Word Along the Way

Luke 24:13-35

What are the marks of a true church? What are the marks of a true Christian? The second question echoes the first. There have been many books with many lists and criteria that would get us close to some sort of answer. But the reformers have given us the simplest answer. The two marks of the Christian church are: the faithful preaching of the Word and the right administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. If our second question above is indeed like our first one, then it follows that the true Christian finds himself in some active and faithful relationship to God’s Word and in some active and obedient relationship to the sacraments. I’d like to look at the first part of this ‘reformed’ definition of the true church through the lens of the familiar and fascinating story of the risen Christ’s appearing to the two disciples along the Emmaus road in Luke’s gospel.

The Set-Up

Here in Luke 24 we find ‘two of them’ – presumably of the band of Jesus’ followers – walking away from Jerusalem on the first day of the week, the Lord’s resurrection day. We need to consider a subtle point from Luke’s story at the outset of this passage. In verse 13 we find these disciples walking away from Jerusalem. This story begins with two grieving and confused disciples turning their backs on Jerusalem. Luke tells us later in Acts 1:4 that somewhere in the midst of these meetings with the risen Christ, the disciples are commanded not to leave Jerusalem and wait for the promised baptism of the Holy Spirit. Of course these disciples have not yet received such a command, but I believe Luke intends for us to see in these wandering disciples that the human inclination in the midst of despair and frustration is to turn tail and run. The Scriptures are full of exhortations toward endurance and faithfulness amidst the struggles and trials of discipleship. There is no attempt in the New Testament to hide the reality that the early church faced its fair share of apostasy and desertions.

In verse 18 we discover that one of these disciples was named Cleopas, who is never mentioned again in the New Testament. The other is unnamed. Mark gives us a brief synopsis of this Emmaus road interaction with equal ambiguity in Mark 16:12-13. I believe that there is a sense in which Luke intended to obscure the identity of these two men, not only because their identity was just that- obscure- but so that we might be the more able to put ourselves in their sandals. In a sense these two represent the collective consciousness of the followers of Christ after the tumultuous events of the previous week. Their leader was delivered up to the Romans by the hand of his own people, denied by his closest friends and died the death of a common slave upon the cross. It was the third day and there has been no earth shattering epiphany of the resurrected Lord, except to some of the women (and who would believe that!) These two are confused, frustrated and, most of all, beset by a profound sadness over all that has transpired. As we dig into this passage there is a sense in which we should begin to see that perhaps that mysterious disciple is meant to be us. As such we find more than simply a narrative of one of Christ’s resurrection appearances. It becomes a call to those so prone to wander to endure and find strength in the Word of Christ.

The Word for Wandering Disciples

We discover along with these two disciples what is to be one of the marks of a true believer and a true believing community. The Christian and the Church are to be marked by a faithful commitment to abiding in God’s Word. Jesus said it plainly in John 8:31, “If you abide in my word, then you are truly my disciples…” A true Christian church is a church that is built on God’s Word, preaches God’s Word and obeys God’s Word. The true Christian is one who feeds upon God’s Word, is sustained by His Word and embraces God’s Word. Of primary importance is the place of God’s Word in the life of a church and in the life of a believer. We see this demonstrated in the Apostle Paul’s urgent charge to his young protégé, Timothy: “Preach the Word!” (2 Timothy 4:2). Don’t tell interesting stories, don’t surf the web for helpful dramatic skits, don’t spend your time in this committee and that—just preach the Word. As a pastor I can tell you that every week is filled with Satanic, worldly and fleshly strategies to keep me from doing just that. And you can testify that the same goes for us in our personal commitments to Christ. God’s Word is called the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6: 17), it is living and active (Heb. 4:12), it is the very breath of God that gives life (2 Tim. 3:16). Yet, somehow we become consumed with a thousand other commitments throughout our day other than what should be our foundational and life giving commitment- to abide in God’s Word.

A Hidden Jesus

Let’s look at how we are taught by Christ to be disciples who abide faithfully in God’s Word in Luke 24. First, Luke makes sure that we understand that while it was Jesus himself who drew near to them along the road, we find that the eyes of these two disciples were prevented from recognizing him. Why would this be? It wasn’t that these men were dull, and I don’t think it was that Jesus was unrecognizable in resurrected form (this seems to be the inference from Mark’s gospel, but certainly isn’t the norm of Jesus’ resurrection appearances.) Luke indicates that there is a reason for this blindness to Jesus’ identity. It seems that Jesus was teaching them to be sustained by his Word rather than his physical presence. Jesus had promised his disciples that he would send his Spirit who, “will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:15). A season is coming when Jesus would go to the Father, but we are not to despair. He has given us his Word and his Spirit, “so that our joy may be complete” (John 15:11). Jesus taught these two disciples in a living picture what Peter would remind the struggling persecuted church, “though who have not seen him you love him; though you do not see him now – you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy” (1 Peter 1:8). We long to see the Lord, ‘face to face’ (1 Cor. 13:12), but until then he has given his Word to comfort and strengthen us.

The Lord’s Rebuke

Consider also the nature of Christ’s rebuke of these two disciples in verses 25-26. They confess themselves that they heard the report of the women- yet did not believe; that they heard the report of the empty tomb- yet did not believe. Yet, Jesus does not chide them for this. Jesus says they are foolish for being slow of heart in believing, “all that the prophets have spoken.” They are guilty of neglecting the Word of God, and so are despairing and turning from Jerusalem. Those who search and know the Word of God, from the Law to Prophets to the Epistles, will discover and treasure the Christ who is revealed and magnified in it from first to last. In the book of Acts we find Spirit-filled Apostles recounting all of history through the Scriptures and revealing how they reveal God’s redemptive plan. Through the Word of God, by the Spirit of God, a band of common fishermen went from despairing traitors and deserters to bold apologists armed with the whole counsel of God’s Word. Jesus intends such wisdom, boldness and joy to mark all those who are called by his name.

A Pattern of Teaching

I think Luke 24:27 is one of the most fascinating verses in the Bible. Wouldn’t you love to have an outline of this Bible lesson given by Jesus on that seven mile stretch from Jerusalem to Emmaus? If only we had an MP3 we could download! Jesus ‘interpreted,’ or as it says in the King James version, ‘expounded’ everything concerning himself in the Scriptures. The word used here is a derivative of the Greek word hermeneuo- where we get our word for the science of biblical interpretation, hermeneutics. It means exactly what is indicated in our English translations. Jesus ‘explained,’ he drew out all that God’s Word had to say regarding himself for these two disciples. Jesus preached the gospel to these two through the entire canon of Scripture!

But our longing to hear what was said on this very special Sunday night service so many years ago is to miss Luke’s point; even worse, it is to miss Jesus’ point! We need to rejoice that the same Word that was opened for these disciples has been opened for us. We should be filled with the same fire in our bellies, and compelled in the same way to make an about face in our sad walk away from Jerusalem. Not only has Christ given you his Word, but he has given you “a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints…” (Eph. 1:17-18). Jesus gave his disciples a pattern for learning, growing and obeying him. Open the Word and let him teach you - from Moses to Revelation.

A Wonderful Transformation

Jeremiah said that if he tried to suppress or silence the Word of God it became “like a burning fire shut up in his bones” (Jeremiah 20:9). The Lord declared to the prophet, “Is not my Word like fire…like a hammer which shatters a rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29) In the passage before us we find our main characters echoing this same sentiment. For those who love God and bear his name, his Word has such a striking effect. We can testify to this sanctifying ‘heartburn.’ There are times when the Word seems to apply very personally and directly to my life and my specific circumstances. We must of course be wary of highly individualistic interpretation, yet we can never forget that all application must in some sense be very personal. For these two travelers, it wasn’t just that they had urgent news of the resurrected Christ that turned them back to Jerusalem. There had been an inward transformation through the preached Word that brought an immediate obedience. Luke brings us full circle in this story: from disillusionment and sadness with our backs to Jerusalem to an encounter with the risen Christ and his Word to a bold and urgent return (at night no less!) to Jerusalem to bring good news to the eleven apostles.

A healthy church is marked by such constant and ongoing transformations. One of the marks of the vibrant Christian life is not merely growth in obedience but ongoing encounters with the living Christ in his Word. Such encounters must bring forth obedience. As you walk the road, don’t be foolish or slow in believing. Pick up the Scriptures and meet with the risen Christ, letting his Word kindle a fire in your heart. As you travel, the Savior has a way of rerouting the journey for the sake of the gospel and his glory.

Worshiping a Tempted Savior

And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. And when He arrived at the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, "Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done." Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. And when He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, and said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation." Luke 22:39-46

It is difficult for us to wrap our minds around the sufferings of Jesus. There is first the reality of the scope and magnitude of the utter humiliation, rejection, and pain of the crucifixion. The cross is the pinnacle of human suffering and so, in many ways, outside of our experience and imagining. But there are also the doctrinal complexities surrounding the death of God’s own Son. Christ’s weakness, temptations, and passion are at once a tremendous comfort and perplexing truth for the believer. On the one hand we rejoice with the writer of Hebrews that, “since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death” (Heb. 2:14). On the other hand we are confounded by the thought of the God of the universe, through whom all things were made (John 1:3; Col. 1:16), actually and truly enduring human weakness and in fact experiencing temptation. Facing – and embracing - the truths of Christ’s divinity and humanity, especially at the point of understanding his atoning work, is critical to biblical, orthodox, and historic convictions about the person and work of Christ.

Luke brackets this brief scene in Gethsemane with the exhortation to the disciples, “Pray that you may not fall into temptation” (NIV). Before we look at how Jesus practices what he preaches, we must ask what exactly Jesus means here. These verses could be translated, perhaps more literally (as in the NAS and KJV), “pray that you may not enter into temptation”. I opted for the NIV translation ‘fall’ because it communicates more clearly the biblical reality that temptation is inescapable, yet we must stand under it faithfully without giving in to sin (1 Cor. 10:13; 1 Timothy 6:9; 2 Pet. 2:9). Either translation of the Greek verb eiserchomai is allowable. But, there is an important distinction here, lest we think that Jesus is calling us to pray that we might never experience temptation. Quite the opposite is the case. Jesus is not only exhorting us to stand up under the weight of temptation, and in a sense he promises that such temptations will come (Luke 17:1).

The writer of Hebrews says, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (4:15). Let’s not breeze by the power of this statement. Sometimes I think we allow the perfection of Christ to overshadow the fact of his sympathy with our weaknesses. This goes something like, “Yes, sure Jesus was tempted. But he is Jesus; certainly he doesn’t understand what it is to struggle and not be Jesus, like poor me.” But a closer look at Hebrews, and in fact the entire gospel account of Jesus’ suffering should compel us to a deep adoration of Christ as our sympathetic high priest. Jesus knew the full weight of temptation and the full power of sin in that he never gave in, in any capacity. This deepens his priestly identification with us. Because of his perfection, he understands the weight of sin more, not less.

Consider as well that Jesus had the power at his disposal to cause all the forces of hell that were pressing in upon him to cease. Yet he did not utilize his divinity to alleviate his suffering. This is, in a sense, what Paul means when he says that Jesus, “did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6). Here in the garden Jesus is “very sorrowful, even to death” (Matt.26:38), yet he prays, “Thy will be done”. An angel is attending to him and giving him strength, but Jesus does not command the angel to fight against the coming crowd and its treacherous ringleader. Luke tells us that his agony at the prospect of receiving the sins of world caused his sweat to pour like blood, yet he continues in prayer. Upon finding his disciples asleep in a sort of anguished exhaustion, he offers a gentle rebuke and the exhortation to follow his pattern of prayer in the cosmic struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil.

In the garden we meet with a Savior who teaches us how to face temptation and how to battle sin. We are to pray. I like to read Jesus words in verses 40 and 46 a little differently than the construction may allow. But it helps us to learn the essence of Jesus’ exhortation. We naturally read these verses, “Ask the Lord to keep you from sinning under temptation.” But we may also read them in this way, “The Lord will keep you from sinning under temptation through prayer.” Notice that here in the garden that we have an example of a prayer request that is answered immediately. The answer is no. But with the answer comes strength to endure. And the strength to endure comes through prayer.

The Son begs, “Father, if it be your will, take this cup from me…”

The Father replies, “That is not my will, but I have given an angel charge over you, to lift you up…”

The Son cries in return, “With your strength I will pray the more earnestly, not my will, but yours, be done.”

In the final analysis we must not reduce this passage to a lesson on facing temptation, or how to pray earnestly. We do indeed find such lessons here. But these lessons pale in comparison to the great truth that grabs us in these eight short verses. This truth is proclaimed in Hebrews 12:2, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” This truth is the gospel, the reality that “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). This truth calls us to obedience in the face of temptation. This truth calls us to pray to the Father, as Jesus did, “not my will but yours, be done”. But most of all this truth calls us to worship Jesus as we meet him --in the manger, in the garden, on the cross, and at his Father’s right hand. In every place we find one “made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17).

An Invitation to the Impossible Christian Life: Part Two

Lessons Learned from Lepers

Let’s recap Luke 17 so far.

• We are never to cause anyone to stumble.
• We are to rebuke our brother and forgive our brother his sin up to seven times a day.
• If we even had the smallest ounce of faith, this is possible. Sadly, it seems that we do not, or perhaps our understanding and grasping of this faith is twisted and bent.
• Our obedience outside of biblical, living faith is merely the duty of a servant and warrants no favor or grace (and is indeed, impossible.)
  

What does all this mean? How are we to live? How are we to please God? How are we to obey him?Do all of God’s demands lose their force in the face of our inability? Do all of Christ’s commands have any value if it is a hopeless cause? I think Luke intends us to stare with frustration at the page here. He wants us to feel the weight of God’s Law and our duty to serve him through it. He also wants us to feel the impossibility of this task. And so he tells us the story of Jesus and the ten lepers.

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him-- and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." (Luke 17:11-19)

There are three things to learn from this event. First, we are lepers. A leper has no rights, they are society’s castoffs. They can demand nothing from others, from the world, or even from God. They are cursed, lost and without hope. This is you and this is me. In our sin and depravity we should expect no favor, but rather judgment and the force of God’s righteousness. Paul and the Psalmist tell us plainly, “there is no one righteous, no not one.” Therefore, “every mouth is shut, and the whole world is held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:10-11, 19-20) The best we can do in the face of a righteous God in our sinful condition is cry out with the lepers, “Master, have pity!”

Secondly, we learn that God loves us anyway. Christ leaned in to hear the lepers cry. Jesus showed compassion and grace to those lowliest of the human race. And, even more than this, God alone has the power to heal our sinful condition. With just a word Jesus heals the lepers. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for those who had been living in solitary pain and grief for years to see their sores cleansed with a word. Through faith, by grace (even the faith of a mustard seed, the grace of just a word from Christ) all the demands of the Law are met in Christ. Listen again to the glorious words of Paul in Romans 8: 3-4, “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Lastly, we discover a difficult, painful, yet powerful truth. All ten were cleansed, but only one returned. This means that nine continued to ‘walk according to the flesh’ and only one began the ‘walk according to the Spirit.’ Ten were healed, but only one received grace.
In Luke’s gospel we are presented with a portrait of the true Christian life: A life that can be lived only by faith that is the gift of God; a life that can be lived only by the transforming and healing power of God’s grace; a life that can be lived not according to the world or the flesh, but by the power of the Spirit.

Take special note of the leper who returned. Luke tells us that not only was he healed, not only was he thankful, but he was full of praise. His life was now a life of joy and worship, not of duty and slavery. His life was a life of favor and grace, not of works and wages. This is what happens when one accepts Christ’s invitation to live the impossible Christian life.

An Invitation to the Impossible Christian Life: Part One

A Portrait of Faith and Grace

The Bible is full of absolutely impossible commands. Consider Deuteronomy 10:12-13:

“And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?”

What does God ask from you? Well, it is plain. Walk in all his ways. Serve him with all your heart and soul. Observe all his laws. That’s it. Got it? Good. Now you better get to work. The Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets are full of these sorts of exhortations. Jesus said it plainly, “If you love me, you will follow my commands.” He wasn’t kidding when he demanded of the rich young ruler, “if you want to be perfect, go sell everything you have and give the proceeds to the poor.” Or when he boldly demands of his followers that they, “be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.”

We tend to respond in one of three ways in the face of these exhortations. Either you are filled with pharisaical zeal and proud determination to indeed obey the entirety of the Law, or you are forced to cower under the weight of your dark, sinful heart and woeful inability. Or, perhaps you roll up your sleeves and give it the old college try. In any case, you lose. If you start out like a Pharisee, your pride condemns you and sin will find you out. If you simply cower under the weight of sin, well, the commands remain and your sin is ever before you. If you move out with a naïve and innocent zeal to please God with your piety, you will fall short before you can say, “scripture memory”.

Is Jesus just trying to frustrate us? Are these empty commands, considering our utter inability to realize them? Are we or aren’t we to be ‘perfect’?

I think that Luke is trying to answer these questions in Luke 17:1-19. Upon first glance, these verses seem to contain three or four disparate sections. But Luke is not just stringing a few different stories and situations together without any apparent theme or structure, there is method to the madness. Let’s take a look at the first section in Luke 17.

Jesus said to his disciples: "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. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him." (17:1-4)

Verses 1-4 present us with more of these seemingly ‘impossible’ commands. If you cause a little one to sin, it’ll go better for you if you just tie a big stone around your neck and jump into the ocean. Yikes. How about this one? You must forgive your brother, even if it is up to seven times in a day. Who’s going to repent seven times in one day? No one I know. And, even if they did, who is going to actually put up with this? I might forgive someone seven times in a year, or month maybe, but not in one day! Elsewhere Jesus says we are to forgive those who repent (remember, we are to forgive the repentant) even up to 490 times (Matthew 18). I know people, and Jesus knows them a lot better than I do, and this is, quite simply, impossible.

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" He replied, "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. (17:5-6)

It is fitting that the apostles cry out in the next verse with exasperation, “Increase our faith!” They did not say, “You got it, Lord,” or “Sounds reasonable, Jesus.” They are filled with dread at the magnitude of the Lord’s demands. And they rightly understand the only possible route to satisfying them is not via works righteousness or stoic determination. It must be by faith. Remember, ‘without faith it is impossible to please God.” God tells us plainly, but we grow tired of listening, that the Christian life is impossible – without faith. But there is so often something faulty in our view of faith – exemplified by the apostle’s cry. So Jesus responds with two lessons for the apostles.

First, he tells us that in regards to faith, ‘quantity’ is not the issue. Even the smallest pinch of faith (if we are to evaluate faith in such ‘human’ terms) can throw trees into the sea (lots of stuff getting hypothetically thrown into the sea in this chapter.) Jesus seems to be saying that there is a ‘quality’ problem in their faith. Their view of faith is weak because it is rooted in a hope and focus upon the possessor of it and human evaluation of the effects of it. Rather, proper faith is rooted in the giver and source of it, and his evaluation and promises regarding the effects of it. Saving and living faith has its eyes upon God and his promises, not self and its accomplishments. Ephesians 2:8-10 so famously tells us that faith is not from ourselves, “it is a gift from God.” Even our obedience is not ours, it is also a gift of God, which he “prepared in advance for us to do.”

"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'" (17:7-10)

Here Jesus gives us another lesson on faith and obedience. I think the title of this little parable should be, “The service of a servant is nothing spectacular.” A servant should not see his duties as any great shakes. He is, after all, a servant. That is what servants do. A servant cannot expect anything from his master. After a long day the servant cannot demand gifts and grace. He must get supper ready. Jesus says something even more shocking still in these verses. Yes, God’s commands are heavy, but even if we were to accomplish them all, we still merit no grace because of it. It is our duty. We cannot say, “Look God! I obeyed your law!” and expect congratulations. That is our duty. All else is sin. Mere duty and sheer obedience is nothing spectacular, even if it were possible…which it isn’t.

Let me give an example of this sort of thing. Have you ever been at one of those kitschy restaurants where the server mighty actually sit down at your table while taking your order? I’m not a fan of this. I like the distance between waiter and patron. I know this sounds awful. But, this is why I go OUT to eat. I want someone to politely take my order and courteously and efficiently serve my meal. I really don’t want someone sitting down and complaining about their aching feet or how long their shift has been. I want to say, “Hey, this is your job. Quit complaining and get my bloomin’ onion.” But, this is in essence what Jesus is saying in verse 10. Even if we do obey God (which we do not), it is only our duty, and merits none of his favor. The apostle Paul put it this way, “Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.” (Romans 4:4-5) Grace is the only hope for a servant. The gift of faith, by the sheer grace of God, is the only hope for those facing the impossible Christian life.

Thus far in this passage from Luke we find the unbearable weight of the law and the demands of God. We discover that even our pathetic attempts at obedience and piety is the duty of a slave and does not merit the favor of a son. In part two of this devotional we will discover that, sadly, many choose to live under the weight of sin and slavery to the world and the flesh, rather than in the power and grace of God.

Fire From Heaven

"When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village." Luke 9:51-56

It is the pastime of every people and culture to reject their prophets. A lot of this has to do with the fact that prophets tend to be weirdos and zealots. There is also the truth that, ‘a prophet is never welcome in his hometown.’ But there is a deeper force at work here. Just ask Jeremiah (Jeremiah 20:3), John the Baptist (Mark 14:3-11) or John the Apostle (Revelation 1:9). People do not want to be told the truth. Maybe truth in the abstract 2+2=4 sort of sense, but not in the ‘you must not have your brother’s wife’ sort of sense. The first sort of truth helps us count our money. The second calls us to give our money to the poor. Prophets are, quite frankly, nuisances to our quiet lives of moral anonymity. So we shouldn’t be surprised that Jesus was rejected by his hometown, a Samaritan village, the Roman Empire, or enlightened postmodern culture.

Jesus was indeed, ”despised and rejected of men.” There are important lessons for us in these six verses. We tend to operate in one of two ways when we face the scorn and rejection of people. On one hand, I have a deep desire to please people and cannot bear to have anyone at odds with me. I want to be on everyone’s dance card at the ball. There is a strain of good here; it causes us to be careful with our words, attitudes and actions. We will watch ourselves as to not bring any unnecessary offense; that we are not being contentious or malicious toward those we are called to serve. But this can easily lead to an inability to speak truthfully and honestly in the face of sin . For many believers (especially pastors and church leaders), the fear of bringing offense can become a roadblock to speaking prophetically and biblically, as they ought. This is a real danger facing our increasingly latitudinarian evangelical church. In the face of such an ethos, the response of James and John in the passage at hand is a breath of fresh air. I concur with one commentator that “the genius for indignation has disappeared, and it is refreshing to see men who feel deeply any disrespect to Christ, any injury to his cause” (Charles Erdman, Commentary on Luke’s Gospel).

On the other hand we may tend toward an overzealous, hard and biting response to those who defy or reject us. This is the sin of the ‘sons of thunder,’ James and John, in our passage. Now, it is important to see that their desire for fire to consume the stiff-necked Samaritans is not entirely without biblical precedence. There are manifold examples of God striking down the rebellious and insolent. God has set his face against those who have opposed him. In 2 Kings 1:1-16, we see Elijah rebuke and call down judgment upon Ahaziah, the hard-hearted Samaritan king. Perhaps James and John were seeking the Messiah to operate with such prophetic authority against the Samaritan village. Note from the text as well that the Samaritans turned Christ and his band away, “because he was heading toward Jerusalem.” This is a reference not merely to the somewhat famous animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans, but to their opposition to his Messianic ministry and purpose. In this sense, the indignation of the disciples is understandable, however misplaced and inappropriate.

I have never asked Jesus to consume anyone with heavenly fire. (I have come close.) So I understand the brothers’ passion for their cause. As a pastor and preacher, I struggle greatly with opposition to my ministry. Much of my struggle, though, is not against principalities and powers, but with flesh and blood. And this is backward. If there is opposition because I am a fool, nave or tyrant, then such struggle is from God and for my good. If there is opposition because my ministry is like Jesus’ – full of power and truth, that penetrates the heart and provokes the hard conscience -- then this is from God and for the good of my hearers. So, I should not struggle against flesh and blood. I should not call down fire on those who oppose me. I should live sacrificially through the cross, as Jesus did, regardless of opposition and rejection.

And so, Jesus rebukes the brothers. We are provided with a living picture of the truth that “God did not send the son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him” (John 3:17). I find it interesting that perhaps the Samaritans’ foolish rejection of the living God only sped Him on His way to provide atonement for their sin. I find it interesting, as well, that Jesus does not rebuke the Samaritans here, but the disciples. It is a grievous thing to scorn the Messiah. But, it is a more grievous sin of the disciples that they should strive against the lost with anger and misplaced zeal, rather than with the grace and power of the gospel. The anger of men does not work the salvation of God (a loose paraphrase of James 1:20). Jesus’ rebuke, rather than concession to the disciples’ request, is a great grace to the Samaritans; for soon a day would come when the good news of Jesus’ work on the cross would be preached in their midst and there would be “much joy in that city” (Acts 8:8). Peter, John and Phillip would one day return to Samaria, “preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans,” perhaps the very village of Luke 9.

There is a wonderful irony in this passage that compels and comforts me in the face of rejection. James and John asked Jesus to send fire down upon the Samaritans and received a rebuke from their master instead. The apostles would soon see the purpose in that rebuke. It wasn’t that Jesus wanted his disciples to wink at sin, or that he took lightly the hard hearts of the Samaritans. It wasn’t that he wants us all to ‘just get along’ and not be harsh with one another. It wasn’t that he wanted to give the disciples a lesson is godly Christian character. The rebuke was part of a sovereign plan. This plan would not come about through the disciples’ angry judgments, or indignant struggles against flesh and blood. This plan would come through the work of the cross, which Jesus had set his face resolutely toward. The irony is that James and John’s request would indeed be granted by Christ. But it would come through a detour around this village and via the destination of the cross. Jesus would bear the judgment owed to the hard-hearted Samaritans, so that those hearts might one day be melted through the power of the Spirit…like fire from heaven.

Drinking New Wine

And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, “The old is good.” Luke 5:33-39

It is difficult to understand how bizarre Jesus was to the first century Jews and Jewish leadership. We can be pretty hard on the Pharisees and scribes, and for good reason. The gospel writers do indeed cast these guys in a pretty bad light. Jesus had very hard words for the Pharisees and scribes, calling them at different times: ‘sons of snakes,’ ‘tidy tombs,’ ‘blind guides,’ liars, hypocrites and thieves. We need to be careful, though, that we not point a bony self righteous, pharisaical, finger at the Pharisees. I think a broader intention of the Spirit’s purpose in presenting the Pharisees to us is so we might point the finger at ourselves. The best villain in a story is one deeply hated not simply because he is a caricature of evil out there, but the embodiment of evil in here-- in our own heart and in our own soul.

Luke draws us into Jesus’ incredible public ministry beginning with his rejection in Nazareth, the deliverance of a demonized man in Capernaum, the healing of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law and many others, the calling of the disciples, the cleansing of a leper, the healing of a paralytic, and the salvation of tax collectors and sinners. We are meant to be a bit breathless at the glorious display of Messianic power and grace by the time we get to the different exchanges between Jesus and the Pharisees in 5:21, 30 and 33. We are also meant to be angered by the unbelief and hardness of heart in these leaders who should be hailing Jesus as Messiah and Lord, not calling him a blasphemer or wondering why he is feasting with sinners. How can they ask questions about fasting while the blind see, the lame walk and the captives are freed?

I am reminded of a worship service several years ago that was particularly sweet. There was an outpouring of grace and an acute awareness of the Spirit’s power and the Savior’s love that night. As people sat in the sanctuary in prayer, and as others trickled out in quiet reverence, a man walked briskly up to me and told me that he was offended by how loud the music was. I stood there deeply disappointed as the cold water of his criticism dripped off me.

The essence of what the Pharisees are asking Jesus in Luke 5:33 is, “Why aren’t you doing it the way things used to be done?” There is another question buried in there as well: “Why aren’t you doing things the way there supposed to be done?” And a third: “Why aren’t you doing things the way we do them?” The truth is, we all ask these questions in different ways and in different contexts. Why is the music so loud? Why are their hands raised? Why is he talking to her? Why is she wearing that? What’s with the robes and organs? That service was too long. That service was too short. I didn’t like …I am concerned with …Go ahead and fill in the blanks.
We must be careful here. I believe the lesson in Luke 5 is not, ‘don’t judge people in worship’. That lesson is found in Scripture, and we must heed it. There is also a time for discernment; for a wise, Spirit-filled testing of the spirits. There are appropriate times and opportunities to ask questions about how we worship and how we live. But this is not the truth being pressed in upon us here.

The question about fasting is in many ways like the question of the Samaritan woman about what mountain God’s people should worship on. God is not concerned with mountains; outward forms of worship, such as fasting or feasting; or with days and months and seasons (Col.2:16-17). With the coming of the Messiah, and the inauguration of a new covenant, the ‘new wine’ is poured out -- where the law is written upon the heart (Jer.31:33), the heart of stone is turned to a heart of flesh (Ezek.36:26), and where we are washed with pure water (Ezek.36:25). And the new wine was flowing everywhere in this inaugural season of Jesus ministry. The wine flows and brings healing. The wine flows and opens the eyes of the blind. The wine flows and opens the hearts of tax collectors and sinners. The wine flows and crushes the power of demons. The new wine fills us with a whole new perspective, a whole new mind, a whole new heart, a whole new life. And the old questions, the old concerns, and the old constraints are ‘exploded’ by the power of the Spirit, the new wine of Jesus. With the power of the Spirit’s work, with the transforming grace of the Savior, we come to see all these questions as completely and entirely secondary.

As I read of the Pharisees trying to pour the new wine into their old, stretched and tired wineskins, I think of my own self righteous, Pharisee heart. I think of how much of my time and energy is consumed with self-oriented concerns, questions and conflicts. I too often have measured and gauged the new wine of God and tried to contain it in my own flesh-fashioned vessels. I think of how sad it was that Jesus and his disciples are feasting and celebrating while the Pharisees are trying to affix these new patches of Spirit-filled worship to their old worn out jeans.

Jesus wants me to come inside with the disciples, tax collectors and sinners, and eat the feast he has set before me. He has given me a fresh, new heart -- ready to stretch and flex and grow as he calls me to drink deep of the new wine.