Plant It and Mix It

Luke 13:19, 21 – “[The Kingdom of God] is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches… It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

Parables are short stories Jesus told to make a point. In his Gospel, Matthew tended to put them together. Luke spread them throughout his account. These two parables above sit by themselves in Luke 13 and are worded slightly differently than their parallel accounts in Mathew 13. Matthew’s account of the Parable of the Mustard Seed contrasts the seed’s small size with the huge tree it produces. Luke does not deny this but does not seem to stress the contrast as much as the action it takes to produce a big result from a small beginning.

This emphasis is picked up in the Parable of the Leaven (or yeast as we might better understand). The man sows (plants) the seed. The woman hides (mixes) the yeast. The final outcome does not happen until the people who possess the small things take action.

When the man takes the small mustard seed and plants it, a huge tree eventually grows. When the woman take the small bit of leaven and mixes it in her dough all ten gallons are leavened.

Jesus’ lesson for us is to take the small things we have - our talents, our time, our finances, our courage, our training, our words, our relationships, etc. – and take action with them – serve, give, share the truth, teach others, invest, write, etc. The outcome for his Kingdom will be much more than we can imagine. We must plant and mix to see all God can do through us. The impact will be huge and complete.

Illness: Natural or Demonic?

Luke 13:11 - And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.

Our Western World has experienced many benefits from advances in medical technology over the last several centuries. Many illnesses once thought incurable are now easily treated. Life expectancy has increased, as has the quality of life most enjoy as “60 has become the new 40.” These advances in medicine have come from the rigorous application of the scientific method: hypotheses of chemical reactions and their effects are developed and tested repeatedly until a reliable cure is confirmed. Every year former plagues are eradicated, and hope persists that more will continue to fall in the future, including Alzheimer’s Disease, AIDS, and tougher forms of cancer.

Yet, the scientific approach to medicine tends to assume all illnesses have natural, physical causes. Although most cases of illness and disability in the New Testament can be described as natural consequences, several, such as the bent over woman in Luke 13:10-17, are explicitly attributed to demonic causes. Note in verse 11 above she had a “disabling spirit.” Jesus described her as “a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years.”

We may not often see obvious demonic manifestations, but that does not mean demons are not at work. In the majority world, deliverance from demonic oppression often opens doors to physical healing. Dr. Craig Keener documents many medical anthropological studies that document connection between sickness and witchcraft. “A number of Hmong refugees in the United States have died in their sleep from heart failure with ‘no structural heart abnormalities.’” (Craig Keener, Miracles, Baker, 2011) There is a spiritual world around us that we cannot see, but it affects us. Make sure you live in the spiritual freedom only Christ can bring.

Post-Easter Doubts

Luke 24:21 - But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

All four Gospels clearly describe Jesus’ Resurrection on the first Easter, but each adds one or more unique events. Luke is the only Gospel that tells about two followers of Jesus – apparently not part of the core twelve apostles – who left Jerusalem that day in painful discouragement. They had left their homes to follow Jesus without receiving the fame and face time that the core twelve received. Luke does not tell us why they left.

The Road to Emmaus was not the quickest way back to Galilee. Instead it led toward the Mediterranean Coast. Perhaps they were seeking to start a new life. Perhaps they just wanted some time in the surf and sun to rethink their lives now that everything they had been living for was gone. What we do know is that what they once believed, they now doubted. What they were once committed to, they now abandoned. Circumstances did not work out like they expected them to, and even the words of a few women about angels and an empty tomb that might have given them hope failed to do anything other than discourage them further.

I have met far too many people in my life like these two. They made a start in a faith journey with Jesus. They heard his teaching – through others and reading the Bible. They experienced his touch and saw his power – through the Holy Spirit. Yet, they expected that if Jesus was the Christ things would have worked out a certain way – but they did not happen that way. Perhaps a prayer went unanswered, a relationship ended, an illness was not healed, or a persuasive professor or book sowed seeds of doubt. However it happened, the doubt sprouted, and the former followers of Christ started walking down a different path.

Yet, Jesus did not abandon them. Of all the things Jesus could have done that Easter afternoon, he chose to spend several hours with two who were not of the core twelve who were struggling with doubt. One is not named in the Bible, and the other is never named again. Jesus walked them through the scriptures to help them understand that Jesus’ reality is not proved by the absence of difficulty but by the fulfilled prophecies of the Old Testament. He was ultimately revealed in the breaking of bread, and their doubts were removed.

If you have had some doubts on your journey of life, invite Jesus to join you in spite of them. Enjoy the walk, and do not be afraid of tough questions. He isn’t.

Good Friday is Unfair

Luke 23:39-43 - One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Do you ever complain when things aren’t fair? How do you feel when someone else gets credit for your work and gets the reward you earned? Most of us cry out for fairness most of the time, but Good Friday is one thing we should all be glad is unfair.

I have always been captivated by the story of the thief on the cross. I remember hearing Don Francisco’s musical epic, “Too Small a Price,” taken from these verse before committing my life to Christ. It is told from the thief’s perspective and describes his awe at realizing that Jesus - the Christ, the Messiah, God incarnate – is willingly, yet unjustly, dying the death of a criminal right next to him. The thief does not deserve to ask what he does, but he makes that request of grace anyway: “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Then he hears the words from Jesus that should be the greatest longing for each of us, “You will be with me in Paradise.”

I covered that song many times and later as a youth pastor wrote my first first-person narrative sermon based on this story because I never forgot the impact this story had – and still has on me. The perfect, holy, Son of God willingly died an unjust death as a criminal so he could pay the price I owed as one guilty of many crimes and take my place on the cross so that I could be with him in Paradise forever. It was just not fair for him to suffer for me, but it is good.

He suffered for you, too. It does not matter who you are. It does not matter what you have done. Give Jesus your guilt and your burdens and experience the GOOD unfairness of God that Good Friday is all about.

Strength to Complete the Mission

Luke 22:42-43 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.

None of us can fully comprehend what Jesus went through on the cross. We may think can imagine the physical pain of torture, but I am sure the whipping, the beating, and the gradual suffocation of crucifixion is far worse than anything any of us have ever experienced. Yet, Jesus’ suffering was much more than physical.

The cup Jesus refers to in Luke 22:42 is the wrath of God that should have rightly been the lot of sinners like me, you, and all other people. Yet, the sinless Son of God willingly took on our sins. It was not an easy decision. Jesus sweat blood in agony aware of what was about to happen. He did it because there was no other way your sins and mine could be forgiven. It took one without sin bearing our sins in his body on the cross (II Corinthians 5:21). Jesus was the only one in all of human history who could have accomplished that mission. I hope you have set your sins on him by faith. There is no other way to eternal life.

Once Jesus said yes to his mission – to God’s will, an angel came to strengthen him. His mission did not change. His suffering did not go away. He was given strength to complete it.

Sometimes our mission in life can be hard. We may want to escape the pain, but that is not always the best choice. Yet, when we say, “Not my will, but yours be done,” God gives us strength to accomplish what he wants us to do.

Enough but Not Too Much

Luke 13:6-9 - And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”

Sometimes we quit too soon. A woman starts a business and does not see profit after two years, so she quits just before her business would have taken off. A salesman works hard cultivating a client base but gives up in frustration just before several would be customers would have been ready to make a deal.

Sometimes we keep going too long. After twenty unprofitable years, another businesswoman borrows to bankruptcy in the vain hope that one day her business will prosper. Another salesman annoys and alienates all would be customers with an obsolete product and an ineffective pitch.

Jesus’ parable serves as a warning to the Jewish people – often pictured as a fig tree in both the Old and New Testaments – that they had one last chance to “bear fruit” by welcoming the Kingdom of God and believing in Jesus. This is one of many of Jesus’ prophecies of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the temple that was fulfilled less than forty years after he spoke these words. God gave them one more generation – pictured as one more year in the parable. They had their chance to respond to his message. Some did. Most did not.

The primary application for each of us is to take seriously the warning and ensure that we are in the faith and prepared for eternity. However, we can also apply the principle in many areas of life. Have you been working on something long past its useful life? Is it time to call it quits? Perhaps you are ready to quit too soon on a project that is just about to bear fruit. Give it one more chance.

Cosmic Consequences

Luke 13:4-5 “…Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Do you ever wonder if bad things happen to people because they do bad things? You may remember some of the words in 2006 that Hurricane Katrina was God’s judgment on the sin of New Orleans or that AIDS is God’s punishment of homosexuals. It is easy to look for a cosmic “reason” for catastrophic events. Did you get that flat tire because you yelled at your spouse yesterday? The two recent tragedies of the mudslide in Oso, Washington, near where I used to pastor, and the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 bring those questions of “why?” afresh to many.

The people in Jesus’ day asked the same question. Pontius Pilate authorized the execution of some Galileans in the Temple. Meanwhile, a tower in another part of Jerusalem fell and killed eighteen. People wondered, “What did they do to deserve this? Were they worse than everyone else?”

Jesus gave a clear answer: “No.” These tragedies were not the repayment of some specific sins or of extra evil people. However, Jesus was also clear that this did not mean they were not getting what they deserved. “Unless you repent, you will perish.” The uncomfortable truth is we all deserve punishment. The spectacular destruction wrought by a mudslide or plane crash is not any more indicative of God’s specific punishment of individuals than it is a reminder of the pervasive sin of which we are guilty and in desperate need of forgiveness. Repentant turning from bad attitudes and behavior combined with turning to Jesus Christ in faith are the only to ultimately escape justly deserved eternal punishment. 

Settle Out of Court

Luke 12:58 When you are on the way to court with your accuser, try to settle the matter before you get there. Otherwise, your accuser may drag you before the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, who will throw you into prison.

The legal system is an important part of civilized society. Modern scientific psychology has yet to find a way to make all people obey the law all the time. So, there must be consequences, and there must be as fair a way as possible to ensure the right people pay the consequences for their wrong actions. As imperfect as our legal system is, we are far better off with it than we would be without one.

Sometimes issues arise between people that they are unable to work out on their own, so civil law was developed to provide an impartial judge to attempt to decide between parties. In Jesus’ day there was an overlap between the civil and criminal justice system. That is why the verse above implies a civil case can lead to what we would consider criminal punishment. Can you imagine being sued by your neighbor for property encroachment, losing the case, then getting thrown into prison for ten years?

Although the justice system that provides the background for Jesus’ words has changed, the principle remains the same. Civil suits may no longer result in literal imprisonment behind bars, but they do lead to a different kind of imprisonment that is equally painful. The modern American legal process is very expensive financially. It is also engenders a competition in which there are winners and losers. Far more than the Super Bowl or NCAA Final Four, the losers tend to suffer lifelong emotional pain. What often starts as a small disagreement becomes a major battle as the costs mount, depositions are gathered, former friends are asked to write statements criticizing character and conduct, appeals go on for years, and reconciliation becomes unimaginable. In the end, even the winners usually lose. Although there may be financial recompense and a short-lived euphoria from “the win,” a formerly valued relationship is ripped beyond repair with the fallout extending to all those who knew the parties involved. Long term bitterness, depression, and broken relationships are the real prison.

Rather than falling into the “win at any cost” mentality that seems to dominate those going to court, work it out beforehand. You may not “win” all that you could monetarily, but reconciling important relationships is far more valuable. 

Interpret the Times

Luke 12:56 - You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

I grew up on a farm in Colorado. I remember my father introducing me to a man who owned a farm not far from ours who had been farming for more than fifty years. My father explained to me how Hubert always knew what the weather would bring. Although much of Eastern Colorado weather was mysterious to the meteorologists, Hubert know when it would rain, snow, hail, or drought, and he farmed accordingly. That seemed mysterious to me as a young boy. “Is he supernaturally clairvoyant?”  I wondered. “No,” my father explained, “He has been watching the weather all those years, and he knows what the signs are that reveal what it will do.”

When you have honed your skills in a craft that deals with recurring events, you can predict what will happen because you have seen it happen before many times. One-time events are completely different. We can no longer trust our experiences. We have to look elsewhere for signs to be ready. That does not mean the signs are not there. We must look and discern differently.

This is Jesus’ warning to the crowds with him, especially those who were a part the old system who expected things to function as they always had. They were using their previous experiences and habits to try to figure Jesus out, and he did not fit their mental framework. They could no longer trust their old ways of looking at things. They needed to recognize that times were changing and something new and never seen before was taking place: the Savior of the World had come. They needed to believe and welcome him, but first they needed to recognize him using other signs like fulfilled biblical prophecy, his miracles, and his authority.

We, too, live in an ever-changing world in which we cannot always trust our prior experiences to give us proper direction. We need to develop new skills of understanding the times to respond correct rather than falling back on old habits. To do this most effectively, we need to embrace this Savior who is beyond all time. What are some ways you can discern what is happening in our times?

Is Peace always the Best Choice?

Luke 12:51 - Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.

I love peace and harmony. I love it when everyone gets along. I know I am not alone in this. Ever since the Peace Movement of the 1960s, peace has been the ultimate goal and the preeminent value for many in our world.

There is no question that war and violence bring great destruction and that much evil has been done in the world. Yet, should peace always be our first priority? Peaceful resolution of conflict usually involves compromise. Often that is good. When I surrender my selfish desires to meet the real needs of another that is a good thing, but denying what I know to be right and true to appease the anger of another is a different story.

For many of us, the words of Jesus in Luke 12:49-53 do not make us comfortable. We would rather reflect on the prophecy in Isaiah 9:6 that calls the Messiah to come 700 years later the “Prince of Peace.” We like the promise the Christmas angel brought at his birth that Jesus’ coming would bring “peace on earth and goodwill to men.” Jesus’ ultimate mission was to bring peace with God and those who would follow him. Yet, Jesus warns us that choosing to follow him does not mean we will always find peace and harmony in our earthly interactions.

Jesus is certainly speaking of the opposition and persecution his followers have faced from those opposed to him and his Gospel, but sometimes we face internal conflict, too. Those of us eager for harmonious relations need to remember that someone else’s unhappiness with our decisions or actions does not mean they are wrong. Conflict is often necessary to achieve the best result. When has conflict been a better choice than acquiescence in your life?

Special?

Luke 12:41 - Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?”

Have you ever been in the “in” crowd? It is often easier to know when you are not in the “in” crowd. You see those with special privileges. They are popular. They have their group. They have more access to the leaders. When you are outside, you feel your exclusion. Yet those who have been outside often relish their special position once they get “inside.” 

I imagine that’s how it was for Peter. He had been an ordinary guy. He was not part of the exclusive clique in his society. His outsiderness continued into his adulthood. Note how those in power in Acts 4:13 called him “unschooled” – the ultimate insult in their society and the ultimate label of ordinariness and outsiderness. Yet, in Jesus’ circle, Peter was special. With thousands of followers, Peter was one of the twelve. Among the twelve, Peter spent more time with Jesus than all, save John and possibly Andrew. Peter was special, and Peter knew it. We can tell by the way he asked the question in Luke 12:41. He expected Jesus to have a different message for him than others – the outsiders.

Jesus followed up Peter’s question with a parable that describes a servant who was given special responsibility to oversee the affairs of the master’s house in his absence. Jesus’ message was clear: You have been given special position, but that position has special responsibilities. The fact you are “special” but that does not guarantee you will keep that position, especially if you do not fulfill those responsibilities. Not following through brings a worse judgment to those who have a special relationship, knowledge, and responsibilities than to those who do not (Luke 12:47-48a). Jesus closes with these ominous words: “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” (Luke 12:48b)

Jesus never fully answers Peter’s question because it is the wrong one. Seeking a special status to be better than others brings judgment. (Notice how the special servant beat the other servants of his master in verse 45.) Special responsibilities are given for the benefit of both the Master and the others around us. Having a special position is great, but it brings great responsibility.

Where is Your Heart?

Luke 12:34 - Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

In Luke chapter 12, Jesus weaves together a variety of sayings on earthly wealth, persecution, and eternity. It can almost seem disjointed on a quick read, but the closer we look, the clearer the connection becomes. Verse 34 seems to sum it up well: Where we put our possessions, our efforts, our thoughts, and our emotions determines our real destination. The immediate and the visible cry for our attention. It is so easy to give in to the now and neglect the not yet, but as any wise investor knows, that is not the path to success. This is nowhere more true than in eternal things.

We can be tempted to worry about our possessions, but Jesus says to seek his kingdom instead (vs 31). We are tempted to store up earthly wealth, but it will be destroyed. Instead, generous giving is an eternally secure investment (vs. 33). Jesus will return at a time we do not expect, and those who are ready will be with him forever. Distraction with earthly affairs can leave unprepared for our Lord’s return (vs. 37). 

 

Jesus is also clear that words are not enough. Our actions not only show others what our priorities are. Our heart will follow our actions. Live what you believe and you will love what you believe.

Let’s live with an eternal perspective, keeping our hearts set on things that will last forever.