To this day when I read Luke 2, I hear it in my father’s voice. Every year on Christmas Eve we celebrated our family Christmas and that celebration started with my father reading Luke 2, all the way through the account of Anna. (We celebrated on Christmas Eve because we went to my uncle’s house on Christmas day for my Dad’s family Christmas dinner). It seems clear to me that Luke’s source for this chapter is none other than Jesus’ mother, Mary. All of the stories recorded in Luke 2 are the sort of thing that a mother remembers.
I love the story of the angels announcing Jesus’ birth to the shepherds. God did not send His angels to announce The Messiah’s birth to the Temple and the high priest, nor did He send them to the palace and the king. God did not send His angels to announce Christ’s birth to the high and mighty. He sent them to announce it to the nobodies in the field. The shepherds weren’t the people with the “important” jobs. They were doing a job about which most of their contemporaries would have said, “anybody can be a shepherd.” That is who God thinks are important enough to announce the birth of Christ
I love Luke’s introduction and what it tells us about what he is going to do. Luke focused on writing what he believed (and I believe) to be a factual account of Jesus’ life. It was more important to him that what he wrote be an accurate account of what happened than that it supported a particular belief system. This does not mean that Luke’s belief system did not influence what he chose to record. But it does indicate that Luke attempted to base his beliefs on the facts as he observed them. I also believe that Luke was telling Theophilus, “of course there are not accounts about Jesus from nonbelievers. If you saw this stuff happening and realized that it was important, you would end up as a believer.”
I find it interesting to compare and contrast the ways in which Zechariah and Mary reacted to the message they each received from the angel. Neither one quite believed that what the angel told them would happen. Yet Zechariah received a reprimand for not believing while Mary received an explanation. Of course, that goes right along with how they expressed their lack of belief. Zechariah asked for evidence that what the angel was telling him would happen. Mary asked for an explanation, after essentially saying, “I know how this works, and that doesn’t apply here.” Since Zechariah asked for a sign, he received a sign, a somewhat punitive sign, but a sign nonetheless. Mary asked for an explanation, so that was what she got. I want to point out that I believe that Luke included Mary’s comment about being a virgin to indicate that she was not a naive young woman who did not know how pregnancy happened.
I am sure I have written this in the past. When I was younger, Jesus’ instructions to the two disciples He sent ahead to prepare for the Passover meal were related to me as an example of Jesus’ ability to see the future. It was suggested that He prophetically knew the man would be where he would be and would be willing to allow them to use his room for their Passover meal. However, as I read it now it seems clear to me that Jesus had made previous arrangements to eat the Passover meal in this man’s room with His disciples. On the other hand, Jesus’ prediction that one of the Twelve would betray Him is indeed a prophetic pronouncement. Every time I read that I wonder what went through Judas’ mind at that moment.
When I read the various accounts of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane I have two separate reactions. First is the desire and wish to pray as Jesus did when difficulty and struggling confront me: “Please take this suffering from me, but Your will be done, not mine.” I want to ask God to take the suffering away from me, but I want to submit to that suffering if it is necessary to accomplish His will. Second is an empathy with the disciples inability to stay awake. All too often when I attempt to pray in the ways I think that I should I find myself falling asleep. As with so many other passages on prayer, this passage reminds me that my prayer life comes nowhere close to where it should.
Today’s passage contains accounts of three different approaches people take to those who proclaim the truth. First the Pharisees attempted to trap Jesus in the conflict between government authority and popular opinion. Then the Sadducees tried to trap Jesus in what they thought was a logic conflict in His belief system. Finally an unnamed teacher of the law asked a probing question aimed at discovering the core of Jesus’ teachings.
The Pharisees thought that Jesus’ appeal to the masses came from telling them what they wanted to hear. The premise of their question was that if Jesus gave the crowds the answer they wanted to hear, they could have the Romans arrest Him for inciting rebellion. On the other hand, they thought that if Jesus gave an answer on taxation which did not support it the crowds would turn on Him. The Pharisees did not ask this question in order to learn Jesus’ answer. They thought they had come up with a question where they could use whatever answer Jesus gave against Him. There are many nuances to Jesus’ answer. However, Jesus makes the central point that only those involved in trade with the Romans were significantly impacted by the Roman taxes.
The Sadduccess thought that resurrection from the dead was illogical. Their question was intended to highlight the logical inconsistencies of what Jesus taught. Again, they were not seeking to understand what Jesus’ taught. They sought an answer they could use against Him. Jesus showed that their question only seems like it presents a quandary because they lacked faith in God’s power over the Universe.
Finally, the unnamed teacher of the law asked a question which actually explored what Jesus taught. This last question truly got at whether or not Jesus was a teacher to whom we should listen. This man asked Jesus a question to which he genuinely wanted to know the answer. Unlike the Pharisees who thought they would be able to use Jesus’ answer against Him, no matter how He answered and unlike the Sadduccess who thought their question had no answer. This unnamed teacher genuinely wanted to know what Jesus thought. He wanted to see if Jesus’ answer added up. When people question us about our faith, they will fall into one of these categories. Some people will be seeking an answer that they can use against us or our faith. Others will be seeking to show that only foolish people would actually believe what we say we believe. But a few people will ask questions because they genuinely seek to learn the truth.
I see a connection between Jesus’ interaction with the rich man and His teaching about leadership. The rich man came to Jesus because he felt that something was missing in his life. He felt this way despite the fact that he had kept all of the commandments from a young age. Yet despite the feeling of emptiness he felt, he was unwilling to take that next step. We usually read Jesus’ instructions to the rich man as being about wealth. However, in light of Jesus’ teaching about leadership a few verses later, this teaching appears to me to be more about serving others than about wealth. Actually, that is not true. Jesus’ instructions to the rich man were to use his wealth to serve others. Those same instructions apply to all of us. We should use whatever gifts we have, whether that be wealth, a skill, or something else, to serve others. We miss that Jesus’ teaching about wealth is really the same as His teaching about leadership. In order to accumulate wealth as God measures wealth we must use our material resources to help others. This is the same as Jesus’ teaching about leadership. Those with authority as God counts it use their authority to serve others. True leadership is service. True wealth is giving to others.
Today’s passage starts with the feeding of the four thousand. Just a short time earlier, Jesus had fed the five thousand. This time starts much the same way: with Jesus more or less instructing the disciples to feed the crowd. Despite having seen Jesus feed the five thousand the disciples responded much the same way they had the first time, “How can we find enough food to feed them here in the wilderness?” Even after this, they still worried about not having enough food and argued over whose fault it was that they did not have enough with them. How often are we guilty of the same lack of faith?
After Peter, speaking on behalf of the Twelve, declared that Jesus was the Messiah Jesus began explaining how He would die and rise from the dead. Perhaps I am reading this wrong, but it seems to me that Jesus was likely explaining to the disciples how His death in this manner and then resurrection was necessary in order to accomplish God’s purpose. Reading further into the passage, Peter thought that Jesus was saying these things because He thought His ministry was a lost cause and Peter sought to lift His spirits. I suspect that Peter told Jesus that He should have more faith in His ministry and warned Him that such negative talk would discourage His followers. Jesus responds to Peter by telling him that Peter’s view goes directly counter to God’s. Then Jesus gathers His disciples and the crowd to tell them that those who wish to follow Him must be willing to suffer and die to do God’s will. Often times, serving God will lead to suffering and death. In fact, sometimes accomplishing God’s purpose in our lives will require us to suffer and perhaps die. We should embrace those situations as opportunities, If we believe Jesus’ teaching we will be eager toe experience the suffering which so often accomplishes doing His will.
I am not entirely sure what we should make of this, but the first thing which struck me today was that John the Baptist was killed for speaking truth to power. However, his trouble did not come from confronting Herod over Herod’s policies, or even Herod’s actions as political ruler. Rather, John the Baptist confronted Herod over his personal moral failings. Perhaps if Christians today focused their attention on upholding the God’s moral code we would have less need to uphold God’s code of social justice. I try to limit how much I write about social justice because the topic has become so loaded with terms which don’t mean what they seem to mean. I strongly believe that we should treat every human being as created in the image of God. No one is less worthy of respect and honor than myself, and the only degree to which anyone is more worthy of respect and honor is the degree to which they serve others.
I am not quite sure how I am going to tie this together, but I believe that Jesus’ comments about tradition and the sources of defilement relates to what I wrote above. Jesus tells us that the truly vile things come from within. We should be concerned with addressing the evil thoughts we have more than with the outward appearance of righteousness. Jesus gives us a list of things which can defile us. I find it noteworthy that He lists sexual immorality, adultery, and lustful desires: three variations on the same idea.
Most of today’s passage focuses on the power of faith and how just a small amount of faith can produce mighty results. I suspect that today’s blog will be somewhat scattered, sort of like the first parable in the passage. Let’s start there. The parable of the farmer sowing seed has a lesson I don’t think I have ever heard anyone comment on and one which I never noticed before. The parable describes different types of soil, some of which is better for grain to grow on than others and some of which is completely inhospitable. However, in the parable the farmer spreads his seed equally on all of it. Which brings us to the point, we should not attempt to only bring God’s word to those we think will be receptive. We should spread God’s word to all and sunder. Better to “waste” some of it on the hardened path where it will not root than to miss that small patch of fertile soil in the midst of the beaten down path.
Which brings us to Jesus’ teachings on faith which permeate this passage. Why should we spread God’s word, even to those we are sure will not listen? Because we should have faith that God can “plow up the hard ground of their heart”. The parable of the growing seed goes into this a little more. Just as the farmer does not need to understand how the seed grows into the plant which produces food, so we do not need to understand (and generally will not understand) how God’s word will work its way into someone’s heart to allow the Holy Spirit to transform them. Mark’s account of the parable of the lamp gives us insight into how we spread God’s word to those around us. We put our faith on a stand where everyone can see it. No hiding it in under a basket or a bed. Let the light of our faith illuminate everything we do. That means studying God’s word and listening to His Spirit to determine what He wants us to do, and then doing it. When we do the things which we understand we will come to understand more. Finally, Jesus tells us to put into practice what little faith we have, because even a tiny grain of faith will grow into a mighty plant if given the chance.
One of the things I like about the Gospel of Mark is that it is concise and quickly covers each incident before moving on to the next. Of course, this means it makes a lot of points in a relatively short passage. My understanding is that in the first century, those Jewish young men who wished further training as the disciple of a rabbi requested that he take them on. Then the rabbi selected a few students from among those who applied. However, the account here suggests that Jesus used a different approach, at least for some of His disciples. We have two accounts here of Him selecting and calling disciples who had not applied for the position. He called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to leave their jobs as fisherman to become His disciples. Later, He called Levi away from being a tax collector to follow Him. Finally, He called out a number of people to follow Him as He went up on a mountain away from the crowds. Out of that group He selected twelve to be His Apostles.
So, there are a couple of things here. Jesus selects His disciples before they select Him. More importantly, in reaction to the fuss which was created over His choice of Levi the tax collector as one of His disciples, Jesus tells us that He does not call those who think they are righteous. Rather He calls those who know they are sinners. This explains why Jesus called His disciples instead of selecting them from among those who requested to be His disciples. Until He called them< Jesus’ disciples would never have thought that they could be the disciples of a Holy teacher. Of course, only those who know they are sinners understand the importance of forgiveness.
Matthew’s description of Judas’ actions after Jesus’ arrest shed a different light on Judas than John’s account. I have heard several speakers examine Judas’ motives. Matthew’s account leads us to conclude that Judas thought he had reasons other than pure greed for betraying Jesus. Also, we need to compare Judas’ betrayal to Peter’s denial. What do we know about Judas’ betrayal? We know that he did so for thirty pieces of silver and, from today’s passage, that he did not expect Jesus to be executed. Further we know that Judas was among the Twelve when they were sent out with the power to heal the sick and cast out demons. This leads us to why I think it important for us to think about Judas’ motives. He had experienced God’s power first hand. While I am sure that the money played a role in Judas’ decision to betray Jesus, I am also sure that he justified his betrayal on some other basis. Perhaps he thought that by betraying Jesus he could force Jesus to start “The Revolution” which would overthrow Rome and bring in God’s Kingdom (as Judas perceived it). Or, perhaps Judas thought that Jesus was about to start a revolt against the Romans and wanted to keep that from happening by getting Him locked up until after the Passover (after all, the Jewish authorities did not have the authority to execute Him). Whatever his motive, Judas removed the option of forgiveness by killing himself. Whatever his motives, Judas’ betrayal reveals a loos of faith and his suicide reveals the deep depression which results from that loss of faith.
I love the story of the angels announcing Jesus’ birth to the shepherds. God did not send His angels to announce The Messiah’s birth to the Temple and the high priest, nor did He send them to the palace and the king. God did not send His angels to announce Christ’s birth to the high and mighty. He sent them to announce it to the nobodies in the field. The shepherds weren’t the people with the “important” jobs. They were doing a job about which most of their contemporaries would have said, “anybody can be a shepherd.” That is who God thinks are important enough to announce the birth of Christ
