Luke 21

“As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘Truly I tell you,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’” (Verses 1 – 4)

A friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago. She had already battled the same cancer more than 10 years, but now that she has gotten a little older, wasn’t sure how the battle would go. Then came the crushing news from doctors; the prognosis was worse than expected; probably just a couple months. 

A couple months later our church ran a capital campaign to raise funds for our new home. As a congregation we prayed together, ate together, and dreamed together. Then we asked our members to make a three year financial pledge to our building project.

My friend came up and made her pledge. She has been a widow for a very long time. I wouldn’t classify her as “poor,” but she is certainly not wealthy. I have no idea what she pledged, but I know that it made God happy. 

Not only did she make a pledge to give, she pledged to give for three years! She was not going to let cancer control her faith.

A couple weeks later, my friend returned to the doctor. To her surprise, and the surprise of the doctor, the cancer had vanished.

I wish there was a formula to follow to guarantee a miracle like the one my friend received. I know a lot of faithful people that have believed God would heal them, and it just didn’t happen in this life. And I don’t know that my friend will live to finish the three years; but I know what I have seen.

She gave what she could, and God gave her life.  

Luke 20

The Sadducees have a question for Jesus. They give an example of a woman who, because she is widowed six times, dies after having seven husbands. They ask, “In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will she be?” (Verse 33)

Actually, this scenario was not uncommon back then. Well, having seven husbands might have been a stretch, but many women had more than one. It was Jewish law that if a man died, his brother would marry the widow. The purpose of the law was to protect the family property.

Jesus replied, ““The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage.” (Verses 34 – 35)

I love my wife Michelle more than words can say, and my love for her grows every day. She is my best friend. This verse saddens me. I don’t think heaven will be heaven if we are not there together, as a family. Well, it definitely won’t be the heaven that I picture in my dreams.

That’s exactly the point Jesus is trying to make.

Heaven is not going to be like we imagine it. We cannot think of heaven in earthly terms, because it is going to be different than what we know; it is going to be better than what we know.

Nothing will be the same in heaven as it is on earth, except an abundance of love.

Which is why I have to believe that I’ll be with Michelle in heaven. We may not be married anymore, but we will still be best friends and our love for each other will continue to grow. Maybe we can sing next to each other in a choir of angels.

I have no idea what heaven will be like, but it is going to be wonderful.

As long as it will have Jesus and Michelle.

 

 

 

 

Luke 19

Jesus was walking through Jericho and saw a man named Zacchaeus perched in a sycamore tree. Zacchaeus climbed the tree because he wanted to see Jesus, yet he was too short to see over the crowd. Jesus decided to go to Zacchaeus’ home for a visit.

Zacchaeus was a tax collector, which meant he was not a very popular guy. Tax collectors had a bad reputation, they were often accused of stealing and lying. The best modern profession to compare them to would be a lawyer. Not to say that lawyers are sinners, but for some reason they have a reputation for being dishonest.

Zacchaeus though, is one of my favorite characters in the Bible. Upon meeting Jesus he said, “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 gets it! When Jesus entered his life, his life changed.

So often in life we offend others and offer a simple, “I’m sorry.” We ask forgiveness, but that’s as far as we are willing to take it. On a rare occasion, we will buy our wife flowers.

Zacchaeus isn’t just going to say he is sorry, he is going to pay back anyone he cheated. And not just pay them back, he is going to pay them back four times the amount! Those people who he defrauded are lucky! It takes a long time for your money to quadruple in the stock market!

I have a friend who has a policy we should all adopt. If he offends someone, he buys them lunch. He has been doing it for over fifty years. Over the years, I’m sure that has been a lot of lunches, but his friends know how much they mean to him. He is not only willing to admit he is wrong, he actually does something to make up for it!

Have you lost friends over disagreements?

Was it worth it?

Is there more you can do to seek forgiveness?

Luke 18

Jesus told his disciples, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” (Verses 31 - 33)

Imagine hearing this as a disciple, it was devastating news. Maybe, if I were one of Jesus’ disciples, I’d say something like, “Let’s not go to Jerusalem then, I hear Jericho is nice this time of year.” But that’s not how the disciples responded. Actually, they didn’t respond at all.

“The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.” (Verse 34)

They didn’t understand? The meaning was hidden from them? What does that mean?

This wasn’t a parable or a story. Jesus was very straight forward. I don’t understand how it was hidden from them, who hid it from them? Jesus, the Son of God, was telling them this information; he wanted them to know! Clearly, God would not be hiding it from them if Jesus was telling them.

Maybe they were hiding the truth from themselves. Maybe they were only hearing what they wanted to hear.

It is human nature to want to believe something is true, even if it’s not. We often ignore the truth so that we can continue to live in our fantasy world.

This is true in many ways.

When I was in college, I had a girlfriend that was dating someone else at the same time. I saw the signs that this might be happening, but chose to ignore them because I thought I was happy. Looking back, I can’t believe I was such a fool!

Scientific evidence has convinced me that it would be better for the world if we all used less oil to power our lives. I feel like I should be driving a vehicle that gets very good gas mileage, but I love my pick-up truck. Maybe one day, we will all look and think we were fools.

I’m sure the disciples felt like fools on Good Friday. Jesus told them it was going to happen, and it did. 

We may all be fools, but Jesus died because we make bad decisions. That is the truth.

Luke 17

Jesus said, “If the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.” (Verse 4)

This verse kind of bothers me. I think it can be used as an excuse to keep for repeated bad behavior.

It is natural that we will sin against other human beings. It’s just part of being broken people in a broken world. It makes sense then that the ones we sin against most often will be the ones that are closest to us, such as our family. It’s not that we intentionally try and hurt the ones we love, but we spend the vast majority of our time with them.

One of the marks of a healthy relationship is the ability to see when you hurt each other, to seek forgiveness, and to give forgiveness. And then learn from your mistakes so that they don’t happen again.

Unfortunately, many relationships are unhealthy. They often include one person repeatedly sinning against the other. Abuse is real and takes many forms: verbal, sexual, and physical. All of them are damaging and sinful.

If you are in an abusive relationship, don’t read this verse and think you need to stay. Jesus is not giving permission to be abusive.

If you are abusing someone else, stop right now! Beg their forgiveness, promise to never do it again and get help.

If you are being abused, get away from the abuser. Get as far away as you can. I know sometimes it is easier said than done, but you were not created to live in fear and pain.

Jesus does want us to forgive each other. That doesn’t mean we have to forget what happened and it doesn’t mean we need to be friends with each other.

Forgiveness is a process. It will not happen overnight.

And the process can start with 500 miles between you and the abuser.    

Luke 16

Jesus said, “You cannot serve both God and money.” (Verse 13)

I think this is a hard verse for us to read. Or maybe, it should be a harder verse for us to read than it is.

As a capitalist society, money is the motivation for much of what we do. I am not saying this is evil, I’m just saying it is true. Do you check the stock market once a week? Every day? Have you taken a job just because it paid you well? Have you chosen a profession because it pays better than something you might have enjoyed more?

The reality is, we need money to live. And the more money we have, the more comfortable life can be. At least that’s what we have been told our whole lives.

I don’t think it’s a sin to have a job that pays well nor do I think it’s a sin to have nice things. But I do think it is difficult to resist the temptation of serving money.

I watched this happen to one of my friends. He got a little money, he wanted a little more, and then he wanted a lot more. It didn’t take long before he started to plot and plan ways to get more money. Eventually money was the last thing he thought of when he went to bed and the first thing he thought of when he woke up. He got what he wanted, but ruined his marriage.

I have another friend who loves his job. He is very good at it and has climbed the corporate ladder to a point where money isn’t a concern. The crazy thing is, I think he would do the same job for half the money. He loves his job and he loves his wife; he doesn’t love or serve money. Instead, his money serves him; he gives it away to charities and family members. He uses his money to make a difference.

I don’t think Jesus has a problem with us having money. As long as it serves us, and we serve him.         

Luke 15

Luke 15 is known for the Parable of the Prodigal Son. This is one of the most famous parables in the Bible.

It is the parable of two sons and their father. The youngest son asks his father to give him his inheritance early. The father does, and his son moves to a foreign land. While there, he blows all his inheritance and when a famine comes, he has nothing to eat. He decides to go home and beg his father for a job on his land.

When his father sees him coming, he runs to meet him and throws a huge party to celebrate his son’s return.

I have heard this parable referenced when someone is trying to explain God’s love and forgiveness, because we have all been the younger son.

But I don’t think that is what the parable is about.

The chapter starts with some Pharisees complaining that Jesus spends time with sinners. So Jesus tells this story loud enough for the Pharisees can hear. The ending of the story is the important part.

The older brother is angered upon hearing that his younger brother has returned. He can’t believe that his father threw his ungrateful brother a party and refuses to go.  

The Pharisees could not believe that Jesus was hanging out with sinners. They could not believe that God would care about sinners. They thought they knew who God loved and who God despised.

Have you ever been invited to a party, and upon hearing someone was invited, decided not to go? Is there anyone that would make you stay home?

We have all thought that there are people on this earth who God can’t love, right? Bin Laden and Hitler are the first names that come to my mind.  

When God throws a party, He alone decides who gets invited. When we get there, I’m sure we will be surprised by who is there with us, maybe even angered.

We have all been the younger brother.

And we have all been the older brother.