Jesus is teaching in the temple in Luke 21, with His arrest and crucifixion imminent. He is asked about the end times, and while what He describes is frightening, it is also assuring. He says, “You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” This would seem to be contradictory—some will be put to death, but not a hair of your head will perish? How is this possible? Jesus is trying to get His listeners to understand eternal life, the fact that what He is offering transcends mortality. So many of those hearing Him will see Him die a brutal death on the cross in just a couple of days time, and when they hear of His resurrection will remember what He told them about eternal life. Now, nearly 2,000 years removed we can look back and see what Jesus was describing, and understand more fully the things He was telling them. But we still have the end time ahead of us, and need to heed Him when he tells us, “But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” We should live our lives alert and in anticipation of what is to come, knowing we will stand before Him and give an account of ourselves. But we also know that by trusting in His atoning death, we have nothing to fear. He has paid our account in full. Praise the Lord!!
Jesus has had His triumphant entry into Jerusalem and has cleansed the temple. Now in Luke 20, He is matching wits with the Scribes, Pharisees and elders as they look for a way to entrap Him to say something for which He could be arrested. The more questions they pose, the more obvious it becomes that they cannot outsmart the Son of God. He even foretells once again their destruction in the parable of the wicked tenants, where the tenants are the Jewish leaders, the beloved son represents Christ and the father represents God. Here the tenants kill the son, and are destroyed by the father for their wickedness while the vineyard is turned over to “others,” representing the Gentiles. But the lynchpin of His confrontations with the leaders was in verse 44, “David thus calls Him Lord, so how is He his son?” Jesus is using David’s statement from Psalm 110 to show that that the Messiah is both human (David’s son) and divine (David’s Lord), emphasizing the complexity of Jesus’ identity. The fact that Jesus is able to logically assert his Lordship is lost on these leaders, however, because they felt so threatened by Him in the possibility of losing their authority that they were blinded to Who and What He was. This was the ultimate tragedy that led to their and Jerusalem’s destruction as well as the Jewish nation. The Son of God, for Whom they have waited their whole lives is standing before them, and their own pride will not let them recognize Him. The same thing happens today with people to whom we witness. They cannot humble themselves to realize their need for a Savior, and thus lose the opportunity to befriend the Creator of the Universe.
I focused on the parable of the tenants in Luke 20:9-18. The world is the Lord’s. And He has given it to us, this planet, to manage and farm it. We are renting the land from Him. It’s His.
When I think about His church at Helena MC, not so much the brick and mortar, but the community of people, it’s His. As pastor, I’m to help manage it. But it’s His community. I’m just the tenant farmer, working the land that He’s provided.
Using a different analogy, as I manage the land, I must remember that Jesus is the foundation, the very cornerstone (Luke 20:17) that all of life, and especially the life of the church, is built on. Reject Him and I have nothing in the end. Build my life on Him and I have life as He designed it.
“So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled…” Luke 19:6-7
The contrast between these two reactions to Jesus jumped off the page at me today.
Welcoming Jesus into his life and into his heart would mean a lot of things would need to change for Zacchaeus. It wasn’t going to be an easy road, but he met it with eagerness and joy. He knew he was not worthy of Jesus’ presence, and so he treasured the opportunity. He was willing to completely overhaul his life because he knew Jesus is worth it. And he did it with a smile on his face.
It sounds like the others focused on their own worth instead of Jesus’ worth. They were upset that Jesus was choosing to be the guest of a sinner. I think it’s safe to say that what they were really upset about was the fact that Jesus was choosing to be the guest of a sinner… over them. They were focused on how much more worthy of Jesus’ presence they believed they were and they missed it. They responded to the Messiah with grumbling. Transformation could have happened, but they let their bad attitudes win.
Jesus Messiah, please help me to joyfully run into Your presence all the days of my life. I am not worthy of Your love, but You choose to see me as worthy anyway. Thank You, Jesus! Remind me always that it’s not about my worth, but Yours. Praise God that it’s not about my worth, but Yours!!
This morning’s reading in Luke 19 struck me in a different way. After the affirming story of Zaccheus’ salvation, Jesus tells a parable illustrating the fact that those who had been given the keys to the kingdom (the Jews) but had hidden it rather than causing the kingdom to grow will be given even less—and those found faithful will be given even more. Then the triumphal entry into Jerusalem is shown to be largely a façade, as many of those proclaiming blessing on the Lord will be screaming for His crucifixion in just a few short days. Jesus literally weeps over the city in the midst of this “celebration,” and describes how it and its inhabitants will be utterly destroyed by Rome in just a few years’ time. The chapter concludes with Jesus again teaching in the Temple as His adversaries contemplate how to kill Him.
I am struck by the bittersweetness of Jesus’ final return to Jerusalem. Waving palms and putting cloaks in his path while people are calling out “Blessed be the King! Hosanna in the highest!” is sharply contrasted by His openly weeping over the city and foretelling of its destruction. Knowing what this week would bring to Him, and knowing Jerusalem herself had only a few short years remaining, Jesus is under enormous emotional strain that most humans could not withstand. He is already beginning to bear the sins of the world that would ultimately cause His separation from His Father later that same week, and He is well-aware of this fact. It is no wonder that by Thursday night He will be sweating drops of blood from the strain.
Jesus, thank you is hardly adequate when I think of what You endured for me during Holy Week. May I never lose sight of the sacrifice You made on my behalf. Amen.
I focused on Luke 19:11-27, about the parable of the 10 minas. A mina was roughly 3 months of wages.
I’m asking myself, “Okay, Rusty, how are you using the gifts (minas) Jesus has given you to increase His business (Luke 19:13)? Are you faithful and loyal to Him (Luke 19:17)? Are you placing Him as King over your life (Luke 19:14-15,27)?”
Lord Jesus, come and reign, be the king, over my life. I want to live in and with you today. Help me to be aware of your presence. In your name, Jesus, I ask these things. Amen.
Several lessons from Luke 18 this morning. First, we are to be persistent in our prayer. For those who are, God will give justice speedily. Second, beware of self-righteousness. God exalts the humble and humbles the self-righteous. Third, we may enter His kingdom only like a little child—bringing nothing, but depending on His perfect righteousness. Fourth, there is no sacrifice a believer can make on this earth that will compare to the glory to come. Jesus then foretells of His death and resurrection for a third time, but it still doesn’t register with His disciples. The final lesson is one that reemphasizes persistence and faith, both of which resulted in the healing of the blind beggar. Until we are born again, that is what we are—blind beggars—spiritually blind, and begging for something we cannot obtain or achieve on our own. But if we ask, our loving Savior will open our eyes and give us eternal life!
Lord, thank you for Your loving kindness and the gift of Your Holy Spirit. May I let Him reign in my life so that I do not become self-righteous, but find my righteousness in You and You alone. Amen.
In our Lenten study book this year, Jesus Asking, we reflected on the question Jesus asked the blind man: What do you want me to do for you?
The longer I allow myself to sit with this question, the deeper both the question and my answer(s) become.
What is it – really – that I want Him to do in/with/for/through me?
From Luke 18, the Lord seemed to be reminding me that the world is an evil place. We live in an unjust world. But in this unjust world we have a heavenly Father who works through us in His behalf. He calls us to not give up asking Him for His help.
The Last part of Luke 18:8 causes me to pause and ponder – “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Is the Lord Jesus right now seeing faith, trust and loyalty to Him in me?
Jesus is teaching in the temple in Luke 21, with His arrest and crucifixion imminent. He is asked about the end times, and while what He describes is frightening, it is also assuring. He says, “You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” This would seem to be contradictory—some will be put to death, but not a hair of your head will perish? How is this possible? Jesus is trying to get His listeners to understand eternal life, the fact that what He is offering transcends mortality. So many of those hearing Him will see Him die a brutal death on the cross in just a couple of days time, and when they hear of His resurrection will remember what He told them about eternal life. Now, nearly 2,000 years removed we can look back and see what Jesus was describing, and understand more fully the things He was telling them. But we still have the end time ahead of us, and need to heed Him when he tells us, “But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” We should live our lives alert and in anticipation of what is to come, knowing we will stand before Him and give an account of ourselves. But we also know that by trusting in His atoning death, we have nothing to fear. He has paid our account in full. Praise the Lord!!
Jesus has had His triumphant entry into Jerusalem and has cleansed the temple. Now in Luke 20, He is matching wits with the Scribes, Pharisees and elders as they look for a way to entrap Him to say something for which He could be arrested. The more questions they pose, the more obvious it becomes that they cannot outsmart the Son of God. He even foretells once again their destruction in the parable of the wicked tenants, where the tenants are the Jewish leaders, the beloved son represents Christ and the father represents God. Here the tenants kill the son, and are destroyed by the father for their wickedness while the vineyard is turned over to “others,” representing the Gentiles. But the lynchpin of His confrontations with the leaders was in verse 44, “David thus calls Him Lord, so how is He his son?” Jesus is using David’s statement from Psalm 110 to show that that the Messiah is both human (David’s son) and divine (David’s Lord), emphasizing the complexity of Jesus’ identity. The fact that Jesus is able to logically assert his Lordship is lost on these leaders, however, because they felt so threatened by Him in the possibility of losing their authority that they were blinded to Who and What He was. This was the ultimate tragedy that led to their and Jerusalem’s destruction as well as the Jewish nation. The Son of God, for Whom they have waited their whole lives is standing before them, and their own pride will not let them recognize Him. The same thing happens today with people to whom we witness. They cannot humble themselves to realize their need for a Savior, and thus lose the opportunity to befriend the Creator of the Universe.
I focused on the parable of the tenants in Luke 20:9-18. The world is the Lord’s. And He has given it to us, this planet, to manage and farm it. We are renting the land from Him. It’s His.
When I think about His church at Helena MC, not so much the brick and mortar, but the community of people, it’s His. As pastor, I’m to help manage it. But it’s His community. I’m just the tenant farmer, working the land that He’s provided.
Using a different analogy, as I manage the land, I must remember that Jesus is the foundation, the very cornerstone (Luke 20:17) that all of life, and especially the life of the church, is built on. Reject Him and I have nothing in the end. Build my life on Him and I have life as He designed it.
Christ Centered. Bible Based. Spirit Led.
“So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled…” Luke 19:6-7
The contrast between these two reactions to Jesus jumped off the page at me today.
Welcoming Jesus into his life and into his heart would mean a lot of things would need to change for Zacchaeus. It wasn’t going to be an easy road, but he met it with eagerness and joy. He knew he was not worthy of Jesus’ presence, and so he treasured the opportunity. He was willing to completely overhaul his life because he knew Jesus is worth it. And he did it with a smile on his face.
It sounds like the others focused on their own worth instead of Jesus’ worth. They were upset that Jesus was choosing to be the guest of a sinner. I think it’s safe to say that what they were really upset about was the fact that Jesus was choosing to be the guest of a sinner… over them. They were focused on how much more worthy of Jesus’ presence they believed they were and they missed it. They responded to the Messiah with grumbling. Transformation could have happened, but they let their bad attitudes win.
Jesus Messiah, please help me to joyfully run into Your presence all the days of my life. I am not worthy of Your love, but You choose to see me as worthy anyway. Thank You, Jesus! Remind me always that it’s not about my worth, but Yours. Praise God that it’s not about my worth, but Yours!!
This morning’s reading in Luke 19 struck me in a different way. After the affirming story of Zaccheus’ salvation, Jesus tells a parable illustrating the fact that those who had been given the keys to the kingdom (the Jews) but had hidden it rather than causing the kingdom to grow will be given even less—and those found faithful will be given even more. Then the triumphal entry into Jerusalem is shown to be largely a façade, as many of those proclaiming blessing on the Lord will be screaming for His crucifixion in just a few short days. Jesus literally weeps over the city in the midst of this “celebration,” and describes how it and its inhabitants will be utterly destroyed by Rome in just a few years’ time. The chapter concludes with Jesus again teaching in the Temple as His adversaries contemplate how to kill Him.
I am struck by the bittersweetness of Jesus’ final return to Jerusalem. Waving palms and putting cloaks in his path while people are calling out “Blessed be the King! Hosanna in the highest!” is sharply contrasted by His openly weeping over the city and foretelling of its destruction. Knowing what this week would bring to Him, and knowing Jerusalem herself had only a few short years remaining, Jesus is under enormous emotional strain that most humans could not withstand. He is already beginning to bear the sins of the world that would ultimately cause His separation from His Father later that same week, and He is well-aware of this fact. It is no wonder that by Thursday night He will be sweating drops of blood from the strain.
Jesus, thank you is hardly adequate when I think of what You endured for me during Holy Week. May I never lose sight of the sacrifice You made on my behalf. Amen.
I focused on Luke 19:11-27, about the parable of the 10 minas. A mina was roughly 3 months of wages.
I’m asking myself, “Okay, Rusty, how are you using the gifts (minas) Jesus has given you to increase His business (Luke 19:13)? Are you faithful and loyal to Him (Luke 19:17)? Are you placing Him as King over your life (Luke 19:14-15,27)?”
Lord Jesus, come and reign, be the king, over my life. I want to live in and with you today. Help me to be aware of your presence. In your name, Jesus, I ask these things. Amen.
Several lessons from Luke 18 this morning. First, we are to be persistent in our prayer. For those who are, God will give justice speedily. Second, beware of self-righteousness. God exalts the humble and humbles the self-righteous. Third, we may enter His kingdom only like a little child—bringing nothing, but depending on His perfect righteousness. Fourth, there is no sacrifice a believer can make on this earth that will compare to the glory to come. Jesus then foretells of His death and resurrection for a third time, but it still doesn’t register with His disciples. The final lesson is one that reemphasizes persistence and faith, both of which resulted in the healing of the blind beggar. Until we are born again, that is what we are—blind beggars—spiritually blind, and begging for something we cannot obtain or achieve on our own. But if we ask, our loving Savior will open our eyes and give us eternal life!
Lord, thank you for Your loving kindness and the gift of Your Holy Spirit. May I let Him reign in my life so that I do not become self-righteous, but find my righteousness in You and You alone. Amen.
In our Lenten study book this year, Jesus Asking, we reflected on the question Jesus asked the blind man: What do you want me to do for you?
The longer I allow myself to sit with this question, the deeper both the question and my answer(s) become.
What is it – really – that I want Him to do in/with/for/through me?
From Luke 18, the Lord seemed to be reminding me that the world is an evil place. We live in an unjust world. But in this unjust world we have a heavenly Father who works through us in His behalf. He calls us to not give up asking Him for His help.
The Last part of Luke 18:8 causes me to pause and ponder – “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Is the Lord Jesus right now seeing faith, trust and loyalty to Him in me?