Community Bible Study -- LUKE

Text of Luke 12:54-13:35 Presentation, Lesson 13

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"Judge for Yourselves"; The Narrow Door

In the last two sessions, the opposition to Jesus climaxed. The Pharisees accused him of being an agent of Satan: they said he cast out demons by the power of Satan. Jesus in turn accused the Pharisees of committing the unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (12:10) . . . which seems to mean is that the Pharisees' accusation of Jesus is, in reality, accusing the Holy Spirit of being Satan - blasphemy - because Jesus actually casts out demons through the power of the Holy Spirit! Jesus therefore Jesus warned against the "yeast of the Pharisees" (12:1) . . . against allowing the works gospel of the oral law of the Pharisees to be the standard of the Jewish religion. Jesus told his followers to trust God and His provision . . . to resist thinking they are in control of what happens to them. Yet at the same time Jesus emphasized believers must work hard as servants of a God who holds them accountable for their gifts; they are like company managers, whose jobs depend on making a good financial report to absentee stockholders every quarter . . . except that Christians must be ready to give an accounting at all times because Jesus' 2nd coming in glory - the time of judgment - will happen at an unpredictable time. And lastly - echoing the prophesy of Simeon at Jesus' dedication (2:34-35) - Jesus talked of himself as a divider of friends and families: those who are saved, and those who are not. Neutrality is impossible: all Jews must either stand with Jesus the Messiah . . . or with Pharisees who accuse him of being an agent of Satan.

In tonight's session, Jesus seems to turn his attention to those who realize his miracles prove he is the Messiah, yet are reluctant to have faith in him because of opposition from the Pharisees and other Jewish religious leaders. Jesus says everyone ought to use his brain . . . not blindly follow official religious leaders - possibly to his doom. Jesus illustrates this with a metaphor appropriate for his hearers, including many farmers and fishermen and others whose livelihood depends on predicting the weather. Cincinnati weather seems whimsical; but I'm told that the weather in Israel is very predictable. Jesus' hearers know that a cloud rising in the west means it's going to rain, so they plan not to farm that day; and when the south wind blows, they know it's going to be hot, so they plan accordingly (12:54). Jesus seems to say: "The most important aspect of God's provision for man is sending good weather, but you don't ask the rabbi for a weather forecast; you predict the weather yourselves based on the signs! And just as God sends signs so you can judge for yourselves about the weather, God promised signs so you can 'judge for yourselves what is right' (12:57) about the promised Messiah. All of you have studied the scriptures since you were children; you know the signs of the Messiah: 'the blind receive sight, the lame walk, (lepers) are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised' (7:22). The Pharisees can't mislead you - unless you let them. Your life is a journey, which ends when you stand before God, the righteous judge; you'd better have things right with God before you meet Him in judgment" (cf 12:57-59).

That's good advice for the 21st century, too. We like to trust our Christian religious leaders to tell us what to believe. But they are sometimes wrong; we all know examples of modern Christian "leaders" who were wrong. Every Christians needs to understand enough about the bible to sense when something is wrong . . . because when our hearts are right with God, we usually sense if something is wrong - even if we can't explain it.

Moving into Chapter 13 . . . Jesus gives an altar call reminiscent of on an old-fashioned revival. He calls on everyone to make a choice between him and the Pharisees now . . . because human life is so fragile that an accident can take our life in an instant, and we will be forced to face God's judgment long before we expected.

This is a paradigm shift for Jews. They believed misfortune happened to people who had done something against God; the question of "why bad things happen to good people" was an oxymoron. If something bad happened to someone, he must be a bad person, no matter how "good" he seemed (cf Job 4:7, 22:5). But Jesus says that's not true; that some Galileans murdered at random by Roman soldiers were not especially bad . . . nor were the people standing in the wrong place when a wall fell in Jerusalem. Bad things happen to bad and good people at random, for God's inscrutable purpose . . . and such tragedies remind people to get right with God before it's too late . . . because as Jesus says: "unless you repent, you too will all perish" (13:5).

But just because the Lord of the Universe brings random tragedies does not mean He is like a sadistic Greek god; He is patient and wants everyone to find salvation (2 Pet 3:9) . . . which Jesus illustrates with another parable. The owner of a barren fig tree wants to cut it down, but the gardener pleads to give it one more year to produce fruit. Typically the fig tree represents the Jewish nation, so this parable most likely means God is frustrated with the Jews, who claim to worship Him and follow His law but have produced no fruit (cf 3:8-9, 6:43-44). God wants to cut them off - like He wanted to destroy mankind before Noah (Gen 6:5-7). But God gives the Jews one more chance: He sends His son to point the way back to Him. But if they fail to listen to God's son, they must suffer the consequences (13:9). That's why Jesus tells the people to "judge for (them)selves" (12:57), so they may avoid these horrible consequences.

And Jesus then gives the people another opportunity to "judge for (them)selves" (12:57). "On a Sabbath . . . in one of the synagogues" (13:10), Jesus heals "a woman . . . who . . . for eighteen years (had been) bent over (by a spirit) and could not straighten up" (13:11). We can imagine how grotesque she might have looked . . . and how dramatic the miracle when the woman "straighten(s) up" (13:13)! And what does she do? She doesn't thank Jesus for healing . . . she praises God (13:13). She "judges for (her)self" and chooses Jesus over the Pharisees.

This infuriates the Pharisees! But how can they spin this wonderful cure into something evil? They can't. They meekly charge Jesus with breaking the oral law: "There are six days for work," says the synagogue ruler; "come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath" (13:14). Under the oral law, doctors were permitted to practice on the Sabbath only if the patient's life were in danger. The woman has been crippled for 18 years - what difference will one day make. But Jesus points out that the oral law allows work on the Sabbath out of compassion for animals. "You hypocrites!" he says. "Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?" (13:15). "Don't you think God wants me to have compassion on this woman on the Sabbath (cf 13:16)? Man is more important to God than animals" (cf 12:17).

During a drought in the northwest last year, environmental extremists succeeded in getting a judge to interpret the Endangered Species Act to deny water to farmers because of certain fish. Some farmers were forced into bankruptcy. The judge had compassion on fish, but not on farmers. Later it was learned water didn't help the fish - it just ruined the farmers . . . exposing how little man knows of the interplay within nature - and revealing that this modern Mother Earth "religion" isn't from God . . . it's just neo-paganism.

The people who witnessed the healing of the woman are "delighted" (13:17); they "judge for (them)selves" and know Jesus is right. But Jesus' "opponents (are) humiliated" (13:17). (In the next chapter we'll see how they modify their behavior.)

Now, with the people strongly behind him, Jesus is on a roll. "What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to?" he asks (13:18). It small starts but it grows to a tremendous size: like a mustard seed - almost too small to see with the naked eye - which grows into a large tree; or like a tiny amount of yeast, mixed into a half bushel of flour, which ferments the entire batch of dough (13:19-21). Beginning as an obscure baby in a manger, Jesus will gain so many followers that the world will be filled with members of the kingdom of God. And it happened just as Jesus said!

This leads to the question of who will be saved? Jews believe that Jews and only Jews will be saved, even though few Jews even come close to following the oral law. During Greek and Roman persecutions before Jesus' birth, many Jews endured death and torture rather than forsake God because they believed in a special relation between God and the Jews. Nevertheless, this belief leads to a certain arrogant self-righteousness about Jewish salvation. Jesus needs to clarify: when he says the Kingdom of God will fill the world, does he mean everyone will be saved, or just "a few" (13:23)?

This question allows Jesus to tie chapters 12 and 13 together. Not everyone will be saved, Jesus says, but the salvation paradigm is different. No longer does salvation depend on Jewish genealogy . . . it depends on faith. Jesus has come to earth to open the door of salvation for mankind . . . but it's a "narrow door" (13:24), and only those with faith can enter (cf Jn 3:16). The saved are those who "judge for (them)selves" (12:57) and enter this "narrow door." But the door can close without any warning (13:25) . . . either because Jesus "comes (again) at an hour when (we) do not expect him" (12:40) . . . or because an accident takes our lives unexpectedly when we aren't ready (13:1-5). And Jesus makes yet another change in the paradigm; he says faith is an essential sine qua non for salvation. In the Middle Eastern culture, eating and drinking with someone indicated a special bond of friendship between both parties; they didn't think they had to agree with Jesus . . . just be agreeable. But Jesus says unless they have faith, people get no benefit from eating and drinking with Jesus and listening to his preaching. Unbelievers can knock constantly and beg and plead, but the door of salvation will not reopen; they will be sent away as "evildoers" (13:24-27).

Then a window to heaven will open, and unbelieving Jews will realize they are locked out of a heavenly feast with the Jewish Patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - and with the Jewish prophets. And worst of all, they will see hated Gentiles "from east and west and north and south" (13:28), who gained salvation through faith in Jesus, taking their places at the feast. The kingdom of God was offered to Jews first because they were God's chosen people, and because the prophets and the Messiah were Jews. But Jews who reject Jesus get no benefit from their genealogy; they are no better off than pagans. And Gentiles who believe will enter the kingdom - even though Gentiles have no tradition of a relationship with God.

And I don't think that's the end of the story. We modern Gentile Christians take pride in quoting scripture that the Jewish-Gentile church of Jesus is the spiritual Israel, heirs to God's promises to the Jews (cf Gal 3:7-14). Yet if we are heirs to the good things, we are also heirs to the bad things. Some modern Christians seem so much like Pharisees I call them "neo-Pharisees." They believe salvation comes through lineage or tradition or ritual. Some follow family traditions of behavior and Christian worship - without regard to whether or not they are biblical. Some believe salvation comes through a formula or ritual, including many so-called "grace-based" believers who make a ritual of "grace-based" faith . . . like the modern "Plan of Salvation" ritual. Some believe their tradition or ritual ensures their salvation no matter what they do. But Jesus gave his people a specific commandment: "All men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (Jn 13:35). And when asked what is required to inherit eternal life, Jesus said it is based upon loving God with all our heart and loving our neighbors as ourselves (10:25-28). Faith is a heart attitude, not a ritual. No one can claim to believe in Jesus without making a heart-felt effort to follow these requirements. "Christians" who don't merely eat and drink with Jesus and listen to his preaching; they never enter the narrow door of eternal life. And when that door is closed, they will find themselves left outside with other "evildoers" (13:26-17). And inside heaven's gates they will see many whom they thought unfit for salvation, because they did not have the right lineage of follow what they believed was the proper formula or ritual. And who will enjoy eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven? Those with the goodness of Jesus in their hearts, who realized - consciously or unconsciously - that although we can't earn salvation, we must work for it every day by trying our best to follow Jesus. We can't depend on family or ritual.

Nevertheless, Jesus is truly sorry for those who find the "narrow door" shut in their faces; he "wants all men to be saved" (1 Tim 2:4), as he emotionally expresses in his lament over Jerusalem (13:34-35).

Sometime prior to 13:31, it seems Jesus leaves Judea and crosses the Jordan River into Perea, part of modern Jordan. The Pharisees warn Jesus to "leave this place and go somewhere else; Herod wants to kill you" (13:31). What's going on here? The Pharisees are Jesus' worst opponents; is a faction of Pharisees publicly expressing faith in Jesus?

Probably not; as usual, the Pharisees have a hidden agenda. Judea is ruled by the Roman Governor Pilate, but Perea is ruled by Herod Antipas, a Jew, son of King Herod the Great. The Jewish religious leadership - the Sanhedrin - has lots of power in Jerusalem and some power in Judea, but no power in Perea. Herod Antipas murdered John the Baptist in Perea, and the Pharisees are suggesting he may want to murder Jesus as well, because Herod thinks Jesus is John the Baptist raised from the dead (Mark 6:16). But the Pharisees are only pretending to help Jesus, they are really trying to trick him into to leaving Herod's domain and returning to Judea, where they have more influence.

As usual, Jesus outsmarts them. He doesn't tell them outright that he sees through their duplicity . . . instead he says: "OK, guys, if you have a hot line to Herod, go tell him I have a job to do - healing and casting out demons - and I've got to keep at it as long as God has planned. But there's no way I will die at the hand of Herod in Perea - 'for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!'" (cf 13:32-33).

This causes him to launch into his lament for Jerusalem: "you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you (by God), . . . I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" (13:34). This metaphor is poignant: a hen sees danger from a predator like a chicken hawk . . . she rushes around clucking to gather her chicks under her wings for protection . . . but the chicks refuse to come to her, and are killed. That's the way Jesus feels about the Jews of Jerusalem. But their fate is set: "Your house is left to you desolate" (13:35). This probably has a double meaning: referring not only to the spiritual death of separation from God for all in Jerusalem who fail to believe in Jesus . . . but also the literal desolation of the city and the slaughter of its people at the hands of Jewish rebels or the Roman Army in AD 70 during a Jewish revolt.

And Jesus' next line also has a double meaning: "you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord'" (13:35). This is prophesy of the Messiah from Psalm 118 . . . fulfilled the next time Jesus comes to Jerusalem: his triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, when the crowds use these very words to proclaim him Messiah (19:38). Of course, a few days later the same people are shouting "Crucify Him!" (23:21), so Jesus will return a second time as the Messiah of judgment, and again the people will say "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."

Next week begins our discussion of Jesus' preaching in Perea, covering chapters 14-18. First, Jesus is invited to a Sabbath dinner at the home of a Pharisee . . . and again Jesus heals. We learn how the Pharisees have revised their tactics from the incident discussed this week, in which Jesus made them look ridiculous. Jesus describes the Kingdom of God as a great banquet . . . then talks about the costs of discipleship again - this time in a way that many of us may understand better. And finally Jesus reinforces his lament over Jerusalem with the Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin, describing the great effort God makes to bring as many people as possible to salvation.