Jesus Calms the Storm

It is truly one of the most striking incidents in the Gospels (Luke 8:22-25). Here are the Lord Jesus and his disciples out on the water and a furious squall comes up and there is the sleepy Saviour, rocking away like a baby in a cradle. Many of these disciples are experienced watermen; they would recognize imminent danger. And here it is, crashing down on them, as the waves get higher and the howling winds are tossing their little bark about and they begin to ship water. And still Jesus sleeps! What a picture of his humanity! And moments later, after the disciples rouse him, he rebukes the winds and the waves and all is calm. What a picture of his deity!
One of the most terrifying things about a storm is that it is beyond our control. Nowadays we encounter many kinds of storms. There is the financial storm in our country. The storm of war. The storms in our relationships with others, whether at work or in our families. At times there are storms in our own souls. We still need Jesus to calm the storm, don't we?
Like the disciples, like the psalmist of old, we still cry out from time to time, "Awake, O Lord!"
May the Lord speak peace to your storm, whatever it may be."Be still my soul: the waves and winds still know, His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below" (K. von Shlegel, 1752).

The Parable of the Sower

Joachim Jeremias points out that the Parable of the Sower makes more sense when we understand that in Palestine, sowing precedes ploughing (The Parables of Jesus, 11).
The parables are like doors; they can open onto new vistas, fresh insights, if we knock on them and open them. Otherwise, they remain lovely little riddles so that when we hear them, we will not understand.
How do we open the door to the parables? I think we have to do what the disciples did--ask Jesus what they mean! The parables are best as matters for prayer.

Loving Much

The reading today is where the sinful woman washed Jesus feet with her tears. Luke 7:36-50. To me it is one of the most moving scenes in the Gospels. The woman knew she had been forgiven much and so she loved much. I wonder if our ardor for the Lord cools because we have forgotten or perhaps have never realized how much the Lord has forgiven us? May the Holy Spirit give us a glimpse of the extent of how much God has forgiven us! Even Paul the Apostle, who was as righteous as they come, confessed at the end of his life, "this is a faithful saying, 'Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners,' of whom I am chief."
Of course, nowadays, people don't believe in sin--but if that's the case, what do we call the mess we're in?

Disillusionment

When John sends to Jesus and asks him if he is the one who was to come (Luke 7:18), he strikes a chord with many of us. We all have experienced doubts about people, movements, groups, trends, etc. Many of us have had to back away from this, that, or the other--because we decided it was not all that it was cracked up to be. My friend, Steve Wilber, said to me that if it is real disillusionment, it is a good thing, because we were believing an illusion. By the time we reach mid-life we have shed some things, let go of some things. Those of us who are younger, often reject some of the ways and mores with which we were raised. I have known young folks in Bulgaria who rejected the communist ideology in which they were raised. I have known young people in the West who have rejected their church upbringing. I know folks in mid-life who have been bitterly disappointed by a church leader they looked up to. It happens in our national life. Many who voted for Bush were disappointed by his policies. I'm sure some will be disappointed by Obama. No man can live up to all these expectations.
Most of us have wrestled with or have been haunted by the notion, "Is the thing that I am involved with really the purpose for my life or do I look for another?" We need to re-evaluate at times.
But in all our re-evaluating, in all our re-examining of things, there is this irreducible beatitude and warning--Jesus saying to any and all, "Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of me" (Luke 7:23).
We can let go of a lot of things, let go of groups, let go of ways of thinking. But we cannot--we dare not--let go of Jesus.

Life meets Death

The story of Jesus raising the widow's son at Nain is full of drama (Luke 7:11-17). Two crowds approach each other. One coming to Nain is surrounding Jesus and there is life and hope in the air. The other crowd coming out of Nain surrounds the dead son and there is grief, sorrow and death in the air. It was the custom in Galilee for the surviving women to precede the funeral procession, so Jesus would see the widow in her suffering first of all. He would take in the scene; size up the situation; and say to the woman first of all, "Don't cry." Then he penetrates further into the heart of the crowd of death and touches the bier of the dead man and raises him up and gives him to his mother. Life swallows up death.
To me it is an emblem of the Coming of the Lord. On that day when he comes back, Jesus will be at the heart of a multitude of the Redeemed, living and alive, with voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and he will say to sorrowing humanity one last time, "Don't cry." And death shall have no dominion.

Building Our House on the Rock

Jesus does not promise that life will be easy for us. The storms came to both houses in his parable (Luke 6:46-49). But the house with a foundation fastened to the bedrock survived the storm and the flood. In this Sermon on the Plain, Jesus adapts his parable to the building conditions there. The one who hears his words and does them is the one who digs deep and keeps digging until he finds bedrock. Only when we make the attempt to follow Jesus' way of life seriously, (i.e. loving enemies, forgiving, giving generously, having mercy on people) do we discover how much we need the grace of Jesus to walk in his ways. Life is designed to teach us our need for Jesus. It makes get past the insubstantial sand and soil--down to the bedrock of his mercy and grace.

Jesus Practiced His Preaching

Clearly the most outstanding example of Jesus practicing what he preached and perhaps the most daunting one where our own behavior is concerned is this business of loving your enemies. Jesus died for us while we were still his enemies. And it is his very death that brings reconciliation--turns enmity into friendship. "For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life." (Romans 5:10) May the Lord give us more of his life so that we will be enabled to love!

Old or New Wine?

Jesus' parable about the Wine and the Wineskins (Luke 5:33-39) has various interpretations. The standard one is that the new wine is the gospel and the new wineskin is the church. The old wineskin is Second Temple Judaism and the old wine is the faith that went along with it. But Joel Green (NICNT, Luke, 250) proposes that it was Pharasaic Judaism that was the inovation, the new wine that would spoil everything, and burst the wineskin. That what Jesus was teaching was really a recovery of the ancient ideals of the Old Testament. That what he had to share was the old wine, which those who have tasted of it say, is better. Interesting!
Oh well, in any case, however we want to characterize it--we're following the grace that comes from believing into the Good Story of Jesus and his love.

Joyous Discipleship

In our passage today (Luke 5:27-31) where Jesus calls Levi from his tax booth to become his disciple, I am struck by Levi's joyful response. Notice how happy he is to be able to follow Jesus. No doubt, a work was already taking place in his heart, to where he was longing to follow the Lord and when Jesus called him that day, he was so ready.
Would to God that he would do such a work of preparation in our hearts that when we are challenged to follow Jesus in a fresh way, we would jump at the chance, and be filled with joy and gratitude for the privilege.

The Mystery of Substitution

Luke 5:20 tells us that when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, "Man, your sins are forgiven you." This man had friends who were so desparate to bring him to Jesus, that when the crowds would not let them through, they broke up the roof and made a hole in it so that they could get him close enough for Jesus to pay attention to him and heal him. And Jesus sees their faith.
I wonder if we have realized the potential that each of us has to believe for others? I think we are touching on a mystery at the heart of our salvation. When we were too weak to trust God for ourselves--God commends his love toward us that when were without strength, when we were powerless, Christ died for us. He became our substitute.
It would be a small thing in comparison, for you or me to believe God for another, become a substitute as it were, and Jesus would see our faith.

The Contagious Holiness of Jesus

In Hebrew law all kinds of things could defile a person such as contact with a dead body or contact with a leper. In order to remain holy or clean you had to keep yourself clean and stay away from certain people and situations. I notice that the holiness of Jesus is different. It is active. The holiness that Jesus carried could not be defiled. Rather he had power to cleanse and sanctify whoever he touched. When he touches the leper in Luke 5:12-16, he is not defiled; the leper is cleansed. Even the weight of the whole sin of world could not defile Jesus. Rather--by his work on the cross--we are cleansed and sanctified. Jesus offers us an active contagious holiness that cleanses us and makes us holy. Hallelujah!

Jesus Calls Peter

This account in Luke 5:1-11 tells of the miraculous draft of fishes that Peter caught after following Jesus' instructions. He had fished all night and had caught nothing. That failure to catch anything meant that he and his partners would be there on the shore cleaning and mending their nets when Jesus came to teach. If they had caught something, they might have been busy at the market, trying to sell their catch and might have missed Jesus. So often, our falling short sets the stage for God to work, to do exceedingly abundantly more than we could ask or think.

Jesus' Inaugural

We in America are awaiting the inauguration of our newly elected President and there are high expectations attached to his coming into office. I wonder if some Americans are putting the kind of hope in him that only the Messiah could truly fulfill?
Notice how pleased Jesus' neighbors were when they first heard him. That God would fulfill prophecy in their own time was something they longed for. But notice the racial divide that Jesus transcended. He implies that God's favors are for those who normally would not qualify in their estimation. A Gentile leper. A Gentile woman. As Luke has John preaching from Isaiah, "All humankind will see God's salvation." And this inclusivity enrages them. How did Jesus pass through their midst? When they looked him in the face, intent on seizing him, did they recognize a neighbor and a friend and think better of what they intended to do? I would like to think so--but who knows?
And when Jesus presents his agenda to us--will we run him out of town or will we receive the One whom so many down through the ages have rejected?

Organic Righteousness

The last verse from the text that begins, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me..." promises that just as a garden causes seeds to grow, just as the soil causes sprouts to come up, so the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations. The kind of righteousness that the Lord will accomplish will not be like the Law, imposed from the top down. It will be organic. It will grow naturally from within us! May the Lord cause the seeds of his righteousness to grow within each of us and within our fellowship!

Praise in the Wilderness

Dear Jesus,
We thank you that you triumphed in all the trials and tests where we fell short or gave in.
You did not turn the stones into bread, but waited for your Father's word.
You did not make any secret deals with the Enemy in order to gain power and influence, but you choose the way of the cross.
You did not force God's hand in order to gain recognition and popularity for yourself, but you depended on him to vindicate you and raise you up.
Help us and grant us grace in all those places where you won--won not just for yourself--but won for us as well.
We thank you for giving us the fruit of your victory so that we will not succumb to the easy and plausible arguments of the Tempter.
Thank you for grace to stand true to you.
Amen!

Love the Lord

Deuteronomy figured largely in Jewish life at the time of Christ. The teachers and scribes received it as the last words of Moses. It contains the sum of the Law after many years of reflection. The name literally means "second law." Moses thought Israel needed reminding. In chapter 6 Moses reminds us that it is easy to forget--easy to forget what the Lord has done in our lives. Time moves on, and the world we live in has tremendous influence to water down our faith, weaken our commitment, cause us to grow cold towards God. So how are you doing? Is your love for God ardent and earnest? Or have you become lukewarm? Or cool toward God and his people? I encourage you to participate in this project of Believing Into the Story. It could cause you to remember why you are called to love the Lord with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength.

Jesus is Baptized

Luke 3:21-22. Monday, Jan. 5. [19] Standing among all the other penitents is the one person in all of human history who never had sins to repent of--and yet he is there! Jesus chooses to identify himself with our condition. Notice how at the very place where the people were preparing for the coming of the Messiah, at the waters of baptism, the witness comes from heaven addressed to Jesus personally, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." As Jesus humbled himself and committed himself to the way of the cross, the Father speaks and honors his Son. When Jesus chose to be immersed in the waters of baptism, as he went down into the water, he demonstrated prophetically, his own death and burial and resurrection. In so doing, he invests water baptism with its Christian significance--death, burial and resurrection with Christ (Romans 6). It is at this juncture, in this token of redemption, that the heavens open and God identifies himself with Jesus, "You are my Son!"