Tag Archives: jesus

Advent 17: Focus

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Jesus had boundaries.

He had never read the book, “Boundaries”, not having created the authors of that book yet. However, he knew that doing everything and being always with everyone was outside his reason for being.

So he went away.

The text at the end of the fourth chapter of Luke suggests that he had pulled a ministry all-nighter. People showed up sick and he sent them away well. It started in the evening and went until daylight. Finally, he went away.

He went to a secluded space. And the crowds came looking.  And he said, “no.” Actually, he said that saying yes to helping them was saying no to every other city and every other synagogue and every other person who needed his words. His reason? He was sent to preach the kingdom of God.

People were seeking him not as a kingdom speaker but as a healer. To be blunt, they wanted what would make them feel better rather than what would make everyone whole.  And so Jesus moves on. He refuses to be the Jesus that they want him to be. He has to be the Jesus he was sent to be. He took his direction not from people but from God.

And in that, he sets a wonderful example.

(From Luke 4:40-44)

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Here’s part of my reading list for this year: 2011 Books

Advent 16: Authority

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I am aware of the dangers of authority, or perhaps more accurately, of authoritarianism. There is a tremendous danger in rigidity, in rejection of individuality, in rampant conformity.

Religion is frequently associated with authoritarianism.  When we read in Luke 4 that the people “were amazed at his [Jesus'] teaching, for his message was with authority,” we begin to think of the authoritarian excesses.

But the people listening to Jesus had lives full of authoritarians. Their king was Herod, for goodness sake, and he was a puppet of Rome. Their religious experience was guided by people who were incredibly detailed about rituals and routines and restrictions. They were constantly being told how their lives were to be run.

Somewhere in all this, however, something was lacking. In all of the self-confidence and arrogance and cultural and political demands, there wasn’t anyone with clear authority, anyone who could speak with the calm assurance of the one who is really in charge. Those who are trying to maintain position bluster and threaten and beg and bluff. Those who know that they are in charge don’t need such theatrics. They know what is true and speak what is true and can care and encourage and equip.

That’s what the authority of Jesus was about. He knew that he was in charge, no matter what other people believed. And everyone who heard was amazed that someone, finally, didn’t just believe what was true, he was what was true.

That kind of authority doesn’t need to be authoritarian.

(From Luke 4:31-32)

Advent 15: The familiar

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For the past couple weeks, we’ve been talking about the people who expected someone. After all, that’s kind of the theme of advent: people expecting a deliverer, people expecting the return of a deliverer.  But it’s impossible to skip over a group of people who were expecting things the wrong way.

Jesus comes home for a visit. He reads from Isaiah (see the past few days).  A simple phrase is recorded. And everyone is impressed at how well he speaks. And then they say, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

It is impossible to hear the tone of voice they used. It’s impossible to know exactly what they meant. However, Jesus’ response may show us that their question was loaded. They ask about his dad, and he talks about prophets being rejected at home.

It’s hard to come home. (Everyone goes back to being twelve when they go home.) And it is just as hard for Jesus as anyone one else.

  • Implied in the conversation is a sense that they could believe Jesus was really the miracle guy they had been hearing about.
  • Implied is the sense that he should have been doing something for them for all these years.
  • Implied is that he could have saved the life, the sight, the job of Aunt Helen and Uncle Dave and Cousin Frank.

He could have been a contender right here at home.

And their response to his response is telling. They get angry. They want to kill him.

When people get incredibly angry about an observation, it’s a good sign that they know it’s true and that they don’t like the truth.

These people weren’t happy that Jesus wasn’t the son of the carpenter they thought he was. That Jesus they could handle. This Jesus, rabbi, miracle worker,  grown up, unexpected, uncontrollable, unlimited, this Jesus they couldn’t handle.

And that, of course, is the point of being God.

(From Luke 4:14-30)

Advent 12: Poor

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I could, I know, talk about how Jesus was tempted. If we were working straight through the book of Luke, we would have to. There was some anticipation there, though I think that the anticipation was mostly on Jesus’ part.

I want to skip that and move on to the first recorded sermon from Jesus. Actually, what is more significant is the reading before the sermon.

There really wasn’t a sermon. A rabbi, or teacher, would read part of the Old Testament (although, to be honest, that’s not what it was called, since there was no New Testament yet) and then would spend some time talking about it. Jesus took the scroll and opened it to some words from Isaiah, a prophet:

THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR.

In a little while, after reading this, Jesus is going to say that this prophecy came true in him. What that means is that something about what he says is good news for poor people.

The usual questions come to mind:

  • Does Jesus mean financially poor or poor in spirit?
  • Is the good news that the checks are on the way or that checks won’t matter?
  • Is the good news that God doesn’t think better of people who have money?
  • Is the good news that the poor may find it easier to understand God than the rich?
  • Is the good news that the messiah was pretty poor himself? And homeless? And unemployed?

The good news, at least in part, is that the poor could use some good news, and Jesus is saying that God-in-flesh is paying attention to poor people, whatever their poverty: financial, social, spiritual. Whatever the deficit, he’s willing to talk and care and love. And that is good news.

From Luke 4:14-30)

Advent 10: Missing Children

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We’ve had moments when we have wondered where our children are. Once, when Andrew was 6 or 7, we spent what seemed like hours searching for him at a theme park. But three days? I’m guessing that we would be pretty frantic if we couldn’t find either of our children for three days.

We would look everywhere. We would ask everyone we could find if they had seen someone about this tall, with this color eyes, wearing that tunic I made…

The people most desperate to find Jesus, the people willing to give up just about anything to figure out where he was were…Mary and Joseph.

They had been up to Jerusalem as a family, taking Jesus when he was about 12. It was about the time when he would go from being a child of his parents to being a child of the Law, accountable for his own behavior before the Law.  When his parents left, they thought he was with other relatives, perhaps with his cousin John. A day into the trip back to Nazareth, it was clear that he wasn’t near.

And then, they started their desperate search.

Of course they found him, reasoning in the temple with the (rest of the) rabbis.  And he told them he was involved in the family business. Since Joseph was a carpenter, not a rabbi, it was pretty clear that Jesus was talking about his Real Father.

But that desperation. I can’t get past that desperation. What would it be like to be that devoted to finding Jesus?

I wonder.

(From Luke 2:41-52)