Seven husbands for one wife — who gets her?  The religious leaders pester Jesus with peculiar questions and Jesus answers them more and more clearly. It is close to the end — Jesus has little to lose by offending them now.

Luke 20   (NIV)

The Authority of Jesus Questioned

¹One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. ²“Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”

³He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me, ⁴John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men?”

⁵They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ ⁶But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”

⁷So they answered, “We don’t know where it was from.”

“If you do not recognize authority when you see it, He said in effect, no amount of arguing will convince you of it.”

–South African Bible scholar J. Norval Geldenhuys

⁸Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

1 Corinthians 15:27-28 (New Living Translation)

For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.” (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.)  Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.

The Parable of the Tenants

⁹He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. ¹⁰At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

¹¹He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. ¹²He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.

¹³“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’

¹⁴“But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ¹⁵So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When the people heard this, they said, “May this never be!”

¹⁷Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:

” ‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone^‘?

¹⁸Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”

¹⁹The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.

Paying Taxes to Caesar

Tiberius Caesar was emperor of the Roman Empire during the time of Jesus’ ministry.  This bust of Tiberius  is displayed in the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome.

²⁰Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be honest. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. ²¹So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ²²Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

This seemed to put Jesus on the horns of a dilemma. If He agreed the tax should be paid, He seems to deny the sovereignty of God over Israel, and will lose popular support. If He says that it should not be paid, He declares Himself an enemy of Rome, which branded Him as a revolutionary and put His life in danger.

–David Guzik

²³He saw through their duplicity and said to them, ²⁴“Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?”

The denarius, a small silver Roman coin, was the usual wage for one day’s work.

²⁵“Caesar’s,” they replied.
He said to them, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Romans 13:7 (English Standard Version)

Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

²⁶They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.

The Resurrection and Marriage

Traditional Wedding Vows:
I, Sweetie-pie, take you, Snookems,
to be my (wife/husband),
to have and to hold from this day forward,
for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer,
in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish;
from this day forward until death do us part.

²⁷Some 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 have children for his brother. ²⁹Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. ³⁰The second ³¹and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. ³²Finally, the woman died too. ³³Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

³⁴Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. ³⁵But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, ³⁶and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. ³⁷But in the account of the 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.’ ³⁸He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

³⁹Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” ⁴⁰And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

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Music:

I marvel at the blatant disrespect and deliberate conniving the religious leaders engaged in against Jesus.  And then I quickly realize how easy it for me to try to do the same.  Instead, let my mouth sing praise to Jesus!  “Majesty, Worship His Majesty” was written by Pastor Jack Hayford of The Church on the Way, one of the largest churches in southern California.

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Whose Son Is the Christ?

⁴¹Then Jesus said to them, “How is it that they say the Christ is the Son of David? ⁴²David himself declares in the Book of Psalms:

” ‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
⁴³until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.” ‘

⁴⁴David calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

⁴⁵While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples,

⁴⁶“Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. ⁴⁷They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.”

Proverbs 28:5 (English Standard Version)

Evil men do not understand justice,
but those who seek the LORD understand it completely.

_________________________

New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica

Images courtesy of:

seven husbands and one wife in heaven.    http://servicioskoinonia.org/cerezo/dibujosC/56ordinarioC32.jpg

parable of the tenants drawings, all.   http://www.sermons4kids.com/parable-tenants-ppt-slides.htm

Tiberius Caesar.    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/8095_-_Roma_-_Ara_Pacis_-_Tiberio_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto_-_28-Mar-2008.jpg

denarius.    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IJGhx_AYZhM/TNc5aRELYPI/AAAAAAAADRE/tj3wJ72UCyU/s1600/denarius.jpg

Jewish bride and groom.    http://www.mydreamwedding.ca/wp-content/uploads/image/Maggie/Traditional%20Jewish%20Bride%20&%20Groom.jpg

Pharisees.   http://theocddiaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/pharisees.jpg

“Jesus and Zacchaeus” by Soichi Watanabe.  The artist shows the joy of Zacchaeus in the form of a yellow flower.

Luke 19 (New International Version)

Zacchaeus the Tax Collector

¹Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ²A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.

Zacchaeus was not only a tax collector, but a chief tax collector — and men of his profession were despised among the Jews. This was not only due to man’s natural hatred of taxes, but more so to the fact that the tax collector made his profit on whatever extra he could get away with charging his client. A tax collector was highly motivated to make the taxes as high as possible.

–David Guzik

³He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. ⁴So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

⁵When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”

As one commentator says, “His example is our pattern. A Christian church which does not imitate its Master in its frank and continual willingness to associate itself with the degraded and outcast has lost one of the truest signs of its being vitalized with the life of Christ.”

The early church was despised for its acceptance of outcasts (1 Corinthians 1:26-31), but the early Christians regarded this as something glorious, not shameful.

–David Guzik

⁶So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

⁷All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ “

⁸But 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.”

Ezekiel 18:27 (New Living Translation)

And if wicked people turn from their wickedness, obey the law, and do what is just and right, they will save their lives.

⁹Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

In Luke 18:24-27, Jesus said that it was impossible with man for the rich to enter into heaven, but it is possible with God. This is a fulfillment of that promise. Zacchaeus became a joyful giver, thus showing God’s impossible work in him, but the young ruler went away sorry, holding on to his riches.

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Music:

HERE   is Chris Tomlin and “I Will Follow.”  It could be called “The Song of Zacchaeus.”  Or, I hope, “The Song of Rebecca.”

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The Parable of the Ten Minas

Yes, God wants a return on His investment in you!

¹¹While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. ¹²He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. ¹³So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas.’Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’

¹⁴“But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’

¹⁵“He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.

¹⁶“The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’

¹⁷” ‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’

The reward for faithful service is not rest, but more service! This is entirely pleasing to the servant of God.

¹⁸“The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’

¹⁹“His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’

²⁰“Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. ²¹I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’

²²“His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? ²³Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’

This helps us to understand the plan of the master. It was not to make money by his servants, but to make character in them. He didn’t need them to make money, but they needed to work with him to build their character.

–David Guzik

²⁴“Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’

²⁵” ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’

²⁶“He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. ²⁷But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.”

I have heard it said, “Serving Jesus isn’t life or death.  It is more important than that.”

Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated

---

Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands, and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love;
Take my feet, and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only, for my King;
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold:
Not a mite would I withhold;
Take my intellect, and use
Ev’ry pow’r as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will, and make it Thine,
It shall be no longer mine;
Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love, my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself, and I will be,
Ever, only, all for Thee.

–Frances R. Havergal, 1874.

The Triumphal Entry

²⁸After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ³⁰“Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

³²Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. ³³As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

³⁴They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

³⁵They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. ³⁶As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

³⁷When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
³⁸“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!

Psalm 92:4 (Amplified Bible)

For You, O Lord, have made me glad by Your works; at the deeds of Your hands I joyfully sing.

³⁹Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

⁴⁰“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

⁴¹As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it ⁴²and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.

“If Thou Hadst Known!” (Luke 19:42), Verse Visions by Mark Lawrence, 2009

⁴³The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. ⁴⁴They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Jesus at the Temple

⁴⁵Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling. ⁴⁶“It is written,” he said to them, ” ‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

Haggai 2:9 (New American Standard Bible)

“And in this place I will give peace,” declares the LORD of hosts.

⁴⁷Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. ⁴⁸Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.

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Images courtesy of:

Watanabe.    http://miatorgau.melbourneitwebsites.com/images/013.jpg

hand with bills.   http://images.quickblogcast.com/93353-86102/Talents.jpg

happy girl.    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_itlU4cQyn_o/RsDMeWc3MJI/AAAAAAAACvQ/Ilu5ICQgrHQ/s400/06August20070012_RT16+1.jpg

Palm Sunday – Jesus on a donkey.     http://www.rtcol.com/~kreft/biblestories/images/Palm_Sunday.gif

palm branches.    http://lordofdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/palmtrees1.jpg

Lawrence.    http://www.marklawrencegallery.com/products/if-thou-hadst-known

“Christ and the Rich Young Ruler” by Heinrich Hofmann (1824-1911)

Luke 18:18-43   (NIV)

The Rich Ruler

¹⁸A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁹“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.

“Good Teacher” — This was a title never applied to other rabbis in Jesus’ day, because it implied sinlessness, a complete goodness. Jesus, and everyone else, recognized that this was a unique title.

–David Guzik

²⁰You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”

²¹“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

²²When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Instead of challenging the man’s fulfillment of the law (which Jesus had every right to do), Jesus points him to his relationship with God. Jesus challenged him to put God first; to fulfill the law to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5).  The question is:  could the man love God more than his wealth?

–David Guzik

²³When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.

The man all wrapped up in himself is a mighty small package.

–from The Sayings of Chairman Moishe, by Moishe Rosen

²⁴Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”

The words of Jesus amaze the disciples because they assume that riches are always a sign of God’s blessing and favor.

²⁷Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

²⁸Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”

²⁹“I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God ³⁰will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.”

_________________________

Music:

HERE  Keith and Kristin Getty sing this story to an Irish tune, “A Rich Young Man (Simple Living).”  Delightful!

1.
A rich young man came to ask of Christ:
‘Good teacher, will you tell me,
What must I do for eternal life?
I’ve kept your laws completely.’
‘Sell all you have, give to the poor,
Then heaven’s treasure shall be yours.’
How hard for those who are rich on earth
To gain the wealth of heaven.
2.
Now Jesus stood by the offering gate
As people brought their money:
The rich they filled the collection plate;
The widow gave a penny.
‘Now she’s outgiven all the rest,
Her gift was all that she possessd.’
Not what you give but what you keep
Is what the King is counting.
3.
O teach me Lord to walk this road,
The road of simple living;
To be content with what I own
And generous in giving.
And when I cling to what I have,
Please wrest it quickly from my grasp;
I’d rather lose all the things on earth
To gain the things of heaven.

_________________________

Jesus Again Predicts His Death

“Christ on the Cross” by Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbaran, 1627 (Art Institute, Chicago)

³¹Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. ³²He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. ³³On the third day he will rise again.”

³⁴The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.

A Blind Beggar Receives His Sight

³⁵As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. ³⁶When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. ³⁷They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”

³⁸He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

³⁹Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, ⁴¹“What do you want me to do for you?”
“Lord, I want to see,” he replied.

Isaiah 42:5-7 (New International Version)

This is what God the LORD says—
he who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it,
who gives breath to its people,
and life to those who walk on it:

“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles,

to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”

In all the Old Testament there is no account of any blind person receiving his or her sight.  No disciples of the Lord were involved in restoring sight to a blind person.  Only Ananias’s involvement in Paul’s regaining his temporary loss of sight is somewhat analogous but still different from what Christ did when He gave sight to people.  Only the Lord restored sight to the permanently blind, and there are more recorded miracles of the Lord in this category than any other (see Matt. 9:27-31;  12:22;  15:30;  21:14;  Mark 8:22-26;  10:46-52;  Luke 7:21).  The reason is simply that the Old Testament predicted this miraculous healing would be a function of the Messiah; these sight-giving miracles clearly point out Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah.

–from The Miracles of Our Lord, by Charles Caldwell Ryrie

⁴²Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” ⁴³Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

_________________________

Lord, I know thy grace is nigh me,
Though thyself I cannot see;
Jesus, Master, pass not by me;
Son of David!  Pity me.

While I sit in weary blindness,
Longing for the blessed light,
Many taste thy loving kindness,
“Lord, I would receive my sight.”

I would see thee and adore thee,
And thy word the power can give.
Hear the sightless soul implore thee,
Let me see thy face and live.

Ah, what touch is this that thrills me?
What this burst of strange delight?
Lo, the rapturous vision fills me!
This is Jesus!  This is sight!

Room, ye saints, that throng behind Him,
Let me follow in the way;
I will teach the blind to find Him
Who can turn their night to day.

–H. D. Ganse

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Music:

Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”  If Jesus asked you that question today, how would you answer?

“Thou art coming to a King!
Large petitions with thee bring!
For His love and power are such
None can ever ask too much.”

–John Newton

HERE  is Don Moen and “I Am the God who Healeth Thee.”

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New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica

Images courtesy of:

Hofmann.    http://en.easyart.com/art-prints/Heinrich-Hofmann/Christ-And-The-Rich-Young-Ruler-10731.html

small package.    http://www.clipartguide.com/_small/0808-0711-0615-3863.jpg

Zurbaran.   http://www.wga.hu/art/z/zurbaran/1/christ_x.jpg

Jesus heals blind man.    http://teachmedad.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/jesus_healing_blind.gif

Jesus heals blind man, black and white.    http://www.sundayschoollessons.com/sunfolderwu/image4.gif

Gustave Dore’s “The Pharisee and the Publican”

Luke 18:1-17 (NIV)

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

¹Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ²He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. ³And 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 about men, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’ “

⁶And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸I 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 Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Icon from Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church, Marietta, Georgia

⁹To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹²I 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.’

“Two Went Up To The Temple To Pray”

Two went up to the Temple to pray.
Two went to pray? O, rather say,
One went to brag, the other to pray;
One stands up close and treads on high,
Where the other dare not level his eye;
One nearer to God’s altar trod,
The other to the altar’s God.

–English poet Richard Crashaw (1613-1649)

¹⁴“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

from Echoings:   Meditations for Today.
by J. Ruth Stenerson

Different as their attitudes were, the Pharisee and the tax collector went to the temple for the same commendable reason.  Both felt the desire to pray, and both knew where God had promised to meet those who would seek him.  Both had something they wanted to say to God.  And there the similarity between the two ends.

The Pharisee, deliberately separating himself from others—even other Pharisees—no doubt raised his eyes and held up his arms in the proper stance for prayer.  He had been taught, at least by the example of the psalmists, that prayer should begin with thanksgiving.  But it is rather hard to give thanks if all one wants to talk about is oneself, no?  Perhaps he is a little abashed to say “I thank you, God, that I am generous, honest, and morally pure–as other people are not.”  If he dare not claim those positive qualities, at least he need not plead guilty to the negative ones of greed, dishonesty or adultery.  And surely he can safely claim not to be like that despised tax collector off on the fringes of the temple crowd.  Why did the temple guard ever let him come inside?

In the days of Jesus, devout Pharisees usually fasted Mondays and Thursdays.  The one in our story assures God he does his full duty in fasting, and gives his tithe—evidently on his gross income.  His prayer ends very abruptly.  There is nothing he wants to ask of God; he is only making a status report.  His thanks is not for what God is, but praise for what he himself is.  What more does he need from God?  Only attention to his self-praise.

Perhaps this self-righteous man was hungry for the praise of others and got little of it.  Those who in total self-absorption wait for the praises of others are often abrasive and super-critical of others, unwilling to give those around them the space to live.  Because others refuse to feed their need for ego-reinforcement, they must sing their own praises, unable to understand why they are left standing by themselves.

The Pharisee goes home from his errand to the temple unsatisfied and unfulfilled.  The  tax collector, and not the Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home.  Sadly, the Pharisee probably didn’t even know why.

Lord, there is so much of the Pharisee in me.  I would love to tell you, if I dared, all my good qualities which deserve praise.  I long for your saving love to help me understand how threadbare my list of virtues is.  Amen.

_________________________

Music:

HERE  is the wonderful Ken Medema singing this parable:  “Mr. Simon.”

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The Little Children and Jesus

¹⁵People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. ¹⁶But 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. ¹⁷I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Jesus loves the little children, 
All the children of the world; 
Red and yellow, black and white,
All are precious in his sight; 
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

_________________________

New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica

Images courtesy of:

Dore.     http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/Dore_-_Pharisee_and_the_publican.jpg

the persistent widow.    http://servicioskoinonia.org/cerezo/dibujosC/53ordinarioC29.jpg

Icon of Pharisee and Publican.    http://www.stspyridons.org/saT9eust/uploads/2012/12/Publican-and-Pharisee.jpg

at heaven’s gate cartoon.   http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/you-were-a-believer-yes.gif

Jesus with children.    http://images2.layoutsparks.com/1/150858/jesus-loves-children-colourful.jpg

Luke 17 (New International Version)

Sin, Faith, Duty

¹Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. ²It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. ³So watch yourselves.

“If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.

⁴If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

⁵The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

⁶He 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.

⁷“Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? ⁸Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? ⁹Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? ¹⁰So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ “

“. . . we have only done our duty.”

A Psalm of Single-Mindedness
by Joe Baily

Lord of reality
make me real
not plastic-synthetic-
pretend-phony-
an actor playing out his part-
hypocrite.
I don’t want to keep a prayer list
but to pray,
nor agonize to find Your will
but to obey what I already know,
to argue theories of inspiration
but to submit to your Word.
I don’t want to explain the difference
between eros and philos and agape
but to love.
I don’t want to sing as if I mean it,
I want to mean it.
I don’t want to tell it like it is
but to be it
like You want it.
I don’t want to think another needs me
but that I need him
else I’m not complete.
I don’t want to tell others how to do it
but to do it,
to have to be always right
but to admit when I’m wrong.
I don’t want to be a census taker
but an obstetrician,
not a professional
but a friend.
I don’t want to be insensitive
but to hurt where other people hurt,
nor to say “I know how you feel”
but to say God knows and I’ll try
if you’ll be patient with me
and meanwhile I’ll keep quiet.
I don’t want to scorn the cliches of others
but to mean everything I say
including this.
Amen.

Ten Healed of Leprosy

“Ten Lepers Healed” by Brian Kershisnik.

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

Psalm 28:1 (New Living Translation)

I pray to you, O Lord, my rock.
Do not turn a deaf ear to me.
For if you are silent,
I might as well give up and die.

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

¹⁵One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.

Psalm 30:2 (New Living Translation)

O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
and you restored my health.

¹⁶He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

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

Psalm 107:1 (New Living Translation)

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.

We can always find reason for gratitude before God.  Matthew Henry, the famous Bible commentator, was robbed of his wallet once.  He write in his diary that night the things he was thankful about:

First, that he had never been robbed before. 
Second, that though they took his wallet, they did not take his life. 
Third, because even though they took it all, it wasn’t very much. 
Finally, because he was the one who was robbed and not the one who was robbing.

–David Guzik

_________________________

Music:

I remember this song from many years ago, from the Medical Mission Sisters and their collection Joy Is Like the Rain.  HERE  is Anthony Chow singing “Ten Men Cleansed.”

_________________________

The Coming of the Kingdom of God

²⁰Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, ²¹nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”

²²Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. ²³Men will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them.

Deuteronomy 11:16 (New American Standard Bible)

Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them.

²⁴For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. ²⁵But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

²⁶“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. ²⁷People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. ²⁹But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

³⁰“It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. ³¹On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. ³²Remember Lot’s wife!

³³Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. ³⁴I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. ³⁵Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”

³⁷“Where, Lord?” they asked.
He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”

_________________________

Images courtesy of:

The Kingdom of God is within you.   http://www.awordforthesoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Luke17_21.jpg

Please forgive me.    http://s.myniceprofile.com/myspacepic/116/11668.gif

Kershisnik.    http://www.twosistersfineartgallery.com/kershisnik_ten_lepers_healed.jpg

ear.     http://beatcrave.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/ear-copy.jpg

mouth.    http://png-4.vector.me/files/images/1/6/164013/mouth_clip_art_thumb.jpg

Thank You, Lord.    http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing?.out=jpg&size=l&tid=12290172

Yellow flower, photograph by Christy Kalayla Olson.   http://powerfortoday.webs.com/luke_17_21_web.jpg

Lot’s wife cartoon.   http://www.bifsniff.com/images/cartoons/lots-wife.gif

“The love of money is the root of all evil.”

Luke 16 (New International Version)

The Parable of the Shrewd Manager

¹Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. ²So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’

³“The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— ⁴I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

⁵“So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

⁶” ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.

“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’

⁷“Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’
” ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.

“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’

⁸“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. ⁹I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

from Praying in the Wesleyan Spirit
by Paul Chilcote:

Steward of All Life,

Three rules are essential to the proper use of my resources.

Enable me to gain all I can.
But as you bless my labors, guard me from harming my health, my mind, or my neighbor in the process.
May honest work and common sense be my guide.

Encourage me to save all I can.
Guard me from wasting your precious resources to gratify unhealthy and prideful desires.
May the most important legacy I leave behind be that of justice, integrity, and generosity.

And so empower me to give all I can.
In my efforts to be a good steward of your many blessings,
give me what I need to provide caringly for those I love,
open my heart to the needs of those who are close at hand,
and create a generous spirit within me to do good to all.

You have blessed my life in so many ways.
Teach me, O generous God, what it means to be a steward of your treasures.
Amen.

¹⁰“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹²And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

¹³“No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Ezekiel 14:6 (English Standard Version)

Thus says the Lord GOD:  Repent and turn away from your idols.

¹⁴The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. ¹⁵He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.

_________________________

Music:

Since this chapter is focused largely on money, here is a song that does the same.  ABBA sings “Money, Money, Money.”

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Additional Teachings

¹⁶“The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. ¹⁷It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

¹⁸“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

“The Rich Man in Hell” by Christian Dare.

¹⁹“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹and 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. ²³In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴So 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. ²⁶And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, 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 father’s house, ²⁸for 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.’ “

“They will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

. . . an ironic statement, considering who is telling this story . . .

OR — as I heard Dr. R. C. Sproul tell in a recent sermon:

“I have learned how to answer people who try to make fun of me at parties with the old line, ‘Hey, preacher, say something religious.’  I answer, ‘Go to hell.’”

_________________________

My picks for stories / works of fiction about Hell!

Dante’s  Inferno.

I like the John Ciardi translation of this all-encompassing poem.  Dante believes that God’s punishment is just and that the punishment fits the crime.  So the nine circles of Hell show that the less loving and more selfish one’s life, the more harsh one’s hereafter.

Quote from the book:

Midway in our life’s journey I went astray
from the straight road and woke to find myself
alone in a dark wood.  How shall I say

what wood that was!  I never saw so drear,
so rank, so arduous a wilderness!
Its very memory gives a shape to fear.

Death could scarce be more bitter than that place!
But since it came to good, I will recount
all that I found revealed there by God’s grace.

C. S. Lewis’s  The Great Divorce.

Lewis pictures a bus that takes people from Hell to Heaven where they can stay — if they choose.  But choosing to stay means giving up one’s carefully nurtured sin . . .

Quote from the book:

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’”

_________________________

New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica

Images courtesy of:

stacks of money.    http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/rebate_f.jpg

gallons of olive oil.     http://www.barioliveoil.com/shop/images/Traditional%20EVOO%20Gallon%20Case%20%286%29.jpg

bag of wheat.     http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FQlMKJUv0Co/TNnFh2cu7JI/AAAAAAAAAVU/NrGALuyrZio/s1600/bag%2Bof%2Bwheat.jpg

Dare.   http://wordincarnate.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/rich_man_in_hell.jpg

Inferno. http://www.mobipocket.com/eBooks/cover_remote/ID2097/tifr-184729.jpg

The Great Divorce. http://blog.beliefnet.com/idolchatter/imgs/CSLewis_TheGreatDivorce.jpg

“The Prodigal Son” by Liz Lemon Swindle

Luke 15 (New International Version)

For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.    Luke 19:10

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

¹Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. ²But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

“The Lost Sheep” by Alford Usher Soord.

³Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

Isaiah 53:6 (English Standard Version)

All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

⁵And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

The Parable of the Lost Coin

a stained glass window in St. Jacob’s Lutheran Church, Anna, Ohio

⁸“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ ¹⁰In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

The Parable of the Lost Son

“The Prodigal Son Taking Leave of his Father,” by Mary Ann Willson, 1815 (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)

¹¹Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹²The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

¹³“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

“The Prodigal Son” by John Macallen Swan, 1888 (Tate Collection, London)

¹⁷“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ ²⁰So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

Malachi 3:17 (Amplified Bible)

And they shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I publicly recognize and openly declare them to be My jewels (My special possession, My peculiar treasure). And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.

“The Return of the Prodigal Son” by Rembrandt, 1669 (The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia)

“Often I have asked friends to give me their first impression of Rembrandt’s Prodigal Son. Inevitably, they point to the wise old man who forgives his son: the benevolent patriarch.

“The longer I look at ‘the patriarch’, the clearer it becomes to me that Rembrandt has done something quite different from letting God pose as the wise old head of a family. It all began with the hands. The two are quite different. The father’s left hand touching the son’s shoulder is strong and muscular. The fingers are spread out and cover a large part of the prodigal son’s shoulder and back. I can see a certain pressure, especially in the thumb. That hand seems not only to touch, but, with its strength, also to hold. Even though there is a gentleness in the way the father’s left hand touches his son, it is not without a firm grip.

“How different is the father’s right hand! This hand does not hold or grasp. It is refined, soft, and very tender. The fingers are close to each other and they have an elegant quality. It lies gently upon the son’s shoulder. It wants to caress, to stroke, and to offer consolation and comfort. It is a mother’s hand….

“As soon as I recognized the difference between the two hands of the father, a new world of meaning opened up for me. The Father is not simply a great patriarch. He is mother as well as father. He touches the son with a masculine hand and a feminine hand. He holds, and she caresses. He confirms and she consoles. He is , indeed, God, in whom both manhood and womanhood, fatherhood and motherhood, are fully present. That gentle and caressing right hand echoes for me the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Can a woman forget her baby at the breast, feel no pity for the child she has borne? Even if these were to forget, I shall not forget you. Look, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”

–from Henri J. M. Nouwen’s book The Return of the Prodigal Son:  A Story of Homecoming, based on his contemplation of the painting by Rembrandt, above.

_________________________

²¹“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²²“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

Proverbs 28:13    (NRSV)

No one who conceals transgressions will prosper,
but one who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

“The Prodigal Daughter” by Charlie Mackesy

from This Day with the Master,
by Dennis F. Kinlaw

Jesus came into our broken world to provide a way to get the prodigals back home.  He wanted to purge the rebellion from our hearts so we would not only come home, but also enjoy being home, so we would rejoice in the privilege of being a part of the family we had abandoned.  Jesus paid the price for our return and healing.

As the years have passed, a conviction has deepened in my soul that Jesus wants to do far more for us than most of us imagine.  So often we think in quite selfish terms about what Christ came to do.  Yet in fact Christ died to do more for human beings than we have ever dreamed.  If we do not dream a little bigger, we are never going to experience the deeper reality of his presence.

The reality is that Christ came to do more than just keep us out of hell.  He wants to develop a personal relationship with each human being for whom he died.  He died to save me not just from my sins, but also from my own self.  “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6).

Self-interest is the ultimate definition of sin, and the Cross holds the power to set each person free from self-interest.  A French Catholic priest in the court of King Louis the XIV one day said, “Oh, God, isn’t there anybody left anywhere who loves you just for who you are?  Can’t you find one such person?  And if you can’t find one, couldn’t you make one?”  That is why Jesus went to the Cross:  to bring me to the place where I love him simply because of who he is and not because of what he can do for me.

The ending of the story of the Prodigal Son would have been terribly disappointing if the son had merely returned for more of his inheritance without an apology to and an interest in his father.  Once the father saw his son coming home, the relationship between father and son became the thing of paramount importance, and the reader forgets that the son ever needed anything except his father.

²⁵“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

²⁸“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

³¹” ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³²But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ “

The opening sentence from the short story “The Capital of the World” by Ernest Hemingway:

Madrid is full of boys named Paco, which is the diminutive of the name Francisco, and there is a Madrid joke about a father who came to Madrid and inserted an advertisement in the personal columns of El Liberal which said: PACO MEET ME AT HOTEL MONTANA NOON TUESDAY ALL IS FORGIVEN PAPA” and how a squadron of Guardia Civil had to be called out to disperse the eight hundred young men who answered the advertisement.

. . . all seeking reconciliation with their fathers.

_________________________

Music:

Chris Rice and his moving “Untitled Hymn.”

Weak and wounded sinner
Lost and left to die
O, raise your head, for love is passing by
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus and live!

Now your burden’s lifted
And carried far away
And precious blood has washed away the stain, so
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus and live!

And like a newborn baby
Don’t be afraid to crawl
And remember when you walk
Sometimes we fall…so
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus and live!

Sometimes the way is lonely
And steep and filled with pain
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain, then
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus and live!

O, and when the love spills over
And music fills the night
And when you can’t contain your joy inside, then
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus and live!

And with your final heartbeat
Kiss the world goodbye
Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory’s side, and
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live!

_________________________

New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica

Images courtesy of:

Swindle.    http://www.markmallett.com/blog/wp-images/Prodigal3.jpg

Soord.    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lzkkp2Ku5pg/TzaOiJiCpFI/AAAAAAAAIg4/bqvdKo4yeMA/s1600/The%2BLost%2BSheep%2BA%2BU%2BSoord.jpg

woman sweeping for coin.    http://crosstippedchurches.blogspot.com/2009/04/parable-of-lost-coin.html

Willson.    http://americanartgallery.org/uploads/pictures/005914/x_mawillson10.jpg

Swan.    http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=14076&searchid=7991&tabview=image

Rembrandt.    http://www.abcgallery.com/R/rembrandt/rembrandt139.html

Mackesy.     http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bjUAoQkNlcU/S9JOjIVa8NI/AAAAAAAAAUg/-30NkP6Y16w/s400/prodigaldaughter.jpg

“The Prodigal Son” by Nigel Cox.    http://www.traceymcnee.com/artists/images/cox/web/the_prodigal_son_large.jpg

The Banquet Hall at Biltmore Mansion in Asheville, NC.  The table can be extended to seat 64 of your closest friends!  I also like the three walk-in fireplaces, and the priceless 16th century Flemish tapestries on the walls.  Oh, and the photographer is shooting this picture while standing up in the organ loft!

Luke 14 (New International Version)

Jesus at a Pharisee’s House

¹One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. ²There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. ³Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” ⁴But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away.

⁵Then he asked them, “If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?” ⁶And they had nothing to say.

from The Merchant of Venice,
by William Shakespeare:

The quality of mercy is not strained.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath.  It is twice blest:

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown.

His scepter shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.

But mercy is above this sceptered sway;

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;

It is an attribute of God himself;

And earthly power doth then show like God’s

When mercy seasons justice.

⁷When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: ⁸“When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. ⁹If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. ¹⁰But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’

“Friend, go up higher!”

Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. ¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Proverbs 3:34 (Contemporary English Version)

The LORD sneers at those

who sneer at him,

but he is kind to everyone

who is humble.

¹²Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. ¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

“A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.”

–Samuel Johnson, in Boswell’s Life of Johnson

The Parable of the Great Banquet

¹⁵When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁶Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. ¹⁷At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

“My cup runneth over” by Houston- based artist Diane Nicholls

Psalm 23:5 (King James Version)

Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.

¹⁸“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’

¹⁹“Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’

²⁰“Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

²¹“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

²²” ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’

²³“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. ²⁴I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’ “

Jeremiah 31:8 (New Living Translation)

For I will bring them from the north
and from the distant corners of the earth.
I will not forget the blind and lame,
the expectant mothers and women in labor.
A great company will return!

The Cost of Being a Disciple

REQUIRED READING for every believer!

²⁵Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

–Dietrich Bonhoeffer

²⁸“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? ²⁹For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, ³⁰saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

from My Utmost for His Highest,
by Oswald Chambers

BUILDING FOR ETERNITY

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?”
–Luke xiv.28

Our Lord refers not to a cost we have to count, but to a cost which He has counted.  The cost was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal and hatred, the deep unfathomable agony in Gethsemane, and the onslaught at Calvary—the pivot upon which the whole of Time and Eternity turns.  Jesus Christ has counted the cost.  Men are not going to laugh at Him at last and say—”This man began to build, and was not able to finish.”

The conditions of discipleship laid down by Our Lord in verses 26, 27, and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything.  “If any man come to Me, and hate not . . . , he cannot be My disciple.” Our Lord implies that the only men and women He will use in his building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and devotedly beyond any of the closest ties on earth.  The conditions are stern, but they are glorious.

All that we build is going to be inspected by God.  Is God going to detect in His searching fire that we have built on the foundation of Jesus some enterprise of our own?  These are days of tremendous enterprises, days when we are trying to work for God, and therein is the snare.  Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God.  Jesus takes us over for His enterprises, His building schemes entirely, and no soul has any right to claim where he shall be put.

³¹“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³²If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

³⁴“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? ³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

_________________________

Music:

How to follow Jesus?  Hillsong sings, “With Everything.”

_________________________

New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica

Images courtesy of:

Banquet Hall at Biltmore Mansion.    http://z.about.com/d/honeymoons/1/5/v/N/BB2.jpg

dew and flower.   http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/images/elmerchanttheme02.gif

“Go up higher.”    http://www.worshipworks.com/lectionary_art/YrC_Gif/60lk14_1.gif

Nicholls.    http://www.artdianenicholls.com/gallery.html

The Cost of Discipleship.      http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GcGwlQBRurw/UAhHy9djWgI/AAAAAAAAAtk/9RXrP3hqA0g/s1600/cost+of+discipleship.JPG

house construction.    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xPpRt1h8Khg/UJfksr_kt7I/AAAAAAAAAC0/1tSUrIo9ZP0/s1600/house-construction.png

Luke 13: 18-35   (NIV)

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast

¹⁸Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? ¹⁹It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches.”

²⁰Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? ²¹It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

The Narrow Door

²²Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. ²³Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”

He said to them, ²⁴“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.

from 40 Days to Your Best Life:  A Spiritual Journey to Contentment for Nurses, by Suzanne Tietjen (Honor Books):

The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires your total attention.
–Luke 13:24  (the Message)

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine issued a report titled “To Err Is Human,” saying that one in twenty-five hospital patients is harmed by medical errors.  Medical errors are the eighth highest cause of death in the United States, outranking automobile accidents, breast cancer, and HIV/AIDS.  My father, an aerospace engineer—and thus a person with a low tolerance for errors—couldn’t get over this.

“How can this happen?” he asked me.

I told him to imagine himself sitting at the dinner table reaching for the salt when Mom asks him a question.  A moment later he finds himself shaking pepper rather than salt onto his mashed potatoes.  It happens just like that.

Distraction, it turns out, is the root cause of errors about 41 percent of the time.  The health-care world is struggling to find ways to avoid interruptions and concentrate on the task at hand.

Distraction gets me in trouble spiritually as well.  I battle it daily in my prayer life.  I start out talking to God and somehow find myself making a grocery list.  Or I plan to read my Bible, but get caught up in a television show.

Worse still, I have an impulse to call a friend or write a letter, but between the demands of work and home, I forget to do it.  I find myself reacting to life’s interruptions, rather than following God’s leading.  All too human, I can’t maintain my focus on my own.

The apostle Paul talked about having his eye on the goal.  More and more—at work, at home, and in my relationships with God and people—I, too, am asking God to help me pay attention.

One thing at a time.

Focus on the goal.

Eyes on the prize.

His life in me.

²⁵Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’

“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’

²⁶“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

²⁷“But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’

²⁸“There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. ²⁹People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. ³⁰Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

“There will be surprises in the kingdom of God. Those who are very prominent in this world may have to be very humble in the next; those whom no one notices here may be the princes of the world to come.”

–William Barclay

_________________________

Music:

The older I get, and the more friends I have in heaven, the more I find myself looking forward to “the feast in the kingdom of God.”  And in spite of all the books about visiting heaven, I still have a hard time picturing it — because I know that whatever I can think, God will have made it so much better!  Thank you, loving Father, that you will bring all your children safely home to you.   HERE  is MercyMe and “I Can Only Imagine.”

_________________________

Jesus’ Sorrow for Jerusalem

“Jesus Wept.” Sculpted by Mike Scovel.

³¹At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”

³²He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ ³³In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

³⁴“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

G. Campbell Morgan called this a display of “the Mother heart of God.”

³⁵Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

_________________________

New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica

Images courtesy of:

mustard seed and tree.    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nkEEd1ZWXO4/S7V03VNNWII/AAAAAAAAALk/Tk1wrySSI90/s400/MustardSeed_LOGO300px.jpg

woman kneading dough.    http://www.stfrancisparish.com/Graphics/bread_baking2.jpg

salt and pepper.    http://www.made-in-china.com/image/2f0j00RaQEOftBITdFM/Salt-and-Pepper-Bottle.jpg

Scovel.    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_QbrZupV_Q-k/SbXGVlxvW

After the earthquake in Haiti, a girl cries.  Were the Haitians worse sinners?  Were they more guilty?  Is the Lord no longer merciful?  Questions like these were put to the Lord . . .

Luke 13:1-17  (NIV)

Repent or Perish

¹Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ²Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ³I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

“It is true, the wicked man sometimes falls dead in the street; but has not the minister fallen dead in the pulpit? It is true that a pleasure-boat, in which men were seeking their own pleasure on the Sunday, has suddenly gone down; but is it not equally true that a ship which contained none but godly men, who were bound upon an excursion to preach the gospel, has gone down too?”

–Charles Haddon Spurgeon

The point, I think, is that any of us may die at any time, so repentance should be a priority.  

⁶Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. ⁷So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

⁸” ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. ⁹If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’ “

What fruit is God looking for?

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

_________________________

Music:

I should listen to this song every morning — it would encourage me to put a smile on my face and live with my roots deep in God’s grace!  HERE  Ken Medema sings “Tree Song.”

_________________________

A Crippled Woman Healed on the Sabbath

¹⁰On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, ¹¹and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. ¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” ¹³Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

Psalm 6:4   (NRSV)

Turn, O Lord, save my life; deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.

¹⁴Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

¹⁵The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? ¹⁶Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

¹⁷When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

The woman was so obviously healed!
The synagogue leader was so obviously wrong!

Banish the bent-over spirits:

memory of red guilt or
a long-ago foolish choice:
wrong marriage or
bitter divorce;
small crimes or
little legal brutalities;
a legion of torment
of additions.
Sexual abuse, manipulation,
domestic violence;
losses of mind, sight,
hearing, mobility,
self-doubt or
its grand mirror—
grandiosity.

Banish the bent-over spirits:

and good things, too:
obsessions now that
began healthy and
twisted a whole life;
professional demands,
creative dreams;
caring for an
ailing, aging parent,
proud-pushing an achieving child;
beautiful homes
shopped to sparkling,
beautiful bodies
jogged-starved to thin;
even church-work
where faith eats
its children.

Banish the bent-over spirits.

My shoulders sink,
and my spine curls
under the weight, while
my eyes turn in until
I cannot recognize
the one who heals.
See me here,
and call me, Christ.
Lay your hands on
the human meaning
beneath distortion.
In spite of a world
that disciplines healing,
in spite of people
who do not want
others well,
say the words
that set me free—

that I may straighten into praise.

from An Improbable Gift of Blessing: Prayers to Nurture the Spirit
by Maren C. Tirabassi and Joan Jordan Grant

_________________________

Jeremiah 10:6 (English Standard Version)

There is none like you, O LORD;
you are great, and your name is great in might.

_________________________

New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica

Images courtesy of:

Haiti girl crying.   http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01558/HAITI-GIRL_1558332c.jpg

fig tree.    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Fig_tree.jpg

bent-over woman.     http://parisparfait.typepad.com/paris_parfait/images/2007/08/31/beggarwoman.jpg