Bible Reading Challenge Blog

The whole chapter is dedicated to Jesus warning his disciples and anyone who would hear that the coming of the Son of Man, are we assuming he is talking of the second coming since he was on the earth while he was saying this, will be in such a way that no one will know ahead of time. Don’t even try to predict, it is going to take place just that no one will know when it will be. Again, this chapter ends with a kinda throw away verse that is fascinating to me. We read that he was staying overnight on the Mount of Olives, I had thought that he would go out to Bethany where John and his sisters Mary and Martha lived, but here we see that he just goes down the valley from Jerusalem and stays in the Mount of Olives. He then goes back into the temple and the people were gathered looking forward to what he had to say. They would get up early in the morning to hear what he had to say. This happened on a daily basis.

This chapter seems to be a compilation of Jesus sayings that kinda slam the religious leaders, like all of it. He speaks about how they refused to accept the coming Messiah, who happened to be Jesus, and instead killed the prophets and eventually killed the Son of God as well, who again happened to be Jesus. This all happens after they try to trap him by asking him by whose authority do his teachings come from. They couldn’t answer a simple question about John and so he refused to answer that question. He doesn’t even hide his denunciation of them. He says plainly, beware of the scribes for they will receive the greater condemnation. I am curious which particular scribe Jesus had in mind.

There is one little phrase at the end of this chapter that almost feels like a throw away line, but is really important. Before we get to that a reminder that this is the chapter in Luke that contains the story of Palm Sunday and in Luke he goes into the temple right after the donkey ride and cleans out the temple. The last sentence mentions that he was in the temple teaching every day and the religious leaders were looking to kill him. But they were unable to kill Jesus because the poeple were, wait for it, spellbound, by Jesus. Now, that is a powerful word, almost as if Jesus had cast a spell, which is not at all what Scripture is implying. Instead, the implication is that Jesus was so appealing and so convincing that people could not look away.

I want you to be reminded what the Scripture said about the disciples of Jesus, specifically those 12 disciples also called apostles who were with Jesus for three years and learned from him. Jesus tells a parable, or a story, or the facts that he will be going down to Jerusalem and while he is there he will be beaten and then killed. But not one of the disciples, it states, understood what he was talking about. And Scripture states that what the meaning of his statement, that he would go down to Jerusalem, be beaten, killed, and rise from the dead, was hidden from them as well. This is the third time that Jesus tells them that all of this was going to happen, had to happen, but they still didn’t get it. What chance do we have to understand the mysteries of the kingdom if even those who were closest to him did not understand while it was happening in real time?

The phrase that caught my attention was those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. It is a similar vignette to what we hear in Ecclesiastes 3 except here we do find a sense of value judgment. We are told not to try to keep our life, for God’s responsibility is that. Ours is to lose our life in Christ and allow him to take us wherever the presence of the Holy Spirit might take us. That is a hard message in this day and age because we do not understand what it is like to give up that which we think is fundamental and basic, physical safety, financial security and the like.

This has to be the most confusing and problematic chapters for me in all of Scripture. It begins with Jesus telling us, get this, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth. Huh? Again, this is in the form of a parable, but it is still quite puzzling, as was the parable that set this up. But then it continues in the theme of puzzling and disturbing when we read about the rich man in hell seeing Lazarus in heaven and wanting to send a messenger to his brothers to not do what he had done and that request is refused because they had Moses and the prophets warn them. But we know that with Jesus Moses and prophets isn’t going to cut it, we need someone to tell the Good News. It is all very confusing with no explanatin except a warning that if we do not live and believe according to the salvation that Jesus offers then we will find ourselves pretty bad off.

Lost and found, that is what we can call this chapter. It is a series of stories about that which is lost and then is found and the celebrations that ensue as a result of that lost item/person/animal being found. The lost sheep and leaving the 99 makes on think about the other 99. The Prodigal Son makes one think of the eldest brother and the way in which he was indignant. But we should think about the reaction of the Father, the shepherd, the woman when that which was lost to them is now found. We have to put ourselves in the position of being that which was lost and discovering the presence and the power of Jesus we are found once more.

Jesus makes a very firm and decisive statement that seems like a command and yet we consider it as a suggestion, or something that can be done in moderation. But Jesus’ statement is definitive and without wiggle room. Look at vs.33 where Jesus says flat our, none of you can become my disciple if you do not sell all that you have. Now, yes, we can say that he was only talking to the 12, but it does seem that whenever Jesus makes a definitive statement we would be willing to listen and follow along in pretty much every case. But this is the cost of discipleship in the eyes of Scripture. If we are wanting to follow Jesus not only must we be willing to sell all that we have, but we must actually do it. If that is the case, and I do believe that it is, no one of us has met the bar for being a disciple of Jesus. What to do? Is there something where incrementally we can be like a disciples, just not a good one, not according to this Scripture. The harsh realities of being a follower of Jesus is often soften to give us bite sized pieces of teachings that are palatable. This one is not.

We find quite a few chapters in Luke where Jesus covers a whole variety of teachings interspersed with miracles and healings, and we find ourselves again in one of those chapters. I do love the last scene where Jesus is looking over Jerusalem and weeping over it because of how the people there have historically turned their back on God and on the people of God, and he lays out a vision that he has for them which is that he would be able to cover them, protect them, as a mother hen protects her chicks. Jesus as the mother hen who protects her chicks is pretty significant here.

If you focus on vs.22 and following you will see what is at the core of how to live a life without anxiety. Jesus begins by saying do not worry and he lays out how we can go about our life without worrying. Jesus describes the life of birds and flowers and underscores how God takes care of them, so how much more do we serve and worship a God who takes care of us? There should be a sense of comfort and relief in knowing that God will take care of us, even as we pursue those things that often take the place of God in case he doesn’t take care of us. But he does, so we should focus our time and our energy on those things.