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Luke 11:42-46

15 Oct

42 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

43 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces. 44 Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.”

45 “Teacher,” said an expert in religious law, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said.”

46 “Yes,” said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden.

Luke 11:42-46

Dear God, I’ve had a frustration rolling around in my head over the last 12 or so hours that my first temptation is to take these verses and apply them to the people who are frustrating me, making them the Pharisees and experts in the law and me, well…, Jesus. Okay, even on the face of it, that is absurd. But one thing you’ve taught me to do when I read a biblical story that includes clear delineations between good people and bad people is that I need to first consider that I might be the bad guy in the story. How am I like the Pharisee or expert in the law? Does Jesus have an admonition and correction for me in his words here?

So let me start with the idea that I might be missing the important things. Are there important things I’m missing? And how do we define important? I might tend to think of great political policies as important. I might even think of programs in our city that could help the poor. That could be important (and I think on Jesus’s “important scale” that might be closer to important than the political policy issues). But maybe the most important is the person right in front of me and their need. Am I missing them.

Here’s an example that you just brought to mind. There was an elderly woman in our clinic yesterday. She was there for a dental appointment. She was frustrated that she paid $30 for her first visit in over a year, which by policy was an exam and x-ray only when it’s been that long since a visit, and now she was having to pay another $30 for a separate visit, which was a cleaning. She mentioned that she only had $37 left in her account. We told her she could owe us for the cleaning, but she was still upset she was being charged at all and clearly frustrated. I felt badly for her, but I let her go on her way. I was a little annoyed at how abrupt she was with the staff so my compassion meter got turned down a bit. Now, as I sit here, I’m wondering whether we missed an opportunity to help her. Should we have taken a beat to talk to her about her financial issues and talk with her about resources in the community available to her–utility assistance, food, financial counselors, etc.? Did I miss what’s important?

Father, I am sorry for missing that opportunity yesterday along with so many others. Help me to have real eyes to see and ears to hear what is important. Help me to love. Help me to also re-think our policy and question how we charge patients for their appointments. And find this woman today. Meet her where she is. Help her. I think of the widow and her mite. If this woman is another version of her, help us to be part of your blessing to her.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 15, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 11:37-41

14 Oct

37 As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table. 38 His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom. 39 Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! 40 Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? 41 So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.

Luke 11:37-41

Dear God, I’ll admit it can be hard to figure out which rules I’m supposed to follow and which ones I’m not. First, let’s be clear, Jesus was walking into a situation where he knew he was being set up. He knew he was going to have to argue about something. Did he do this so he could set the stage for the argument he wanted to have? Did he intentionally violate the handwashing ceremony so he could launch into the cleanliness of the heart? If so, it’s pretty clever (of course it was clever–it was Jesus).

I think about the things that we do that grieve you and vs. the things we focus on. I think about the parts of Matthew 5 and the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus does the list of “You have heard it said ______, but I say ______” as he references hate/murder, lust/adultery, etc. Then I think about the things the church is fixated on today. On the LGBTQ+ issue, for example, what would Jesus say? “You have heard it said, ‘Don’t like with a man as one lies with a woman, that is detestable,’ but I say, ‘If you don’t love your wife as I love you then you are detestable.” That’s just an absolute guess made for effect, but I can’t help but Jesus’s target in the LGBTQ+ issue would be the accusers more than the accused. Heterosexual married couples are grieving your heart as much as anyone. I have grieved you sexually as much as anyone. And that’s just one example.

Father, as I go through this day, and as I prepare to teach the Christian Men’s Life Skills class tonight on Motivation, help me to be loving and not judgmental. These men are all guilty of some crime and this class is part of their sentence. They need to see you in me tonight. They need to see both your grace and your “Go and sin no more.” Help me to be that deliverer. Help the men leading tonight to be those deliverers as well. Prepare hearts to be yours. Prepare hearts for the seeds you are planting. Give us the seeds and help us to sow them generously. And teach me through the other men there tonight as well. Let your Spirit reign in my place of work, in my home, in my vehicle, and in that place tonight. And also thank you for answering our prayers from yesterday. Thank you, Father, for everything–even what I cannot see.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 14, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 17:11-19

12 Oct

11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Luke 17:11-19

Dear God, “there’s no one more thankful to sit at the table than the one who last remembers hunger’s pain.” That’s a quote from a Steven Curtis Chapman son called “Remember Your Chains.” In the intro to the song from the video I just linked, Mr. Chapman references the depths of the darkness you saved us from. And it’s true. You did. You saved me from being a sad, insecure, worthless feeling boy. And now I hang out with men who have gone through the Christian Men’s Life Skills class who have literally been in chains in jail and are now trying to rebuild their lives. They remember literal shackles, which I’ve never experienced, but they are also either in the darkness or just recently set free from the darkness.

I’ll confess, Father, that I don’t remember the darkness well. I don’t remember hunger’s pain. It’s been almost 40 years that I’ve been following you as best as I can. I haven’t been perfect. I’ve sinned and continue to sin. And now I’m one of those other 9 who has already shown himself to the priests and now I’m just bee-bopping through my life. Yes, I help others. Yes, I volunteer for things. Yes, I worship you and love you. I’m not trying to say I do nothing, but do I need to get back in touch with the depths of what you did for me? I wonder if I shouldn’t maybe go back and spend some time trying to remember who I was before July 17, 1987.

Father, help me to add this depth to not only my current gratitude and experience with you, but to also remember to offer it to the people around me who are in the hole I can barely remember. I want my remembrance to fuel my worship of you and my witness to others. Help me to do that.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 12, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 11:14-28

09 Oct

14 One day Jesus cast out a demon from a man who couldn’t speak, and when the demon was gone, the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed, 15 but some of them said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.” 16 Others, trying to test Jesus, demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.

17 He knew their thoughts, so he said, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A family splintered by feuding will fall apart. 18 You say I am empowered by Satan. But if Satan is divided and fighting against himself, how can his kingdom survive? 19 And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said. 20 But if I am casting out demons by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 21 For when a strong man is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe— 22 until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings.

23 “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.

24 “When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ 25 So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order. 26 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”

27 As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!”

28 Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”

Luke 11:14-28

Dear God, what an interesting exchange. I don’t understand spiritual warfare as taught and demonstrated by Jesus enough. I’ve read books like This Present Darkness that showed a certain view of spiritual warfare, but I don’t really understand it. What Jesus describes here is a bit foreign to me.

What really struck me as I read this passage this morning was the people in the first paragraph just have no idea what’s going on, but they are trying to figure things out. Their finite human minds are trying to make sense of Jesus and what’s happening. Is he legit? Should he be embraced or feared? Should they follow him or ignore him? They just didn’t know. And while I know that I am to follow Jesus, there is still so much I don’t understand. And frankly, I don’t know that I ever will understand a lot of it on this side of life. The percentage of knowledge and understanding I have against the universe’s reality is so infinitesimally small that I can’t imaging it would even register.

Father, I’m walking into this day today completely ignorant. I know the people I’m worried about. I know what I think the problems are, but I don’t really understand the problems. So please give me the knowledge and insight you need me to have, and then help me to willfully accept thing things that are not for me to know. And help me to know when I need to pray more about demons and Satan messing with different situations. Help me to not miss an opportunity to do something you need me to do.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 9, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 10:17-24

04 Oct

17 When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”

18 “Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! 19 Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. 20 But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.”

21 At that same time Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and he said, “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way.

22 “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

23 Then when they were alone, he turned to the disciples and said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you have seen. 24 I tell you, many prophets and kings longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.”

Luke 10:17-24

Dear God, it’s fun to see Jesus excited about something. It seems like a lot of the stories are about him teaching or being frustrated with people for not getting it. But, in this moment, he just seems so delighted. Delighted with them. Delighted about them with you. I had a hard week at work. And I know Jesus had much harder weeks while he was here on earth. But it’s fun to see that delight in him in this moment. He seems encouraged and proud of these people he loves. I don’t know that I’ve ever noticed this before, but it’s certainly nice to see.

Now, what is he delighted about? That you are working through their humility and submission to you. They aren’t the “wise and clever,” but they are childlike. They are just doing what they are told and letting the chips fall where they may from there. Jesus told them to go out, visit the towns, heal and cast out demons, and then come back. They obeyed, and look at them now. It worked and they are worshipping you throughout the whole thing.

Father, help me to simply obey you. Help me get out of my head and stop trying to be “wise and clever.” Just help me to be an obedient child. If you give me an assignment, help me to not worry about how the assignment makes me look or to lean on my own understanding, but to simply lean into you and do it with joy and complete obedience. I guess that might start with the Christian Men’s Life Skills class I will co-teach on Tuesday night. Help me to decrease and let you increase through me. Help me to just get up there and tell them about the God I know.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 4, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 10:1-12

03 Oct

10 The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. 2 These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. 3 Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. 4 Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road.

5 “Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ‘May God’s peace be on this house.’ 6 If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you. 7 Don’t move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay.

8 “If you enter a town and it welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you. 9 Heal the sick, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you now.’ 10 But if a town refuses to welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘We wipe even the dust of your town from our feet to show that we have abandoned you to your fate. And know this—the Kingdom of God is near!’ 12 I assure you, even wicked Sodom will be better off than such a town on judgment day.

Luke 10:1-12

Dear God, the gospel reading for the day is actually verses 13-16, but I went back and read this for context. I noticed so many interesting things. One of the things I realized embarrassed me a little bit. I hope it was only something I forgot and not that I never put together when I read through Luke before.

  • Verse 1: This is a second sending out. This is the one I’m embarrassed about. You sent out the 12 at the beginning of chapter 9, and then you sent out the 72 here in chapter 10. Why did I always have these two as the same thing in my head? Oh, there’s so much I still don’t understand or realize. It’s humbling to be reminded in such a simple way how truly ignorant I am. If I’ve missed this, how much more am I missing? One more thing for verse 1 that hadn’t sunk in before. They weren’t just going out. They were going out, seemingly, to 36 (72 divided by 2) villages Jesus planned to visit, preparing the way. It doesn’t say any of them rejected them. I wonder if Jesus was doing this because of the disappointment he felt from Korazin and Bethsaida. Maybe he hoped that building some anticipation by softening up the ground first would help people prepare their hearts to repent by the time he got there. That’s just a guess.
  • Verse 2: The harvest and the workers. I’ve been thinking lately about mission work and the job of not only convincing people they need to follow you, but the difficulty in finding the people who are willing to walk through the narrow gate and then persevere down the narrow road. I know someone who wants to be a missionary to Japan. If they do it so that you can find just one specific soul to invite down that path, is it worth it? Yes, the harvest is out there, but the weeds growing up among the wheat makes it difficult to find the wheat at all. Help me to be looking for ways to find the wheat and invite it to enter through the narrow gate and then persevere.
  • Verses 3-4: Lambs among wolves. He sent them out and demanded they be vulnerable and to not do anything to make themselves invulnerable. It’s the last thing that makes it interesting. He wanted them to be wholly and completely dependent upon him/you. I have a mountain in front of me that I don’t know how to move. It doesn’t involve money or resources, but it involves just a difficult situation. I am completely flummoxed by it. I am not necessarily a lamb among wolves, but I feel like I’m supposed to be a shepherd that will guide the flock through the wolves. Help me to do this. I have nothing within myself that helps me know how to do this. I offer my ignorance and helplessness to you. Please bring a solution that will maximize your glory in all of the involved lives.
  • Verses 5-7: Your peace on a home. I hope we have that here. My wife and I, as empty-nesters, are grateful to truly enjoy each other and live peacefully together worshipping you. I’m so grateful for that. There is a home out there right now that is not peaceful. There are many homes, but I’m thinking about one right now. May you be glorified in all of this.
  • Verses 8-10: The towns and welcome or reject. I think some would look at the politically conservative area where I live and assume it is a town that would welcome you, but a city viewed as a politically liberal area would reject you. But I can’t help but wonder which of us would really accept you and reject you if you came to us today. And which camp would I be in? Am I ready to really experience you?

Father, create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51–David’s repentance after impregnating Bathsheba and killing Uriah). Help me to get out of my overwhelmedness and lay it all before you. Simply lay it before you and look for you to do something amazing. In fact, I look to you to do something amazing next week. For your glory, oh Lord, and not mine. And the pain we are experiencing, please use it to heal.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 3, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 9:57-62

01 Oct

57 As they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

58 But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”

59 He said to another person, “Come, follow me.”

The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”

60 But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.”

61 Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.”

62 But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”

Luke 9:57-62

Dear God, Luke is painting an interesting picture of Jesus. He is going out of his way to show us that Jesus wasn’t just building a movement driven by crowd size. He wasn’t looking for strength in numbers. He wasn’t looking for majority rule or power. He was seemingly trying to capture the whole heart of those who wanted to follow him. I’ll confess that I really don’t understand the last two except that maybe you knew something about their situations that seemed to make these excuses and not legitimate requests. I mean, you chastised the Pharisees at one point for keeping people from caring for their parents (Mark 7:9-13).

There were several times when it seems like you/Jesus were intentionally thinning the herd of who was following you. You were not only intentionally making the gate narrower, but you were then adding a filter to the gate to limit those who could go in. I think you were raising the standard and saying, “I want quality over quantity. I want people who are all in with me.”

Father, I am as all-in with you as I know to be. But you know my heart is heavy about some work challenges this morning. This isn’t necessarily going along with this passage, but I need your help this morning. I need you to speak to me, Holy Spirit. I need your guidance. I need your wisdom. I need to somehow maneuver through this situation in a loving, constructive way where everyone wins. But I don’t know how to do it on my own. I need you. I need divine inspiration. Oh, and let me stop and thank you for something that I think I took for granted last night. I was at an event where someone said some very nice things about me and the work that I do to a group of people, and they told me later that they just felt inspired by you to say them publicly. So maybe I should actually believe her, believe you were encouraging me last night even though I didn’t have ears to hear it, and now as I sit here and try to lean into you, you are reminding me of it and just asking me to lean into you more. So I trust you, Lord. I trust you, my Triune God. Thank you for being in my life.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 1, 2025 in Luke

 

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John 1:43-51

29 Sep

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come, follow me.” 44 Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.

45 Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”

46 “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

“Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.

47 As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”

48 “How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”

49 Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”

50 Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” 51 Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.”

John 1:43-51

Dear God, okay, the first time I read this I thought, “Oh, how I would love to get that compliment from Jesus: A man of complete integrity.” I read one translation that said, “There is n duplicity in him.” I love that. I would love for you to be able to say there is no duplicity in me. But then I reread the story and I noticed that Nathanael is certainly flawed. Just his supremacist attitude towards Nazareth. That shows he has a bit of an attitude born out of insecurity.

I just looked it up and found that John is the only one who tells us about Nathanael. He doesn’t eventually become one of the 12. Unless Nathanael went by a different name. This story and the one in John 21 where Jesus appears to the disciples after the resurrection are the only references to him in the entire Bible. So I guess we have John to thank for helping us know both Nicodemus and Nathanael. It would be interesting to see which biblical characters John tells us about that the others omit.

But going back to my initial thing about integrity and duplicity, this is a reminder that those aren’t enough. I can have these things and still have a hard, unloving heart. In fact, they can work against me if I rely too much on them and not on you. They need to be an integral part of my life. They are an important part of my life. But I can’t build my whole life on it because, well, if I have not love then I am nothing.

Father, I’m grateful for who I am, but I can also definitely see where those shortcomings are. Well, at least some of them. I know I have some shortcomings to which I am blind. Forgive me. Love others through me. Be glorified through me. Forgive me for my superior attitude sometimes. I worship and praise you.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 29, 2025 in John

 

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Luke 9:43b-45

27 Sep

While everyone was marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, 44 “Listen to me and remember what I say. The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies.” 45 But they didn’t know what he meant. Its significance was hidden from them, so they couldn’t understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

Luke 9:43b-45

Dear God, I’ve heard of the phrase “willful ignorance,” but it’s interesting that you were willfully keeping the disciples ignorant.

I’m trying to set the scene in my mind. In this chapter alone we’ve had:

  • Jesus sending out the 12.
  • Herod’s confusion.
  • Jesus receiving the 12 back and then promising them rest.
  • Jesus changing course and feeding the 5,000.
  • Jesus, Peter, and “who do you say that I am?”
  • Jesus predicting his death #1 (verse 22).
  • Jesus challenging the crowd to take up their cross.
  • The Transfiguration.
  • Healing the demon-possessed boy.

And now we get betrayal/death prediction #2 in verse 44. So the disciples are trying to make sense of a lot of things. Being so powerful when they were sent out. The miracle of feeding 5,000 with food left over. Jesus predicting his death. The transfiguration. One more healing. And then this thing about being betrayed.

I can’t tell you how much better these stories of the disciples being inadequate make me feel. I feel so ignorant and foolish sometimes. I feel overwhelmed by my situation. I feel like I am missing opportunities or things I should know or understand. I feel like I’m presented with situations and don’t know the right thing to say or do. I feel all of that. But stories like this help me to appreciate how hard it can be to know and understand what’s going on. And there are many times when, in the moment, I remember to pray to you while I’m in the midst of a struggle or difficult situation, asking you to give me the right words to say or things to do.

Father, I’m just going to trust you. Work through me. Love through me. Live through me. And Holy Spirit, please keep me from straying too far off the path. “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.” But in this case, it’s not even me wandering. It’s just me not seeing or perceiving. It brings me back to this passage from Isaiah 6:

9 And he said, “Yes, go, and say to this people,

‘Listen carefully, but do not understand.
    Watch closely, but learn nothing.’
10 Harden the hearts of these people.
    Plug their ears and shut their eyes.
That way, they will not see with their eyes,
    nor hear with their ears,
nor understand with their hearts
    and turn to me for healing.”

Please don’t harden my heart, plug my ears, or shut my eyes. If you’re doing it to protect me or others from me, then fine. Isolate me and keep me as ignorant as you want. But I pray that my heart will be such that when you are keeping me ignorant it is because my ignorant heart would make a mistake out of it’s pursuit of you and not because you simply can’t trust me to do the right thing. Holy Spirit, help me to do the right thing.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 27, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 9:7-9

25 Sep

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.

Luke 9:7-9

Dear God, Jesus does this interesting dance with Herod in Luke’s gospel. He knows he needs to die. I probably knew John the Baptist needed to die. He didn’t make a move to save John. He doesn’t make a move to confront Herod. But one of the women supporting him financially is married to someone in Herod’s court (Joanna from Luke 8:3). Later he will egg Herod on in Luke 13:31-32, call him a fox, and dare Herod to kill him. Interestingly, Herod, like Pilate, will live in infamy throughout time. He has a legacy few get. It’s not a good legacy. He married his brother’s wife. He killed John the Baptist. He was complicit in killing Jesus. He had issues.

As I read this passage this morning, I wondered why none of the things the people thought Jesus might be was “the Messiah.” John the Baptist raised from the dead? They were alive at the same time. Elijah? Well, okay. But I guess that also goes back to what Jesus asked the disciples later in this chapter after they feed the 5,000, “Who do people say that I am?” They replied the same things the people are telling Herod. It’s Peter in Luke 9:20 that calls him the Messiah. That’s a whole different label. I wonder if Jesus wasn’t confrontational or macho enough for the people’s definition of what the Messiah would be.

Father, I guess what I’m getting from this passage this morning is that I often don’t know the right thing to do. I don’t know if I should be confrontational in one situation. I don’t know if I should be nurturing and merciful in another. I don’t know if I should help and intervene or let someone struggle. I don’t know if I should hire this person or that person. I don’t know if I should ask this person or that person for money. It’s quite amazing, actually, how much ignorance I have as I make my way through the day. So for the people I encounter today. The people who are on my heart as I sit and pray right now. The family members who are struggling. The family members needing healing. The friends needing the same. The families our agency serves. The leaders of our community and nation. The leaders of the world. I simply pray that your kingdom will come and your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Use me however you will, and keep me from accidentally getting in your way.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 25, 2025 in Luke

 

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