“Word for Today” – Luke 21 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
He was one of the most memorable comedians of all time. Rodney Dangerfield, with his staccato speech, unassuming demeanor, and self-deprecating humor became an almost overnight sensation after appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show and delivering one of his famous “I don’t get no respect” jokes. “I don’t get no respect,” lamented Dangerfield. “I played hide-and-seek, and they wouldn’t even look for me.” Even Ed Sullivan, the usually stoic and serene host, couldn’t help but laugh.
“I don’t get no respect.” This was Rodney Dangerfield’s signature line. As famous as this line may have been, however, it is perhaps the single most despised line by English teachers everywhere. Why? Because it commits a cardinal grammatical sin – the sin of the double negative.
A double negative occurs when two forms of negation are used in the same clause. And two negations, in English at least, technically cancel out each other and turn the statement into a positive. Thus, Dangerfield’s famed “I don’t get no respect” technically means that he gets respect. Of course, no one interprets it this way, for apart from the more strident rules of proper grammar, double negatives are common and even acceptable in slang speech to emphasize a negation.
Perhaps Jesus went to the Rodney Dangerfield school of grammar. In our reading for today from Luke 21, he gives his disciples a glimpse into a future that is of surely apocalyptic proportions:
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. (verses 10-11, 25-27)
Wars, earthquakes, pestilences, and the sun and moon display strange signs – sounds like the end of the world to me. But then, Jesus offers a mystifying conclusion to his apocalyptic prediction: “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened” (verse 32). This generation will not pass away until all these things have happened? But “this generation” to whom Jesus is talking lived in AD 30. They have most definitely all passed away and the end of the world has yet to come!
To make matters worse, Jesus emphasizes his point concerning his generation with a double negative in Greek. A more wooden translation of Jesus’ words here would read, “This generation won’t not pass away.” In English, this is poor grammar. In Greek, however, two negatives serve to highlight the fierceness with which Jesus states his case: “No way, no how will this generation pass away until all these signs will come to pass.”
Scholars have been sharply divided over the meaning of Jesus’ words here. Some have said that Jesus’ prophecy refers not to the end of the world, but to the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70. Others have pointed out that the word for “generation” in Greek is genea, which can mean not only “generation,” but “race,” as in the Jewish race, or even the human race, both of which still exist and would thus appropriately fulfill Jesus’ prophecy. Still others, like the late Albert Schweitzer and John Dominic Crossan, see Jesus as a failed Messiah who simply couldn’t muster the support to realize his own eschatological vision. This, of course, is a patently false and heretical view of Jesus’ words and ought to be rejected.
The third option notwithstanding, Jesus’ words concerning his generation will perhaps always remain shrouded in a bit of enigma. His words, because they are spoken by the Son of God, are certainly not false, but we are left to grapple with exactly how they are true. Thankfully, Jesus leaves us another double negative which is much easier to interpret: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (verse 33). Here too, Jesus uses a double negative to emphasize the sureity of his statement: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words won’t never pass away!” This I understand. Even though we live in a world where there are wars, pestilences, famines, and the heavenly bodies shake and give way, God’s Word endures. It endures beyond the troubles, trials, tragedies, and terrors of this world. Although everything else may pass away, God’s Word won’t never pass away.
People will often tell me that they don’t study the Bible because they don’t understand it. My usual response is, “That’s okay, neither do I.” And I don’t understand it – at least not fully. That is why I continue to study and search out its answers and teachings – because there is always something more to learn, there is always something new to understand, and because, as something that truly endures, I can be assured that it will outlast and outlive the temporary troubles of this world. God’s Word won’t never pass away. But blessedly, our troubles will. This I believe. And that ain’t no lie.
“Word for Today” – Luke 20 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
One of my favorite scenes from James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster Titanic takes place shortly after the massive luxury liner hits an iceberg late on a Sunday night. After sounding the ship with her designer, Thomas Andrews, Captain E.J. Smith summons his officers to the bridge to announce the unthinkable: the Titanic is in grave peril. Andrews explains that the hull of the Titanic is divided into a series of sixteen compartments using fifteen transverse bulkheads, four of which can be flooded and the ship will remain safely afloat. However, the Titanic’s collision with the iceberg has flooded the first five compartments. As a result, as the ship’s hull is pulled down by the flooded compartments, the water from the first five compartments will spill over into the compartments farther aft until the whole ship will flood and sink. “Titanic will founder,” Thomas Andrews somberly declares. “It is a mathematical certainty.” In slack jawed disbelief, the chairman of the shipping company which built the Titanic, Bruce Ismay, responds to Andrews, “But this ship can’t sink!” But Andrews knows better. He rebuts, “She’s made of iron. I assure you, she can.”
In our reading for today from Luke 20, Jesus tells a parable about a man who plants a vineyard and entrusts it to some tenants. While he is away, he sends some people to check on his vineyard, but the tenants respond to each of the master’s envoys with increasing levels of violence. They beat the first two envoys and wound the third. The master finally decides that he will send his son to attend to his vineyard. “They will respect him,” the master says (verse 13). But alas, they do not. Instead, they brutally murder him.
The meaning of this parable was all too apparent to Jesus’ listeners. A vineyard is a common symbol for Israel in the Old Testament: “The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel” (Isaiah 5:7). The tenants, then, are the people of Israel and the envoys are the Old Testament prophets. The master’s son? Well, that’s Jesus. Jesus will die.
The people, understanding Jesus’ parable, respond in slack jawed disbelief: “May this never be” (verse 16)! Like Bruce Ismay on the foundering Titanic, they can’t believe their ears. “This can’t happen!” they respond incredulously. But Jesus rebuts, “I assure you, it can.” Jesus says, “What is the meaning of that which is written: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone’” (verse 17)? Jesus, to explain the inevitability of his death, quotes Psalm 118:22 and says that he is the stone rejected by his own people. And if it’s foretold in Scripture, it can happen. Indeed, it will happen. It is a prophetic certainty.
People often ask me why God doesn’t reveal more of his plan for our lives. They want to know why they have had to endure a certain tragedy or what road they should take in their lives or when they should pursue a certain dream. So they cry out to God, asking for some unmistakable word or sign, but then become disillusioned and angry when a clear word is not heard or a clear sign is not seen. I sometimes wonder if the reason God does not always give us the words and signs we so desperately seek is because, even if he did, we wouldn’t believe him anyway. Like the crowd who responds to Jesus’ parable with words of disbelief – “May this never be!” – I sometimes wonder if we too wouldn’t respond to a revelation from Jesus: “But this can’t be right!”
In the end, we are called to trust in whatever is revealed to us in God’s plan – whether that revelation be the death of his Son Jesus or a more incidental revelation like a certain path we should take in our lives. We are to never respond, “May this never be!” For when God declares it, it is a divine certainty. We are simply called to believe and respond, “May it always be.”
“Word for Today” – Luke 19 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
This past weekend, I had the high honor of baptizing the daughter of one of my close friends after our Saturday evening service. As I look back on that evening, I once again stand amazed at the grace and salvation that God can work in even the smallest hearts and lives.
Following the baptism, I had an opportunity to chat with my buddy about how things were going with he and his family. Because of our busy schedules, we don’t get to see each other very often. Indeed, the past several times we have seen each other, we have talked about the need to get together and “catch up.” But we never managed to put a solid date on the calendar and, thus, never got together. But that evening, I pulled out my calendar and said to my friend, “If we don’t schedule something today, we’re never going to have get together, so let’s put a date on the calendar today. We need to catch up.”
In our reading for today from Luke 19, Jesus is on his way through Jericho. Jericho was one of the finest cities in the ancient world, being rebuilt and remade by Herod the Great. Herod built aqueducts in the city, a fortress, a lavish winter palace for himself, as well as a hippodrome for horse and chariot races. But to engage is such ambitious building projects, Herod needed money – and lots of it. This meant that taxes in Jericho, and in all of Herod’s provinces for that matter, were sky high and remained so even after his death shortly before the dawn of the first century. Enter a man named Zacchaeus.
Luke says that Zacchaeus was not only a tax collector in Jericho, he was a “chief tax collector” (verse 2). In other words, he was the head of Jericho’s IRS and was also very wealthy, not so much because being a chief tax collector paid well, but because the tax collectors of his day were well-known as tax cheats. They would over-collect on taxes and then line their pockets with the excess dollars. As such, Zacchaeus was a despised and disparaged man. But even a despised and disparaged man like Zacchaeus wanted to see a revered and righteous man like Jesus. And so, Zacchaeus climbs a sycamore tree so that he can get a prime vantage point of Jesus as he passes through Jericho. But then, something completely unexpected happens: “When Jesus reached the spot [where Zacchaeus was], he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today’” (verse 5).
Interestingly, the position of the word “today” in Greek is emphatic. Jesus literally says to this tax collector, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. Today, I must stay at your house.” Jesus, it seems, isn’t wasting any time with Zacchaeus. He doesn’t say, “We need to get together some time and catch up.” No, Jesus wants to meet with Zacchaeus today. And Zacchaeus gladly welcomes him today and repents of his sin: “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” (verse 8). Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus has transformed him from a degenerate to a disciple. And Jesus rejoices at his transformation: “Today, salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham” (verse 9). When does this salvation come to Zacchaeus and his house? “Today,” of course.
The Psalmist instructs us, “Today, if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your hearts” (Psalm 95:7-8). The Hebrew word for “if” is im, an intentionally ambiguous particle mixing the contingent force of “if” with the more definite force of “when.” Thus, it’s not so much if you will hear God’s voice today, it’s that when you will hear God’s voice today, you should take to heart what he says. You should believe and obey today.
So today, you have a promise that will hear God’s voice. Through the pages of his Word, in prayer, and by the whisper of his Spirit, God will speak to you today. Jesus will reside in the house of your heart today. And his salvation will come to you anew today. You see, Jesus never puts you off. He never says, “We need to get together some time.” No, Jesus always wants to meet with you today. So whatever obstacle you may face, whatever challenge you may encounter, and whatever worry you may meet, Jesus will face, encounter, and meet it with you – not later, but today…and every day.
“Word for Today” – Luke 18 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
It was in the middle of our record-breaking long, hot, dry summer. And although I don’t usually do this, the temperature that day was racing toward 105 degrees and so I figured, “Why not? It’s hot outside. It’s a slow day at work. I’m going to wear shorts to the office today!” And so, without a lot of forethought, I threw on some black and white plaid shorts with a black and white striped shirt. I was so proud of myself. I managed to color coordinate on the fly.
I thought I was a regular fashionista until I arrived home that evening. My wife Melody’s jaw slacked open. “Umm,” she said, “You didn’t wear that to work, did you?” “Well, yes, I did wear this to work,” I responded defensively. “What’s wrong with it?” “You’re wearing plaid shorts with a striped shirt,” my wife informed me. “You can wear a solid with a pattern, but not a pattern with a pattern. Don’t ever wear that again!”
I thought I had dressed acceptably, and even stylishly. But it took the fashion conscious eye of my wife to inform me otherwise.
In our reading for today from Luke 18, Jesus tells this parable:
Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The 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. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” 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.” 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. (verses 10-14)
Far too often, far too many Christians read Jesus’ parable and reflexively respond, “Wow, I sure am glad I’m not like that Pharisee. I’m not arrogant. I’m not self-righteous. After all, I would never treat a ‘lesser’ tax collector the way that Pharisee did. I’m so much better than that Pharisee.” Hmmm. Perhaps we’re more like that Pharisee than we first care to admit. We may think we are more spiritually coordinated, even more spiritually stylish, than that Pharisee. But it takes the spiritually discerning eye of Jesus to inform us otherwise.
Indeed, in order to understand the true import of this parable, we need to first understand the audience for Jesus’ story. He was not telling this story humble and humiliated tax collectors; rather, he was telling it to self-righteous religious elites: “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable” (verse 9). Thus, in order to hear this parable, we need to first recognize that we are part of Jesus’ audience – we are part of the mob of self-righteous religious snobs. That is why we need this parable. That is why it is in the Bible. It is not there for those other self-righteous people who are spiritually worse off than we are. It is there for us.
At the heart of the Pharisee’s self-righteousness is the preposition that Jesus uses to describe the Pharisee’s prayer: “The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself” (verse 11). The Greek word for “about” is pros, often meaning “to,” or “toward.” The sense is that this Pharisee is far less interested in praying to God as he in talking to himself about all of his laudable accomplishments: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get” (verses 11-12). Notice that while using God’s name only once, he uses the pronoun “I” four times. This prayer is clearly all about him. The tax collector, on the other hand, is not nearly so narcissistic. He prays, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (verse 13). And he, Jesus says, is the one who goes “home justified before God” (verse 14).
The fact of the matter is we live in a world of Pharisees, not of tax collectors. We lust after accolades, accomplishment, and adoration. We read books like The Power of Positive Thinking and How To Win Friends and Influence People which encourage us to believe in our own potential rather than to lean on the grace of God. And when we pray, our pronouns echo those of a Pharisee rather than those of a tax collector: “God, I need this and I need that. I want you to help me with this and I want you to give me that.”
If you would indulge me, allow me offer some very simple guidance for your praying today. As you pray, begin each prayer with words not of request, but with words of confession: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” For this simple confession is also an expression of our deepest need: our need for forgiveness. And this, finally, is the difference between a Pharisee and a tax-collector: one asks for forgiveness and the other does not. And that is why, by the end of this parable, we are allowed to identify with the tax collector. Not because we’re better than the Pharisee and would never treat anyone like the Pharisee treated the tax collector, but because, like the tax collector, we have been forgiven by God. For God’s grace turns former self-righteous Pharisees into newly forgiven tax collectors. And that’s why I’m happy to be a tax collector. I hope you are too.
“Word for Today” – Luke 17 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
From conversations I have had with my friends, it seems to be a trauma experienced almost universally by children everywhere. Indeed, I too was traumatized by this experience in my own childhood. It usually began with an odor – a foul odor – emitting from the kitchen. I knew that trouble was imminent and so I would trot into the kitchen and ask my mother, “Mom, what’s for supper?” “Liver and onions,” would come her reply. Immediately my stomach began to churn and turn. “But I hate liver and onions!” I would protest. “Can’t I have macaroni and cheese, or peanut butter and jelly, or beans and franks? Anything but liver and onions!”
I have never met a child who enjoys liver and onions. Yet, I have also never met a person who, when growing up, was not forced to eat this despicable dish by their menacing parents. One would think that with the unanimous disdain that liver and onions garners, parents would give up on trying to force this meal down their kids’ throats. But it didn’t stop my parents. And I’ll bet it didn’t stop your parents either.
I would arrive at the table to find my plate of liver and onions waiting for me. Mercifully, with my liver and onions also came some broccoli and potatoes. Thus, I would always eat my sides first while leaving my main dish untouched, and then ask for more potatoes to which my parents would reply, “You can have more potatoes when you finish your meat. There’s plenty of food on your plate already. You don’t need anymore.”
In our reading for today from Luke 17, Jesus gives his disciples a hard teaching:
Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It 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. So watch yourselves. (verses 1-3)
A millstone was the ancient equivalent of a pair of the mafia’s cement boots. If you were wearing a millstone in the water, you were preparing to meet your end. Jesus says that this should be the desired end for someone who has caused another to stumble in his faith. Now that’s a tough teaching!
How do the disciples respond to such a difficult word? “Increase our faith!” they exclaim (verse 5). This is an understandable request. After all, to trust that it’s better to meet your demise than to harm another person is about as easy to swallow as a plate of liver and onions. But notice how Jesus responds to his disciples’ request: “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’” (verse 6). Rather than giving his disciples increased faith, Jesus explains the value of small faith. For even small faith can do magnificent things. Essentially, Jesus is saying to his disciples, “There’s plenty of faith on your plate already. Even for my hardest of teachings, you don’t need anything besides the faith you already have.”
One of the cries of the Protestant Reformation was sola fide, a Latin phrase meaning, “by faith alone.” The reformers proudly held that a man is saved by faith in Christ alone and not by his own righteous works. Interestingly, when the disciples ask the Lord to “increase their faith,” they use the Greek word prostithemi, meaning literally “to place something with.” In other words, the disciples are saying, “Faith alone is not enough to receive your teachings, Jesus. We need you to place something else alongside our faith. What extra thing do you have for us so that we can properly receive your teachings?” Jesus’ answer to his disciples is, “Sola fide. Faith alone is all you need. For even the smallest faith can believe my most challenging teachings.”
Perhaps you have encountered a trial, tragedy, or trouble where you wondered if your faith in Christ would be enough to get you through. Couldn’t Jesus add to your faith? Perhaps he could give you a divine sign or a heavenly vision or a miraculous solution. Sure, Jesus could give you those things, but most often, his reply to such requests is the same as his words to the disciples: “There’s plenty of faith on your plate already. Even during your toughest times, you don’t need anything besides the faith you already have. Sola fide, dear brothers and sisters. Sola fide.”
May the cry of sola fide be your cry today…and always.
“Word for Today” – Luke 16 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
A couple of weekends ago, I had the privilege of running in the “Wounded Warrior” 5k at the RIM Shopping Center. Proceeds went to support those who have been irreparably injured while protecting our country in battle. In my mind, any chance to support our troops is a high honor.
I am proud to say that my time for this run, although not stellar by any stretch of the imagination, was at least respectable: 5k in 22:50. For me, this represents a dramatic improvement over what I would have been able to run just a few short years ago. Indeed, a few short years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to run a 5k at all. For that matter, I probably wouldn’t have been able to run a 1k. I did not regularly exercise, nor did I eat a well-balanced diet. And even in my late twenties, my poor health habits were beginning to take a noticeable toll on my wellbeing.
But then, I made a change. I began exercising regularly and swore off food that, although delicious, should never be ingested by someone daily, as I was doing. The results were remarkable. I lost a lot of weight and now run not only out of a sense of obligation to my health, but because I actually enjoy it.
For those who have not seen me in a while, however, my newfound love of exercise can seem a little befuddling. My wife was talking to an old friend of ours after our run and she explained how we had run the 5k together. “Zach ran a 5k with you?” came the response. “That’s great! But that doesn’t sound like Zach!”
In our reading for today from Luke 16, Jesus tells a parable about a master who has to fire a top-level executive because he is “wasting the master’s possessions” (verse 1). Apparently, he has taken one too many pens from the office supply room. The executive is distraught. He doesn’t know where and how he will find another job. And so, he hatches a plan:
He called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, “How much do you owe my master?” “Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,” he replied. The manager told him, “Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.” 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.” (verses 5-7)
This executive is blatantly cooking the books! He’s dishonestly cutting his buddies’ debts so that they “owe him one,” so to speak, after he gets fired. “Perhaps I’ll get a free meal from them and a spot to crash on their couch,” he thinks to himself. But the real shock of this story is not in the action of this aberrant administrator, but in the reaction of his master: “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly” (verse 8). The master, of course, represents Jesus. Jesus? Commending a dishonest manager? But that doesn’t sound like Jesus!
It is important to note that Jesus does not commend this man because he is dishonest, but because he is shrewd. And shrewdness can be a good thing, as Jesus himself says, “Be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). Thus, just as this man was shrewd with the things of this world, we are to be shrewd with the things of God: “If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with handling true riches” (verse 11)? Jesus’ desire is that we learn to be shrewd with the lasting riches of God’s kingdom.
Just as the manager was commended by Jesus, we too will receive commendation from Jesus on the Last Day when he will say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21)! But just as the manager was also “dishonest” (verse 8), a word in Greek which literally means “unrighteous,” we too are unrighteous sinners, unworthy of Jesus’ commendation. And yet, Jesus commends us anyway – not because we are intrinsically worthy of such commendation, but because he loves us. Thus, he finds things to commend us for, as imperfect as we may be.
I love to watch a new parent with their infant child. They carefully and dotingly gaze at every move their child makes and, when they see something which impresses them, they gleefully exclaim: “Look at that! Look at that! How awesome is my little child!”
Our heavenly Father looks at us with the eyes of proud new parent. Yes, we are sinful. Yes, we are unrighteous. Yes, we are deserving of God’s wrath. But because of Jesus, God sees us clothed with his righteousness – a righteousness which leads us to live righteously. And so, when we do something well, God, in spite of our sinfulness, cannot contain his glee. “Look at that!” he shouts, “Look at that! How awesome is my little child! Well done, good and faithful servant.” What a terrific commendation from our God.
“Word for Today” – Luke 15 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
When I was in college, I, like most young men my age, subsisted on a steady diet of Ramen Noodles and Little Debbie Snack Cakes. After all, Ramen requires only a little bit of hot water before it congeals into a delectable feast and Little Debbie is always good for a delicious dessert. Her Nutty Bars are the best. Perhaps most important to me, however, was the fact that these two so-called “food” products were, for all intensive purposes, non-perishable. Yes, they came with “sell-by” dates on their packaging, but these dates were usually years away. As the prophet Isaiah has foretold, “The grass withereth and the flowers falleth, but Ramen and Little Debbie endureth forever” (Isaiah 40:8). Hmmm. Perhaps I mistranslated the Hebrew there. The point being that since these foods were nearly non-perishable, I never had to hurry and scarf down these products. I could buy them in bulk and then save them indefinitely – even from one year to the next if I wanted to.
What Ramen Noodles and Little Debbie Snack Cakes are, people are not. People, unlike food products packed with preservatives, are perishable. Perhaps an ancient inscription on a Thracian sarcophagus discovered in the early twentieth century says it best: “Whenever this night might come, I will wholly perish.” People perish. So says the sarcophagus which now holds the remains of a perished person. Notably, the Greek word for “perish” in this inscription is apollumi, which, consequently, leads us to our text for today from Luke 15.
In today’s chapter, Jesus tells three stories of things which are “lost.” But they are actually more than merely lost. They are “perishing.” For the Greek word that Jesus uses here for “lost” is apollumi. Thus, Jesus speaks of not just a lost sheep, but of a perishing one (cf. verses 4-7). And a woman does not just search for her lost coin, she searches for her perishing coin (cf. verses 8-10). And when an ungrateful son demands his inheritance from his father so that he can squander it on wild living, he is not just a lost soul, he is a perishing one (cf. verses 11-24).
It is this final story which I find especially fascinating. For Jesus’ first two stories are more allegorical. That is, they are stories of animals and things which symbolize people. Jesus’ final story, however, is more explicit and straightly told. Jesus flatly says that people can and do perish. And yet, this final story is not so much about a perishing son as it is about the father who finds him.
After this perishing son squanders his inheritance and hits a financial, moral, emotional, and spiritual bottom, he says to himself:
“How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.” So 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. (verses 17-20).
“But while he was still a long way off…” This is the key to understanding Jesus’ story. The father does not wait for his perishing son to draw near to him so that he can breathe new life into his shattered existence; rather, he chases after him while he is still a long way off – while he is still perishing.
The father in this story, of course, is Christ himself. And the son is us. We are perishing. We are perishing because of our sin. And if you doubt this, your sarcophagus will confirm this truth soon enough. But Jesus is in the business of rescuing perishing people. He is in the business of saving people, even when they are still a long way off from him.
Today, take a brief account of what sins enslave you. Then remember that these wicked things are “destined to perish” (Colossians 2:22), and so repent of them so that you might not be doomed to destruction (cf. Matthew 10:28). For it is God’s will that “none should perish” (2 Peter 3:9). That is why God sent his Son to an earth and a sinful people a long way off – so that we might not perish, but have eternal life. And that’s a promise not even a sarcophagus can sever.
“Word for Today” – Luke 14 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
In the 2001 remake of the famed heist film, Ocean’s 11, I found my favorite character to be Rusty Ryan, played by Brad Pitt. Do I like him because he has the raw street smarts to pull off a $150 million heist at three Las Vegas Casinos simultaneously? Nope. Do I like him because he is able to coolly keep his partner, played by George Clooney, in check when as he plans this job only to impress his ex-wife? Not really. The reason I like Brad Pitt is because, in almost every scene, Brad Pitt is found chowing down on some piece of junk food. Indeed, this turned into an intentional gag, as Pitt later himself admitted: “I started eating, and couldn’t stop. I don’t know what happened. It’s just the idea that you never have time to sit down and have a meal while you’re trying to pull off this heist, so my character is grabbing food all the time.” Now there’s a man after my own heart. He starts eating and he can’t stop. I know the feeling.
In our reading for today from Luke 14, Jesus seems to be always eating. The chapter opens: “One Sabbath, Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee” (verse 1). From there, the food motif continues. Jesus tells a parable: “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” (verse 8). He then follows up this food-based parable with another meal metaphor: “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” (verse 12). What is Jesus’ obsession with food? Is this some kind of intentional gag?
It is indeed intentional, but it is certainly no gag. The majority of people in the Ancient Near East subsided on next to nothing. That is, rather than having a super-abundance of food, they lived on scarcity. One famine, one drought, or one natural disaster could kill hundreds of thousands of people because they had few reserves in place to stymie a crisis. Thus, the Old Testament prophets would often promise a day when people would no longer have to contend with these restricted resources. They would speak of a day of feasting. The prophet Isaiah writes, for instance, “The LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine – the best of meats and the finest of wines” (Isaiah 25:6). The Psalmist promises likewise: “Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing” (Psalm 92:13-14). In our day, a promise of fatness is hardly desirable. But in the first century, when food was scarce, a promise of fatness was a promise of provision. It was a promise of a lavish feast.
When Jesus speaks of several feasts in Luke 14, he is saying: “I am the fulfillment of God’s provisional promises. With me, God’s feast has come!” This is why Jesus continues with yet another parable on food:
A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, “Come, for everything is now ready.” 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.” Another said, “I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.” Still another said, “I just got married, so I can’t come.” (verses 16-20)
It is important to understand that the excuses these guests offer as to why they cannot attend this king’s feast are offensive and disingenuous. To turn down any invitation to share in a meal, much less to share in a lavish feast such as this one, would have been unthinkable in that day. But this is what these ungrateful invitees do. Thus, the king responds by ordering 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” (verse 21). This king, one way or another, will have guests at his feast. And these marginalized people will certainly not turn down the king’s invitation. And indeed they don’t. They come to the king’s feast. But even after they come, the servant returns to his king and says, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.” (verses 21-22).
I love these words. Even after the poor, the crippled, the blind, and lame fill the king’s banquet hall, there is still room. There is still room for more feasters. There is still room for more banqueters. There is still room.
The king in the parable, of course, is Jesus himself. And the invitees to Jesus’ banquet are you and me. We are invited to share in Jesus’ feast of salvation. And if you have not yet trusted in Jesus’ invitation to salvation, I have some good news for you: There is still room. There is still room enough for you to share in God’s salvation. There is still room enough for you to share in God’s grace. There is still room enough for you to share in God’s forgiveness. There is still room enough for you. So come to Jesus’ feast and share in his goodness. After all, there is still room enough at his table…just for you.
“Word for Today” – Luke 13 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
I know the stereotype demands that, when preparing for a trip, guys pack light while women bring five suitcases for a two-night stay, but as much as I hate to confess this, I tend to pack pretty heavily myself. Granted, I don’t necessarily bring an exorbitantly large number of personal effects, but I always bring my work bag, crammed with books and papers, determined to “catch up” on a bunch of work while I have some “down time.”
When I’m flying, it’s my workbag that I take with me as my carry on. However, it is almost always comically bursting at the seams as I lug it down the jet way to my aircraft. This means that it also becomes incredibly difficult to fit my overstuffed carry on under the seat in front of me. But that’s okay. I have a system. I start with the bottom of my bag and begin to jam it under the seat. Then, if it doesn’t fit, I pull out a book or two and hold them in my lap. After all, I’ll want to read those on the flight anyway. If it still doesn’t fit, it’s nothing a good-old-fashioned kick can’t solve. And with that, my bag becomes irremovably lodged under the seat in front of me. I always stand amazed at how much carry on I can fit into such a small space. There’s a lot more space under that seat than you might first think.
In our reading for today from Luke 13, Jesus is asked a question: “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved” (verse 23)? This man wants to know: “How many people can God cram into the kingdom of heaven?” Interestingly, Jesus does not answer this man’s question directly, but instead offers a picture of the door which leads to salvation:
Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once 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 came from…Away from me, you evildoers!” (verses 24-25, 27)
Jesus calls heaven’s entrance a “narrow door.” Some have taken this to mean, as Jesus’ questioner opines, that only an elect few will be saved. An old nineteenth century Baptist hymn expresses this sentiment thusly: “We are the Lord’s elected few, let all the rest be damned. There’s room enough in hell for you; we don’t want heaven crammed!” As you have hopefully already deduced, this is hardly an accurate paraphrase of Jesus’ teaching.
The Greek here is interesting. The word for “door” is pule which is commonly used to describe not the doors of normal, everyday houses, but the gates of cities and palaces. In other words, a pule is not just a door, it’s a large door. Thus, Jesus’ language is almost oxymoronic: “Make every effort to enter through the little big door.”
What is Jesus’ point? The door to salvation does indeed look narrow and small. And you may wonder how anyone can fit through such a small space. But there’s a lot more room in heaven than you might first think, for the door to heaven is a little big door.
Indeed, this is exactly what Jesus says: “People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God” (verse 29). Even though the gate to heaven is narrow, and even though many will be left outside “weeping and gnashing their teeth” (verse 28) because of unbelief, heaven will still be packed with believers from every corner of the earth – east and west, north and south.
Jesus draws his words concerning the earth’s four corners in verse 29 from Psalm 107:
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say this – those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. (Psalm 107:1-3)
God will redeem people from every corner of the earth, says the Psalmist. The Psalmist then continues:
Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. (Psalm 107:4, 6, 10, 13, 17, 19)
Some from here, some from there. Some from north, south, east, and west. And by the time you put all these people together, you find there’s a lot more room in heaven than you might first think. A lot of people will finally fit through that little big door. And you know what the best news is? By faith, you’ll fit too.
“Word for Today” – Luke 12 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
I know it’s obnoxiously expensive, but I splurge. I splurge on bottled water. Yes, I understand that I can purify my own water and fill my own bottle for pennies on the dollar to what I spend on bottled water, but this luxury’s convenience makes it worth the money. Granted, I will forgo my pricey bottled water and fill a glass of my own with water when I’m enjoying a leisurely evening supper, but in the morning when I’m racing out the door, the grab and go convenience of bottled water is too alluring for me to pass up.
One of the things which helps assuage my guilt over the price of bottled water is the cases in which I buy it. Most of the time, these cases contain twenty-four bottles. But every once in a while, the manufacturer, in an effort to keep folks like me buying their water, will offer a discount: A twenty-eight pack of water rather than a twenty-four pack for the same price. And just so I am sure to notice this enticing bargain, on the package will be proudly emblazoned: “Buy 24 and get 4 free!”
The promotion of buying one thing and getting something for free is a nearly ubiquitous fixture in our free market society. Hostess does it with its cupcake packages which periodically contain three, rather than the normal two, cupcakes. Old Navy does it with its clothing. If I buy one t-shirt, another awaits me for free. During the low-point of this recession, I even heard a commercial from a car dealer who promised that if you bought one truck, he’d give you another for free! Now that’s a bargain!
Although we may think the “buy one, get one free” gimmick is a comparatively recent phenomenon of American capitalism, its origins seem to be much more ancient. In our reading for today from Luke 12, Jesus speaks of the care of his heavenly Father using this analogy: “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (verses 6-7). The word which Jesus uses for “pennies” is a Greek form of a Latin loanword: assarion. An assarion was the lowest valued Roman coin, being equal to about half-an-hour’s minimum wage. The sparrows which went five for two assaria were the cheapest things sold in the ancient market.
But wait. Something doesn’t quite add up here. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is again teaching on God’s care when he uses this same analogy of sparrows, but with a twist: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29-31). In Matthew, two sparrows are sold for a penny. That means in Luke, four sparrows should be sold for two pennies. But instead, Jesus says that five sparrows are sold for two pennies. It’s a cut-rate price for sparrows at the ancient Roman market! Buy four…get one free!
This, then, is the exquisiteness of God’s care: Not only does he care for the four sparrows which are valued at an already paltry two for a penny, he even cares for the fifth sparrow which is valued at absolutely nothing. What the world gives away for free is tremendously valued in God’s sight.
Perhaps today, you feel somewhat like a fifth sparrow – you feel undervalued if not unvalued. If this is you, take this promise to heart: Jesus cares for and about the fifth sparrow, even when that fifth sparrow is you. Of course, no matter how you might subjectively feel, in objective reality, you are worth much more than any sparrow and even many sparrows, as Jesus himself says: “Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (verse 7). And as the apostle Paul will later write: “You were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20). And this price was very steep indeed. For it was the price of God’s only Son. So take heart! You are valuable in God’s sight. Rejoice in your value today.
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