Day 44: Paul's Testimony, and what happens next..

To be honest with you, I would have liked it much better if Paul had given his powerful testimony of conversion on the road to Damascas, and the result was that everybody (or most everybody) (or, a large group of people, anyway) was convinced and convicted by his story, and changed their hearts.  Or, at least, decided not to kill him.

But that's not what happened.  The plot thickens.  Paul tells everyone about what a good Jew he was, and is, and how he was on the way to persecute Christians, and the blinding light, and the voice, and how the Jewish believer Ananais came to him and restored his sight. 

It's such a powerful testimony that the voices rise up, "He deserves to die!"  Which is what they already thought.

I always think that our stories are so powerful, more powerful than statistics, statistics don't convince people, but stories do.  And that is true -- sometimes.  Other times, we have our minds so made up already that the most moving story will not move us.

So.....there are people who have Paul so much that they have made a vow that they will not eat or drink until they kill him.  They are going to ambush those who are holding him and kill him.

Paul has a couple of aces up his sleeve, however.  One is his Roman citizenship.  He has certain rights, and he is going to use them. 

He also cleverly refers to his belief in the resurrection of the dead to stir up controversy between the Saducees and the Pharisees.  Two groups who were formerly united against him are not (at least temporarily) divided and arguing with each other.  There's a pragmatic streak to Paul. 

This is an ongoing story, and we are not to the end of it yet.  What happens next?  Stay tuned for tomorrow's installment....

Day 21: Teach us to Pray, and Die, and Live

So chapter 11 begins with Jesus teaching his disciples the Lord's prayer.  (You may want to turn back to Matthew, chapter 6, for another version of this prayer.)  Only in Luke's Orderly Account, the disciples observe Jesus in prayer, and ask him, "Teach us to pray."

I love this.  (I think that I love the simple, but not easy, sentences in scripture, sentences like "Love your enemies."  "Pray without ceasing."  "Jesus wept.") 

Luke just keeps reminding us not only that Jesus saves, but that Jesus prays.  Afterwards, Jesus tells a story about a man who goes to his friend in the middle of the night begging for bread.  Even if the friend doesn't want to get up, the noise of his friend pleading from out in the courtyard where everyone can hear will finally convince him to get up and give him what he wants.   (This is another one of those stories unque to Luke.) 

If you remember Jesus saying really recently, "Whoever is not against us is for us" really recently, you might be surprised that now Jesus says that 'whoever is not for me is against me.'  However, this is a different situation, when Jesus himself is being accused of using the power of the devil to cast out demons.

Jesus speaks out against the Pharisees here in Luke, but it doesn't seem quite as over-the-top as in Matthew somehow.  And please note, that at the end of chapter 13, it is some of the Pharisees who warn Jesus about Herod. 

It's interesting to me that Jesus places the warning about the unforgivable sin in this section of Luke, in the middle of his warnings about persecution, and at the same time as he assures his disciples that, when persecution comes, the Holy Spirit will give them the words to speak.

Another parable that only Luke tells is the one about the man with many barns, who accumulates a lot of "stuff" and then finds out it won't help him in the world to come.  Afterwards, is the familiar teaching about the birds of the air and the flowers of the field.

And in chapter 13, the story of the  bent-over woman (another healing on the Sabbath) only Luke tells.

The fig tree parable might sound familiar from Mark, but notice that in Luke, Jesus is willing to give it another year to bear fruit.

I also like the story about the faithful servants who the master finds hard at work.  Did you notice that in the end, the master will serve them?

What are some of the details and the larger themes that you are noticing in Luke?

Day 8: The Plot, and the Parables, Thicken (Chapters 22-24)

You know how it's getting worse with the religious leaders?  The middle of these three chapters is devoted to a long and passionate harangue against the hypocrisy of those who lead others, who put heavy religious obligations on others, but (in Jesus' view) do not follow their own teachings.    In some versions, this chapter contains this phrase, over and over, "Woe to you!" 

The most vivid of Jesus' sayings in this chapter is the one that describes the Pharisees as a cup whose outside has been cleaned and shiny, but who, on the inside, keep getting dirtier and dirtier.   I have to wonder:  were the Pharisees all really this evil?  What is going on?  (I am considering Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, both religious leaders themselves who appeared to be friends of Jesus, though they are featured in another Gospel.)

I can't help but think of these as angry words of Jesus, which does (I can't help it) make me think back on Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount:  "Everyone who is angry with their brother or sister will be in danger of judgment."  Hmmmm.

In chapter 22, is the first of three parables of judgment:  the wedding banquet.  On the one hand, there is the king who sends a gracious invitation to a huge and wonderful party.  Why would anyone not come?  Then, on the hand, there is the inexplicable indifference and hostility of the intended guests (killing the messengers?  Isn't this a little over the top?)  And then there is the terrible reaction of the king.  Then again, there is the great scene of the servants going out and calling EVERYONE -- good and evil, to come to the wedding banquet.  No checking to see who is acceptable and who is not.  But then there is the one poor soul without wedding clothes.  Good news?  Bad news?  pick your verse.

And chapter 24 is a small sample of what we call apocalyptic writing:  Jesus warning people about what will happen at the end of times.  There are wars and rumors of wars, visions and images of fear and destruction.  And though many people have tried to name the day and the hour, "nobody knows when that day or hour will come, not the heavenly angels and not the Son.  Only the father knows."   Still, it seems that we are fascinated with trying to figure it out.  Why?

Two things to think about when we read chapter 24: 1) the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. probably seemed like the beginning of the end of times to many of the early Christians, and 2) soon will be the day and hour of the destruction of Jesus' body on the cross.

Day 5: Parables, miracles, feeding 9,000 with crumbs left over

All right:  does anyone besides me have trouble with this:  At the opening of Matthew 13, Jesus tells his followers that he speaks in parables so that people will not understand him (vss. 10-15).  And at the end of Matthew 13, Jesus tell his disciples that he speaks in parables so that he will "declare what has been hidden since the beginning of the world." (vs. 35.)

So, which is it?  Does a parable reveal what has long been hidden?  Or does it create a greater mystery?  Or, could it be a little of both?

There are the long extended parables of the sower and of the weeds, and loads of short, short parables:  of the mustard seed, the yeast, the treasure hidden in a field, the net full of fish.  I can tell you that each and every one of those parables says way more than you would think, at first.  Take that mustard seed, for example.  It seems clear enough, right?  The tiniest seed will become a mighty tree; that is what the kingdom of heaven is about.  But consider this:  if you were someone who knew what a mustard plant (not tree, exactly) looked like, and you told them that birds of the air would be able to take shelter in the branches of this bush, they would find that to be an extremely funny joke.  Besides this:  the mustard plant was considered a sort of a weed, a plant you did not want taking over your yard.

There is something subversive about a parable.

Then there is the story about Jesus and Peter, walking on water.  Perhaps inexplicably, this is one of my favorite gospel stories.  The set up is that after Jesus learns of John the Baptist's death, he goes away to pray and to grieve, and sends the disciples ahead of him out on the Sea of Galilee.  Then are alone in the boat when a storm comes up, and the wind is against them.  In that eerie dark time of night just before dawn he comes walking toward them on the water.  Peter (who emerges here as one of Jesus' "star" disciples) decides that it would be a good idea for him to walk on water, too.  And he does, too, for who knows how long, perhaps just a moment, before he begins to sink, and cries out, "Lord save me!"

To me, this story is a sort of parable:  it is the shape of the Christian life.   Dying and rising, taking a risk and failing, taking a risk and succeeding, every day saying, "Lord, save me".  That's it for me.  Being a Christian is about getting in over my head. 

What about you?

Then there are the stories about the two feedings.  Did you know that Jesus feeds 5,000, and then later feeds 4,000?  Do you consider that odd?  The first feeding is on one side of the sea of Galilee, among the Jews, and the second feeding is on the other side of the sea, in Gentile territory.  (One of the verses that sticks out for me in the first story:  Jesus telling the disciples, "You give them something to eat."  Like the disciples are supposed to figure out how to get enough food to feed 5,000 people.)

And in between these two feeding stories is Jesus' harsh encounter with a Gentile woman who has to beg for Jesus to heal her daughter.

Jesus calls her a dog.

All she wants is a few crumbs.

The kingdom of heaven is like.... a woman who loves her daughter so much that she is willing to be called a dog to get what she needs, a few crumbs.

The kingdom of heaven is like.....