Luke 22:20-23 - Cup of the new covenant

22:20

Jesus now states that there is a new covenant. For hundreds of years Israel had lived under the Sinai covenant. Ie the Ten Commandments and the Law. This covenant defined Israel, now a new covenant would define God’s people. We should realise that at this moment in time the disciples almost certainly were not expecting a new covenant! They must have wondered what on earth was happening. The old covenant had been sealed with the blood of animals, this covenant would be sealed in the blood of Jesus. And Jesus blood was poured out for us. Jesus died for our benefit.

22:21-23

Then we have the prediction of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. We have here another indication of how predestination works, and how it does not work. The betrayal of Jesus was ordained long ago, it was all part of the plan. Yet the one who would betray Him is still responsible for his actions. Any understanding of predestination that thinks that it somehow takes away human responsibility is a misunderstanding of predestination. These misunderstandings are usually a result of us looking at things from an earthly, time-bound perspective and seeking to explain things from this standpoint. But predestination is not a human characteristic. We cannot predestin anything, and many have tried! Predestination is a Godly characteristic, and He is eternal, not time bound. So our attempts to explain are destined to fail!

The disciples were distraught at the news and argued about who would be the one to betray Jesus.

Luke 22:14-19 - The Last Supper

22:14-16

“When the hour came ..” Everything was happening to a set timetable. John in his gospel says on several occasions that Jesus hour had not yet come. All the gospel writers had a clear sense that the cross was what Jesus life was all leading up to. They reclined at table, the normal position for meals in those days. Jesus wanted to eat this Passover with them before He suffered. Why was He so eager? It must be because He is going to reveal important things to them, and that the meal itself would be important. In John’s gospel we get a very full account of things that Jesus taught them in the final day or two, and rich teaching it was indeed. The meal itself has become our Holy Communion. Verse 16 is clearly looking forward to the second coming when all things are fulfilment, but even that leaves us wondering what exactly does this mean?The Passover commemorated the escape from Egypt, and was celebrated in Israel. Maybe He means that there will be a great celebration when the kingdom comes in all its fulness.

22:17-19

The cup was probably the third cup of the Passover meal. This followed the explanation of the Passover and the eating of the lamb and unleavened bread. Jesus again refers to the coming of the kingdom of God. We need to remember that Jesus brought the kingdom of God near, and He looked forward to the kingdom coming in all its fulness. Even at what was going to be the darkest hour, Jesus knew that the kingdom of God was coming. We need to have the same mindset.

Jesus next words must have been something of a surprise for the disciples. “This is my body given for you”. Jesus knew what was going to happen, the disciples did not. No longer would they remember the escape from Egypt, instead they would remember what Jesus has done for them, and so should we.

Active Grace - 1 Cor 15:9,10

Paul refers to in these verses himself as the least of the apostles, and definitely the least deserving. He is not referring to any hierarchy within the apostles, but to the fact that he once persecuted the church. But being an apostle was not a measure of merit, but of the grace of God. Any positions or missions we have within the church are not, ultimately, given on merit, but by grace. This does not mean we ignore skills and abilities, but even the skills we have were given to us by God. And none of us deserve to be servants of Christ, we are servants only because of the grace of God. Moreover, all the skills and abilities in the world will not guarantee success, only the grace of God.

And this grace “was not in vain”. Too often we think of grace as being passive, ie of us receiving forgiveness and mercy (which of course we do). But grace is also active, as here. God’s grace towards Paul enabled him to take the gospel to the Gentiles. Looked at logically there is no way that the gospel should have broken into the Graeco-Roman world, and especially not through Paul, yet that is what happened.

“I worked harder than any of them”. God’s grace towards us does not mean that we do not do anything, quite the opposite in fact. If we truly receive the grace of God, then we will work all the harder. And, at least on some measures, Paul worked harder than all the other apostles. When God does stuff it always involves men and women doing stuff. God’s grace enables us to do things and be more fruitful than we have any right to expect. A sign of the grace of God truly being in our lives is the amount of work we do for Him!

“Though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me”. So the grace of God leads us to work hard, but when we are working hard in the grace of God we find and know that it is actually God who is working through us. We know that we do not succeed because of our abilities or effort, but because it is God working through us.

Luke 22:4-13 - Everything prepared in advance

22:4-6

So Judas went to the priests offering to help. What were the reasons for this? We can only speculate, and need to recognise that any ideas we come up with are mere speculations. In John we read that Judas pilfered money, maybe he was frustrated with Jesus, maybe he just saw an opportunity to get some money. The latter would be consistent with his doing this for thirty pieces of silver. But all we can be certain of is (i) he was doing Satan’s work; (ii) he was fulfilling God’s plan. All this being part of God’s plan in no way diminishes human responsibility.

The priests were glad to have an opportunity to “get” Jesus. One of the disciples betraying Jesus would be politically very convenient for them. They could then point to this fact if the crowds objected. So Judas would seek to betray Jesus at some point when He was away from the crowds. If the people were there, there would be a great danger that they would intervene and stop the priests’ plans.

22:7,8

Verse 7 was probably deliberately phrased the way it is: “the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed”. At one level they were making preparations for the normal Jewish Passover, but at another level they were  preparing for a much greater Passover, the sacrifice of the Son of God. So Jesus sent Peter and John to make preparations.

22:9-13

In reality the events that were about to unfold had been prepared for many years ago, even before time began, in fact.  Here we see that all sorts of practical details are seen to be in order. Meeting a man carrying a water jar, the meeting room being ready. The cross was no surprise. The nature of the Old Testament Passover itself was a preparation for the cross, a pointing forward to it.

Luke 22:1-3 - Then Satan entered

22:1,2

The time of the crucifixion is drawing ever closer. The time of the Passover is drew near. The Passover commemorated the night that the angel of death passed over Egypt, but the Israelites were spared the death of the first born because of the blood. As with AD66-70 and the return of Jesus we have a very real and significant event prefiguring something much greater. It was highly significant that the blood of Jesus would be shed at Passover, by faith in Him we are saved by His blood from judgement. The chief priests and scribes were plotting to have Jesus put to death, but they were afraid of the people. This fear explains what seems a rather convoluted way of going about things on their part.

22:3

The solution to the priests dilemma would come through Judas. “Satan entered Judas ...” We need to understand what the Bible is saying here and what it is not saying. It is not in any way absolving Judas of responsibility. Every so often there are rather silly attempts to show that Judas was quite good really. He wasn’t, he was doing the devil’s work. We need to realise that if we go against God and His word then we too are doing the devil’s work. Remember Jesus rebuked Peter saying “get behind me Satan”. Sometimes we need to be less nice.

Not your journey, but God's journey - a sermon on completing the journey

This sermon was originally called Completing the Journey, which is the title you find on the link. However, the title I have put above reflects one of the main themes of the message.

Luke 21:34-38 - Be careful!

21:34-36

So what are we to do? Well first of all let’s focus on what we are not supposed to do, and that is to indulge in idle speculations. We are to take life seriously. We can easily let our hearts be weighed down either with drunkenness, or the worries of life. We need to remain focused. Jesus then makes it clear that these events will affect “all who dwell on the face of the earth”. This would seem to rather put the kibosh on the preterist interpretation. We are to be alert, and we are to pray. What does it mean when it says “strength to escape”? In terms of AD66-70 it meant literally that, having the wherewithal to escape the city in time. When the return of Christ occurs we will need to have our wits about us.

21:37,38

Remember that Jesus is about to go to the cross in the very near future, yet He spent His time teaching. This stresses once again how important Jesus considered teaching, and the people came to listen to Him. But in the evenings He went to pray to His Father. It doesn’t actually say here that He went to pray, but I think that is a fairly safe assumption that He did. Good teaching comes from a good relationship with God.

Luke 21:25-33 - Signs

21:25-28

There is now a transition and we are focused much more on the very last days and the return of Christ. If one is taking a preterist view then it really is very difficult to make any sense of these verses.  Taking the events of AD66-70 as a type of what is to come seems much more sensible, and in keeping with the pattern throughout the Bible. Ie the exodus from Egypt, the return from Babylon, were very real events. They were partial fulfilments of prophecy, and pointed forward to the “real” salvation, namely salvation in Jesus Christ. So they reveal much about our salvation, but they were not the real salvation. So it is with AD66-70. The return of Christ will be a time of great crisis. There will be much turmoil in the world, and great fear in the world. This will be accompanied by signs in the sky and on the earth. The Son of Man will return, visible to all. Prior to this we may have had to endure much persecution, but at this time we are to stand up and lift up pour heads, for our redemption is near. Ie the fulfilment of all things.

21:29-31

Jesus then throws in a quick parable. The appearance of leaves on the trees shows that summer is approaching. So when we see these things happening that Jesus has just spoken about we know the kingdom of God is near. Note how nature points to the glory of God. Nature was created by God, so it is not surprising that the way it works reflects something of the way that God works.

21:32,33

This is one of those verses that causes problems with various interpretations. I think it is best to take it as meaning “this people living now will indeed see the events of AD66-70” and “the human race will not end until the events of the final last days happen”. This would seem to be consistent with the pattern of the events of AD66-70 being the concrete demonstration that the very last days will certainly happen. What we can be certain of is that Jesus intended all His teaching here to be taken seriously and for it to influence how we live. Verse 33, “heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” would seem to lend support to this view.

Luke 21:16-24 - Surrounded by armies

21:16-19

However, Jesus’ promise of the necessary words and wisdom being supplied at the appropriate time is not promise of an easy life! We will be betrayed, and even by our nearest and dearest. This does not mean that every single Christian will be betrayed by every family member and closest friends, it just means that it might happen, and betrayal by someone close is normal.

“Everyone will hate you”. Again we need to understand the idiom. Jesus does not mean absolutely everyone, for elsewhere the New Testament speaks of having favour with men, and being of good repute.  We should seek to live lives that deserve respect and honour, but there will be those who hate us, and there will be times when almost everyone hates us. And they will do so because of Jesus. But even in the midst of all this “not a hair on our head will perish”. Now, especially given later verses, this cannot mean nothing bad will ever happen, but even in the midst of suffering God is taking care of every detail of our lives. We are to stand firm and we will win life!

21:20,21

Matthew speaks of the “abomination that causes desolation”, referring directly to Daniel. Luke refers directly to the “surrounding armies”, meaning the Roman armies. The Roman armies did desecrate the temple. Luke wrote this in the early sixties he would know what the likely fulfilment of Jesus words was going to be. There is also clear practical instruction. Get out of the city, or if you are not in it, do not enter it. Many were saved by heeding these words. This also shows that there was a definite fulfillment of things in the first century.

21:22-24

The fact that AD66-70 constituted a fulfilment of prophecy if made very clear here. The nature of the trouble is made very clear. There would be much suffering, and none would escape. The effects would be long lasting, with the nation being dispersed to all nations, and Jerusalem “trampled on by the Gentiles” until the “times of the Gentiles are fulfilled”. All this has happened! These verses are also why the return of Israel to Jerusalem in 1948 is considered to be so significant. Note also that it speaks of “wrath against the people”. God’s judgement did come, and in a terrible way. This is a clear demonstration that God’s judgement is real. Remember also that these are the words of Jesus.

Luke 21:7-15 - Watch out you are not deceived

21:7-11

This prediction of Jesus would have caused some consternation, so it is perfectly reasonable for the disciples to want to know when these things would happen. It would also be a cataclysmic event, so they wanted to know what the signs of it being about to happen would be. Jesus’ response is not to answer the question directly, but to give them warnings. They needed to change their thinking. In the pre AD66 events there were various pretend messiahs claiming to be the messiah. This happened. Likewise, in the very last days there will be false prophets and false messiahs. As I said in my earlier comments, the events of AD66-70 are not the be all and end all of this prophecy, but are a very real indicator of the things that will happen. So we need to beware of being deceived. One of the tactics of false messiahs/prophets is to point to major events going on in the world, such as earthquakes, political upheaval or wars. Jesus warns us not to be taken in by this. Many things must happen before the end happens. It is vital that we keep a calm head and are not easily carried away.

21:12-15

This refers to what will happen before the fall of Jerusalem, when as we read in Acts the apostles were often persecuted and called up to explain themselves to both religious and civil rulers. And this pattern has been repeated throughout history. When it happens we bear testimony to Jesus.  We are not here to present an ideology, but to bear witness to the person of Jesus Christ.

This may seem an awesome thing to have to deal with, but Jesus tells them, and us, not to worry. Indeed we are to “make up our mind not to worry”. We are to take action. If called to do this then we are assured that Jesus will give us words and wisdom to answer our adversaries. In the gospels we often see Jesus utterly confounding His critics. He will give us the same wisdom. Note that this “I will give you the words” has nothing to do with normal preaching! God may well inspire us in our preaching, indeed if He does not then why are we doing it and why should anyone bother listening? But we must also prepare well for our preaching as well.

Dying for an allegory? I don't think so!

Some of you may have seen this article. As with most newspaper articles on the Bible, it is largely nonsense. If you read the article you will see he is talking about the approach taken by a scholar from the 4th century, some 300 years after the events of the New Testament, and the New Testament books were all written in the first century.  Not that much is known about Fortunatianus of Aquileia. However, his theological views were at least semi-heretical.

The link below has a scholarly article from Richard Bauckham, he was a Professor of New Testament Studies at St Andrews University.

http://richardbauckham.co.uk/uploads/Accessible/Gospels.pdf?fref=gc

Anyway, ask yourself this. Would the apostles and and many early Christians willing to suffer and die for an allegory? Or because the Son of God did actually die on the cross for our forgiveness, and actually did rise again so we could have new life?

Luke 21:5,6 - Apocalyptic

21:5

We now come to a lovely apocalyptic passage! This discourse is found in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. Interpretation of these passages always causes controversy and I am bound to offend someone. However, in the interests of clarity I will say exactly where I am coming from. One approach to this passage (and many of these comments apply to Revelation as well) is the preterist or partial-preterist approach. This interprets these passages as being fulfilled almost entirely by the events of AD66-70 and the fall of Jerusalem. Now many of the events related here (and in Revelation) find at least a partial fulfilment in first century events, and to have a good understanding of these passages it is important to appreciate the historical background. So there is much to be gained from looking at the events of AD66-70, but to then view them only in that context is a serious mistake. The Jewish view of history was that many judgement events contained common themes, that God acts in a consistent manner. So in the events of AD66-70 we can learn much, but it in no way precludes a future greater fulfilment of the events. In 2 Peter and Jude we find Peter and Jude looking back to judgement events in the Old Testament, and seeing these as indicators of future judgement.  

So, if we look at this passage as purely future we will miss much of its meaning, and probably have several flights of fancy. If we look at it purely as fulfilled in the past we will find ourselves having to squeeze several square pegs into round holes. The sensible approach is to look at both aspects. In these terms, Matthew and Mark tend to focus slightly more on the future fulfilment, and Luke more on the 1st century fulfillment. As a rough guide, in Luke 5-24 are concerned with pretty immediate fulfilment, and 25-38 with future fulfillment.

And while I am revealing my position, I might also add that I consider pre-tribulation rapture stuff to be complete nonsense.

21:5,6

At the time the temple was in the middle of an eighty three year building programme! Interestingly, it continued until AD63-4, a few years later it would be utterly destroyed. So, while the building amy have looked impressive, as the disciples thought, it was not long for this earth. Historians Josephus and Tacitus describe the splendour of the temple, so it was not just a case of the disciples being easily impressed, the temple was truly magnificent. Jesus prediction was completely correct.

Luke 21:1-4 - Giving your all

This is one of the most famous incidents in the gospels. Jesus observes various people putting offerings into the temple treasury. Mark’s account (Mark 12:41-44) tells us that Jesus directed His teaching to the disciples. It also indicates that the rich givers made something of a show of their giving. The two small coins would be lepta, each worth 1/100 of a denarius. So much of Jesus’ teaching is about not judging by outward appearances, and this is no exception. Numerically the rich may have given much more, but in terms of heart-giving the widow had given the most. The Lord looks at the heart of the giver as well as the amount.

Now we also need to be careful as well. From a practical point of view churches and charities need people who can make substantial donations, and there is nothing wrong with being rich. However, no one who is rich should take pride in their being rich. To whom much is given, much is expected. Nor should we despise those who are not well off and cannot give large amounts. The heart does matter, and people with a good heart are valued by God and are essential to the growth of the kingdom. We should also note that most of us in West should probably give more than we do!

Luke 20:41-47 - The Lord said to my Lord

20:41-44

Having been questioned by various folk, Jesus now addresses the people directly. David was seen as the best king Israel ever had. God had also promised that David would always have a son on the throne (Jer 33:17; 2 Sam 7:16). So the general supposition was that the Messiah would be like David, and is why they expected a military messiah to set them free from the Romans. Jesus, however, points to Psalm 110. Now Jesus is not denying His Davidic descent. Indeed, Luke emphasises this: 1:27,32,69; 2:4; 3:31). What He is doing is declaring that the Messiah is far, far greater than David. In Psalm 110 it says “The Lord said to my Lord ...” So in saying this David was recognising that the Messiah would be far greater than he.

This is a mistake people often make, and we often make. Our vision of God is too small, and this can lead to important theological errors. God’s plans, His character, everything about Him is infinitely greater than we ever imagine (Eph 3:20; 1 Cor 2:9).

2:45-47

Jesus then turn His attention to the disciples, with some warnings that would be relevant in later times, and are still most relevant today. One has to say that it seems that on the whole we have failed miserably in terms of v46. Many established churches dress their ministers/priests in all sorts of weird and wonderful garments, and having a respected place in society seems to be the goal of many. However, it is not just the traditional churches that are prone to this. Charismatic churches have their fair selection of prima donnas. The sin that Jesus is warning against is one that we are prone too. And it was not just outward show that they were prone too, but also exploiting the poor, and making a big show of their religion. Sadly, there is also plenty of evidence of this in all sorts of churches as well.

The message we should all take home from this is to be on our guard at all times, for sin can easily rise up from within us. We need to take life seriously, and take following Jesus seriously.

Luke 20:34-40 - An end to marriage

2:34-36

In Matthew’s account (Matt 22:23-33) Jesus opens His answer by declaring that the Sadducees know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. Here in Luke we go straight into the theological explanation. Marriage is for this age, but in the age to come there will be no more marriage. Note first that Jesus says “those considered worthy of taking part in the age to come”. This is the question that the Sadducees (and everyone else) should have been focusing on. Would they be part of the age to come? This is particularly poignant for the Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife, in an age to come. They were entirely focused on this age. So their question actually betrayed their own lack of vision.

Then Jesus explains that the age to come will be vastly different from this age, and we will be vastly different. There will be no more marriage, we will never die again, and we will be God’s children. When a husband or wife dies people often talk about “seeing them again”. Well if we and they are believers we will see each other again, but we will not be married! Now this might upset some people, but if we are upset it is because we are thinking like the Sadducees, in an earth-bound manner. It will not be that we have lost anything, but everything will be infinitely greater. Marriage is only for this age, not for the age to come (except in the sense of the church being the bride of Christ). Will you love your husband or wife? Of course, but we have no conception of how different, how wonderful things will be in the age to come, and how wonderful we will be in the age to come. When Christ returns and the fulfilment of all things is achieved the question of marriage will look rather silly!

20:37-40

Jesus then attacks the Sadducees rejection of the resurrection directly. He does so be quoting from Moses. The reason for choosing Moses is that the Sadducees majored on the first five books of the Old Testament, so Jesus is quoting from the books that even the Sadducees accepted as God’s word. Jesus reminds them that Moses spoke of “the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”. God is the God of the living, not the dead, so Abraham, Isaac and Jacob must be alive. So Jesus is saying the the resurrection is implicit throughout the Bible.

The teachers of the Law, who were Pharisees were delighted at this. Even though they feared and hated Jesus, they also hated the Sadducees. So this is a matter of “my enemy’s enemy being my friend”.

Earlier the teachers of the Law had been silenced, now the Sadducees were also silenced. Everyone was silenced. On the last day, the day of judgement, everyone will be silent before God. No one will be able to object.

Luke 20:27-33 - One bride and seven brothers

20:27,28

The Sadducees now decided to have a go. They denied the resurrection of the dead, amongst many other disagreements with the Pharisees. They were very much intellectuals and politically motivated. They had control of the Sanhedrin at the time. Luke mentions their disbelief in the resurrection of the dead as the Sadducees thought they had a knock-down argument with which they could catch Jesus out. Their argument rested on Deut 25:5,6, where it speaks of what happens if a brother dies, then his surviving brother must see to the continuation of the family, even to the extent of marrying the widow. Now this seems very strange, even objectionable, to us, but marriage in the Bible is much more than just a romantic matter. It is the foundation of family life and society, which is why as Western societies reject any meaningful definition of marriage they encounter ever increasing problems in society, as we are witnessing today.

2:29-33

The supposed knock-down argument was what happens if there were seven brothers. They all died, having married the same woman after her previous husband died. The Sadducees then asked whose wife would she be after the resurrection of the dead? She couldn’t be the wife of seven husbands! The Sadducees thought this proved the illogicality of the resurrection, and its conflict with the ways of God, therefore it could not be true. This is an example of a reductio ad absurdum argument.

Luke 20:20-26 - Paying taxes

20:20-22

The religious leaders were unable to arrest Jesus in the temple, so they tried more subtle means. They wanted Jesus to say something inflammatory against the Roman rulers, then the Romans would take care of Him. They sent “spies”, presumably people who were not priests or teachers of the Law, but were acting on behalf of them. They tried to use flattery, telling Jesus that He always taught the truth, without fear or favour, and, moreover, taught God’s truth. They were hoping to trap Jesus into saying something against Rome. So they asked Him about paying taxes to Rome. No one is particularly keen on paying taxes at the best of times, but paying taxes to Rome was particularly hateful. So if Jesus said something against Rome the authorities would be after Him, if He said something in favour of paying taxes the people would be against Him, so it seemed like a win-win situation.

20:23-26

Jesus knew exactly what they were up to. So He called for a Roman coin, a denarius, to be brought to Him. On one side was the image of the emperor. Then He asked them whose image was on the coin, it was of course Caesar. Then He uttered His famous word “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s”. We all have the image of God on our lives, we were created in His image, so we have a duty to God. Every man, woman and child has a duty to God. One day even the most hardened atheist will be brought face to face with this truth. So we are to give proper respect to human authorities. And remember that Jesus is speaking about the Roman authorities, not exactly a democratically elected government. We also have a duty to God. What the religious leaders wanted to do, and what humanity tends to want to do, is to take care only of himself.

The religious leaders were astonished at Jesus’ answer, knowing they were actually living for themselves, not God. So they became silent.

Luke 20:13-19 - The stone the builders rejected

20:13-16

So the owner decided to send his own son. Clearly this is representing Jesus. Instead of respecting the son, the tenants got it into their heads that if they killed the son they would then have possession of the vineyard. This thinking was both wrong and wrong-headed. What about the landowner himself? Their action would bring an even worse retribution upon themselves. The Jewish religious leaders, and mankind in general, are blind imagining that we can take over the world if we simply declare that God is dead! So the tenants killed the son. Jesus then asks the people about what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will kill the tenants. The people’s reaction is against the stupidity of the tenants’ rebellion. They also sensed that the teaching was about what was going to happen to Israel.

We see here, yet again, clear teaching from Jesus on judgement. Any picture of Jesus that does not include judgement is seriously deficient.

20:17

The people were horrified at the judgement that Jesus seemed to imply was going to come upon them. Jesus responded by pointing to the Old Testament, in particular Psalm 118:22. Go and look up Psalm 118 and read all of it. It is a psalm that extols the Lord’s goodness, talks about the security that the Lord provides, it is about joy and salvation. Then we get verse 22, “the stone the builders rejected ..”. The religious leaders had rejected Jesus, the Son of God, yet He is the source of salvation. He is the One around whom all of God’s plans are designed.

20:18,19

While Jesus is a saviour to all who come in repentance and faith, to everyone who rejects Him, who takes offence at Him, there is only a terrible judgement awaiting.

The teachers of the Law and chief priests knew exactly what Jesus was saying. Sceptics often make the claim that there isn’t enough evidence, or that it is unreasonable to expect people to believe in God. At the end of day, everyone will be without excuse.

They knew Jesus was speaking about them, and against them. They could have responded by repenting, this would have been the sensible thing to do. Instead they  wanted to arrest Jesus, as if that would have changed the truth. However, they were afraid to do so, for they were afraid of the reaction of the people.

Luke 20:9-12 - Tenants

20:9

Jesus knew exactly what was going on and what was in the hearts of the religious leaders.  Jesus told a parable to the people to explain to them what was going on. Part of the mission of the church is to explain to the world what is going on. It most definitely is not to go along with the world’s direction of travel, which sadly is how much of the church is responding to the sexual revolution. Why do people think the world is wiser than God?

2:10-12

In the parable a man planted a vineyard. This represents God. In the immediate context it represents God having created the nation of Israel. Without God there would have been no Israel. More generally, it represents God having created the world. Without God, no us! He rented it out to the farmers and went away. In genesis God gave Adam and Eve stewardship of the earth. We are stewards, not owners.  At harvest time the owner sent servants to collect his due income from the vineyard, but each time the tenants beat up the servant, giving him nothing. This represents their rejection of the prophets. The rejection of the servants became ever more intense.

Luke 20:3-8 - Neither will I tell you

20:3,4

Jesus turned the issue back on the religious leaders, and He did so by going for one of their weak spots. Earlier John the Baptist had been around. He had caused some trouble for the religious leaders, but not that much. They could probably have regarded him as a bit of an oddity, but someone who would only be around for a time. In one sense John was only around for a time, his being killed for his bold proclamation of the truth, but he continued to have an influence. They knew that the people also liked John.  Note that neither John the Baptist nor Jesus preached “nice” messages, not “seeker-friendly” sermons! Yet the people found something enticing about their preaching. So Jesus asks the religious leaders where John’s authority came from. Note also that Jesus focuses on John’s baptism, and the essence of John’s teaching, and what was represented by his baptism, was repentance. This was the one thing the religious leaders refused to do.

20:5-8

The religious leaders were ultimately weak men, driven by fear. So they could not answer the question. If they said John’s authority came from heaven then the next question would be, why then did they not repent? But if they said John was acting merely on his own authority then the people would stone them, for the people regarded John, rightly, as a prophet.

So the religious leaders refused to answer, claiming they did not know. Jesus likewise refused to answer. Why did He do this? He wanted them to realise the state they were in. There are times for a direct refutation of an argument, there are times just to get the people making the false argument to think about the weakness of their case.

The only truly solid foundation is to build our lives on God’s truth.

Set free to serve!

Just read something very interesting in “An Introduction to the Old Testament” by John Goldingay. On the Exodus he points out that “The aim of God’s action is not so much to liberate the Israelites from oppression so that they are free to live their own lives as to remove them from the service of Egypt to the service of Yahweh” (Section 2-19 in his book). In verses like Exodus 3:12; 4:23 and 7:16 many translations (eg NIV, NLT, Message (though this isn’t actually a translation of course!)) talk about the people worshipping God, but it is better translated as serving God (as in KJV, ESV, NASB).

This highlights a vital point in understanding our salvation, and in highlighting the error in the thinking of many people. We were set free from slavery to sin so that we could serve the Lord. That is why you and I were saved, so that we could serve the Lord. Our culture wants everything to be about “me”, and tries to get us to see everything in terms of “me”. We see this in things like liberation theology, or feminist theology, or currently in LGBT “theology”, everything is seen in terms of fulfilling “me”. The oppression may have been very real, but they are totally wrong in what we are saved to.

But we need to understand this most of all in terms of our own personal lives, our own personal salvation. There will be constant pressure from society, from within yourself, and sometimes from within the church (eg prosperity teaching) to see things in terms of “me”, to understand what is going on in our lives in terms of “me”. When we do that we will never find God, we will never find the fullness of life that Jesus came to give us. It is only when we lose our lives for His sake that we find our life (Matt 16:15).

We were set free to serve the Lord. Therein lies true freedom

Luke 20:1,2 - By what authority?

20:1

Part of the power and authority of Jesus is shown in the fact that he was allowed to teach in the temple courts. This was someone the religious leaders hated and wanted to do anything they could to stop, but they could do nothing. In fact, if we look at the life of Jesus during His ministry He lived in almost perpetual conflict. Each day the Pharisees and chief priests were out to get Him, and with increasing intensity. Yet He continued to do the stuff that God had sent Him to do. He taught the truth, He welcomed and mixed with various people, He cast the demons out and healed the sick. Why was He able to do all this? Because He was completely devoted to the Father. We need to do the same. We need to be always working on increasing our devotion to the Lord. This is what will enable us to thrive in an increasingly hostile environment. We should also remember that this devotion to the Father included Jesus going to the cross, and we too are called to carry our cross.

20:2

In typical fashion it seems that all the religious leaders came to Jesus to confront Him. “By what authority ..” They were incensed that this man was teaching and attracting such a following and attention from the people. Today the world questions our authority to teach the word of God. This questioning expresses itself in various forms. At a general level there is the question of how can we claim the gospel to be the only way to God, and similar questions. Then there are more specific issues like sexual morality where we are mocked and scorned.

Luke 19:45-48 - Casting out the money changers

19:45,46

Jesus then entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were selling various stuff. Various items were sold that were necessary for sacrifice, such as animals, doves, wine, oil and salt. Moneychangers would also exchange Roman and Greek money into temple shekels, while of course taking a cut. Now at one level all of this might have seemed very sensible, and could be justified on the grounds that it facilitated the keeping of the Law. Yet Jesus reacted so strongly against it. We should be careful with any practices that we have in our churches. We may be able to argue that they help with the worship or whatever, but this does not necessarily mean that they are acceptable to God. Jesus quotes from Jer 7:11. The passage from which it comes is one where God is condemning the people who come to worship because they oppressed the poor and worshipped idols. God’s house is meant to be a house of prayer, not a trading floor.

Note that Jesus entered on a donkey, a symbol of peace, yet here we see Him acting in a very non-peaceful way. The real Jesus does not always fit our conceptions of Him.

19:47,48

Jesus taught in the temple.  Remember He is about to be crucified, even so He continued to teach. Again emphasising the importance of teaching. The chief priests and teachers of the Law were trying to kill Him. This was the febrile atmosphere of the time. At this stage they were unable to do anything because the people were so attracted by Jesus and His teaching. It was Jesus who was in control of events, not the religious leaders.

Luke 19:39-44 - Weeping over Jerusalem

19:39,40

As always the Pharisees were casting their baleful eye over proceedings, and they told Jesus to rebuke His disciples. So we see that the crowd consisted of a whole mixture of people, disciples of Jesus, hangers on and Pharisees. The reasons for the Pharisees reaction is probably twofold. First they saw Jesus as a threat to their own position, and as effectively recognising Him as the Messiah, which they did not want. Secondly, they may have been worried about the reaction of the Romans. They did not want the Romans thinking there was an uprising in Jerusalem.

Jesus dismisses their instruction, declaring that if the crowd kept quiet the stones themselves would utter praise. Jesus knew the significance of what was happening, and creation was made by the Lord and through the Lord and for the Lord. So men’s efforts to stop Jesus being praised are ultimately futile.

19:41-44

When Jesus saw the city He wept over Jerusalem. In the very near future He was going to endure acute physical, emotional and spiritual agony, but His weeping is over what is going to happen to Jerusalem. We see here some important aspects of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. Jesus knew what was going to happen in AD66-70, when Rome would besiege and then destroy the city with terrible suffering. Yet the responsibility lies with Jerusalem. They had the chance to avoid it. This is the real tragedy. If only they had recognised Jesus for who He is, if only they had recognised their own sin and need of forgiveness all this could have been avoided. So an onslaught on Jerusalem would happen, and it would happen because they “did not recognise the time of God’s coming”.

This, of course, raises many questions in us, perhaps most of all “how could God will such a thing?” There is no easy answer, but the question itself actually points to the problem. We look to God and say “how could God”, or  “why doesn’t God ...” What we need to do is to look at ourselves and ask “what should I do”, “what could I do”. You see God created us in His own image, He gave us responsibility, responsibility we were meant to exercise under His lordship. But we chose to rebel, and as with most rebels, we then start denying all responsibility, seeking to blame someone else. We do not realise what a wonderful creation God made, and what a wonderful part we would have had in it, as creatures made in His image. Some may argue about how can we be free if we are under His Lordship? Well, look at Jesus. He is the freest man whoever walked on planet earth, and He lived his life under perfect lordship to His Father.

Israel’s rebellion against God was a tragedy, our rebellion against God is a tragedy, but it is a tragedy we can choose to end by repenting and believing.