3/30/11
Luke 9:51-56 --- Luke 10:1-11:13
Luke 9:51-56
A Samaritan Village Refuses to Receive Jesus
Luke 9:51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; 53 but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 Then they went on to another village.
Luke 10:1-11:13
Luke 10:1-11:13 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.
Woes to Unrepentant Cities (Mt 11.20—24)
13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum,
will you be exalted to heaven?
No, you will be brought down to Hades.
16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
The Return of the Seventy
17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18 He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Jesus Rejoices (Mt 11.25—27)
21 At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
23 Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”
The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Mt 22.34—40; Mk 12.28—34)
25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Jesus Visits Martha and Mary
38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; … but Martha was distracted by her many tasks. That is worth thinking about. What are you doing that is keeping you from doing what you should be doing? Remember the parable of the seed that fell on different soils? Remember the weeds, the tares of this world? Who do you know that always whines about not having any money, but they are always going here or there, buying this or that? What a crock. What a lie. They spent their money elsewhere. Bottom line is something else was more important. You don’t have time for the Lord? Where do you spend your time? To say there isn’t time to be alone with God, to read God’s Word is also a lie. We all make time for the things we want to do. The truth is we choose not to spend time with God. It is a personal decision that we all make. Is it any wonder than that God will say, “Depart from me. I never knew you.” This is not meant to frighten. It is the simple truth isn’t it? How long does a married couple stay together when they don’t have time for each other, or who would rather be with someone else? Relationships demand time together. Together. Too often all of us hang up when God calls. Life is not about what we do or what we have, life is about who we really know, who we spend time with, who we think about, who we love. May God have mercy on all of us. so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
The Lord’s Prayer (Mt 6.9—15)
Luke 11:1 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.”
Perseverance in Prayer (Mt 7.7—11)
5 And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7 And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Devotionals, Videos and more ...
by Bill Federer
During the Civil War, on this day, March 30, 1863, just three months after his Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer. He stated: “We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God… we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.” President Lincoln concluded: “Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become… too proud to pray to the God that made us!”
Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.
by D.H. Stern
Rather than wealth, choose a good reputation,
esteem over silver and gold.
Rich and poor have this in common—
ADONAI made them both.
Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.
by Oswald Chambers
Holiness v. hardness towards God
And He … wondered that there was no intercessor. --- Isaiah 59:16. Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest
The reason many of us leave off praying and become hard towards God is because we have only a sentimental interest in prayer. It sounds right to say that we pray; we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial, that our minds are quieted and our souls uplifted when we pray; but Isaiah implies that God is amazed at such thoughts of prayer.
Worship and intercession must go together, the one is impossible without the other. Intercession means that we rouse ourselves up to get the mind of Christ about the one for whom we pray. Too often instead of worshipping God, we construct statements as to how prayer works. Are we worshipping or are we in dispute with God—‘I don’t see how You are going to do it.’ This is a sure sign that we are not worshipping. When we lose sight of God we become hard and dogmatic. We hurl our own petitions at God’s throne and dictate to Him as to what we wish Him to do. We do not worship God, nor do we seek to form the mind of Christ. If we are hard towards God, we will become hard towards other people.
Are we so worshipping God that we rouse ourselves up to lay hold on Him, that we may be brought into contact with His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship to God, or are we hard and dogmatic?
‘But there is no one interceding properly’—then be that one yourself, be the one who worships God and who lives in holy relationship to him. Get into the real work of intercession, and remember it is a work, a work that taxes every power; but a work which has no snare. Preaching the gospel has a snare; intercessory prayer has none.
the Poetry of R.S. Thomas
Matrimony
I said to her what
Was in my heart, she
What was not in hers.
On such shaky
Foundations we built
One of love's shining
Greenhouses to let fly
In with our looks.
Thomas, R. S.
Yoma 43b, 44b
Abraham is commanded by God to bring his beloved son to Mount Moriah and there to take a knife to him and offer him up as a sacrifice. Abraham had a number of options in response to this difficult command: he could have argued; he could have refused; he could have fled; he could have agonized and delayed. Yet he chose to carry out God’s instruction, and he did so, according to our understanding of the Torah, at the earliest possible opportunity.
Jewish parents are commanded by God to circumcise their beloved sons. This is usually accomplished by bringing the baby to a mohel, who will take a knife and enter the boy into the covenant of circumcision. Many mothers and fathers probably contemplate their options as the prescribed time for the bris of their tiny, precious child draws near. Yet Jews have chosen, for over 3,700 years, to carry out God’s instruction, and they have traditionally done so on the eighth day at the earliest possible opportunity.
What does one do when faced with a terribly difficult decision? It is human nature to struggle with the options and to put off a course of action until we are 100 percent certain that we are making the right choice. But life rarely provides us with the luxury of time for such deliberations. All too often, “the one who hesitates is lost.”
While making rash decisions is never to be encouraged, the Gemara nevertheless praises those who carry out instructions and mitzvot as quickly as possible. Rashi, in his commentary to the Talmud (Ḥullin 107b) teaches: “Diligence (or alacrity) is preferable to caution.” A cautious person will be very careful not to make a mistake or to commit a transgression; the diligent person, on the other hand, will plan ahead and be prepared for all contingencies, so that when the critical moment comes for a decision, the correct choices can be made on the spot.
Blind obedience to authority can lead to the infamous response: “I was only following orders.” Civilized societies can accept no such excuses. The Rabbis were quite strict in their expectations of moral responsibility on the part of the individual. How then does one find the perfect balance between making ethical decisions, on the one hand, and making quick decisions, on the other? In the case of Abraham, there was a complete and total faith in the One issuing the commands—God. With a bris, Jews have the experience of almost four thousand years of our people following this practice to rely upon. In other situations, we try to follow the teaching of Rashi who urges us to look into the future and to be ready for the critical moments, so that we can be diligent to do the mitzvot as early as possible.
The Torah worries about Israel’s money.
Text / Mishnah (4:3): He slaughtered it and received its blood in a silver bowl, and gave it to the one who stirred it while standing on the fourth terrace in the sanctuary, so that it would not congeal. He took the fire pan and went to the top of the altar. He cleared the coals on both sides, and he took a panful of coals from below. He came down and placed it [the fire pan] on the fourth terrace in the courtyard. Every other day, he would clear the coals with a silver fire pan, but today he cleared it with one of gold.
Gemara: “Every other day, he would clear the coals with a silver fire pan, etc.” What is the reason? The Torah worries about Israel’s money.
Context / Aaron is to offer his own bull of sin offering, to make expiation for himself and his household. Aaron shall take the two he-goats and let them stand before the Lord at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; and he shall place lots upon the two goats, one marked for the Lord and the other marked for Azazel. Aaron shall bring forward the goat designated by lot for the Lord, which he is to offer as a sin offering; while the goat designated by lot for Azazel shall be left standing alive before the Lord, to make expiation with it and to send it off to the wilderness before Azazel. Aaron shall then offer his bull of sin offering … and he shall take a panful of glowing coals scooped from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of finely ground aromatic incense, and bring this behind the curtain.… And this shall be to you a law for all time: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall practice self-denial; and you shall do no manner of work, neither the citizen nor the alien who resides among you. For on this day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you of all your sins; you shall be clean before the Lord. (Leviticus 16:6–12, 29–30)
Masekhet Yoma deals with the laws and rituals of yoma, Aramaic for the day, that is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Large sections of this tractate deal with the Yom Kippur ceremonies for the Kohen Gadol, or High Priest, at the Temple in Jerusalem. The specifics of the ritual are interesting though not applicable to our lives today. In fact, the workings of the Temple were not applicable even to many of the Rabbis of the Talmud who lived after the destruction of the second Temple in 70 C.E. Nonetheless, they are listed in the Torah, taught in the Mishnah, and expounded on in the Gemara. The Torah teaches about the Tabernacle which the Israelites used in the Sinai wilderness. Aaron and his sons were the participants in the Yom Kippur ritual. These rituals were transferred to the Temple which later replaced the portable Tabernacle as the central shrine.
Part of the Yom Kippur ritual involved scooping up burning coals with a special fire pan. The Torah says that Aaron, the Kohen Gadol, should place two handfuls of incense on these coals. The Mishnah teaches that on Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol used a gold fire pan to pick up the coals, but every other day, he used a silver one. We can understand why a gold one would be used on Yom Kippur: It is a special day, perhaps the most holy day on the Jewish calendar. But why not use a gold fire pan every day of the year? The Gemara answers: The Torah worries about Israel’s money. We may ask: If the Kohen Gadol used a silver pan the rest of the year and a gold pan on Yom Kippur, where would there be a savings? Wouldn’t there be the same expense of making a gold pan? The commentators note that these pans wore out from wear and tear. If a gold pan were used every day, it would mean the expense of replacing it more often, and the Torah worries about the material possessions of the Jewish people.
Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. (1998). Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday LIving
. Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.by Diana Wallis
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. --- Matthew 5:14
No principle in the universe can be brought to bear with such weight as the gospel.89 Nothing can develop the principles of humanity if not the gospel.
Law, philosophy, morals had failed to restrain and reform. But the gospel has been effective. Millions of women and men have been changed, redeemed, purified, saved. The gospel is powerful enough to overcome all the tendencies of sin. It will unclench the hands of greed, silence the blasphemer, make pure the corrupt heart, and stop the strut of the arrogant. There is not a grasp on gold or pleasure that the gospel has not the power to break. And there is not a sinner who, if he or she fairly comes under its dominion, will not become holy. Your strongest propensities it may subdue. Your proudest systems of morality it may destroy, and your most gigantic schemes of corruption it may demolish—for thousands of such sinners as you it has humbled, prostrated, changed into holy people.
No persecutors are secure that they can accomplish their schemes before they are seized by it. The band sent to arrest the Savior were awed, humbled, convinced by his eloquence, and returned, saying, “No one ever spoke the way this man does.”
Now can it be that this mighty gospel—that is dismayed by no crime; that cowers before no propensities; that fears no titles, no splendor, no renown; that throws down arrogance as easily as the tempest does the proudest oak; that can enter any circle of corruption and shed peace around the profane and the scoffer and the drunkard; that carries its principles into the profoundest minds and sheds its humility into the proudest hearts—is it possible that it can exist and not be seen? Can it do all this—and no one know it? Can it live and act thus—and never be made visible?
Then may the light rest on the mountaintop and the vale—and no one see it. Then may the city lift its turrets to the clouds—and be invisible. Then may the ocean swell and surge on the shore—and no one be aware of commotion. It must, it will stand out in human view. If it accomplishes such changes, they will be seen, and if it ever grasps any human spirit, it must show its power in the life. --- Albert Barnes
(27). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.Decision Time
There are two decisions that are critical in every human life. The first decision is to accept Jesus, the Son of God, as personal Saviour.
The second decision has to do with discipleship. Will we follow Jesus completely?
What are some of the characteristics of the disciple’s lifestyle ... in Luke 9 and Luke 10? Trust. Suffering. Humility. Purpose. Commitment. Involvement. And prayer.
The Seventy-two. The other Gospels focus on 12 disciples. But Luke introduces us to a larger corps of close followers. Luke 10 tells us that Jesus appointed 72 that He sent out two-by-two to preach in Israelite towns. We know the names of the Twelve. But the 72 remain anonymous. Yet Jesus knew them and their ministries well. How good that today too we need not be well known by others to be effective disciples of Jesus Christ.
There are some decisions I hate to make.
I particularly dislike deciding what to order from a menu. I’ll sit and stare at the listed foods, be the last one to order, and still try frantically to get out of saying to the waitress, “I’ll take this.”
I had a hard time deciding to buy our last car. I wasn’t sure whether it was God’s will or my desires that motivated me. And I was very frustrated.
Other decisions—often bigger ones—seem to come easily. It was easy to leave my Wheaton teaching position to move to Arizona, where I had no job or income except through writing. It was clearly the right thing to do.
What can we say about decisions? Some are easy. Some hard. But all of us face decisions that have to be made.
This was the situation in Jesus’ day as we come to the events described in Luke 7:18–9:20. Jesus had presented Himself as Lifegiver, and had demonstrated His authority. Jesus had openly explained the principles on which the new life He offered is to be built. The counterculture of love had been clearly defined.
And now people had to choose. They had to decide to trust Jesus and commit themselves to Him, or to reject Him.
What were the reactions of people under the pressure of imminent decision? Why did those who hesitated hold back? Looking at them, we can perhaps understand our own reactions to Jesus’ claims. And perhaps we too can see why today we have to make the choice they tried to avoid.
Why Wait? Luke 7:18–8:3 / John the Baptist (Luke 7:18–23). One of those who seemed to hesitate now was John the Baptist! What a shock to see him waver, for the whole focus of his life had been to prepare the way for Jesus. Still, as we look at the circumstances, we can understand.
John was now in prison (Matt. 11:2), about to be executed by King Herod. The personal pressure John faced must have had something to do with the growth of doubt. But even more serious must have been the fact that Jesus’ ministry was not taking the direction John had foreseen. John, like the other godly Jews of his day, was entranced with an Old Testament picture: a vision of a messianic King who would throw off the pagan yoke and bring in Israel’s promised glory days. But John could see no evidence that Jesus was using His miraculous power to strike a blow for freedom. John did not expect the Messiah simply to go around teaching people to love!
So John sent two of his followers to Jesus to question Him: “Are You the One?” (Luke 7:19, NASB) “At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind” (Luke 7:21). Turning to John’s followers, who had witnessed the healings, Jesus told them to report to John what they had seen.
What had they seen? Miracles? Yes. But what kind of miracles? The Old Testament had said the Messiah was to “open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon” (Isa. 42:7, NASB). Messiah would care for those in need. His ministry would focus on people. So Jesus sent the followers of John back to him to report. Then He turned to the crowds and He said, “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me.”
John hesitated, because Jesus hadn’t done what he expected.
What have you expected of the Christian faith? Have you seen it as a way to become better than others? As a basis from which to criticize sinners? To reject the youth who aches for drugs, or the adult who curses and tries to hide the emptiness of his life behind irreverence or pride.
Jesus told John, Look at Me! See what I do! Jesus did not come to judge. He did not come to build religious walls. He came to reach out to people, to heal, to save, to bring hope. To care. And happy are we if we never take our eyes from Him.
If we look at Jesus, we see love at the center of the life that He offers and demands. For people who expect something different, something less, no wonder there is hesitancy. But look again at Jesus. And choose.
(323). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.