom may mean locking the gate after the horse has bolted . . .

In any case, Proverbs 28 is looking at the wisdom needed when things are tough. Let’s give it a once-over.

Some of the themes covered include:
• The connection between confidence and having nothing to hide (v1,17,18)
• The goodness of God’s law (vs 4, 5)
• The connection between God’s law and wisdom (v7)
• The need for a leader to fight crime and corruption (boy, could some leaders learn a thing or two here! v2, 16)


Then we have verses 19-28. And here we find something quite interesting – it’s a number of statements that serve to underline what Philip Yancey calls “The atrocious mathematics of Grace”.

God thinks differently from us, and his thought patterns are characterized by grace. This means that sometimes what God asks is counter-intuitive.

For example:
• Humans are always on the lookout for an easy way. “Get-rich-quick” schemes and attempts to get something for nothing are almost de rigeur. But God wants us to work for our living (and let’s face it, this is part of being made in His image. He is a God who works, and it is natural for Him to want us to do the same.
• We would automatically assume that the best way to get what you want is to be tightfisted, only spending your money on things that you really want. In contrast, God’s way is for us to be generous. This is counter-intuitive, but it really works.

Being Christ like is often a process of unlearning the things that we have learned. Society teaches us the wrong way very often; God teaches us a more difficult way; but in the end it’s also the best way.

Chapter 27

Even for Proverbs, chapter 27 is eclectic. As far as I can determine, there doesn’t seem to be any kind of theme to it. It’s basically skipping all around life, proclaiming on a number of topics about wisdom.

There are patterns, but they are linguistic patterns rather than patterns in the subject matter. There is a pattern that many of the proverbs repeat – “Don’t (X, Y, Z); Because (A, B, C).”

The impression that I get is of Solomon, aged and weary, recognizing that he has just one last chance to talk to his son. He just wants to dump on him all the wisdom that will be needed for posterity.

Of course, all this is impossible; there is just too much to learn out there.

But he’s giving it a red hot go!

In one chapter, there is instruction on:
• Your place in the Universe
• Your relationships with others.
• Dealing with fools
• How much one should eat in public.
• Relationships with friends.

I’m not writing much more here. Just read it for yourself if you havent’ done so!

Chapter 26

The poll is up. Vote away!
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Having spent the last chapter extolling the virtues of Wisdom (as he does for much of the book), Solomon, through Hezekiah, now changes tack. Instead of speaking of the wonders of wisdom, he now warns against folly.

Keep in the back of your mind that to Solomon, folly and evil are equivalent.

And what a tirade! As a connoisseur of fine invective, I always love to hear (or read) excellent examples of ranting. And Solomon doesn’t disappoint!

A few examples:

“Putting a fool in the place of honour is like putting a mud brick on a marble column!”
Don’t you just love the imagery here? It’s so evocative!

“As a dog eats its own vomit, so fools recycle silliness.”
In passing, a good translation of this well-known proverb. There are layers of meaning here. There’s the simple revolting nature of the actions described. Then there is the fact that a dog is associated (to Jewish readers) with uncleanness. There’s the comparison of the futility of such actions too.

“Don’t respond to the stupidity of a fool. You’ll only look foolish yourself.”
Be honest – how many times have you been caught by this one?

“Answer a fool in simple terms, or he may get a swelled head.”
And arrogant fools are not at all short in our society.

There’s lots more, but read them yourself!

Solomon’s distaste for fools is striking, but not unexpected. A lack of wisdom does a lot of damage. Each of us can think of situations where thoughtless or stupid comments have damaged a friendship, wrecked a team, perverted justice. Foolish thoughts and deeds can harm all those around.

Wisdom is best, of course – but at least let’s try to avoid folly!

Chapter 25

We are approaching the end of the book of Proverbs, and it’s getting close to that time again – time to choose another book!

We’re going back into the New Testament, and we’ll tackle the one kind of book I haven’t looked at yet in Johno’s Commentary – a Gospel. But these four books are so familiar that it’s going to be a real challenge to find something new.

So here we go – Matthew, Mark, Luke or John? Make your choice, dear friend!

Anyway, on with tonight’s episode – Proverbs chapter 25!

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The book changes its style again. Once again it is the sayings of Solomon; but this time it is a group of sayings collected by a later king, King Hezekiah. Whether done personally by him or by his scribes on his behalf and for his reference is something we will never know; in any case, the sayings listed here are attributed to Solomon.

And wisdom once again we find.

The first few sayings (vs 1 -15) once again vary as to their topic, but broadly they are simply on the nature of wise and knowledgeable living. Once again, Solomon tells us about how a leader should view knowledge.

A leader, says Solomon, should have a deep and broad knowledge. This is in contrast to our dominant worldview which tends to encourage people who are completely specialized in the discipline of attaining and exercising power. Solomon, on the other hand, believes that a leader needs to be educated, and to have a good idea of the world around them. In this way, nothing can surprise them.

The next section, 16 – 25, is more about self-control – something many people (including myself) need to develop!

It’s a bunch of really practical ways you can avoid making yourself out to be a fool in front of others.

Chapter 24

The book of Proverbs, it must be remember, is written by a king, and at least in part Solomon expects his readers to be people of influence. Thus it is that you get passages like this one which, although they are certainly applicable to everyday people, make the most sense when considered in the context of leadership.

Once again, there are several themes, and we’ll have a look at a few of them.

Wisdom vs Evil:
Found in: vs 1-2, 7, 8-9, 19-20, 24-25.

A running theme in proverbs, this duality (as we’ve seen previously) is different to the Good/evil duality we’re used to in our culture, or even the Wisdom/folly duality that is less familiar but still used. Put simply, Solomon doesn’t see much of a difference between folly and evil; evil IS folly, and evil people are fools.

This is important, because it’s fairly common for the Christian to look at the world and realize that the evil seem to do okay. It’s important for our faith that God bolsters our confidence by saying “It’s okay – they aren’t going to get away with it forever.” The evil ARE taking a foolish path ultimately, and you ignore God (and His wisdom) at your peril.

Wisdom in leadership:
Found in: vs 3-4, 5-6, 10, 11-12, 15-16, 17-18
This topic can be a little harder to find, because Solomon often couches his advice in metaphorical terms. For example, he talks about building a house; needless to say, Solomon is not a brickie!

Nevertheless, Solomon’s leadership advice is well worth the read for anyone who is in a position of leadership. Really, when it comes down to it, the advice he gives is covered under Christ’s later famous dictum, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” – but in this book, we are looking at specific scenarios. Sometimes it is hard to see the outworking of the Golden rule, but here we can see it nice and simple. For example:
- Don’t gloat when you see the fall of your enemy!
- Ensure that you leave good people to live their lives in peace.
- As a leader, be there for those who need you the most.
- Concentrate more on wisdom than on strength.

As we can see, much simple yet logical wisdom to be seen there.

Chapter 23

I look back on my blogs on Proverbs. Apart from being too infrequent, they also suffer from two problems:

1) I tend to write them late at night, and sometimes so late at night that I fall asleep at the keyboard. In those cases you will often see a blog that is either a little disjointed, or finishes very abruptly when you’d normally expect me to keep going.

2) Proverbs is such a rich book, and I don’t feel that I can do it justice. Bluntly, some chapters have so much in them that you feel like you’re a foody about to dine at the biggest buffet of haute cuisine that you ever saw.

It’s number 2 that really hits me tonight as I look at Proverbs 23. There’s so much here, and I can really only grab a couple of titbits.

Juicy titbits, to be sure, but only a couple.

As I previously noted, there are those who say that Solomon was not really the author of these proverbs; such people suggest that it’s someone trying to write what Solomon might have thought. Maybe; personally, I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be the man himself.

In any case, whoever wrote it has a remarkable understanding of people and how they work.

There are three concepts that are discussed in chapter 23 which I’d like to submit for your perusal tonight.

Firstly: Table manners.

Now, for a moment, you might be wondering why this comes up – collected wisdom of the ages, and he discusses table manners?! What gives?

But there’s more to it than that. Verses 1 – 3 and 6 – 8 are superficially about our behaviour with regard to food and drink – but they demonstrate something we intuitively know. We see eating and drinking with others as an important part of social life, and this is universal to human experience, whether you are from Melbourne, Madagascar, Malawi or even if you’re a member of the Maasai tribe. And because of this, the way we eat or drink – especially when we are with others – tells you something about how we regard others.

For example, when one is eating with an influential person (vs 1 – 3), one shouldn’t focus so much on the fare available to us that we exclude that person. The food isn’t really the point of the event; rather, it’s about developing relationships. If we aren’t aware of this, we miss the point of eating together!

Also, Solomon (or whoever) has sharply observed what it is like to eat the food of a stingy person. This is kind of the reverse – note that if you’re on the receiving end of treatment which sees the food (or its cost!) as the important thing, you too can see someone missing the opportunity to develop relationships.

Secondly: Parenting.

We live in a world where parenting is often practiced poorly. Many parents are so concerned with being friends with their children that they miss the opportunity to be their PARENTS. A child needs parents far more than they need friends, and you are the only parents your child can have – so it’s important that we get this one right.

It’s politically incorrect today to say “Smack your kids”, but Solomon is right alongside the use of physical discipline! Of course, the method of discipline is not so much the issue as the necessity of it being there. One thing is certain: children need to be disciplined consistently if they are to develop strong moral character. This is not to say necessarily treated badly, by the way; punishments are only part of discipline. So is direct teaching, so are rewards and so is modeling a good example of behaviour.

Thirdly: Alcohol.

I am not a big fan of alcohol myself, but many in our society would ask “where’s the harm in a quiet drink?”

I concede that if it is imbibed in moderation, alcohol may at least be non-harmful, and perhaps helpful. But so few people drink in moderation in our society; a very great number of people binge drink frequently, and not a few people suffer from that disease that was so well known even in Solomon’s day, ALCOHOLISM.

Vs 29 – 35 talk at length about alcohol, and demonstrate that alcoholism was at least as much a problem in Solomon’s day as it is today.

For all its good points, alcohol is a poison (literally – it damages body cells), and an addictive poison at that. So it must ALWAYS be handled with the greatest of care.


The three topics I have discussed above are not exhaustive – even in this chapter there is more. But these three are a good sample of the wisdom represented in this book. Solomon knew people; and if we listen to him, we will too.

Announcement

2 notes tonight:

1) I have at least one blog that I wrote but didn't put on the blog. Sorry!

2) I am quite ill tonight... I will write again tomorrow.

Johno

Chapter 21

It’s interesting that when you look at the Bible in a different version, sometimes stuff crops up that you never noticed before.

Case in point: Proverbs 21 verse 2. A familiar verse, one which I could quote from memory. “A man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.”

Fairly remote and (to me) lacking in application. But check out what the Message says about this:

“We justify our actions by appearances, God examines our motives.”

Yowch. That stings.

I often used to pride myself on not caring about appearances. Yet the fact is that I care greatly about them; I just have an idiosyncratic view of what is actually important in your appearance!

In a sense, you’re reading this because in some respects appearances are important to me. Specifically, I don’t like appearing lazy; and if I miss a day I look lazy. Or at least that’s how I see things.

I might well be able to fool some of you, or even all of you into thinking that this is about being accountable so I can know God better. At some level, that’s what I really want. But my motives in reality are mixed. And the Lord is the only one who can really get into my heart and tease out those motives.

Verse 8 talks more about this issue: “Mixed motives send life into tangles. Pure motives take you straight down the road.”

Chapter 22

Proverbs changes in its character a little bit towards the end of this chapter. Instead of the free-flowing wisdom of the previous parts, we now see some more formal segments. You read of the thirty sayings of the sages, and similar.

It is sometimes easy, when you read a book that is thousands of years old, to forget how subversive the ideas in it can be. We comfortable Westerners live in a world in which the rich and poor share legal rights, and whilst there certainly are advantages to being wealthy and privileged, all people from the very richest to the very poorest lead lives of comparative luxury. In our world it would be rude in the extreme, for example, to fail to shake another person’s hand simply because he happened to be poorer than us; and there is absolutely no necessity for the poor person to avoid contact with the rich.

In the ancient world it was a very different matter. Class boundaries were rigid. There was a very clear distinction between the upper and lower classes, and a poor man would not look at the King, much less shake his hand!

Now you are ready to understand the impact of these words from Proverbs: “The rich and the poor shake hands as equals – God made them both!”

More shocking, this was not written by a pauper wishing to challenge the social order; it was the writings of a king wishing to acknowledge the claims of his Lord on the loyalty of all those in his kingdom, including himself.

A man who has everything to gain from the status quo challenges it. Quite an amazing concept, don’t you think?

God makes a difference in peoples’ lives, not the least by demonstrating His enormous love and value for us. And more than that, He wishes to make it clear that even the poorest human holds value in His eyes.