It’s the time in this story that we meet the antagonist. Enter the Pharisees, a group of religious leaders who, at their best, are skeptical of Jesus and are simply protective of God’s people. At their worse, though, they’re completely blind towards God’s purposes, and they’ll do whatever is necessary in order to stop Jesus.
In this post I’ll share my empathy for the Pharisees. I feel a bit bad for them at times. Here are some of the things that they question Jesus about.
Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? After all, if Jesus were truly a religious leader, he would know not to associate with sinners. Jesus’ response: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Luke 5:31).
Why are your followers feasting when we’re all fasting? Jesus’ response: “There’s a time to feast and a time to fast. Today is a day to feast because I’m here. It’s a new day” (my simple paraphrase of Luke 5:34-35).
Why do your disciples do what is unlawful on the Sabbath? They were picking grain because they were hungry. Jesus’ response:: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).
Why are you healing on the Sabbath? After all, no work is to be done on the Sabbath. Jesus’ response (my paraphrase): “If there was just one day for healing it would be the Sabbath. The Sabbath is about blessing. It’s about rest. It’s about worship. Why would God not want to heal someone on the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:11-12)!
The Pharisees knew God’s law, yet they had totally missed the heart of God that is within the law.
It’s a bit alarming that the group of people who are seemingly the most connected to God are actually blind towards God’s purposes. Something for us all to think about.
Today’s reading is from Luke 4:16-30. Jesus is in his hometown, and he picks an ordinary Sabbath morning to announce his ministry in the synagogue to a group of people who have known he and his family all his life.
He asks, or is asked to read, and it’s the scroll of Isaiah that he receives. He reads from Isaiah 61, which speaks of the Lord’s anointed one who will come to…
Proclaim good news to the poor
Proclaim freedom for the prisoners
Proclaim the recovery of sight for the blind
Set the oppressed free
Proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
He stands, reads, then hands the scroll back and sits down. Luke says that the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.
So he says one more thing…
“Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).
If that’s not a mic drop I don’t know what is.
What is their response?
They are amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.
He’s one of their own, and they’re no doubt proud of him. They’re also perhaps a bit perplexed by this last statement. What does it mean that it’s been fulfilled today? Oh well…they’re gracious words.
But then one asks, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” Maybe Joseph’s son shouldn’t be pointing to himself as the Lord’s anointed one.
So Jesus starts speaking again, and just like in yesterday’s story, if I’m the campaign manager I’m asking him to stop. It seems like he wants to offend them.
He tells them that no prophet is accepted in his hometown. He then reminds them of a story they all know. It’s about Elijah. It was a time of severe famine. God could have sent Elijah to a nice Israelite family, but instead he sent him to a Gentile widow. And then he tells them about Elisha. There were many in Israel who had leprosy, yet God told Elisha to go heal a leper who lived in Syria.
You may hear this story and have no idea what Jesus is talking about. But those in the synagogue knew exactly what he is implying, and Luke says that they were furious with Jesus for saying these things. How furious were they? Well, they decided to try to kill him. That’s pretty furious. They drove him to the edge of the hill that the town was built on. They were going to push him off. We’re not exactly sure what exactly took place, but he walked through the crowd.
Again, I as the campaign manager want Jesus to stop saying these offensive things, but he needed to uncover their true hearts. Everything was great until he began reminding them that God’s plan includes people who don’t look like them. They didn’t like this. This too will be a theme woven through the stories ahead.
John (the disciple, not the baptizer) records Jesus’ trip to Jerusalem during Passover. In the temple courts he found people selling all sorts of things. He made a whip and began driving people out. I’m sure he appeared as a mad man to the people there. After all, we’re not sure if anyone in Jerusalem knows who he is since his ministry up to this point has been based in Galilee.
Yet there are some in the crowd who must have heard something, because they ask him what sign he can show to prove he has authority to do what he’s doing.
His response: “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19).
He’s at the temple, so that’s what they’re thinking about. He’s thinking about himself.
The people heard nothing but foolishness coming out of his mouth.
It’s the first of many instances where, if I’m Jesus’ campaign manager, I’m putting my hand up to my forehead and am just completely flabbergasted that he is wasting an opportunity like this. Why push people away when we’re just getting started!
During this visit Jesus must have performed some miracles, because those who saw it were drawn to him and trusted in him. Again, if I’m the campaign manager I’m starting to feel good about things once again.
“But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people” (John 2:24).
It might have seemed to those around him that these people were ready to follow him, but that wasn’t really the case, and he knew it. They wanted to follow a Messiah that they had fashioned according to their image, but that wasn’t the reality of who Jesus was and what he had come to do. And he knew it.
“The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah.” Luke 3:15
Thirty years have passed. Today’s reading focuses on the emergence of John the Baptist. John was Jesus’ cousin. The two of them no doubt spent summers and holidays together. It seems like Jesus knew from an early age who he was. He knew his birth story. I imagine too that John’s parents told him when he was growing up that God had big plans for him. He would “bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.” So perhaps at some point they talked together about what their futures were going to look like.
When they were both 30 years old, John began his ministry. He went in the wilderness. He wore weird clothes and ate weird foods. And people flocked to him, in part I’m sure because he was an oddity, but more importantly, because they wondered if he might be the promised Messiah.
Every Jewish boy and girl grew up hearing about the Messiah who would come and set Yahweh’s people free. And boy did they need freedom right now. They were under the rule of an evil king. It wasn’t Herod anymore. He was dead. But it was his sons, who were just as evil. The Herodian dynasty wasn’t really in charge though. It was the Roman Empire who truly called the shots.
It had actually been 700 years since the Jewish people were free. They were first conquered by the Assyrians, and then the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and finally the Romans. During that time God had raised up prophets who reminded the people that God wasn’t done with them. God was one day going to send a Messiah.
Over the last 400 years there had been no prophets. Had God forgotten about his people? The recent whispers were, “Maybe not.”
In setting the stage for the entrance of the Messiah, we must remember that God’s people were desperate for some good news. They understood in a very tangible way that they needed God’s help. And they were about to receive that help, though in the most unlikely way.
Jesus is just a baby, but he’s already threatening the powerful people. When powerful people are threatened, they tend to react, and when those powerful people are evil, they tend to react in evil ways. That’s what happened here. Herod was visited by what was most likely a group of Persian astrologers who had seen a star after Jesus was born. They had most likely traveled a long time and had finally arrived to ask King Herod where the new king was so that they could go and worship him. This was news to Herod. After all, he thought he was the only king around.
Herod asked the chief priest about it, and his only thought was to mention the prophecies that the long-awaited Messiah was going to be born in Bethlehem. So Herod told the astrologers that they should go look for this new king in Bethlehem, but then they should come back to let him know where he is so that he too may go worship him. Like that was what he was really wanting!
Following the star once again, they found Jesus and worshiped him as the king that he was. When they left, they chose not to let Herod know where he was.
Once Herod realized that they weren’t coming back, he got angry. He reacted. He couldn’t have a new king, even if the new king was a baby. And since he didn’t know which baby was this king, he gave orders for all little boys in Bethlehem who were two and under to be killed. What an evil king. And what a tragedy.
Joseph had been warned in a dream to take Mary and Joseph and flee to Egypt.
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendent of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
With such a familiar story, I’m struck by the specifics of it.
Remember how we discussed complexity yesterday. This story is a lot of things, but it’s definitely complex. Mary is a young woman who is pledged to be married to Joseph. They live in Nazareth, which was a part of the region of Galilee. She and Joseph were very average people. Joseph wasn’t a priest. Neither of their parents were rulers. No one would have ever guessed that they would be the human parents of the Messiah. Yet God did. Note that this is one of the many reasons why people thought John (the baptizer) might be the Messiah. At least his father was a priest.
One day Mary is minding her own business, and an angel appears to her. She is greatly troubled by this, which tells me that this wasn’t something that she had ever experienced before. But then things got really weird. The angel (Gabriel) told her that would conceive and give birth to “the Son of the Most High.” This was very confusing since Mary was a virgin.
What happened in the coming hours and days and weeks? There had to be SO many questions. Was the angel real? What would her parents say when they found out she was pregnant? More than that, what would Joseph say? How would she explain this to him? Yet in this moment she believes and she trusts what the angel has said. So her response is, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”
That’s beautiful.
So another theme…God doesn’t often act in the ways that we like him to. It’s not a comfortable life, but it’s a good life, and God is looking for ordinary people who will step into that beautiful and complex life with him.
Today’s readings focus on Matthew’s and Luke’s genealogies. It’s a long list of names that are mostly foreign to us. Some names are difficult to pronounce.
What is the purpose for these lists? A purpose is obviously to show Jesus’ lineage, but I think it’s deeper than that. These list contain some surprises. First, women are mentioned. That wasn’t normally the case with Jewish genealogies in this day. Second, while heroes of the Jewish faith are mentioned as ancestors of Jesus (Abraham and David), there’s also a king (Manasseh – 2 Kings 21) who the listeners would prefer to forget.
Finally, there’s just a lot of humanity here. And humanity is above all complex. Rahab is here. She was a prostitute, but also hid the Jewish spies. And then there is David and Bathsheba. David used his power to commit evil when he took Bathsheba, a married woman, as his own, and then had her husband killed to cover it up.
I think this is a second theme that we will see again and again. We as humans are complex. Our spirituality is complex. And even God is complex. We must continue to wrestle with the complexities in our lives. There is nothing neat and simple about them.
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God… John 1:10-12
I think this is a main theme that will be woven through the entire saga. We suffer from a blindness. Truth is right in front of us, yet we fail to see. Or at times we simply don’t want to see. The long-awaited Messiah walked in the midst of his own people yet they didn’t receive him. But others received him. His invitation was and is to all people. To the one who will hear, let him hear. And let him receive Christ.
What does it mean to receive? It’s different from belief. Belief is mostly about the head. Receiving is a whole body experience. It’s connected to the head but moves to the heart, and then goes further into our daily lives.
Around six weeks ago I realized that I was 100 days away from turning 50. As I was reflecting on this I decided that I wanted to use these 100 days as much as possible to prepare me to make this new year a great one.
I decided on a few practices, and one of those was to read through the New Testament.
The Bible has played a big role throughout my entire life. It’s also had a complex role in my life. There have been times when I was in it daily. It has a way of shaping thoughts and attitudes and the overall way that I take on a day. There have been other times when I’ve gone days and weeks without opening it. I’ve seen the harm that man’s interpretation of the Bible has done to our world. I’ve seen how passages have been twisted for the sake of power and control. I’ve had moments in my own life where the words on the pages brought not hope and encouragement but fear and frustration. And there have been times when I’ve wondered if I would continue to go to it.
I have an overall belief that most times in our lives, when we face something challenging, it’s best to run towards it rather than away from it. I think this is true for me right now when it comes to the Bible. So during these 100 days I want to run towards it.
My mind has continued to shift when it comes to the Bible. I recognize today more than any other time in my life how complex it is, and I’m ok with that. But I still find beauty and depth in it. When I read the Bible I come with curiosity and wonder. This isn’t something I’m mastering. It’s something I need to ground me and to help me live my life.
I purchased my copy of The Daily Bible in Chronological Order over 25 years ago. I’ve used it off and on during those 25 years, and a couple of years ago a friend and I read through the entire Bible in a year using it.
The spiritual practice I decided on for this time was to read through the New Testament and write a reflection each day. The New Testament begins tomorrow and ends on December 31.
As is reflected in the title, this Bible attempts to lay out the stories in chronological order. That means we begin with the birth of Jesus. I love this paragraph from tomorrow’s introduction. I’ll end today’s post with it…
Who is this Christ, this Messiah? His name is Jesus. His symbolic name, Immanuel (meaning “God with us”), signifies his deity. He is man, to be sure, but God as well; and he is God – the God of Creation – but man as well. God lowers himself so that man might be elevated. He leaves heaven so that man might enter it. To man, who cannot begin to understand the ways of God, it is clearly a great mystery. But what a marvelous and wonderful mystery it is!
I’ve been thinking a lot about the parenting journey that we’ve been on. Mandy and I have spent the last 18 years seeking to love, protect and raise Adam, with the goal being that he would grow into an adult who would make an impact on the world. I was 30 years old when he was born. In that moment a new level of responsibility was thrust upon me that was unlike anything I had experienced before. My main role in life was now to be a dad. Most days I had no idea what I was doing, but I took the on the job training seriously.
In those early years the primary task was just keeping the kid alive. Was he eating? Sleeping? Was he healthy? I remember when he fell off our bed. He was so little. And we were so scared. But he was ok. God knew that parents would occasionally allow their babies to roll off beds, so he created them with a bit of bounce. We made our share of mistakes, but we loved this child, and our biggest longing was that we would be good parents to him.
As he grew up and became a very active and busy boy, that job of keeping him safe only grew. There was a new level of independence in him where he wanted to do things himself. Our role was even more critical. If left to his own devices things would not end up well.
Not only did we have to keep him from getting hurt, but we also had to shepherd his heart. How would we help him when he faced rejection by friends? Or disappointment when making a bad grade in school? We hated seeing his heart hurt. This was often more painful than seeing him physically hurt. As we know, those heart wounds can last way longer than the physical ones.
And we knew that we while we would be the ones tending to those wounds, we would also be the ones at times causing them.
Boyhood was sweet. We managed to keep him safe and healthy. We managed to guard his heart as much as we were able. And then he entered the teenage years. Things changed. Our role began to change. It was during these years that he would begin to transition from boy to man. We had a big role to play in helping that transition take place in a healthy way. We would need to give more freedom. We would have to let go more often, which was tough since there were so many opportunities for him to get hurt. And not just hurt like falling off the bed. The hurts were getting bigger.
I did my best in trying to be intentional about guiding him into manhood. We had somewhat weekly breakfasts. We read some books and memorized some Scripture together. More than anything, my goal was to create moments with him. Moments that would mark him and that he could look back on. More than anything I wanted to be present.
Around a year ago I knew that we were transitioning to a new phase of parenting, and this new phase would be very different from the previous ones. It was now time to begin preparing to launch him into the world. It was almost time to let him go. During the last year I have at times felt like that 30 year old new dad who felt helpless and who most days had no clue how to do the job.
I have spent the last 18 years trying to keep my kid safe. And now I’m meant to let him go! That is such a strange shift. Over the last year I’ve had friends ask me how I’m doing in preparing for this transition. The one word that’s most fit is the word “weird.” It’s going to be weird when he’s gone. It’s going to be weird when we leave him in his dorm tomorrow morning. It’s going to be weird when I don’t see him virtually every day of his life.
It’s going to be weird. And hard.
But this is the point we’ve come to.
Last year we watched a documentary on Netflix called Our Great National Parks. Barack Obama narrates it. I remember watching the episode about Monterey Bay. It features Northern Elephant Seals. The mama seal comes to shore to give birth to a pup. For the next month her only priority is to feed and protect her baby. But after a month she has to return to sea to feed herself. And she leaves the pup to fend for himself. And then we learn that she’s never going to return to him. You see the mama leaving and the pup crying. And now I’m crying. Dang you Barack Obama.
Apparently this is the way that God designed things. I’m just grateful that I’ve had 18 years rather than one month.
In some ways I’m ready. For the last year our son has been itching for more independence. That’s how he’s been wired. And it’s time for him to leave the house. He needs it. And we need it. A year or so ago Mandy showed me a video of Jerry Seinfeld on the Tonight Show. Jimmy Fallon asks him how things are going now that his oldest child is in college. Jerry said it’s kind of like having a baby alligator. It’s so cute. People come over to see the baby alligator, to feel its baby alligator teeth. But then some years go by, and the baby alligator becomes a big alligator, and at some point you say, “We’ve got to get this thing the hell out of here!”
Man, do I resonate with this. It’s time. It’s time to launch the kid into the world. It’s the right time. Adam craves independence because it’s time for him to take on more responsibility.
Adam is ready. He knows who he is. Though it’s weird and hard, I am able to let go in large part because I am confident that he is going to thrive in this next phase of his life.
I need to mention that we haven’t been on this journey by ourselves. We’ve had other parents to walk alongside. We’ve had grandparents and aunts and uncles helping us. There have been great teachers and mentors. Church communities and ministry leaders. We’ve had a community that we’re thankful for.
I don’t know what the drive home tomorrow will be like. I’ve never experienced this before. But I think we’re going to be ok.
