Measurement

Luke 21:1-4 (ESV) Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Some of the most popular quick clicks on the Internet today are rankings and numbered collections of the elite. A fast jump to buzzfeed.com just now showed the following top trending articles: “The 12 Types Of Boys You'll Crush On This School Year,” “8 Animals Whose Numbers Are Plummeting Thanks To Humans,” “The 25 Most Kimye Things That Have Ever Happened,” and, of course, “18 Kids Who Are Way Too Sassy For Their Own Good.” Travel magazines promote “The Top 50 Vacation Destinations.” I have become a regular user of Yelp to help me find the best local eateries when traveling. We have a burning desire to know the best and to know where we stand, so we measure things… and we measure people. Yet, are we really measuring the right things?

Jesus attacks the measurement fixation in this famous passage in Luke 21. A poor widow gave two small coins, yet Jesus said she gave more than all the wealthy people who dumped huge sums into the treasury. That would have shocked his hearers, but his point was she gave far more in proportion to what she had. The raw numbers were not the ultimate measure of the gift.

This principle goes beyond finances. In our desire to measure, we can never grasp the whole story. When we feel superior to those next to us because we won this round of the game, we cannot know everything that affected their performance – or ours. Perhaps we won this time because they put in a halfhearted effort. Jesus wants us to stop ranking people on external measurements that hide the whole story. Every person is valuable. Total commitment is the real measure.

The Heart of a Leader

Luke 20:46-47 (ESV) “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

It only takes a quick glance to recognize how much impact a leader can have. Whether good or bad, every movement, every nation, every human organization can trace its roots to a leader who was able to get others to work together to achieve something. It is tempting to evaluate leaders based on their outward achievements: the size or growth of their organization, their fame, or their lasting impact on others. Organizations usually create structures that give roles and titles for other leaders to rise to the surface. The Bible rightly calls on followers to show honor and respect to those who hold such positions (see I Corinthians 16:16, I Thessalonians 5:12, I Timothy 5:17, I Peter 5:5). Yet, those positions and the honor they engender come with a huge risk: the temptation to pursue positions of leadership for the honor they bring.

I have seen many people start into ministry and other areas of leadership with a sincere, humble heart focused on nothing more than serving Jesus and his people. In my role as professor and dean, I have the incredible joy of spending time with dozens of young leaders with passion to lead with pure hearts nearly every day. I also have the privilege of partnering with many later in life who have maintained the proper heart, even sacrificing wealth and fame to fulfill their calling. Yet, I have also seen far too many start with the right motives and character gradually get seduced by the pursuit of honor. (The Greek word timao includes financial honor as well as public and verbal recognition.) The challenge is to keep the right motivation even when the honor that comes is deserved.

The leaders’ primary role is to serve those in their care, not to seek their own glory (see Matt 23:11-12). When we stop passionately pursuing serving God and others and instead start seeking our own honor – whether titles, wealth, or accolades – instead of the honor we seek we ultimately, and justly, get the greater condemnation. Let’s lead well for the right reasons.

More Than Expected

Luke 20:41-44 (ESV) But he said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is David’s son? For David himself says in the Book of Psalms,

“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at my right hand,

until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’

David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”

Throughout Luke 20, the Jewish religious leaders were at war with Jesus, trying to trap him with his own words in a way that would give them grounds to have him executed. Yet, every time Jesus countered their attacks victoriously. Here at the end of the chapter, Jesus turned to take the offensive. He did so by taking a well know Psalm and using it to prove that the Jewish people’s expectation of who the Messiah would be was too small.

David was the greatest king in Israel’s history. He began to rule a split nation that had just lost a war with their primary opposition: the Philistines. Yet, he was able to reunite the nation, conquer the Philistines and nearly all other surrounding nations, and establish peace and prosperity. God promised David a descendant whose throne God would establish forever (II Samuel 7:15). So, the first century Jews expected a Messiah who would be a descendant of David and reestablish his earthly kingdom.

Jesus’ counterattack began by starting with their assumption that the Messiah would be David’s son. He then quoted David’s own words in Psalm 110, which show him, the writer, speaking to God about another who was his “lord.” Although our English translation (and even the Greek) show the same word used for Lord in both cases, the Hebrew text of Psalm 110 makes a distinction: “The Lord (YHWH – Yahweh/Jehovah – The personal name of the one true God) says to my lord (Adonai – master).” There is someone else here greater than David. This someone else is a king (Psalm 110:2) as well as an eternal priest (Psalm 110:4).

Jesus’ point is clear. They were looking for an earthly Messiah who was David’s descendant, but Jesus came as the eternal priest and king who was and is David’s master. He was more than they expected. He is likely more than we expect, too.

A Glimpse into Eternity

Luke 20:35-36 (ESV) Those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

Do you even wonder what your afterlife will be like? Death functions like a curtain that hides eternity from our eyes. Hollywood has given us some memorable images of what their scriptwriters imagine Heaven will be like. The church through the centuries has also given us some interesting thoughts. The best place to go with a question like this is the Bible, of course. Yet, even the Bible does not tell us everything about our coming eternal life. As I Corinthians 2:9 says, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.” Yet, every so often the Bible gives us a glimpse into what our eternity will be like. This passage from Luke 20 is one of those opportunities.

The Sadduccees tried to trap Jesus with a story about seven brothers who shared the same wife, each after the older passed away. Their question, “Whose wife will she be in the resurrection?” was ironic, since they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Jesus escaped the trap by answering their question and overturning their mistaken beliefs. Along the way, he gives us some interesting insights. The first is that there will be no marriage in what we typically call heaven. Although there is something romantic about the notion of being married to our earthly partner “forever,” our eternal marriage will be with Jesus. He is our ultimate true love. That does not mean we will not enjoy a new level of intimacy with our life partners. Our relationships there will not be tainted with the selfishness and sin that damages earthly marriages. We will be together in true fellowship.

The second insight may be a bit more obvious: we will not die anymore. Since death is the root of most fear, that panic and dread that drives so much bad behavior and depression will be gone forever. As Revelation 21:3-1 describes it, “The dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Third, we see we will be like angels. Decades ago, Hollywood began corrupting some church traditions that removed the like (or equal to) from this verse and gave us the idea that we would become angels and that all angels are former human beings. (“Heaven Can Wait,” Spencer Tracy’s “A Guy Named Joe,” and Richard Dreyfuss’ “Always” are a few examples). The Greek word makes a clear that resurrected humans share some traits with angels that pre-resurrection humans do not while remaining distinct beings. Yet, both the Old and New Testaments clearly show angels as distinct beings with a distinct mission even now.

Finally, we see that eternity is for the “living.” (Luke 20:38) Jesus turns the Sadducees’ argument against them by quoting God’s words to Moses at the burning bush using the present tense: “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” The wording stresses the fact they are alive. Eternal life is truly eternal life. Yet, Jesus’ words clarify that eternal life is not automatic. His repeated warnings throughout the Gospels show there is a real judgment to come. Those who receive him have life. These wonderful promises of the afterlife apply to those who believe in Jesus. 

What to Do About Bad Government

Luke 20:25 (ESV) He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Bashing the government and its leaders is one of America’s favorite pastimes. Of course, we are not alone in this. People all over the world and throughout history have done the same. Political leaders, sometimes well-meaning but often self-interested, make decisions that affect everyone in the nation. It is nearly impossible to make a decision that benefits everyone. It is truly impossible to do it all of the time. So, our leaders get the brunt of our frustration. Sometimes that frustration will move to the level of public verbal opposition, then to outright disobedience. Many of those who oppose the government feel justified for their disrespect and violation of law.

If we think we have grounds for such insolence in America today, it is nothing compared to the first century Jews. They were a nation occupied and forced to pay taxes to the Roman government. That government was invited in by cruel King Herod the Great who pretended to be “one of them” but was not in any respect. The taxes were heavy and the people received virtually no benefit from them (or so they thought). Though there many reasons for the Jewish people to oppose the Roman occupation, the taxes garnered the most emotion.

The Jewish leaders saw this issue as an opportunity to either: 1) win the people’s support away from Jesus or 2) get legal grounds for Jesus’ execution by having him oppose the payment of taxes. So, to try to tap Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?” (vs 22) If Jesus said, “Yes,” the people would hate him because he endorsed the Roman taxation. If he said, “No,” the Jewish leaders would have hundreds of witnesses of Jesus telling people to violate Roman law. His response was brilliant: “Whose image is on the coin?” As the Jewish leaders had to confess it was Caesar’s, Jesus gave the response above: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” The trap was defeated. They got more benefit from that government than they realized. Jesus did not endorse the Roman government or its policies, but showed that people had to pay taxes to Caesar because it was his coins they used for legal tender.

The obvious application for us is to pay our taxes no matter how we feel about our government. Yet, it goes beyond that. Of course, there are many aspects of all of our leaders and their decisions that have been less than ideal for us. They are easy targets for criticism. However, we have received much from our government that we take for granted: security, highways, parks, economic protection and facilitation, support for millions of worthy causes, and the list goes on. Elsewhere in the New Testament we are commanded to obey and pray for our leaders (Romans 13:1-7, I Tim 2:1-4, I Peter 2:2-13-17). We can and should exercise our voice in shaping our government’s policies and futures, but ultimately, let’s be sure we honor our leaders… and, yes, pay our taxes, too.

The Peril of Fame

Luke 20:3-7 (ESV) He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” So they answered that they did not know where it came from.

Do you want to be popular? Would you like to be famous? A lot of us would. Many of us are driven to be known and recognized as great, talented, beautiful, smart, or powerful. Do a YouTube search for rock bands seeking a recording contract or show up at an American Idol audition, and you will see proof that people want to be famous. Yet, fame comes with a huge price tag. The fickle attention of others that gets one to fame can destroy that position in a heartbeat. Think of all the movie stars who have fallen from grace. Their beautiful pictures once emblazoned the cover of People but now their arrest photos fill the National Enquirer.

The Jewish chief priests of Jesus’ day did not get their positions from media coverage. They were born into them. Yet, even they realized how precarious their power was. Several times in Luke 19-20, they were put in a tough position with Jesus, and each time they were driven to do what they did, not because it was the right thing, but because they “feared the people.” Here, Jesus asks them a simple question in response to their own test. They knew the right answer, but that did not matter when their status in the eyes of the people was at risk. In the end, they looked foolish anyway. The supposedly smartest people in town said, “We don’t know.”

Becoming a slave to public opinion and living for your own fame will often put you in a position of compromise. Instead, do what’s right. Seek to be a person of character rather than a celebrity.

It’s all in the Timing

Luke 19:42-44 (ESV) “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

A lot of you know that my wife Keira and I enjoy riding bicycles. We did some racing before moving from Seattle, but my actual race performance was sorely lacking any wins or outstanding performances. I trained hard. I read books. I sought advice and coaching from experts. I counted not just calories but grams of protein and carbohydrates. Yet, all that effort never translated to a measurable achievement when it really counted. Certainly part of any athletic performance is natural talent, but, in my case, more of it had to do with timing. On a hard bike ride, the person riding in the front of the pack is usually doing 30% more work blocking the wind for those behind. In my races, I was often in that position, using my energy reserves at times it did not help me or my teammates. As the now stronger peloton passed me by, there was usually a few seconds in which, if I was willing to suffer a little more pain to go a little harder for just a short time, I could have jumped onto the back of the group and possibly recovered to finish with a high placing. Yet, in those few seconds of hesitation, my opportunity was gone. I was alone in the wind with almost no hope of finishing well. It was just a few seconds, and I missed my chance.

Timing really matters in many other areas of life. Days can go by with no seeming or opportunity. Then a chance comes to make a difference, and, if you do not act quickly, you miss it. With the rate of change in the world today, recognizing and seizing opportunities is one of the greatest skills any of us can have.

Jesus’ words to the people of Jerusalem were a severe warning and a prophecy of their coming destruction because they did not recognize their opportunity to receive Jesus as their eternal king. Israel had their scriptures for over a thousand years, but the window of their Messiah’s visit was just three short years of public ministry. Some welcomed him. Most did not. The outcome of history is decided by those who respond when they have a chance. You may be in a season when you are open to considering your eternal destiny. You may sense God drawing you. Your decision to act now could chance the course of your future, your family’s future, and countless of other lives you will impact. Do not let the opportunity pass.

Peace

Luke 19:37-38 (ESV) As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

The huge Palm Sunday crowd knew that something special was happening when Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem. They showed up in tens of thousands to welcome the One they believed to be their Messiah – their Savior. In honor of his coming, they quoted from Psalm 118, written hundreds of years before prophesying the coming Savior. (Hosanna is a derivative of the Hebrew Hoshia Na! – “Please, save us!” – found in Psalm 118:25) Luke has them quoting Psalm 118:26: “Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!” They understood Jesus’ coming as that which was predicted hundreds of years before. They got that part right. They believed he was coming to save. They got that part right, too.

Then, interestingly, their quotations shifted forward hundreds of years to the words of the angels to some Bethlehem shepherds: “Glory in the highest!” (See Luke 2:14) Once again, they got something right. That babe in a manger was born to be the King of Israel. Yet, they made a surprising change to the angel’s words that was more right than they could imagine. Although the angels pronounced peace on earth, the people of Jerusalem shouted, “Peace in Heaven.”

In the very next scene of Luke 19, we see Jesus weeping over the city, foretelling its coming destruction (which happened at the hands of the Romans in AD 70, less than 40 years later). The reason he gave for the destruction was, “You did not recognize the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:44) For all of their outward celebration, the First Century Jews were seeking an earthly savior to grant them a more comfortable life in this world rather than a heavenly Savior who would grant them full eternal life. Had they embraced Jesus for who he truly was, Jesus implied the nation would not have had to suffer the destructions of AD 67-70 and 127-130. They could have had both the earthly and heavenly peace had they welcomed Jesus on his terms rather than their own.

There is much that is good about life on earth. Yet, it will never be perfect. When we pursue earthly peace and prosperity as our top priority and fail to recognize Jesus and accept him as the true King he is, we miss out. When we welcome Him on his terms, we are assured of eternal peace with him in Heaven and good things here, as well.

Whose is it?

Luke 19:33-34 (ESV) And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.”

As Jesus neared Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he sent two of his disciples into a village on the Mount of Olives to get a colt donkey on which no one had yet ridden. This beast is mentioned in all four gospels, so he is pretty significant. Interestingly, Jesus told the disciples what to say if anyone asked what they were doing. In Luke’s account, it is the colt’s owners who stop them and ask them. I would ask, too, wouldn’t you? An animal was a major possession in those days, on the order of a new car in our world. A normal person would not just stand by and let a stranger drive away in their new car without trying to find out what was happening.

Interestingly, the Greek word Luke uses for owner is kurious. This is also the word for Lord in the very next sentence. One could translate the verses: “Its owners said to them ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ And they said, ‘Its owner needs it.’” That is like a thief starting off with your car. You beat on the window and say, “What are you doing? This is my car?” The thief replies, “Not anymore!” You or I would be on the phone to the police in a heartbeat in the situation, but we hear no complaint from this colt’s owners. Although that little donkey was a significant source of wealth for its former owners, they understood someone else truly owned everything they had.

Our society has developed an illusion that we can own land. In reality, all a property owner has is a piece of paper that legally claims she possesses the land. Yet, war, natural disaster, or death can make that paper meaningless. Ultimately everything we think we own is like that. It has all been entrusted to us by God. One of the greatest tests of our character is our attitude toward our possessions. Do we view ourselves as the ultimate owners of our possessions or do we acknowledge the one who owns us? If the real owner – our Lord – needs anything we have, are we willing to give it back to him?