Right now our society is in a state of panic. The NBA is canceled, the NHL is canceled, March Madness is diminished, schools all over the country are closing. Social gatherings like churches are asked not to meet, and in some places outlawed altogether. Toilet paper, water, and other necessities are flying off the shelves in a swirl of madness. And it seems everywhere you read, or watch, doom is upon us.
I have to say, even in viral situations like the Swing Flu and SARS, society didn’t seem this chaotic. And in these times when society is frantically trying to hold onto whatever they can, we as disciples of Christ can turn to God’s Word for comfort and direction.
Psalm 46d reads like this, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. 6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. 7 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. 8 Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. 10 He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’ 11 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”
God allows us to be in these times of distress as a witness to our trust in him. You and I are called to bear witness to the anchor that is Jesus in our lives. That we can be secured in him and not allow the panic around us to stop us from trusting in him.
Jesus says in Matthew 6, starting in verse 25, “25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
In five weeks we will be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. The historical event we walked through a few weeks back as one of the arguments for the existence of God. What is that event really? Isn’t it the proof of the assurance we have in God to take care of us?
And so we’re beginning our march towards Resurrection Sunday, and what better time to really focus on the resurrection and the peace that we can experience with God through it, than in this time of social chaos? And as we’re marching towards the resurrection, we’re going to approach these next five weeks by looking at some key teachings of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. Understanding them in light of the Resurrection. So if you have your Bibles, for the next four weeks we’re going to be camping out in chapters 18 and 19 of the the Gospel of Luke.
And as we open up to Luke chapter 18 verse 15, let’s orientate ourselves to where we are in this book. Now the Gospel of Luke is most likely the third Gospel account of Jesus’ life. Church history tells us that it was written by a physician named Luke, who was also a companion of the Apostle Paul on his journeys. Each of the Gospels are written in ancient biographical style, meaning that it was written to convey the important events of a person’s life in a way that explained the motive of that person.
The Gospel of Mark, is written with the overarching purpose to help us answer the question, who is Jesus? The Gospel of Matthew was written to help the Jewish people connect the dots of the Messiah in their Scriptures, with Jesus. And Luke’s Gospel has the intent to help Greeks understand who this Christos was.
Luke has been called one of the most accurate historical documents of the ancient world, because his use of historical sites is second to none. And we’re entering into Luke’s Gospel on the eve of the the Triumphal entry into Jerusalem or what we now call, Palm Sunday.
We pick up Luke’s account as Jesus is walking towards the city of Jericho. And as Jesus is walking, he’s teaching and encountering people along the way. Today we’re going to look at the first two situations he encounters. In these two situations there are four groups of people that we’re going to compare. Let’s look at these two situations as we march towards the resurrection.
Now, let’s dive into Jesus’ interactions in Luke chapter 18, starting in verse 15.
15 People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
In this first encounter, Jesus is being inundated with people coming to him. But not just people seeking healing from sicknesses, nor to hear Jesus’ teachings, but rather mothers and fathers who were bringing their children to Jesus. And this Greek word for infant, brephos (bref’-os), could even be speaking about yet to be born children in their mother’s wombs. This was a common practice for Rabbis to bless children on behalf of God, but in this case, there must have been so many people, that the disciples were trying to weed out those that were worthy to meet with Jesus and those whom they deemed were not worthy.
It’s here that we see three of the four people that we’re going to focus on today. First, we have the parents of those bringing the children to Jesus. These people are desiring a touch, a blessing, a word from this well-known Rabbi, who’s command cures the sick and casts out demons. Think of the reasons why these parents would be seeking Jesus’ blessing. Child mortality rate was very high, economic struggles were a constant, the threat of civil unrest was all around. Parents desire a better life for their children, and these parents are no different. If Jesus was walking among us today, how many of us would try to get our children or grandchildren blessed by Jesus? How many of us would seek him in the middle of our social unrest? These are parents looking for what is best for their children and at that moment the best was Jesus.
The second group are the children themselves. Though they do not speak, nor actually do anything in the passage, there simply being there tells us a lot. The children are following their parents. The parents desire a blessing from Jesus, and the children follow. It’s a reinforcement of Jesus’ teaching that the greatest in the kingdom is one who is like a child following their parent, which happens previously in Luke chapter 9.
This brings us to the third group which are the disciples themselves. Though Jesus says nothing to the parents, he chastises the disciples for not allowing the parents to bring their children to him. And what’s interesting is Jesus had already taught the disciples this lesson of allowing children to come to him, back in chapter 9 of Luke, where he says this, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest (v.48).”
But the disciples didn’t listen to Jesus’ words about how welcoming children to Jesus is also welcoming Jesus himself. To welcome those who are seen as the least, is welcoming the work and person of Jesus into our lives. But this teaching has flown over the heads of the disciples, and in the moment they have shown that they really don’t understand Jesus at all.
The parents desire their children to be blessed by Jesus, and they are not sent away by him. But Jesus makes it a point that by rejecting the children, the disciples are also rejecting him.
Let’s now turn our attention to the second interaction we see, which starts in verse 18.
18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”
21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.
We can see, that the disciples were trying to keep certain people away from Jesus, while allowing others whom they deemed worthy to come to him. In this case, we’re shown that to the disciples let in a more worthy person in their eyes. This person was a young wealthy ruler. This man is usually referred to as the rich young ruler, which actually gives us an insight into who this man was. First, he was rich, which we find out in verse 23, but we’re not told how he got his wealth; it could have been from family, it could have been from his own business exploits, we just don’t know. The two other things we learn about him, is that he was both young and a ruler. We find out that he is young from the Gospel of Matthews’ account of this situation in chapter 19 verse 20, so there’s that. As far as him being a ruler, the Greek word that is used here is archón (ar’-khone), which, when referring to a Jew, usually spoke of them being a part of the elders of a city. These would be the men who would be looked to as judges in maters of law and order, and dealing with the running of the city or town.
This young man somehow gained wealth, and was esteemed enough to also be added to the elders’ board of his city, even though he was young.
In this interaction, we see Jesus having a back and forth conversation with the young man about God’s commands, and then Jesus tells the man to sell everything and follow him. We’re then told that the young man, “became very sad, because he was very wealthy.”
This tells us that his wealth was more important to him than the question of eternal life that he presented to Jesus.
The rich young ruler is our the fourth group.
These are the two interactions that we’re going to take a moment to ponder. Because as we make our way to the resurrection, these two interactions point us to who Jesus saves us to be through the Resurrection.
In the first interaction we see parents seeking a blessing for their children. The disciples judge these people as not being important enough to waste Jesus’ time. But Jesus doesn’t turn them away. If fact, Jesus doesn’t just bless the children, he holds them above the disciples in their closeness to God. The pure humble faith of a child, is greater than the disciples adult understanding. The parents are welcomed, the children are welcomed, and instead, it is the disciples who are rebuked.
If I was the disciples, I think I could justify not having the children come, because they don’t listen, they just want to go play, they can’t understand the deep teachings of Jesus anyways. And by keeping them away, Jesus could have more time on the people that mattered. But, that’s not how Jesus sees it. Instead Jesus calls the disciples to become like children in their humble trust of him.
In the second interaction, a man seeking Jesus to answer the question of gaining eternal life is left with a problem. The one thing that is holding him back, is the one thing he us unwilling to give up. His wealth represents what we think we need in this life. Stability, protection, status. But as we saw in the first interaction, what we need is child like faith.
If I was the rich young ruler, I think it would be easy to justify to Jesus that if I kept my wealth and my status where I’m at, then I could financially sustain his ministry. Wouldn’t that be better? I mean, if I sold everything, giving it to the poor, and then followed Jesus, then I wouldn’t be able to help the ministry grow. But if I kept my wealth, stayed where I was, then I could support Jesus’ work.
But Jesus, calls the man to trust him. Jesus is asking the rich young ruler to sell everything, giving it to the poor, and releasing his control to God.
We can see some contrasts between the parents and the disciples. The parents sought a blessing not for themselves, but for someone who was the least in the society. Whereas the disciples only wanted those of higher social worth to come close to Jesus.
We can draw another contrast between the children and the rich young ruler. A child doesn’t tend to seek status, or wealth. But the rich young ruler only sought these things, and couldn’t bare to part with them, even if it meant that he would lose eternity.
And this is the first step towards the Resurrection, we must ask ourselves, who are we? Are we the parents, who are trying to get their children to Jesus so they may be blessed by him? Or are we the disciples, deciding who is worthy or not to come to Jesus? Are we the children themselves, who need nothing else but Jesus? Or are we the rich young ruler, trying to hold on to status and wealth that keeps us from Jesus?
Here is a quick test to see where we fall?
Let’s ask ourselves, “Do I seek to get other people blessings from God?” That means I pray for them, asking God to bless them even if I don’t like them? Or “Am I making judgement calls on how people dress or act like, before sharing the gospel or asking them to come with me to church?” If we answer, yes try to seeking other’s blessings, then we are like the parents, but if we answer, I tend to judge people on their status in my mind, we’re a disciple keeping people away from Jesus.
Let’s also ask ourselves, “Am I willing to do whatever Jesus asks of me?” Like a little child obeying their parent. Or “Is the wealth and status I enjoy more important than following Jesus?” If we answer, I am willing to do whatever Jesus wants, then we have that child like faith, but if we answer, I would have a real struggle with giving up my wealth, we’re just like that rich young ruler.
If we struggle in any area, Jesus gives us a simple path to follow. In verse 14, of Luke 11. He says this, “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
We are called to humble lives. That was the disciples’ problem, they weren’t humble, so they couldn’t recognize that it wasn’t up to them who sought Jesus. It was also the rich young ruler’s problem, he wasn’t humble enough to give up his wealth and status to trust Jesus. But that’s exactly who the parents were, humble enough to seek the blessing, not for themselves, but their children. And its humbleness that Jesus points to in the faith of those children.
As disciples of Jesus, we are called to humbleness. To lift up others before ourselves. To not hinder those seeking Jesus, by adding road blocks on their path towards him. To not hold onto those things that we desire, therefore missing out on what Jesus has for us.
We are to seek the blessing of others, and to trust Jesus wherever he calls us to.
This week, as we march our way to the Resurrection, let us seek to be humble people.
I want to challenge you to honestly seek God in both these areas this week. Asking him, “Am I acting like the parents seeking a blessing for others, or am I acting like the disciples seeking to keep others away? Am I acting like a child in my faith that I am humble before God, or am I like the rich young ruler wanting to hold onto status and wealth?”
If it is revealed to you that you are in fact acting like a disciple who is keeping others from God, or the rich younger ruler holding on to wealth and status, do not be discouraged, but rather seek to be humbled by God. I’ve always found that seeking humbleness on my own initiative, is better than God making me humble on his.
If you are being humble, seeking the blessing of others, then I would challenge you to begin praying for one person to invite to Resurrection Sunday in four weeks. Pray for them, that they would be open to coming and being a part of what God is doing. Whether you’re staying in Quartzsite, or leaving to town and attending another church, pray for that person that God would move in their life this Resurrection Sunday.
And take this time of social upheaval to be steadfast in your trust of Jesus, pointing to him as others frantically grasping to hold onto something.
Let us be the people that God has called to be. Humble in our faith, blessing those around us. Amen.
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