This chapter highlights how radical Jesus was in his time. Doesn’t it make you wonder if we would accept Him if He were walking the earth today?
I remember 9/11, when the twin towers fell. Our nation was in shock, nothing like this had happened since Pearl Harbor and everyone was off balance. People began stopping in the church to pray at different times throughout the week. Pastors immediately prepared sermons that spoke of God’s love and compassion. It just so happened that I stumbled across Luke 13 and used it as my text for the Sunday after 9/11. I focused on the idea that towers have fallen on people before and one time that it happened Jesus was standing right there talking about it. You would think that everyone would clap their hands and thank me for reminding them of what Jesus said in this exact circumstance. But alas, they did not. To their credit, they didn’t complain about it either. They simply listened and went back home, looking back on it I think they might have been a little disappointed. “You really missed an opportunity there, Pastor” might have been what they were thinking. But, that is exactly what makes Jesus so radical. He doesn’t seem to tailor the message to the event, rather he uses the event to share the same message with a laser-like focus on the Kingdom of God and repentance. This first paragraph is a good example of that.
I remember 9/11, when the twin towers fell. Our nation was in shock, nothing like this had happened since Pearl Harbor and everyone was off balance. People began stopping in the church to pray at different times throughout the week. Pastors immediately prepared sermons that spoke of God’s love and compassion. It just so happened that I stumbled across Luke 13 and used it as my text for the Sunday after 9/11. I focused on the idea that towers have fallen on people before and one time that it happened Jesus was standing right there talking about it. You would think that everyone would clap their hands and thank me for reminding them of what Jesus said in this exact circumstance. But alas, they did not. To their credit, they didn’t complain about it either. They simply listened and went back home, looking back on it I think they might have been a little disappointed. “You really missed an opportunity there, Pastor” might have been what they were thinking. But, that is exactly what makes Jesus so radical. He doesn’t seem to tailor the message to the event, rather he uses the event to share the same message with a laser-like focus on the Kingdom of God and repentance. This first paragraph is a good example of that.
I guess what I’m saying is that Jesus was compassionate, but He wasn’t politically or socially motivated. He told potential followers to “let the dead bury their own dead” and allowed many to walk away from Him when they didn’t understand His request for them to “eat his flesh and drink his blood”.
Oh yeah, Jesus took radical to a whole new level.
Somehow the idea of healing on the Sabbath seems rather pedestrian when compared to the other crazy things Jesus did. But, that’s what the leader of the Synagogue saw at the time, so he complained about it. His focus was on the rules, not the person. Jesus focused on the people.
I’ve heard it said that the mustard seed isn’t the smallest of all seeds and yet the Bible claims that it is. Therefore, the Bible cannot be true. First of all, that’s preposterous, and secondly, I don’t see that claim here anyway. Perhaps it’s in another recounting in a different book. Either way, what Jesus was saying is that the Kingdom starts very small and grows until it services many, many people. The same is true for the yeast. This claim would seem radical for sure to 12 raggedy disciples following a Jewish Rabbi around inside territory occupied by Rome. They couldn’t possibly conceive of what you and I take for granted today. Radical, I tell you.
And Jesus is just as radical today. At this very moment we are faced with the Coronavirus19. What would Jesus say? Probably the same things He always said “don’t fear what can kill the body, fear the one who can throw your body into hell” (my paraphrase). Or, He might say “I am the Great Physican, anyone who comes to me will never be sick or injured again”. (speaking of our spirit, not necessarily our physical body). He probably wouldn’t say “there there, it’s going to be alright…come over here and sit down and relax while I fix this”. You see, that doesn’t sound like Jesus at all.
He would be encouraging us to “work hard to enter the narrow door to God’s Kingdom” By the way, Jesus is that door. Work hard by reading and studying and praying until the Holy Spirit brings conviction and confidence that Christ is who He says He is. Seek him now while he may be found and enter into the Kingdom while the door is still open.
The day will come when that door will close and all possibility of spending eternity with Christ will be ended. Choose wisely, choose now. Don’t be distracted by human events.
Loving Jesus,
PR