Considered worthy?

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Old Telegraph Station near Alice Springs, Central Australia

Gospel according to Luke 20: 27-40 (NIV)

²⁷ Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. ²⁸ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁹ Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. ³⁰ The second ³¹ and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. ³² Finally, the woman died too. ³³ Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
³⁴ Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. ³⁵ But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, ³⁶ and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. ³⁷ But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’. ³⁸ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
³⁹ Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” ⁴⁰ And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Other than the Sadducees, most pious Jews of the first century believed in the resurrection of the dead. Martha indicated the nature of that belief when talking with Jesus about the death of her brother Lazarus: “Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day’” (John 11: 24).

In Luke 20: 35, Jesus spoke of the resurrection from the dead. One could infer that this differs from the general resurrection “at the last day”, the resurrection of the Sadducees’ hypothetical question (verse 33). “Resurrection from the dead” appears to be for those “considered worthy” – considered worthy, we may suppose, not by fellow human beings but in the eyes of God. One might surmise for example that, in Jesus’ parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector, the Pharisee would not be considered worthy because the tax collector, “rather than the other, went home justified before God” (Luke 18: 9-17).

Jesus has provided insights into what awaits “those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come”, insights which may be informative rather than definitive. We may deduce that the “worthy” will not be identical to angels: they will not become angels but will be like the angels. Whether this similarity is in appearance, in role or function or in their relationships with one another (they “will neither marry nor be given in marriage”) is not revealed.

What Jesus has revealed is the high regard he has for Scripture. His reference to the burning bush incident (Exodus 3: 6) is detailed and specific. In Mark’s account of Jesus’ response to the Sadducees, Jesus concluded by saying, “You are badly mistaken” (Mark 12: 27). Matthew recorded Jesus’ rebuke as, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God” (Matthew 22: 29).

In this, Jesus is challenging all of us to “know the Scriptures” and correctly to draw from the Scriptures lessons that truly reflect God’s intentions for all of his creation.

To seek and to save the lost

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Cycads, spinifex and a bloodwood tree, West Macdonnell Ranges, Central Australia

Gospel according to Luke 19: 1-10 (NIV)

¹ Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ² A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³ He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
⁵ When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
⁹ Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

In this account of the repentant Zacchaeus, the Apostle Luke has “put flesh” on Jesus’ parables of a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost son which are recorded in Luke 15. The reasons for Jesus’ teaching these parables are clear. Tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to hear him but this attracted the mutterings of the Pharisees and teachers of the law: “this man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15: 2).

Jesus explained to them that there is “more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent” (15: 7) and again, “there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (15: 10). The forgiving father of the third parable exclaimed, “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (15: 24).

Jesus’ mission on earth is succinctly presented in Luke 19: 10: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

There are two components to his mission: to seek and to save. In the parables, the seeking of the lost is demonstrated in the searching for a lost sheep and a lost coin and in the forgiving father’s anxious wait for his lost son’s return. In the case of Zacchaeus, Jesus sought him out. Jesus was adamant: “I must stay at your house today” (19: 5).

The saving of the lost is central to God’s mission. Paul recalled the Old Testament prophet Joel as he wrote to the church in Rome, “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Romans 10: 12-13).

Perhaps most humans do not like to think of themselves as “lost”. Those of us who, at some stage in our lives, have self-righteously believed we were self-sufficient reckoned then that we did not need saving.

Loving God, help us to see ourselves as you do and to seek out your salvation. We may use the words of the psalmist to pray (119: 176):

    I have strayed like a lost sheep.
    Seek your servant,
    for I have not forgotten your commands.

“like a little child”

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 Ancient ti-tree, West Macdonnell Ranges, Central Australia

Gospel according to Luke 18: 9-17 (NIV)

⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
¹⁵ People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. ¹⁶ But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷ Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

We begin by addressing the contrast between the attitude of the disciples towards babies in a public space and that of Jesus. You might have encountered comment on this passage which emphasised the relative innocence and absence of guile in children compared with the the way that adults behave. As a parent and grandparent I hold a slightly different view. I have witnessed the selfishness and cruelty of which even very young children are capable even as I have observed the gentleness and empathy they can display.

When Jesus instructed his disciples to let the little children come to him without hindrance “for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these”, I believe Jesus saw something else in these little children. He saw their total dependence on others to provide for them: to provide their protection, their food and clothing, their place to reside and their love and acceptance into a family. Little children are never reluctant to ask for something; they know they must look to others in order to survive.

Jesus wants us to look to the Father and to him, the Son, in a similar manner, recognising our total dependence on God for all that is necessary to live. None of us, alone, is sufficient to survive let alone to thrive in this world. Entry into God’s kingdom is not something we are able to earn or to achieve through striving. It is not something to which any human being has entitlement – and this brings us back to Jesus’ parable (verses 9-14).

The Pharisee showed all signs of being self-satisfied, confident in his own status before God and confident too that he needed no assistance to retain his “noble” standing. He demonstrated none of the characteristics of a little child who was dependent on God for everything. The tax-collector on the other hand beseeched God like a little child.

Jesus summed it up this way: “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke has recorded this teaching elsewhere (14: 11). If it is worth being repeated in this Gospel, it is certainly worth our attention – and warrants our adoption.

Always pray; do not give up!

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Ghost gum, West Macdonnell Ranges, Central Australia

Gospel according to Luke 18: 1-8 (NIV)

¹ Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

The evangelist Luke has shown us not only to whom Jesus addressed this parable (“his disciples”) but also what he intended in this teaching: “they should always pray and not give up” (verse 1). So should we. We are to be persistent in our prayers and, regardless of whether any answer is evident to us, we are never to give up.

In Jesus’ story it is a widow doing the pleading. His characterisation of a woman who had been married but whose husband had died was deliberate. She represented the powerless people in society; she no longer had a male in her family to take up the case on her behalf. Against her was a judge “who neither feared God nor cared what people thought” (verse 2).

There is no likelihood we would associate that judge with God however Jesus wanted his disciples to see that, if a non-caring judge could be swayed by this powerless widow, “will not the judge of all the earth do right” (Genesis 18: 25)? Will not the one who exemplifies justice pay attention to the prayers of his “chosen ones”?

The Apostle Paul has taught that patience or forbearance is a gift of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5: 2-23). Persistence is not included among the gifts in that letter from Paul. But elsewhere the Apostle urges God’s people to “rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18, emphasis added). Whether we are giving thanks to God, interceding on behalf of others or bringing our own concerns to him, including our prayers of confession, we are to do so with confidence that we are heard and that our prayers are welcome.

And how wonderful it is to be considered among “his chosen ones”! That description of our status before him confirms we are precious in his sight and he regards our desire to be in communion with him as honouring him.

What are we to make of the final sentence in this passage? We can be certain of the return of the Son of Man. Can we be as certain of our own commitment to prayer as we await his return? The faith Jesus requires, the faith he is looking for in all of his disciples, is to be demonstrated through our persistence in prayer and through our loyalty to him. Let us aim to develop the practice of praying without ceasing.

Daily gratitude?

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River red gum, West Macdonnell Ranges, Central Australia

Gospel according to Luke 17: 11-19 (NIV)

¹¹ Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled 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.”

Why did Luke the evangelist include this short account of Jesus’ miraculous healing of ten men who suffered from a debilitating skin disease (or diseases)? We could surmise the answer to be one or more of these reasons:

• to reveal who Jesus was through his healing powers;
• to demonstrate that Jesus has the power to make whole – including to forgive sin;
• to show the nearness of the kingdom of God;
• to indicate that Jesus would heal not only Jews but “foreigners” too;
• to demonstrate that acting on Jesus’ commands is sufficient evidence of faith in him;
• to show the value Jesus places on our thankfulness.

The narrative indicates that one of the ten who were healed, the one who returned “praising God in a loud voice”, was a Samaritan. As for the other nine, they could have been Samaritans too – or Jews or a mix of Jews and Samaritans. They could even have included Gentiles!

The one who returned “threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him”. Jesus interpreted this as “(giving) praise to God” – identifying himself (the one whom the Samaritan regarded as the healer) and the Father (the Samaritan was “praising God”) as one. Jesus was not deflecting the praise from himself to God; he was teaching those with him to whom their offering of gratitude should be directed.

The descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were reminded again and again in the psalms of the goodness of God in rescuing them from slavery in Egypt, in guiding them and caring for them as they traversed the wilderness for forty years and in giving them the land he promised to their ancestors. Mary recognised this in her hymn of praise (known now to many as “The Magnificat” – Luke 1: 46-55).

How grateful are we for all that God has done for us? What songs can you sing, aloud or to yourself, to give glory to God and to thank him for all the wonderful acts in the past that brought you close to him and that keep you safely within his kingdom? What songs or poems do you know that recognise and express your genuine gratitude for Jesus’ saving work on the cross? Do you use them daily?

Causes of stumbling

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Kookaburra “laughing”

Gospel according to Luke 17: 1-6 (NIV)

¹ Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. ² It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied round their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. ³ So watch yourselves.
“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. ⁴ Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
⁶ He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

The first record in the Bible of one of God’s creatures causing another to stumble introduces the “fall” of humankind. The snake of Genesis 3 said to the woman whom God had created, “You will not certainly die … For God knows that when you eat from (the tree) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (verses 4, 5).

Satan, the deceiver, had lied. Satan had not only misrepresented God but had set out deliberately to undermine God’s authority and to plant in the woman’s mind seeds of doubt regarding God’s goodness and the perfection of God’s plans for his creation.

When Jesus warned his disciples about things that cause people to stumble, he was more concerned about the source of such causes. We might at first make a mental connection with current events of which we are aware such as the corrupting of officials through the offering of bribes or the illegal gaining of advantage through “stand-over tactics”. Criminal offences seem to be readily identifiable as such; these are often clearly wrong in a legal sense as well as in a moral sense.

We must be alert to more subtle causes of stumbling. We must remain on guard against anything that might tempt us to act as the conduit through which such causes of stumbling can appear.

In particular we need to guard against anything that could subvert or undermine the faith of another. We must never sow doubt in the mind of another about God or about God’s holiness and power and authority. We must never entertain any question about the veracity of Jesus’ resurrection from death, ascension to be with the Father and Lordship over all. We must never cast doubt over the work of the Holy Spirit, recalling that Jesus himself taught that “anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven” (Luke 12: 10).

Forgiveness is the second theme in this passage from Luke 17. As we have seen in Luke 12: 10, Jesus has identified a limit to God’s forgiveness. While he did not actually specify a punishment for anyone through whom a cause of stumbling might come, we must allow for the fact that there could be a limit to God’s forgiveness in relation to undermining the faith in God of another member of his Church. We need to take this warning seriously, guard our speech and be positive in all our references to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Ignorance is no excuse

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Gum (Eucalypt) blossoms

Gospel according to Luke 16: 19-31 (NIV)

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
²² “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
²⁷ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
²⁹ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
³⁰ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
³¹ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

The “punch line” of this parable is in the last two verses. For that reason, I believe that Jesus’ purpose in telling this parable was neither to caution about selfish living nor to frighten people into realising that the decision on where they go at the end of this life is irreversible.

In this parable, Jesus foreshadowed his own death and resurrection. He warned that, despite the evidence when he rose from the grave that he had conquered death, many would continue to ignore him.

This theme about God’s message ignored is found throughout Scripture. In Luke 8: 10, Jesus told his disciples that to them had been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God but to others he spoke in parables so that, “though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.”

Luke repeated this theme in Acts 28: 25-28 with the Apostle Paul quoting Isaiah 6: 9-10. Jesus taught from this same passage in Isaiah. All four Gospels refer to Jesus’ explaining why he spoke in parables (Matthew 13: 14-15, Mark 4: 12, John 12: 29-30).

Jesus warns that those who ignore Moses and the prophets will not be convinced about his lordship and the coming of his kingdom. This parable recognised that people would not even be convinced if he were to die and then be raised from death.

In referring to Moses and the prophets, Jesus pointed to the God-given accounts that comprise Hebrew Scripture. That which is necessary for our salvation is to be found in the sacred writings of the Christian Bible. We are to trust and study God’s word and be familiar with what our Bibles contain and teach. Then we are to live our lives accordingly.