For to such belongs the kingdom of God ...
Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
There is something about babies that draw many close to God. Perhaps it is the wonder of birth itself that causes parents to bring their newborns to a religious service of dedication? It is as if these adult people of faith understand how difficult life can be and want their child to have all the help that God can give them. My children were but a few weeks old when a pastor held them and blessed them with a prayer of dedication. It was a sweet and blessed moment.
Jesus transforms this image of infants being brought to him into a conversation about what it takes to enter the kingdom of God. When I think about this I am brought to the realization that one does not need to understand much to enter. The image of salvation is the image of a child trusting their parents because they know that their parents love them deeply. In like manner we are called to this simple trust of a heavenly parent who unconditionally loves us.
Help me to trust you like an innocent child today Lord.
Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled ...
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
In opening this passage Jesus tells us that a self-righteous person is one "who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt". The contrast that he paints in this parable is so compelling. The self-righteous Pharisee brags about what he does not do then boasts about the little that he does do. He speaks as though he does not need God at all. Yet the tax collector seems to only confess that he is weak and in need of God.
When I think about humility I rarely think about this tax collector. In truth I want humility to be a bit more sophisticated and religious than a man who "would not even lift up his eyes to heaven". Somehow I think that the humility I long for resembles the attitude of the Pharisee and not the tax collector. Perhaps humility begins, and maybe ends, with a cry for heavenly mercy? Perhaps it is all about how we talk to God in prayer? A new thought for me.
I am weak and in need of you. God, be merciful to me, a sinner!
Will not God give justice ...
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
I have read this passage many many times and have never really noticed the word "justice" in it.Jesus not only uses the word in the parable but he then speaks of God giving justice to those "who cry to him day and night". Why do you think that he speaks of this connection between justice and persistent prayer? Possibly the only response to the injustice in this world is prayer that does not cease but causes one to rise up acting and interceding for the helpless?
The second connection to prayer in this passage is the one to faith and faithfulness. The Lord closes the parable by asking a question about faith. It is like he is saying: "Yes, I know that you believe while I am here but will you continue to believe ... will you continue to pray.. once I am gone". The hallmark of a believer is prayer. A person who does not include God into every part of their life through prayer misses the greatest of joys that this life affords.
For this day Lord, we pray for the justice that happens when your kingdom comes and your will is done.
Just as it was in the days of Noah ...
Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.”
Interesting to note that Jesus uses two events where God directly intervened in judgment to compare with his return. In each case a friend of God was forewarned of the event. God spoke to Noah of this judgment but no one would listen to his witness as he built the ark. Before fire and sulfur rained down on Sodom God stopped and spoke to Abraham and his nephew Lot was saved. It helps to know that God will once again speak to his friends before he comes again.
In graphic terms Jesus speaks to us of Lot's wife who disobeyed angelic commands and turned to a statue of salt as she looked back. He likens her action to those who seek to live only for themselves. He speaks in paradoxical language of keeping our lives only when we lose our lives. This speaks to me of the friend who God talks to and one he does not. Like Lot and his wife, one will be saved from judgment and the other with not. It is an issue of friendship.
Lord, you have called me friend. Help me to honor that friendship today.
The kingdom of God is in the midst of you ...
Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
The Pharisees certainly embraced a different image of the Messiah than the one that Jesus offered. And they definitely saw the coming of the Christ and his kingdom very differently. I love how Jesus speaks of the kingdom as an invisible one that cannot be observed. Such is the way that the kingdom of God comes today. Yet many still desire one similar to that Pharisaical image. Embracing an unseen kingdom can be so hard if one does not engage inner eyes.
Jesus identifies himself as the Christ or the Messiah. He speaks of how he must suffer and be rejected before he comes again. Have you ever thought about the idea that Jesus came a second time to earth when he was resurrected? Or how he comes to the faithful in death? Even so there is another image that is painted in the scriptures about a Messiah who will once again come to earth as the king of all kings. In that day we all will see the kingdom of God.
I long to see your coming Lord Jesus. Open my inner eyes that I might see your kingdom today.
Where are the nine?
On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
This story so engages me. What would it have been like to have been traveling with Christ and witness this spectacle? Can you imagine Jesus yelling back and forth with these lepers? Each one of the lepers obeyed his command to "Go and show yourselves to the priests" and it could be argued that the one who came back never got to a priest. What was it in the foreigner that stopped before getting to the priest? What caused him to quickly return but not the others?
Could it be that this lone Samaritan embraced the spirit of the law rather than the letter of it that commanded that a cleansed leper show himself to a priest? Could it be that he understood that praise and thankfulness were of a higher law than the Levitical law? Jesus seemed pleased that this man esteemed this form of worship higher than the other. Perhaps we would do well in our everyday lives to understand that God desires thanks more than following the rules?
Open my eyes to the many things I have to be thankful for Lord. Help me to be one who follows the higher law.
We are unworthy servants ...
“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
Do these few sentences seem a bit odd to you? Does knowing that Jesus said this in the context of forgiving others help? The disciples responded to Jesus' command to forgive seven times a day saying that they needed more faith. Jesus infers here that we are simply doing "our duty" when we forgive. It puts forgiveness in a whole new light - doesn't it? Yet it helps us to understand that following Jesus means that he is Lord and we are but unworthy servants.
The other aspect of these verses is the idea that we, being unworthy servants, have not done anything to earn the forgiveness of God. This very point goes against the grain of our humanness. Somehow we have grown up thinking that God has an obligation to forgive us like a bad parent who overlooks every bit of mischief their child enters into. Yet in the Lord's prayer Jesus instructs us to ask God to forgive us only as we forgive each other. It is a kingdom principle.
I repent of all unforgiveness Lord. I am unworthy and desperately need your forgiveness. I choose to forgive.
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