Luke 18:31-43

 Luke 18:31-43

It is no accident these two stories are placed together in the Life of Christ. Jesus is on the way to the cross He has for months been teaching and pouring His life into the 12. They, of all people, know Him and have found in Him that He is completely truthful. Jesus gives them a direct and exact description of what will happen in Jerusalem in seven words: delivered, mock, mistreated, spit, scourged, kill and rise. Jesus is truthful and makes it simple, direct, plain and clear. Luke tells us the disciples didn't get it. Their vision was blocked and while Luke doesn't say specifically why they missed it in other places Luke emphasizes that they were looking for an earthly Kingdom. 

After the disciples' failure Luke immediately points to a blind man screaming for Jesus's help. In verse 38 he is “calling” by verse 39 “crying out”.  The word and verse 38 is “the call to get someone's attention”, the crying out in verse 39 is “screaming in desperation” for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of rescue.  His cries are passionate enough to get Jesus attention and gain him an audience with the Lord. His faith in Jesus was the rescue.

So what is the contrast? How were the 12 different from the man crying for help? While we must be careful about going beyond what the Lord says or scripture declares, Jesus emphasizes the Blind Man's faith. His is a faith that is located specifically and solely on Jesus.  This is different from a “Jesus and” kind of faith. A “Jesus and faith” is when we try to add Jesus to our agenda: “Jesus and my agenda”, “Jesus and national renewal”, “Jesus and my political party”, etc. It has been said that “God is our only home when He is our only hope.” While the 12 still had visions of a great Kingdom of which Jesus would be the central part and in which they would have their own smaller parts. This blind man had nothing but one hope and that was in Jesus. The competing claims of our agendas, even good ones, will cause our faith to be perverted and distorted. We need no Kingdom of our own, we only need Jesus.

“Lord, keep me from adding anything or agenda to faith in Christ. AMEN”

Luke 18: 18-30

 Luke 18: 18-30

Nomads don't have a lot of stuff. Imagine a person with pack rat tendencies a person who, having lived in the same house for many years, has filled every nook and cranny and corner with stuff. Everywhere you look they have collections of their life, “a salt and pepper shaker collection”, commemorative plate collection, a framed photograph of every relative they have ever met, every book or magazine they have ever purchased, overstuffed furniture overstuffed in every room. Outside they have hundreds of planters each with a carefully tended plant, yard gnomes and garden decorations. Such a person is anchored and the likelihood of their moving is in inverse proportion to their disposition to hang on to all their stuff. “I can't let it go” is the same as “I can't move”.

The same is true spiritually. As a disciple of Jesus we face that moment in which we must say “I want Jesus more than my idols”. To hold on to my idol is to say “I won’t go with Jesus”. This young man’s the idol was his wealthy comfortable life. He would likely have been willing to make a generous donation to “Jesus Ministries Inc.”. But Jesus wasn't interested in his money; Jesus wanted to destroy his idols. We cannot conclude that every disciple must become a traveling itinerant preacher. Jesus once told a man that his discipleship called him to stay home and tell his family and friends what God had done rather than to follow Jesus. Jesus doesn't say to everyone “Sell all and hit the road preaching”. He does say to all of us: “Get rid of all that would be a rival to Me for first place in your life”.

We must ask ourselves: What is most important to me? What would cause the greatest crisis of heart if I had to leave it? That is most likely our idol. The good things God gives us are to be seen as messengers of His love and kindness. They are to be a means of directing our love and thanks back to Him. In such a context these good things are not idols, they are graces. If the love of a spouse, family and the enjoyment of home and land are means by which we glorify God, we can know they are sacramental means of worshiping God and not the object of our affection.  Then we are to be received and enjoy these things. But we must beware lest while we are saying we worship God in and because of these things we are in fact making them our gods. The challenge is to examine our heart and seek the Holy Spirit's conviction about our affection and loyalties.  When we find that an idol has become a rival to God then we walk away from it.  We are like a nomad refusing to carry what would hold him back.

“Lord, thank You for all the good you give me.  Never let Your gifts become Your rival in my heart. AMEN

Luke 18: 9-17

 Luke 18: 9-17

In the prior passage Jesus teaches us that we do not pray because we are not desperate enough. In this passage we see that the motions of prayer are not enough. The main thrust of this parable is about humble repentance. Jesus saying that a Roman tax collector could be justified would have been shocking to His audience.

The contrasts in this parable are profound: the hyper-religious Pharisee contrasted with a social pariah of a tax collector, the reciting of good deeds contrasted with the self description of the tax collector as literally “the sinner”. Jesus contrast the story in such a way that these two are near perfect opposites. The results of their prayers were opposites as well.

Prayer presents us a special challenge and temptation. You can easily become a tool for the purpose of self-promotion or advancing our agenda. The Pharisee “prayed to himself” or perhaps about himself. Jesus makes no indication that the Pharisee was in any way being false in his self-description. He just wasn't talking to God so much as talking about himself. He sounded good, he followed the acceptable customs of prayer. He was in the right place, at the right time, saying the right things and for those around him he would have seemed right.

Prayer is at the same time the hardest part of the life of a disciple and the easiest part to fake. Memorize a few key phrases and words, learn the right delivery inflection and pauses,throw in a creative “in the name of”, and you can sound like a person of great prayer. But unless our prayer reaches for God's heart it reaches no further then our voice will carry. Prayers that are said to or about ourselves are better off not being said at all.. If we're reaching for God's heart the awkward, stumbling, messed up prayer is plenty good enough in fact it may be the best.

“Help me Lord, to pray with an honest heart that wants You above all else.  AMEN”

Luke 18: 1 - 8

Luke 18: 1 - 8

What gets in the way of a faith so strong that it compels us to pray? Jesus asked if when the Son of Man comes would He find the kind of faith that compels disciples to pray the way the persistent widow prayed to the unjust judge? Why do we not pray with the same kind of passion and energy that this widow had for her cause? She was so aggressive that she was “wearing out” the judge. The phrase literally means “hit me under the eye”. She was giving him a black eye. This phrase was used for boxing in the literal sense. Her persistence was beating him down. Why don't we pray that way?

The answer is not so much in the character of the widow, while that is important, as in her situation. Roman judges were notoriously corrupt. For them a case was an opportunity for profit and kickback. This widow was in a hopeless situation. She was without the resources to bribe the judge and she was desperate. There was only one solution for her, only one option, only one way to get help, only one way to get the judge to act.

The reason we do not pray is because we believe we have other options. Why plead for daily bread when we have a cupboard full with a week's groceries? Why passionately pray for forgiveness and a heart of repentance when we have other ways to soothe our conscience? Why beg for the Kingdom to come when we enjoy our own little empire of self?

Jesus asked if He would find the kind of faith that inspires passionate persistent prayer when He comes. There are two questions that we must ask ourselves to understand our passion for prayer. First do we believe that prayer is at the core of all change, and without it nothing meaningful will happen? Second, do we want to see change or are we content with the status quo? Until I passionately want Jesus's will and realize it can only begin with prayer I will not pray passionately.

“Lord, forgive us of our shallow, faithless prayers. Bring about change and let it begin with me. AMEN”