The True Jesus: Forgiving Sinners

Now that Easter has passed, we will continue our walk through the book of Luke.  We are seeking to remind ourselves who the True Jesus is.  Our passage today is Luke 7:36-50.  If you remember, the passage before this is all about how the religious leaders had rejected John the Baptist because he was too anti-social and yet, they had rejected Jesus because he was too social.  He was a “friend of sinners.”

It seems very appropriate for Luke to share a story that clears up the truth about how much of a friend Jesus was to sinners.  In some ways He is and in others He is not.  If you are a sinner who likes your sin and won’t change for anybody (not even God or Jesus), Jesus won’t be your friend, in the end.  He will be your judge.  However, He will be the kind of friend to you who continues to try and speak the Truth into your life so that you can avoid that judgment.  Yet, Jesus did not have a problem with interacting with sinners and this was in great contrast to the religious leaders of His day.  Let’s look at the passage to clarify this issue.

Jesus Interacted With Sinners

The accusation that Jesus is a friend of sinners is very true because He was not afraid to interact with them in their lives and let them intersect what He was doing.  In this story we are going to see two very different kinds of sinners.

The first sinner is the Pharisee who we find out later is named Simon.  This Pharisee invites Jesus to his house for a meal and Jesus accepts the invitation.  We don’t know Simon’s motives, but more than likely Simon is seeking to deal with this “Jesus-problem” on his own.  If he can poke, prod, test and catch Jesus teaching error in some way then he will be hailed as a great rabbi by his peers.  If he was truly interested in Jesus no doubt he would have approached Jesus much like Nicodemus did; in secret at night.  Now before we leave this let me ask you this question.  Would you accept an invitation from a hypocritical religious leader who only wants to trap you?  The love of Christ does not reject Simon, but rather accepts the opportunity to be Truth in his life.  This man does not think that he is a sinner.  However, his sins were of a religious kind.  He was proud of his ability to do the Law.  Thus he was self-righteous around others.  He would be guilty of nit-picking on the finer points of the Law and yet ignoring the bigger issues to which it pointed.  He will also show that he is quick to judge others and yet lacked proper introspection.  Still Jesus goes to his house.

The second sinner is the woman from the town who is a sinner.  She comes into the home uninvited and imposes herself on their mealtime.  Simon normally would have had her thrown out.  But he waits and watches to see what Jesus will do.  We are not told what the woman’s sins are.  They must be something that is known publically for Simon to know.  Is she an adulterer, prostitute, or thief?  Next we can ask why she is there and crying so badly.  It seems clear that she has either heard of the teachings of Jesus by others, or she has heard Jesus teach.  He may have even spoken directly to her.  We have to be satisfied with not knowing on that account.  It is clear that she is convicted of her sin and yet thankful to Jesus for what He has taught or done for her.  The good news that even though she is a sinner, if she will repent, God still has a place for her, has filled her with tears of regret and yet tears of joy.  Notice that Jesus does not make an issue of her presence.  Instead he allows her to stay.

Their Actions Contrast Greatly

What is interesting is that both the Pharisee and the woman are breaking social custom here.  He did not show the common courtesies one would show in that day and she entered someone’s home uninvited when they were entertaining guests.  Yet, she is doing so out of love and Simon is doing so out of lack of respect.

The woman’s actions are self-effacing and humble.  She weeps and washes the feet of Jesus.  Drying the feet with her hair was something that slaves would do.  She is kissing His feet the whole time.  Then she anoints the feet with a costly, perfumed ointment.

We contrast this with the Pharisee who neglected to have the feet of Jesus washed and then has him lay at his table with dirty, stinky feet.  This is dishonoring to Jesus.  Lastly, he despises the woman and the lack of response from Jesus.  Though the judgment is not spoken outwardly, it is there nonetheless.  Most likely this despising was obvious on his facial expressions.  Either way, Jesus knew exactly what he was thinking.

Why is Jesus interacting with these two sinners?  His whole purpose is redemptive.  He wants to bring them to repentance for their sins so that they can be in fellowship with The Father in Heaven.

The Parable of Debts

Jesus tells a parable to Simon in order to help him see the other side of this situation.  Right now, Simon is invested in the position that the woman is a sinner and should be thrown out.  The parable is parallel to the people at the meal.  God is the creditor and it is the Pharisee who owes a debt of 50 denaria to God.  Likewise, it is the woman who owes a debt of 500 denaria to God.  Jesus accepts the fact that the quantity of this woman’s sin was greater than Simon’s.  However, most likely Simon didn’t believe He had any sin debt to God.  Jesus then asks the question.  If their debts are forgiven which of them will love more?  Notice that Simon is focused on the great quantity of the woman’s sin.  Jesus says that he should be focused on both of their abilities (rather lack of ability) to pay anything.

Forgiveness Yields Love

There is nothing in this world like true forgiveness.  When we know that we have done someone wrong, then come clean with them about it, and they truly forgive us…the feeling is of amazing relief, joy and thankfulness.  It invokes the desire to love that person in a far deeper way.  Yet, if we don’t think we need forgiven of something, we won’t care what the other person thinks or does.  In both cases, it will show up in our actions.  Thus the formula: Forgiveness will lead to loving actions.

Sometimes people confuse what is being said in vs. 47.  Jesus is not saying that the woman will be forgiven her sins because she loved much.  If you carefully read the passage you will see that the forgiveness comes first and the love follows.  Jesus is pointing  to her actions and saying that her great love is proof that she knows she has been forgiven of a great debt.  She does all she can at the expense of her own self-respect to honor Jesus.  Simons actions on the other hand were anything but loving.  Even the loving action of inviting someone to dinner and feeding them is tainted by the disrespect and dishonor in all of his other actions.  Thus his lack of love is proof of what?  This is the unspoken question that Jesus is putting back to Simon.  The unseen always has visible effects.  Sometimes people deceive others and even lie to themselves.  But that truth is incontrovertible.  Thus Jesus gives the woman assurance that her sins have been forgiven her.  Why?  She is forgiven by the grace of God because of her faith in the Word and Person of Jesus.  Such blessed assurance to receive from Jesus himself.  You have been forgiven (perfect tense).

This all begs the question: Was Simon forgiven?  In the parable both are forgiven.  But in reality Simon acts as if he doesn’t even have a debt.

The real question is to us who are reading this today.  What about me?  Do I recognize that I have a debt of sin to God?  Do I also recognize that I have no way to pay for my sin?  It doesn’t matter if we quantified our sin and compared it to others.  The truth is that we are all in the same boat: we don’t have anything of value that will cover our sins.  If we are to be free of that debt, God himself must freely forgive the debt.  Why would He do that?  Scripture is clear that it is by grace (freely given) we are saved through our faith in Christ and even that is not of ourselves.  If you don’t think your sin is bad enough to warrant eternity lost then you need to spend some time meditating on what it means to be a traitor and join rebel forces against the Creator, the Heavenly Father, who alone is Good.  It matters not your rank among sinners.  Only that you are one.  Praise God that He befriends sinners in order to redeem them back to Himself.  Thus Jesus says to the woman who was a sinner: Go in peace.  Go in peace with God, peace within yourself, and peace with even those who still accuse you.  I no longer have to fear the finger pointing of men like Simon when I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God has forgiven me.!

Forgiving Sinners Audio

The True Jesus: Forsaken

This Sunday is Easter or better, Resurrection Sunday.  We are going to return to our study of the Gospel of Luke next week.  But today I want to look at a question that Jesus asks while He is on the cross in Matthew 27.

Have you ever been forsaken by someone?  Or have you ever found yourself alone with no one who seemed to care?  Whether you were forsaken by parents, friends, loved ones, or someone else, it is a grievous thing to go through.  Take heart in this, you are in good company.  The Bible tells us that Jesus knows exactly how you feel because He went through the very same thing.  Let’s go to verses 45-46 and pick up the story.

Jesus Experiences A Dark Time

It is not by coincidence that darkness comes over the land for the last 3 hours of the death of Jesus.  It cannot be a solar eclipse because Passover occurs during the Full Moon and the sun is on the other side of the earth (besides the fact that they last less than 10 minutes).  Several ancient historians from the first century refer to earthquakes that were followed by a strange darkness lasting for 3 hours in what we would call AD 33.  I don’t believe we have enough information to understand what was physically happening to cause the darkness.  However, it is a powerful sign that this is a dark time.  The Savior of the world is dying on a cross and the heavens go black.  In fact the Creator of all things is suffering a symbolic dark night.

It is made dark by the unjust trial He had been given and the unjust punishment He was receiving.  Jesus had done nothing wrong, especially that would be worthy of death.  Still, He is run through a midnight trial with witnesses brought against Him that were so bad that the religious leaders balked at giving a sentence.  It was only when He was asked point blank, “Are you the Messiah,” and answered in the affirmative that they agreed to execute Him under a charge of blasphemy.  Was it really blasphemy to claim to be the Messiah?  Think about it.  If it is blasphemy to claim to be the Messiah then the Messiah could never come and save Israel.  Nowhere in the Law does it state it is blasphemy to claim to be the Messiah.  However, if you did claim to be the Messiah you had better save the people.  Instead of waiting to see if He does anything to save Israel, they quickly decide to kill Him.

Next, it is a dark night for Jesus because of the way in which they execute Him.  They go out of their way to publically shame Jesus before the whole nation.  He had been beaten to a bloody pulp and then paraded in front of the people.  He was chosen for execution over the top of a notorious criminal who deserved death.  On top of this is the Old Testament statement that He who hangs on a tree is cursed of God.  Lastly, as He hung on the cross people were taunting Him to prove He is the Messiah by coming off of the tree.  This public shame is a dark and heavy thing to put up with in light of the fact that you are doing it for them.

Yet, what made the time darkest for Christ had nothing to do with the religious leaders or the people.  It had to do with His Father in heaven.  Jesus had an eternal relationship of love between Himself and the Father.  Yet in this moment it is halted.  Instead of miracles of divine help, the supernatural becomes strangely silent during the crucifixion.  When God refuses to overturn this crucifixion it is taken for God’s agreement by the people.  Surely God wouldn’t let the true Messiah be killed, would He?

The Cry Of Jesus

It is at this darkest moment in the existence of Jesus that He cries out, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?”  This is an amazing statement; that the Father would forsake His Perfect Son.  Clearly anyone in this situation would feel forsaken by God.  In fact, it is quite universal to feel that the God of the heavens does not care about you and will not help you in times of great injustice and in times of being forsaken.

Yet, Jesus is not just asking God a question.  He is actually quoting a verse of Scripture from Psalm 22:1.  Thus He is doing more than telling us how He feels.  He is calling the attention of those who saw this or hear the story to that Old Testament passage.

When you analyze this Psalm it is amazing.  It actually reads as if it was written by Jesus while He is on the cross.  It starts with the question of Why.  It then moves to point out that God has helped people in the past, but this One is a worm and will receive no help.  It talks about how persecuted and physically broken He is.  However, at the end of the Psalm a strange transition occurs.  The simple line, “You have answered me,” ends the grim side of this Psalm with the tortured author praising God and declaring that this is all God’s doing.

Thus the question of Jesus is not just a question.  It is telling us that He believes He is living out Psalm 22 and that no matter how much of a worm He has become and no matter how forsaken of God He will be, in the end God will hear Him.  It is a statement of explanation and of faith in a dark moment.  These dying words are clearly not words of doubt, but simply a way to let us know that in the midst of despising this forsaken situation, Christ knew He would be heard.  It may not look like it, but I will declare it among the Great Assembly.

Was Jesus Forsaken?

Well He was in the sense that God did not help Him and abandoned Him to the will of wicked men.  God did not protect Jesus.  Of course, if we look at the resurrection and the ascension, and the prophesied Second Coming, it is clear that He was not completely forsaken.  Yet this abandoning to an unjust death and public humility is only part of the His being forsaken.  Some have pointed out that God is more than abandoning Jesus.  He is actively pouring out His wrath upon Jesus.  This unthinkable break in the eternal love that has existed between Father and Son is the greatest agony.  God is not just neutral, but even worse; He is the very one pouring out His wrath and our punishment upon Jesus.  Why such a strange thing?  Is God truly a cosmic child abuser, who abandons those who serve Him, in the end?  This really is not fair.  Jesus is not a child being forced to endure something.  He is a grown, adult Son who is actually working in harmony with His Father in a Rescue operation.  God is not a cosmic child abuser.  He is the epitome of self sacrifice in grim circumstances; taking upon Himself the punishment of us all.  This is the plan that He and the Son had agreed to in eternity past as they counted the cost to creating.  Before God says, “Let there be light,” He and the Son have already agreed to the plan that required the Son to allow Himself to be nailed to a cross and the Father to pour out the punishment due all of mankind upon the Son.  Jesus Himself said, “No one takes my life from me.  I lay it down.”  This leads us to 2 Corinthians 5:17 and following.

Jesus was reconciling us back to God.  He is not just suffering, but He is removing a barrier between us and God so that we can have fellowship with Him.  We are sinners and He must judge us.  This is the white elephant in the room that can’t be avoided.  God does not avoid it.  Rather, He takes the pain upon Himself, that we might have a broken relationship restored.

Furthermore,  2 Corinthians 5 says that our sins are put on His account.  Yes, apparently God keeps records of all our deeds, words, thoughts, and actions.  Those who reject Jesus will have to give account for all the things that are written on their account.  But, those who turn to Jesus in faith, will have all of their sins placed on Christ’s account, which by the way is already covered.

It says that “God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us.”  This is a reference to an Old Testament ritual that happened on the Day of Atonement.  Israel was required to make sacrifices on a specific day every year to make atonement or covering for their sin.  On this day two goats would be chosen.  One would be sacrificed as a sin offering and the other would be sent into the wilderness to die.  However, before sending this goat into the wilderness, the High Priest would lay his hands on the goat and symbolically transfer the sins of the nation onto the goat.  This goat would then symbolically carry their sins into the wilderness and the sins would die with the goat and never return.  This is the concept of the scapegoat.  Now in the world a scapegoat is often a part of the sin in the first place.  They are made to take the rap while everyone else gets off.  But in this case the scapegoat had nothing to do with the sins.  It is not just unfair.  It is unthinkable.  Now picture in your mind as sin upon sin is laid upon this goat.  Yet, Jesus is dying for the sins of the whole world, for all time.  There is seemingly no end to the sin as it is heaped up until no goat is visible only sin.  When the Father pours out His wrath, it is not really upon His son, but upon the sin that He carries.  Never forget that this is exactly how God feels about our sin.  It is something He hates and yet because He loves us He is willing to take our punishment upon Himself.  The Sinless One takes our sin upon Himself and carries it away; never to be heard from again.

How Can I Experience this?

The question remains.  How can I know that I am at peace with God and that Jesus has carried my sins away?  In 2^nd Corinthians 5 it simply says that those who are “in Christ” become a new creation.  Yet, this process of becoming “in Christ” is described elsewhere in several actions.

First, I must ADMIT that I am a sinner and in need of a savior.  As a healer, Jesus did not come to heal people who were already well.  Similarly He did not come to save people who don’t want a savior.  No one will be forced to accept this reconciliation to God.  All of us are spiritually sick and in need of God’s healing.  Until we admit this we cannot belong to Him.  This humbling of ourselves is the only thing that God will accept because it is the very nature of Jesus.  He humbled Himself and did for us what we could not do for ourselves.  It is only right that we should humble ourselves and admit that we can’t pay for our own sins.  We need a savior and God has given us Jesus.  Take it or leave it, but this is the only choice.

Second, I must BELIEVE that Jesus is God’s answer to cover my sin.  Some persist in thinking that they are good enough.  “Surely, I haven’t done anything worthy of great punishment!”  Yet, they have never stood before a Judge who knows everything they have ever thought and done in secret as well as that done in the open.  Now, when you ask most people if they are good, they will answer yes.  But if you ask them are they perfect, they will balk and then say, “nobody’s perfect.”  Yet, somebody is.  God is the perfect Judge and His Son is the Perfect One who was sacrificed for our sins.  You can accept God’s plan or you can fight against it.  But you won’t win by rejecting His offer of peace because you are not perfect.  Put your faith in Jesus by recognizing that He is God’s answer for your sins.  He is the only One worthy of our praise.

Third, I must CONFESS with my mouth that Jesus is my Lord.  Jesus is not just our sin-bearer.  By right of Deliverer, He becomes our Lord.  We owe Him our life and thus all we do should be for His purposes.  Although it might sound horrible to be obligated to another, remember that He is pure, righteous, trustworthy, gentle, humble, and loving.  To confess before others that Jesus is your Lord and Savior is to publically identify with Him.  Don’t think that you can accept Him in your heart while publically rejecting Him.  Jesus said, that if you deny me in front of men, then I will deny you before my Father.  It is not easy to confess Jesus before a world that crucified Him.  The world is no different today.  Whether it does so by redefining Jesus or cursing Jesus, this world rejects the True Jesus, what He stands for, and what He did.  Will you follow the world or hear the Holy Spirit calling you to be reconciled to God?

Lastly, we must Follow Jesus.  He said, “Pick up your cross and follow me.”  We can’t do what Jesus did in that we can die for the sins of others.  Neither do we need to because Jesus did it once and for all.  However, we do need to die to the purposes that our flesh wants to live for.  We have to come alive to the leadership of Jesus.  Die to this world and live to God.  Die to yourself and live to God.  This is the way of Jesus.  If we will do this, then God will work through us to be the Deliverer of others.  Not because we can pay for their sins, but because we can bring the truth of who Jesus is to them and the Truth can set them free.  Be free today!  Choose Life!

Forsaken audio

The Triumphal Entry

Today we are going to pause in our study of the Gospel of Luke and look at what is called the Triumphal Entry of Jesus in Luke 19:28-44.  It is called the Triumphal Entry because Jesus is celebrated and declared to be the Messiah as He comes to Jerusalem in the week before He is killed.  In some ways it is oddly named because in 3-4 days the crowds will be crying out, “Crucify him!”  I guess it all comes down to what you call a “triumph.”  This day is not a triumph from the perspective of Jesus and heaven.  It is actually a tragic failure because the people are only fair weather friends who will largely reject Him when He embraces going to the cross.  This is not the kind of savior they were seeking.  Thus from heaven’s perspective the Triumphal entry would be either His resurrection day or we could fast-forward to the Second Coming in Revelation 19 and point to it as His true triumphal entry.  Let’s look at the story.

Jesus Heads For Jerusalem

Jesus often went to Jerusalem, but this time is unique.  Jesus heads to Jerusalem for the last time in order to offer himself up as the Lamb of God for the sins of Israel and for the whole world.  Up till now it was not His time.  But now it is.  Up till now He could not be touched by the authorities, but now they will succeed in taking Him and killing Him.  This passage says that Jesus “went on ahead” up to Jerusalem.  This is intended to mean that Jesus led His disciples, not that He left them.  Rather, He is not hiding among the herd of disciples to protect himself.  Instead, He is out front leading the way. It was He that would bear the blow in the days ahead not them.  He is the one who is our shield and strength.  If He lets anything touch us, it is because it cannot truly hurt us; that is if we keep our eyes upon Him.

Loosing Of The Colt

When they reach two small villages on the east side of the Mount of Olives, Jesus gives His disciples some instructions.  He wants a young donkey who has never been ridden to be His transportation to rest of the way.  This is not because He is tired.  Jesus is doing these things on purpose in order to teach us.  Let’s look deeper.

Many skeptics have read these verses and accused Jesus of trying to steal the donkey.  Is this theft or something else?  Why doesn’t Jesus just ask for the donkey first?  What you have to understand is that Jesus is acting out a prophecy in order to teach Israel something about His Messiahship.  Thus this is not theft, but symbolism.  In fact Jesus knew they would be asked why they were taking the colt.  He is going to act out a prophecy that would not only speak to all the people of Jerusalem, but would also declare truth to the rebellious, spiritual forces that were holding mankind captive.

In Zechariah 9:9 there is a specific prophecy that tells Israel that her King (the Messiah) would come to her having justice and salvation, humbly riding on a donkey.  In this sense Jesus was purposefully fulfilling this prophecy.  Now some accuse Jesus of doing this with all of the prophecies in the Old Testament.  However, many of the prophecies had to do with His birth and lineage.  Thus most of the prophecies about Jesus were not ones He could plot to fulfill.  So this accusation is unfounded.  By purposefully fulfilling this prophecy, Jesus was, without a doubt, declaring His kingship over Israel.  He was ready to go public.  Yet, this prophecy emphasizes that the mode of operation (MO) of the Messiah would be justice, salvation, and a humble king riding on a humble beast.  This can be contrasted with the 2^nd Coming of Christ in Revelation 19, where He comes back gloriously and riding on a white horse, with the armies of heaven at His back.

The symbolism in this section is critical.  The donkey represents not the strong leaders and kings of Israel.  But the simple people of Israel.  Jesus had come to set free the people who had been tied up (brought into bondage) by the leaders of Israel.  Thus Jesus does not need to ask permission to untie the people because they are His by right.  Notice however the objection.  The religious leaders objected to the person, teaching, and ministry of Jesus.  They did not want the people free.  They enjoyed the privileged place they had and the benefits they received from having the people in bondage.  Also, the dark forces of the spirit world also objected to any freeing of people.

The answer that is given is that “the Lord has need of him.”  Why did God come down to save simple people out from under the great elite of this world?  Why did God, over the top of natural and spiritual objections, set free the lowly of this world from the powerful?  It is because He has need of us….of you.  The next time you are tempted to put yourself down as nothing, remember that He has need of you.  God doesn’t need the pomp, pride, and power of man.  What He needs is man to humble himself.  Here is the King of Israel, but He offers himself in humility.  If I am to be your king it is going to be a humble administration.  Rejoice today that the Lord has need of you.  He wants your companionship.  He wants your love.  He wants your willing heart.  He wants you!  What a precious thing that we should remind ourselves during times of doubt.

Lastly notice that Jesus is carried by the colt.  In the New Testament we are told that clothing often symbolizes righteous works.  The disciples cover the colt with their outer garments as a picture of how Jesus would use them to teach the humble believers how to take the righteousness of Christ upon themselves, so that they could then become “bearers” of Jesus wherever they go.  Now Christ is the one directing the colt.  Thus we are to live clothed in the righteousness of Jesus (versus our own ideas of righteousness) directed by our Lord.  So Jesus “rides” upon us to the work that He wants to do through us and with us, as we submit to the teachings of Jesus and His apostles.

The Celebration of Jesus

Now it is the Passover week, which would have lots of travelers on the road to Jerusalem. So as Jesus and His disciples crest the Mount of Olives they begin to head down into the valley between it and the Temple Mount.  It is then that the people begin to notice that Jesus is coming into Jerusalem on a donkey.  They break out into celebration because many had come to believe that He must be the messiah.  They get the message that He is sending.  The King is coming!

They then throw their outer garments onto the road for Christ to ride over.  This honoring of Jesus is simultaneously a humbling of yourself (and your own righteousness).  They are rolling out the red carpet for Christ.  If you are going to receive Jesus as your king, then you are going to have to lay down your righteousness and seek to be clothed with His righteousness alone. 

They people also use the words of Psalm 118 as their celebratory cry, “Save us!  Save us!  Blessed is the One who comes in the Name of the Lord!”  It would be worth your while to meditate on that Psalm this week.  It was understood to be speaking of the Messiah.  By the way, you may notice that in Psalm 118, the next thing after this cry for salvation are these words:  “Bind the sacrifice to the altar with cords.”  What cords bound Jesus to the cross?  Was it not the ties of His love for us, for you?

The Rebuke

Now all of this is being seen by Satan’s spiritual powers and the leaders of Israel who had come under their influence.  They do not like what they are seeing.  Thus the Pharisees and lawyers begin to object to Jesus.  Remember that this is the very thing that the symbolism of the objection to untying the colt was pointing to.  Jesus has come to untie the people from their sins and the wicked do not like it.  Why?  They do so because they want to keep the people in bondage.  They have worked too hard to have it all lost.  Know this, that the elite men and the spiritual forces of this world have a vested interest in keeping mankind bound in sin and under their authority.  But, Christ has set us free from all that.  Thus we live in an age of great deception.  Many Christians are being deceived to the truth of Christ that would really set them free and give them different leaders.  Thus Jesus is told to rebuke His disciples and keep them from proclaiming Him as Messiah.

Jesus points out that if they didn’t cry out then the rocks would.  Know this:  God will be praised.  The question is will you be a part of it?  The rocks will praise me.  This is a common theme throughout the prophets.  In Isaiah 55 we see the trees clapping their hands and the mountains will break forth before Him.  This reveals that the natural world will glorify God by doing what it was made to do.  But man is different.  Man has an ability to choose something other than what he was made for.

Jesus Weeps

Like He wept over the death of Lazarus, so Jesus weeps over Jerusalem as He looks out over it and its people.  Jesus weeps because He knows what is coming, what didn’t have to be.  He was there and could stop it, if they would allow.  But sadly they would not.  Yes today they rejoice, but shortly they will change their mind when He chooses a path that is contrary to what their flesh and heart desire.

Jesus says that only if they knew where their peace comes from.  Even today Israel and most of the world do not know where their peace comes from.  Only God can give us peace.  No amount of ambassadors, great sounding words, powerful militaries, and amazing leaders can give us peace.  No amount of cool movies, seductive actors, amusements, or wealth can give us peace.  Everything we plunge after only takes us further away from what would give us peace—Jesus.  The world as a whole rejects the offer of peace from God because it thinks it can create its own peace.  This is why God weeps.  He knows that this is a pipe dream that leads to the slavery of mankind and ends up in the destruction of mankind.

Jesus says that the significance and understanding of these things would be hidden from the eyes of Israel. The apostle Paul picks this theme up in Romans 11:25.  He states that this blindness of Israel to the messiah would not last forever.  Also in 2 Corinthians 3, he states that the blindness of Israel was like a veil over the eyes.  Yet, the good news is that though God may blind us because of our unbelief and wickedness, He will have mercy.  He will bring us back around again to see once again what we refused to believe before.

Lastly Jesus refers to this as the time of Israel’s visitation.  Israel was in bondage to the “Beast” kingdom of Rome.  They had cried out for deliverance for years.  Now, in Jesus, God was visiting them, in order to deliver them.  Their cry had not failed to reach God.  Though God has a different time schedule than us, He does hear our cries.  He is hurting over our injustices, and wounding of each other.  He weeps over the bondage that we continue under and longs to come and offer Himself to us.  In Jesus that day has come.  For the last 2,000 years God has been carried around by lowly Christians who offer to them the peace of Christ.  But there is a day of visitation coming; a day when it will be critical that we have eyes to see the truth.  The antichrist will come forth offering a false peace that leads to destruction, but the true Christ will come forth offering a true peace that leads to life.  Choose Jesus today!

The Triumphal Entry mp3

Children of Wisdom or Folly?

Today we will be in Luke 7: 29-34.  Here we see that the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus were very different in some ways.  Of course they were similar in others ways.  They both preached repentance in light of the coming Kingdom.  But they did so in two very different ways.  Perhaps this is part of why John had doubts when he was in prison.  Either way, Jesus draws on the book of Proverbs as He challenges the people about their response to John’s ministry and His.

The Bible uses a literary device called personification.  It is when you take an abstract concept and speak about it as if it were a person.  Thus in Proverbs 8, Solomon speaks of wisdom as a woman who is a teacher calling out to men to come and learn.  The reason Solomon does this becomes clearer as you look at another woman in Proverbs 7.  This woman is an immoral, seductress who tries to allure men into her bed.  Solomon warns that no matter how much it appeals to your flesh it will lead to death in the end.

Now I know that some get stuck on the way that everything is couched in terms to protect men from immoral women.  The truth is that the opposite is true as well.  Young women are hearing the voice of the immoral man calling to her to join him in sexual immorality.  These opposing voices in life are appealing to two very different parts of our nature.  Immorality appeals to the urges of our flesh, whereas Wisdom appeals to our mind.

In today’s passage Jesus uses this personification of wisdom and takes it one step further.  Those who listen to the voice of immorality or wisdom become children of the same.  They head down a path of learning and growing in immorality or wisdom.  Let’s look into it.

The Response to John & Jesus

Last week Jesus detailed why the people went out to the Jordan River to hear John.  It was because he body proclaimed the Truth as a true prophet of God.  Now Luke steps back from the narrative and points out the responses of those who heard John and Jesus.  Some of them received John and Jesus.  Notice that after Jesus healed and taught then the people “justified God.”  Now if it is God justifying us it means that He is doing something to us that we lack.  But when men “justify” God it is not the same meaning.  God is justified whether or not any men recognize it or declare it.  Thus it takes on the meaning that is closer to recognition.  We don’t make God any more just, but we can publically declare that He is.  Luke ties this public reception of what Jesus had said and done to the fact that they had earlier received John the Baptist by being baptized for repentance.  This makes sense because John was pointing people to Jesus.  Here we see Jesus publically affirming John and the ministry that he did.

It is humorous to see Luke point out that “even tax collectors” were justifying God.  Now tax collectors in those days were in a strange place.  They were definitely well to do and not hurting financially.  But they had to sell out their people in order to be so.  Thus tax collectors have no monetary problems, but have major social problems.  They are outcasts.  There is something about being shut out whether financially or socially that helps us to hear the message of God.  Now this brings up the Pharisees and the Lawyers.  This group despised the tax collectors and saw them as the lowest of the low. 

This sets up a powerful contrast of the average people, and even the lowest, embracing John and Jesus, while the rulers, leaders and well to do rejecting them.  The “unworthy” of society recognize the truth while the “worthy” do not recognize it and even persecute it.  The same is true today.  Do you spend your time trying to fit in with the “worthy” of society?  Or, do you trust God to be the one who declares your true “worth.”

So Luke paints a picture of a large number of people rejoicing and praising God for Jesus.  Yet, in the midst of this is a group that refuses to rejoice and, in fact, despise Jesus.  They didn’t need wisdom from Jesus because they believed they already possessed it.  The first step of wisdom is to recognize that before God your “wisdom” is folly or foolishness.  Even though they had received wisdom from God through Moses, they did not handle it with humility.  Instead in great pride they used it to stand against the truth.  Luke ties this to the fact that they refused to be baptized by John.  They rejected John and now they reject Jesus, in the same way that the regular people embraced John and Jesus.  Now this is an important point because Jesus is moving to make a point about the thinking that the Pharisees and Lawyers used to reject Him.

The Folly of Their Thinking

Now ultimately, many of those who were praising Jesus now, would turn away from Him when He chooses to go to the cross.  There is something about God choosing suffering that causes mankind to shrink back in horror and disgust.  Thus Jesus employs another metaphor from their everyday life.  “To what shall I compare this generation?”  This picture that Jesus describes is one the people would have been very family with.  Going to the marketplace is a large part of their lives.  They all could relate to being children with their parents at the marketplace, and then later being the parents bringing their children with them to the market place.  Kids grow tired of adult things quickly.  Thus the kids would gather together and play games while the adults did the shopping.  Now it is clear that in those days it was common for the kids to play imaginary games in which they would act out funerals or festivals.  The key to this is that the kids are playing imaginary games while the parents are involved in reality.

This leads us to his first point.  The kids in the story encounter an adult and want Him to join in their imaginary games.  Now though an adult might do this for a short time out of love for the kids, the adult must refuse to play all the time.  They have real things to deal with.  The kids here are those who rejected John and Jesus.  They expected God to do what they wanted.  However, John and Jesus (like adults) refused to play along with their imaginary solutions.  Jesus came to do adult work, not play imaginary games with us.  Do we do this at all today?  Do we as a generation, like little kids, demand that God, who is the “adult,” play with us in our imaginary world and solutions?  Do we demand that God do what we think He should rather than recognizing who He is and stop playing?  God is no dog to jump through the hoops that we would put before Him.  It is we who should humble ourselves and come to the teacher to learn, not the other way around.

The next problem was that their judgments were biased in their own favor.  Jesus points this out by noting the big difference between Him and John.  John was a recluse who was the epitome of self-denial.  When he did come out of the wilderness to interact with people, he was still isolated from the people.  Rather than joining in with them in life, he challenged them to change.  On the other side, Jesus was always around people, eating and drinking with them in their homes.  Now keep in mind that both are from God and speak the Truth.  But, their methods are very different.  The Pharisees and Lawyers rejected John because he was so detached from them and their ways that they claimed he was demon possessed.  Look at him with his wild hair, feeding off the land, out in the wilderness.  He must be possessed.  Of course, John wasn’t demon possessed.  He spoke clearly, intelligibly, didn’t cut himself, or attack people.  Their judgments were biased in favor of the outcome they wanted.  John’s message was unappealing to them and so they judged his life to be of the devil.  However, Jesus did not come this way.  He was the opposite.  He had no problem associating with people and eating with them in their homes.  Yet, he also associated with sinners.  Again the Pharisees reasoned that he must be a glutton, drunkard, and a friend of sinners (aka “a sinner too”).  Now God has sent them both with two very different attempts to draw them to His wisdom and they reject both.  In fact they had been doing this for centuries.  When you look at the lives of the prophets, you see that they represented many different varied lives.  But they all had the same message for the people.  God in His mercy has sent many people with various personalities and lives.  But they all contain the same message.  If we are so set in our ways and thinking that nothing God says or does can get through to us, then we are in the most pitiful circumstances.

Jesus ends with the statement, “Wisdom is justified by all her children.”  Here we have the same issue as before.  Wisdom is not made to be right by us.  Rather the fact that it has people who respond to it and embrace it like a little child, justifies it against those who reject it.  Which do you choose:  the seductive allure of immorality, or the promise of Wisdom?  Which do you choose: the joys of the immoral bed or the fruits of a classroom?  Our flesh pulls powerfully towards immorality.  But know this.  If you choose that path you then become a child of it and will only grow to know the depths of it.  And, the depths of it are called death.  No one will be able to tell God that He can’t expect them to believe because of lack of evidence.  He will only need to point to the countless millions who did believe.  Wisdom is justified by all her children.  Choose wisdom today!

Wisdom or Folly Audio