Luke 16:15-18 The Law and the Ways of God

Luke 16:15-18 Jesus talks to the Pharisees about the Law. This seems to be a collection of statements, and a unifying theme is hard to discern. Verse 15 talks about the Pharisees justifying themselves before men, but excoriates them because God knows the heart, and He detests the things than men value. Verse 16 is difficult because it says that since John the Baptist had proclaimed the good news of the kingdom, people were somehow forcing their way into it. Verse 17 says that not one iota of the law will fail. Verse 18 gives Jesus' teaching on divorce and adultery, paralleled in Matthew 5:32 & 19:9 and Mark 10:11-12.

          Possibly the common element of these four verses is that things in God's kingdom are simply different from things in the world. God detests the things that men value. John preached the kingdom, but men didn't understand what he was saying and thought they could get in by force, rather than by obedience to God, because the Law will not fail. We cannot understand how the law works because it is spiritual and we are fleshly. (Romans 7:14). In another place (Mark 10:2-9), before Jesus explained that to divorce one's wife was to force her to commit adultery, He went back to the roots of marriage and quoted from Genesis 1:27 and 2:24, in response to the Pharisees' quoting Deuteronomy 24:1. Jesus consistently seems to try to convey to His listeners that the ways of God are simply not comprehended by the natural man. Of course, the Pharisees had built their lives and careers on understanding and explaining the law and the ways of God, so Jesus is basically saying they got it all wrong.

          Where does this put us? We try to understand the Bible, and try to draw close to the presence of God through prayer and worship and other disciplines. Is this all futile? I think it should depend on how we approach these things. In John 8:39-40, Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life." In Jesus, we have eternal life, and through His enablement, we can understand the spiritual truths that God has laid before us. We still have the temptation and risk of falling into to fleshly understanding of spiritual things, just as the Pharisees did. If nothing else, this shows us our continual and continuing need for and dependence on the Holy Spirit.

Luke 16:1-14 The shrewd investor

Luke 16:1-14 Parable of the unrighteous steward. The first eight verses are the story, which is a bit difficult to understand. The steward decides that since the master is most likely going to fire him for poor management, he will get some bad loans off the books, hoping to curry favor with other debtors (rather than taking them to court and having them thrown into debtors' prison). The odd part about this story is that the master praised this steward for his shrewd actions, because the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own generation than the sons of light. Perhaps Jesus is saying in verse 8 that the master recognized the steward's managerial savvy that he had not previously shown. Verses 9-13 are more puzzling. Verse 13 parallels Matthew 6:24 and presumably sums up Jesus' teaching on this parable: No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. He seems to be saying that worldly possessions are a test, and how we manage things on earth will affect how much God will entrust true (i.e. spiritual) riches to us. Matthew 6:24 is preceded by Matthew 6:19-21 in which Jesus advised His listeners not to lay up treasures on earth, where they will decay or could be stolen, but to lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven, where there is no rust and where there are no thieves. In that passage, He seems to be saying that we should focus on doing things with spiritual payoffs. In this passage, He seems to be saying that faithfulness in the use of earthly riches will be rewarded with being entrusted with heavenly riches, and the converse is also true. If we are unfaithful in the use of earthly riches, we will not be rewarded nor entrusted with heavenly riches. Taken together, these suggest that God is judging how we use the earthly wealth He has put under our care. If we use it on ourselves, He won't give us heavenly riches. If we use it to advance His kingdom faithfully, He will reward that use with spiritual blessings. The only problem with this interpretation is that it is hard to draw this from verses 1-8. The only connection is the concept of shrewdness - a worldly steward is shrewd with respect to his ultimate goals, so a son of light (i.e. of the kingdom of God) should be shrewd with respect to his ultimate goals, which are completely different than those of the worldly steward. Nevertheless, the  shrewdness of the son of light would lead him to manage his earthly riches in such a way as to advance God's purposes.

          Verse 14 indicates that the Pharisees either didn't understand the message, or else they loved money so much that they rejected the lesson.

Luke 15:1-32 Rejoicing over finding what is lost

Luke 15:1-2 Jesus receives sinners and eats with them. This complaint by the Pharisees and scribes is repeated several places. (Matt 9:11, 11:19; Mark 2:16, Luke 5:30, Luke 7:34) They do not understand God's heart for the lost. Jesus tries with three metaphors to explain it to them.

Luke 15:3-7 Parable of the lost sheep. Even though the odds are nowhere near 99:1 of righteous to sinners in this life, that is not the point. There is great joy in heaven when even one sinner repents. More so than over those who do not need to repent. The lost sheep has been found. This is scarcely the only place where God's people are compared to sheep, and this point should not be glossed over. We use goat-rope as a metaphor for trying to catch something that is elusive and actively tries to avoid being brought into control. But sheep are dumber than goats. They stumble into trouble because they don't know what they are getting into. Innocence is too strong a word, but clearly there is less culpability on the lost sheep's part - it just wandered off. And so the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-16) goes in search and brings it back to the flock. And He rejoices when He has done so, and all the angels with Him.

Luke 15:8-10 Parable of the lost coin. A woman loses a day's wages - one drachma. That might not be her entire cash reserve - not enough to retire on, but enough to sustain life. And when she finds it, she calls her neighbors to celebrate. This parable is for the materially minded, to whom losing money is the paramount disaster. The point is the same.

Luke 15:11-32 Parable of the lost son. One of the most famous of Jesus' parables, this deals with broken relationships. The Father's heart for the lost is most clearly shown here. The father in the parable saw the return of the lost son from a long way off and ran to meet him and welcome him home. There is no talk of his having learned his lesson, and the father brushes off the son's request to become a slave because he is unworthy to be a son. But the older son thought about these things. It was unfair that this younger brother should get away with it - no word of reproach, no process of earning his way back into his father's love. But that is the way God handles it. His love is sooooo strong that He welcomes back the repentant sinner without reproach. He may not be able to undo the damage that years of sin have done, just as the father in the parable could not bring back all of the wasted wealth that the younger son blew. But the relationship was restored, just as God receives back sinners and restores their relationship with Him. And the Pharisees could not have missed the point, because it confirmed what they complained about at the beginning of chapter 15. And Jesus wants them to understand that He heard their complaints, and they had correctly assessed the situation. But they did not understand God.

          Do we understand God's heart for the lost? More importantly, do we share it? How hard do we pray, and work, to reach out to those outside the grace of God? Outside His family of those who know Him and walk with Him? Let us pray that we are not like the older brother who believe that we can or have earned God's favor.

Luke 14:25-35 The discipleship way

Luke 14:25-35 Tests of discipleship - counting the cost. In several different metaphors, Jesus explains that to follow Him will ultimately be all-consuming. Firstly, we must live in a manner in which He is more important than any family member. This is not, I think, saying actual hatred of them, because that would be inconsistent with the rest of the Bible. But I think He is saying that by comparison of our depth of love for Him, our relationship with family members will seem like hatred (may seem so to them, if we are too busy feeding the homeless to tend to their priorities).

          Secondly, we must carry our own cross - a metaphor for crucifixion even before He was crucified. It was well-known that the Romans made criminals carry their own crosses to the place where they were to be nailed or tied to them to die. Metaphorically, Jesus seems to be saying that we have to carry with us the instruments that God will use to make us die to self so that we can live to Him. What would that look like? We must voluntarily take up whatever God brings into our life to form us spiritually. It could be fasting. It could be giving. It could be service. Actually, God can use any form of discipline that He chooses (and He is very creative, as the universe displays) in order to strike directly at that thing in our life that we put first and foremost, if it is not Him.

          Thirdly, we should make rational plans for serving Him. A man who builds a house should have enough money to finish the job, or he will look foolish. A king should not go to war unless he has enough troops to win. If we are going to enter Jesus' kingdom, we should consider that to get to the goal, we will need to give up everything we own - worldly possessions and all that implies such as career aspirations, family, worldly security, dreams of fame - and we need to decide that up front. 

          Fourthly, we should recognize the consequence of falling short of the finish line. We are the salt of the earth, but salt that loses its saltiness is useless and therefore discarded (Matt 5:13). If we start out to serve Him, but do not follow through with complete commitment (as per Luke 14:33) then we are useless to Him.

Luke 14:1-24 Dinner with the Pharisees

Luke 14:1-6 Jesus heals on the Sabbath. As contrasted to Luke 13:10-17, the Pharisees' response is silence. Perhaps they had endured enough humiliation, or knew that they had no answer to His question. Perhaps they were already making plans behind the scenes and didn't want to tip their hand. The obvious answer to the question - should EMT's and firefighters and police work on the day of rest - if there is an emergency, there isn't even any need for discussion.

Luke 14:7-11 The parable of seating at a banquet. Jesus uses this metaphor to emphasize the importance of humility in God's kingdom. At a banquet, there is more honor in being publicly invited to come to the head table than in seating one's self there because the public invitation shows the relationship between the head of the banquet and the guest. So in this case humility - taking a low seat, far from the head table - pays off. So too, in God's kingdom, the one who humbles himself will one day be invited by God to the head table, and the one who exalts himself now will be shown to be not that big a deal in God's kingdom.

Luke 14:12-15 The blessing of feeding those who cannot repay you. Matthew 6:4 suggests the same principle. Is this practical or metaphorical advice? Perhaps both. Jesus' point seems to be that if we give to and minister to those who are so poor and helpless that they cannot possibly repay in this life, then we will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. This might even take the form of throwing a banquet for the homeless. But whatever form it takes, laying up treasures for ourselves in heaven is recommended by Jesus. (Matt 6:20, 19:21, Mark 10:21, Luke 12:33, Luke 18:22) It may seem crass in some respect, but if done in the spirit of humility (per the preceding section), it seems an investment with a guaranteed return.

Luke 14:16-24 The parable of the guests who changed their mind. It is not clear if this is aimed at the Pharisees or a more general statement. One interpretation might be that the Pharisees had all of the Law of Moses, but in rejecting Christ they were refusing to partake of God's ultimate celebration of life. This then opened the door for the unchurched and the sinner to participate. The language is rather colorful in emphasizing God's insistence on compelling the outcasts to come. Another possible interpretation has to do with eternal security. Is it possible to accept God's invitation, and then later refuse Him when the time comes to consummate the feast? While it seems unbiblical that God would ever reject those who seek Him, is it possible that when the time comes, in eschatological terms for the rapture of the church, that some will be so attached to their possessions, their worldly occupations, that they would not want to go to be with Him? Or perhaps, taken in the context with the preceding section, perhaps some who have sought Him in the past could become so pre-occupied with worldly activities that they do not have time to minister to the poor? Perhaps the metaphorical banquet really occurs whenever there is bona fide ministry to the poor, and we simply miss that banquet if we are too busy working at our jobs.

Luke 13:18-35 Warnings

Luke 13:18-21 Parable of mustard seed and leaven. These two parables seem to be meant to illustrate that the kingdom of God is not about size and power and show. These metaphors are of things that are so small they would be ignored unless you cared about them, but they are used to produce very large effects when properly treated. You wouldn't notice them. But if the seed is planted and tended, and if the yeast is placed in the dough and the break allowed to rise, they have the desired effect. So it is with spiritual things. We don't notice them unless we attend to them. But when we do, spiritual causes that seem so insignificant in the world have an enormous effect on the people involved.

Luke 13:22-30 Teaching in the villages about entering into the kingdom now. This passage somewhat parallels Matthew 7:15-16, 8:12, 13:42, 13:50, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30. Matthew seemed to lean heavily on the phrase "gnashing of teeth". Although Jesus also quotes Psalm 119:115. The core of this teaching seems to be a warning not to delay in making reconciliation with God, because there will come a day in which judgment will be made and eternal destiny will be irrevocably assigned. This seems eschatological, but as mentioned above, for 2,000 years people have died, many without much advance warning, and the die is cast just as finally for them as it will be for those who are left behind when Christ returns. And to add insult to injury, many who were thought to be outside the covenant - gentiles in the day of Jesus, but we might think Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists today - but who have in their heart reconciled with God through Christ, will be part of His eternal kingdom, while those who got their theology right but did not repent will be outside it.

Luke 13:31-35 Prophetic words about His coming trials in Jerusalem. Jesus quotes Psalm 118:26 in this passage, as He warns about what will happen. People warn Him that Herod is out to get Him. Jesus is not afraid of Herod. But He laments over Jerusalem, because it is the city that had been established as the center of the Jewish faith, many centuries earlier. And Jesus weeps because the people of Jerusalem did not receive God's message or messenger, either earlier or at the present time. God raises up and deposes rulers. (Psalm 75:6-7). But as the previous passage indicates, those who miss their opportunity to repent and get right with God will be eternally excluded from that divine joy of being in His presence. And Jerusalem, who will (prophetically) go along with His crucifixion, will be destroyed, demolished by the Roman army under Titus in 70AD. The heart of God desires to shepherd and nurture His sheep/children, but when they refuse His Fatherhood, He cannot or will not force them to obey Him. He can only send them away, and they will reap what they have sown.

Luke 13:10-17 Healing on the Sabbath.

The stories of Jesus healing on the Sabbath are numerous, almost to the point where it would seem the authors of the gospels were trying to make a point, or perhaps Jesus did this frequently and it always caused a stir among the legalists. Other stories include Matthew 12:9-14, Mark 3:1-6, Luke 6:6-11, Luke 14:1-6, and John 5:2-17. Why did Jesus' healing on the Sabbath so enrage the Pharisees and their ilk? Jesus asked the question - is it right to do good on the Sabbath? Perhaps the Pharisees thought it impossible that God would break the rules He set down for mankind, so therefore Jesus was either not from God or misrepresenting God. But they couldn't deny the miracles He performed. So they were filled with rage because they knew that the gospel He was preaching would deprive them of their position and its perks. There might be a legitimate theological question of whether God would do something that He told humans not to. But of course, the Old Testament Law never said not to perform supernatural healing on the Sabbath. Jesus told them that the Sabbath was made for man (i.e., to rest) and not man for the Sabbath (i.e., to be in bondage to it). (Mark 2:27) The theological point that the Pharisees could not accept is that the love of God far transcends His rules for conduct. God commanded humans to love Him, but His love far surpasses that of the humans who love Him. And so there is no question in God's value system about healing on the Sabbath. Which really illustrates how the Pharisees, having the whole of the Mosaic Law and the Prophets of the Old Testament, completely misunderstood God's nature and character.

          The alternative view is darker. If the Pharisees saw religion, and thereby God, as a means to enhance their own position - gain wealth, prestige, power - then Jesus clearly threatened that comfortable system. And as a result they had to get rid of Him. Because it was not merely that He revealed the true heart of God. It was also that He humiliated them in front of the very people that they were fleecing in order to feather their own nests, and that couldn't go on forever before those people decided they didn't like the game.