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Category Archives: Luke

Luke 19:41-44

21 Nov

41 But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. 43 Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. 44 They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.”

Luke 19:41-44

Dear God, I wonder how things would have been different if they had recognized the time of your visitation. What if everyone had gotten on board. The Pharisees. The priests. The Levites. The common people. What if the disciples, even, had really understood what you were teaching them? What would that have looked like?

Sometimes, I think we are trying to answer that question as the church today, and different churches are coming up with different answers. Some churches want to forcibly bring your kingdom upon the earth, which I perceive is the mistake the Pharisees of the time were making. Some are silent and just quietly worship you without bothering anyone. Those churches are largely dying from old age and attrition. Some are screaming for justice, which is a legitimate cry because there is so much injustice, but it might also distract them from considering their lives worth nothing to them (see Acts 20:24). And then I do believe there are a few churches that are literally doing what they can to follow the radical teachings of Jesus. They love their neighbors. The meet needs. They worship you. They forgive. The eschew hate and lust. They consider the lilies and don’t worry. They give freely of their time and money.

What would it be like if every church in the world, or even in our community, really lived out the Sermon on the Mount? How would we be helping parents raise their children? How would we be helping the school? How would we be working with the prisoners and the courts? How would we be worshipping you so purely and letting your Spirit and its fruit grow so much within us that we would be a beacon that attracts others?

As for me, if I lean toward any of these categories on a personal level, it is probably the kind that silently and quietly worships you. Yes, I volunteer for some things. Yes, I donate to some things. Yes, I talk to those around me about my faith and how I’m living it out. But I’m not really leading people to you. I’m not teaching worship of you. I’m not teaching the fruits that grow from loving you and loving our neighbors.

Father, it was impossible for the people of Jesus’s time to recognize your visitation because 1.) they weren’t ready for that kind of humility and 2.) it wouldn’t have worked with your plan. Maybe that’s one reason you chose that time and place. And it can be hard now to understand what we would do differently if this were the time of your visitation. Would we put you on cable news and have you lead us to power? Would we reject you for your humility when you refused to do it? Yes and yes. But I worship you, now. I thank you now. Help me to love, forgive, serve, and worship well today. And help me to share that faith with others so that they might develop closer relationships with you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on November 21, 2024 in Luke

 

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Luke 16:1-13

08 Nov

16 Jesus told this story to his disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money. 2 So the employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired.’

3 “The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg. 4 Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’

5 “So he invited each person who owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’ 6 The man replied, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ So the manager told him, ‘Take the bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons.’

7 “‘And how much do you owe my employer?’ he asked the next man. ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat,’ was the reply. ‘Here,’ the manager said, ‘take the bill and change it to 800 bushels.’

8 “The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. 9 Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.

10 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. 11 And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? 12 And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?

13 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”

Luke 16:1-13

Dear God, of course, I’ve talked about this parable with you before. It has never set well with me. The idea that Jesus would encourage deception and theft is confusing. It’s still hard for me to connect the dots, so I’m going to skip to what Luke records as the lesson from this parable in verse 9:

9 Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.

Even this lesson is a little weird considering the lives the disciples would later live. Perhaps Jesus was looking forward to their persecution and knowing they would need allies.

As a fundraiser for a nonprofit, I can sometimes struggle with my motivations for being kind to people. Am I truly interested in them, or am I manipulating them so they will give the nonprofit where I work money? I have found that if I do not lean into the friendship and truly caring about them then I cannot live with myself. I have to care. I have to keep the donations separate from the compassion I feel. A friend died suddenly a week ago today. He and his wife happen to be large donors at the nonprofit where I work, but that didn’t drive my friendship with him. I also knew him through Rotary, and we enjoyed having lunch together. At the first of our long lunches, after about an hour he looked at me and said, “So, what can I do for you?” He was so used to being taken to lunch by a nonprofit for an “ask” that he was waiting for the pitch. I responded, “Nothing. I just wanted to have lunch.” We developed a wonderful friendship from there. We would spend hours and hours at lunch. Never less than two. Sometimes three to four hours. Such a wonderful man. I will truly miss him. I know I’m going to thing sometime soon, “I need to call ______ for lunch,” and then I’ll remember I can’t. Those will be sad moments. But with his death, my conscience is clear because I know I loved him and cared for him regardless of the donations he made to our nonprofit.

Father, I really don’t know to what extent I am supposed to be shrewd. I’m just not wired up this way. And I don’t know how to reconcile this parable of Jesus’s with my life. I really don’t. So, if there is something I’m supposed to be learning from this, Holy Spirit, please speak to me and teach me. Jesus, explain this to me. If I’m missing something in my life that you want me to incorporate, I certainly want to incorporate it. I just want to worship you and represent you to the world as best as I can. Help me to do that.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on November 8, 2024 in Luke

 

Luke 10:25-37

30 Oct

25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”

27 The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”

29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

31 “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

33 “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

36 “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.

37 The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

Luke 10:25-37

Dear God, I have the opportunity to speak to a private school chapel this morning. The students will be ages 5-18. That can be a tough crowd to reach with one message. And I am supposed to be talking to them about the nonprofit where I work. How do you make an 8-year-old child care about healthcare for low-income people who are uninsured? The answer, of course, is stories. That’s what Jesus did for his crowds.

I asked the woman who scheduled me for this if there was a special spiritual theme they would like me to hit while I’m talking. She said (Not judging any grammar because it was a text and I think texts should be an edit-free zone.), “[Our model] emphasizes personhood, in that all are created in the image of God. Secondly, learning is a “coming to know” the mind of the Creator, and this coming to know is a mind-to-mind meeting. In this way, learning is a communion with God. To unite these ideas within your work: If learning is a way to better know God, and all persons are created in God’s image–when we learn about people, when we relate to anyone, when we see all as image-bearers, we are given the opportunity to draw closer to the Lord.”

Honestly, I was intimidated when I read that. I’m not even sure I fully understand some of it. But as I thought about Jesus and his lessons to us, the parable of the Good Samaritan came to mind. So as I pray to you this morning, I would like for your to finalize my thoughts on how to present to these children. And I understand that this is one of 30+ chapel talks they will hear this year. And I understand that the odds are good that none of them will remember what I said by the end of the day. However, there might be a seed that finds some fertile soil in one heart in the room. Maybe more. And maybe that seed will grow into something beautiful. So I want to take this seriously, if not expecting something grandiose for them in their experience with me this morning.

  • I think I will start by simply reading the first part of the passage above. Up to where Jesus says, “Right!” and point out that this expert in the law is unique in that Jesus is impressed with how he sees his faith. Usually, Jesus is frustrated by people who consider themselves experts in the law, but he seems pleased with this one.
  • Those commands will answer a lot of other questions about what they should do in any given situation.
  • Why does God want us to love Him with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength.
  • Why does God want us to love others? To be curious and not judgmental?
  • I will let their parents, pastors, and teachers talk with them about what loving God with all their hearts looks like. The man in the story seemed to have that down. What he didn’t understand was how to follow the second commandment, so let’s see what Jesus said.
  • Then read the rest of the parable.
  • Here is an example of a woman who walked in the way of the Good Samaritan.
  • What kinds of people does God put in your path on a daily basis?
    • Parent
    • Sibling
    • Another student
    • A teammate on a team
    • Someone at church
  • When we find that person who annoys us, be curious, not judgmental. Sometimes, if something is making us annoyed or upset, it’s a sign that it is someone or something we need to pray for.

Father this feels a little disjointed right now. I’m not sure I will be able to hit every point. But I want these children to feel your love for them this morning. I want them to feel love for you and for everyone else, whether they consider them a friend, enemy, or are indifferent about them. I want the same thing for myself. I want to love you with all my soul, heart, mind, and strength. I want to love my neighbors generously. Help me to do that in your power and for your glory alone.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 30, 2024 in Luke

 

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Luke 13:10-21

29 Oct

10 One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, 11 he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!” 13 Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God!

14 But the leader in charge of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. “There are six days of the week for working,” he said to the crowd. “Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.”

15 But the Lord replied, “You hypocrites! Each of you works on the Sabbath day! Don’t you untie your ox or your donkey from its stall on the Sabbath and lead it out for water? 16 This dear woman, a daughter of Abraham, has been held in bondage by Satan for eighteen years. Isn’t it right that she be released, even on the Sabbath?”

17 This shamed his enemies, but all the people rejoiced at the wonderful things he did.

18 Then Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? How can I illustrate it? 19 It is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches.”

20 He also asked, “What else is the Kingdom of God like? 21 It is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.”

Luke 13:10-21

Dear God, the daily Gospel reading for today was just verse 18-21, but that would be taking them out of context. They are actually linked to this story about the healing of someone on the Sabbath. So the part about how the “Kingdom of God,” your Kingdom, grows like a tiny seed into a tree or yeast working through flower is tied to the shame of those who were leading your church at the time. So Jesus wasn’t only talking about your growing within and influencing the world, but he was also talking about Kingdom growing within and influencing the established church. In Jesus’s context, that would ultimately mean Christianity transforming Judaism. It didn’t abolish it, obviously. But it grew. It also grew into the world, but it started with transforming the established church itself.

Of course, your seeds and yeast also grow in our individual hearts. The roots of the seeds break through the clay of my heart to find some soil. And then they grow. The yeast breaks through the dense dough of my heart and helps it so spread out and be free to grow. But I have to let it. I have to put myself in a position to receive the seeds and the nourishment. I have to try to weed my soil and clear out the rocks. I have to tend my heart so that your Kingdom might grow within it.

Father, Laity Lodge had a philosophy of the world being influence by the church and the church being influenced by the individual, and the individual being influenced by you. It starts with this basic relationship. Our individual relationships with you. How do we put ourselves close to you? How do we make sure our hearts are fertile soil for you? Show me if there is anything I need to be doing today that will prepare the way of the Lord in my own heart. And then show me how to share that with others.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 29, 2024 in Luke

 

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Luke 12:35-40, 49-53

24 Oct

49 “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! 50 I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. 51 Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! 52 From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.

53 ‘Father will be divided against son
    and son against father;
mother against daughter
    and daughter against mother;
and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law
    and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’”

Dear God, we can’t read these verses without reading the context of what came before it. All of this started with Jesus warning the people to be ready like a servant who awaits his masters return and must always be ready:

35 “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. 37 The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! 38 He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready.

39 “Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would not permit his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.”

Once again, our subject headings make some things convenient, but they can remove passages from their context if we let them.

This has always been a hard passage. Why does Jesus come across as so angry and vindictive in verse 49? Well, it’s partly related to the people not being ready when the master (Jesus) came and also knowing the truth of what was about to happen to him. And what was about to happen was incredibly destructive and then re-creational. But it would divide. It did divide. It still does.

I was listening to a recent Andy Stanley sermon this morning about Jesus being who he said he was. And I’ve seen my faith in that message divide members of my own family. I’ve literally seen children be hostile with parents over their faith. And it’s hard to watch. And when I read these words of Jesus they both aggravate me and comfort me. They aggravate me because I think, Why does it have to be this way? Then they comfort me because I see that it will simply sometimes be this way.

This passage also reminds me of the pressure and even anxiety Jesus felt about his earthly future. He certainly didn’t want it to happen. He didn’t want to be beaten and crucified. He wished the atonement cold have happened another way. But let’s for a moment say it could have happened another way and his death and resurrection wasn’t necessary for that, then what would have differentiated him in history? Had he just lived taught, and then been assumed into heaven, how would he have ever been remembered. It’s the crucifixion and resurrection, and how they inspired the people who witnessed this miracle to then go to the world and proclaim it that made the difference. It was Their witness to this story that made the Gentiles take notice. It is the reason I am sitting here this morning.

Father, there are times I look around and it seems like the world is on fire. And maybe it is. Maybe you’re breaking us down to our bare essentials so you can build us back up, once again, in your image. Maybe you want to love and inspire us through some setbacks. Through some suffering. Maybe it doesn’t matter who wins the presidential election because either way the world is spinning away from you, and we need just a little more leash before we are ready to come to the end of ourselves, repent, and come back to you. Show me the role you have for me in all of this. Show me how to love and inspire my wife. Show her how to love and inspire me. Show me how to love my children and my family. My coworkers. My friends. Everyone within my sphere, show me what to do.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 24, 2024 in Luke

 

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Luke 9:51-56

01 Oct

51 As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 He sent messengers ahead to a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival. 53 But the people of the village did not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem. 54 When James and John saw this, they said to Jesus, “Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them. 56 So they went on to another village.

Luke 9:51-56

Dear God, I think I want to look closely at verse 53 this morning. The Samaritans at that time made a huge mistake. All they saw was a rabbi wanting to stay there on his way to Jerusalem for the Passover. How dare this Jewish snob (probably their view of him) use them while he looked down on them! Their pride, anger, and hurt led them into a bad decision.

How much does that still happen today? I was listening to the Voxology Podcast for this week yesterday. They were talking about the culture war and how Jesus would fight it, leaning on what he said during the Sermon on the Mount. It made me think about the controversial Olympics opening ceremony where drag queens simulated a dinner that was controversial. When many Christians saw it they were indignant and let their displeasure be known. In this story today from Luke, the people who were mad remind me of the Samaritans who told Jesus he wasn’t welcome there and also James and John who were ready to call down fire on them for their insolence. Samaritans: How dare he?!? James and John: How dare they?!?

Father, help me to see all of this with Jesus’s eyes. Help me to see those drag queens with Jesus’s eyes. Help me to love them. Help me to love anyone who comes across my path today. Let it start with the children I’m about to read to at the school. Use me this morning in your kingdom. Use me at work. Use me in my family. Use me for my wife. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 1, 2024 in Luke

 

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Luke 9:1-10

26 Sep

9 One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. 2 Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 “Take nothing for your journey,” he instructed them. “Don’t take a walking stick, a traveler’s bag, food, money, or even a change of clothes. 4 Wherever you go, stay in the same house until you leave town. 5 And if a town refuses to welcome you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.”

6 So they began their circuit of the villages, preaching the Good News and healing the sick.

7 When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, heard about everything Jesus was doing, he was puzzled. Some were saying that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead. 8 Others thought Jesus was Elijah or one of the other prophets risen from the dead.

9 “I beheaded John,” Herod said, “so who is this man about whom I hear such stories?” And he kept trying to see him.

10 When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done. Then he slipped quietly away with them toward the town of Bethsaida.

Dear God, I want to focus on verses 7-9 this morning, but I wanted them in their context. Luke tells us this story of the disciples going out and doing great things, but he also gives us a little bit of insight into what’s happening with Herod. Luke told us about Joanna, the wife of Herod’s business manager Chuza being one of Jesus’s supporters. Was that his source. It’s certainly plausible that she was. I’m sure Herod was learning things about Jesus from Chuza, and Jesus and the disciples were learning things about Herod from Joanna.

I would love to be able to get inside of Herod’s head and see what he is thinking. I think there was actually something about John the Baptist that touched him. He didn’t want to kill him. And now there was this Jesus guy. I don’t think he saw Jesus as a revolutionary threat, which is ironic because that is what the Jewish people wanted him to be. Yeah. I don’t know. I could be completely wrong here, but I almost get the sense that this generation of Herod was a little Jesus-curious. Would Jesus be someone who could bring him a peace he was striving for but couldn’t attain?

I wonder what kept Herod from actually seeing Jesus at this point. Surely he could have just summoned him through Joanna and he would have come. Did he have too much pride to let others know he had this curiosity? Was he afraid Herodias would have Jesus arrested? Was he afraid Jesus would confront him like John did?

It’s important to note how Luke eventually represented Herod’s and Jesus’s interaction when they finally did meet during the Passion:

8 Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been hoping for a long time to see him perform a miracle. 9 He asked Jesus question after question, but Jesus refused to answer. 10 Meanwhile, the leading priests and the teachers of religious law stood there shouting their accusations. 11 Then Herod and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing Jesus. Finally, they put a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate.

Luke 23:8-11

He was excited to meet Jesus, but then when Jesus let him down and didn’t answer any of his questions, he mocked him and condemned him to what he thought was death.

Father, Herod was just a man. He was sinful. He had needs. He had an ego. He was everything I am. And I have a choice to make. Will I be prideful, or will I die to myself, take up my cross, and follow you? Herod had more to lose that I do, so the choice should be easier for me. And I do. I come before you to lay down my life, take up my cross and follow you. Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you are my God.

I pray to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 26, 2024 in Luke

 

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Luke 8:1-3

20 Sep

8 Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, 2 along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; 3 Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.

Luke 8:1-3

Dear God, I don’t know that I’ve ever spent much time thinking about these women. But it is interesting that Luke takes the time to tell us about these women. The one who really caught my eye this morning is “Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager.” What an interesting person to have in your entourage. To have her be one of your patrons. I wonder what experience brought her to this role in Jesus’s earthly mission. Had she been cured of diseases or had evil spirits cast out of her or someone she knew? And how did Chuza’s proximity to Jesus through her, including giving some of his money to Jesus, impact Herod? Did it do something in his heart that directed his actions on the day Pilate sent Jesus to him to adjudicate his potential crucifixion? It most likely gave Herod some additional anecdotal information about this amazing Jewish man. Did it make Herod more scared and insecure?

Scared and insecure. I’m sorry I’m chasing rabbits now, but those two words I just used brought me back to a couple of things I read this morning. I read a document called Evangelical Confession 2024, which was largely related to how Christians should relate to politics. Then I read a piece offering caution and warnings about that Evangelical Confession. I’m not going to pretend to have thought through either of these things completely or thoroughly. But I will say that I see fear and insecurity everywhere I look right now. There is fear where our politics are headed, from liberals to conservatives to everyone in between. There is fear where the church is headed. There is fear where our societal norms are headed. When it comes down to it, however, it seems to me that there is fear that things are going in a direction that individuals don’t like.

I don’t know why you do what you do. Why did Nazi Germany rise up and commit so many atrocities? Why did World War I before that happen? Those are large scale questions. Closer to home, why does this person or that person die tragically? So why did Donald Trump become president in 2016? Your choice? Joe Biden in 2020? Your choice? We all assume that you are doing things so they work out for the agenda we have, but we can be so myopic and not see the big picture. What if we need to sink into a morally defunct liberal pit in order to hit bottom and have true revival? What if your intention is for us to go down further before we can come back to you with true humility, reverence and worship? Or, what if you are calling us to lead that revival right now before it’s too late? What if we miss our window that is slowly closing? Will it close forever?

Father, I’m all over the place this morning, and I don’t know that I’ve come to many conclusions except to say that I will put my trust in you. I will not be afraid. I will believe that you will put the right people in my life who will, on your behalf, teach me, comfort me, and love me. They might not be the people I expect. They might not be the people I miss and long for. But I believe you will be there with me regardless of how things turn out. In the case of Joanna above, she didn’t know that Jesus, the man she was supporting, would need to die, to sink down and literally go to the bottom first, before he would be victorious. I’m sure the crucifixion was disappointing, devastating, and disillusioning to her. Help me to accept the realities around me with my faith in you keeping me from being disappointed, devastated, or disillusioned.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 20, 2024 in Luke

 

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Luke 7:48,50

19 Sep

48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

50 And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Luke 7:48,50

Dear God, I want to follow up on yesterday’s prayer and stay focused on this woman for a bit. Let’s assume she wasn’t paying attention to what Jesus was saying to Simon the Pharisee. She was just focused on her sorrow and shame as she anointed, washed, cried over, and kissed Jesus’s feet. If that’s true, in the midst of her shame, what she heard was, “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

So how does that land for her in that moment? How does she hear that?

  • Forgiven: Has she ever felt forgiven by you before? Could all of the sacrifices at the Temple make up for what she has done? I’m going to go back to Jenny from Forrest Gump. Forrest is not Jesus, but in the scene where he asks her to marry him he has forgiven anything she might have ever done. He holds nothing–absolutely nothing–against her. But what’s her response? “You don’t want to marry me.” She’s implying, “You don’t know everything you are forgiving or will have to forgive in the future if you marry me. I will be bad for you.” I wonder if this woman carried that kind of shame around. “God, you don’t want to forgive me. There’s too much that I have done, and there’s still a lot more for me to do.” But then she hears about Jesus. She believes he’s from you. Interestingly, at least in that moment, she was not looking for a king to conquer and to kill the Romans for here. I would guess that she just needs release from her shame and goes to Jesus for proximity to you. I don’t even know that she expected forgiveness from that interaction. But she got it.
  • Faith: She believed Jesus was who he said he was. I have no idea how she got into Simon’s house. I don’t know if she barged in past the other guests. I don’t know if she was weeping as she walked in. Did she have her head down? Did she crawl? But somehow she had intelligence on where Jesus was in that moment and she believed in who he was enough to endure the scorn of others to get there. In fact, her faith in Jesus being the Messiah was unique in that home. Simon was there to question Jesus, not worship him. I don’t know if he came to faith later, but in that moment, the person with faith was the sinner. But she was also the most desperate and had the least to lose in that room. It is really too bad we need to hit bottom and come to the end of ourselves before we are willing to come to you in faith. It makes me think of Jairus. He was probably a lot like Simon, but then his daughter was dying. He was at the end of himself. All he had left was desperate faith. For this woman, she was the one who was wasted and spiritually dead.
  • Go in peace: I wonder what her life looked like after that. Sure, Jesus had forgiven her, but that didn’t change the people who knew her and knew of her. What was her path to societal redemption like? Did Jesus’s followers now accept her willingly? Did she join the traveling party? I hope she was able to live into the new life that Jesus offered her in that moment. We don’t know that she did. But it makes me think about what our role as the church is in helping people like her. She needed Jesus’s followers to accept his forgiveness of her and apply it to her as well. She needed them to help her rise up. There are plenty of people in our community who need the same thing.

Father, first, forgive me. I’d like to say that I’m not as bad as she was, but is that true. Have I not grieved you and hurt myself and others through my sin? I need your forgiveness. Even in this moment. Please forgive me. Please help me to go in peace. Help me to live into the life you have for me to live. Help me to take that forgiveness and apply it to others. Help me to help others to rise up. Oh, Lord, thank you. I worship you as my God. I am here to serve you. “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.”

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 19, 2024 in Luke

 

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Luke 7:36-38

18 Sep

36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. 37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

Luke 7:36-38

Dear God, we often read this story–okay, I often read this story and kind of skip over the woman. What she was experiencing in her life in that moment. What she felt compelled to do. Why she did what she did. I skip to the judgmentalism of the Pharisees, but when I read the story this morning, I just stopped with her. What her week had been like. What she thought when she heard Jesus was around. What drove her to bring her expensive perfume, enter that home, and just break down, literally, at his feet.

The movie Forrest Gump is interesting for so many reasons, but this story reminds me of Jenny, Forrest’s life-long love. So damaged. Acting out in so many ways. I watch “reaction videos” on YouTube of young people watching old movies for the first time, and I would say nine out of ten of them are always mad at Jenny for how she acts and treats Forrest. But the other one or two out of ten harken back to the trauma from her childhood and give her empathy. To use the phrase a lot of us know, they are curious and not judgmental.

There are people I love whom it would be amazing for them to find themselves at your feet like this woman. They have childhood trauma. And they have acted out for decades. What would it be like for them if they were able to come to the foot of your cross, pour our their most precious earthly possessions that have not brought them the peace they sought, and then worship you? Accepting your forgiveness? Accepting your healing?

Then there is me. Is there anything I’m holding back? Am I holding back any possessions? Am I holding back any repentance? That is something for me to really consider today. Holy Spirit, speak to me this morning. Help me to see if there is anything I am denying you, and, in turn, denying myself of you. And help me to also see the people in my life who are like this woman. Help me to love them well. Help me to guide them to the foot of your cross.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 18, 2024 in Luke

 
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