Parables: Luke 12 – John 2

You can find a one-year Bible reading plan here.

Luke’s gospel has more parables than any other gospel, and many that are found only in Luke. The parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son are unique to Luke, but so are the parables of the Rich Fool, the Wedding Feast, and the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. These stories were a powerful teaching tool, with drama and characters that made them easily remembered.

Parables have two parts: a story and a reality. Sometimes this is referred to as the worldly story and the spiritual reality. For instance, in the parable of the Rich Fool, the story tells of a man who accumulated much wealth and made plans to enjoy it only to die before he could benefit from his prosperity. The spiritual reality is that every person must be prepared for their appointment with God at the judgment, and to ignore this fact involves eternal peril.

Parables are not fairy tales. They are not historical, either, but they are true to the nature of life as we know it. Someone has said that parables make nature a witness to the spiritual world. Most importantly, they are easy to understand. They have a simple format, with a beginning, a problem or crisis, and a resolution of the crisis. But their message is not simple; they reveal foundational truths.

The acceptance of these truths depends on the one hearing the story. Some listeners, those whom God was drawing to himself, responded to the truth with understanding and obedience. Others who were not spiritually minded did not try to understand or hold onto the teaching. They were, said Jesus quoting Isaiah, those who seeing do not see, and hearing do not hear or understand. As in Jesus’ own parable of the Seed and Sower, they were like the hard ground on which the seed fell only to be carried away by the birds.

About this blog

During 2020 I plan to post weekly writings covering the material you would read during each week as you proceed from Genesis to Revelation in one year. And so for this week I have covered Luke 12 – John 2. Next week I will write about John 3 – 18. I hope you will continue along with me. You can find daily posts about these chapters archived here on the Bible in a Year blog. For your convenience here are the previous posts covering Luke 12 – John 2.

The Narrow Door to Heaven: Luke 13

Lost and found: Luke 15

Entitlement vs. Gratitude: Luke 17

More, or Less: Luke 19

How to give: Luke 21

Slow of Heart: Luke 24

Who is Jesus? John 1

Confrontational Christ: Mark 15 – Luke 11

You can find a one-year Bible reading plan here.

The key verse of Luke’s gospel may be Luke 19:10. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” He was about soul-saving rescue work, and he did not hold anything back in his effort. It was a life and death struggle, and so we shouldn’t be surprised at the confrontations and conflict which followed. John the Baptist set the tone from the beginning when he said, speaking of Jesus, “His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

When Jesus declared, echoing Isaiah, that he had come to set the prisoners free, he was declaring war on the jailers. That started at the top with Satan, and once Jesus had pushed the tempter down in the wilderness he moved on to his subordinates. Demons were forced to retreat. Then Jesus moved on to Satan’s human collaborators, for as he said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

Jesus warred against illness. He battled and reversed death. He removed shame by eating with sinners. He cut off the legs of sin by granting forgiveness. He planted a beachhead of knowledge in the war zone of spiritual ignorance with his parables. He developed an insurrection by making disciples, bringing the kingdom of heaven behind earth’s enemy lines.

More than anything else he battled the formidable force of religious tradition. The scribes and Pharisees were the gatekeepers of this human bulwark of rules and regulations, and their weapons were not God-given commandments but a multitude of man-made laws which gave them power and oppressed everyone else. Jesus repeatedly flaunted their rules instead of trying to stay out of trouble. He skipped the ritual handwashing. His disciples gleaned and ate from the fields on the Sabbath. He healed on the Sabbath. He enjoyed life by celebrating it with others, which was an act of defiance in itself. It contradicted the attitude that pious people were somber people. He offered the world new wine, but those who liked the taste of the old wine wanted nothing of it.

We could learn from Jesus’ example of fierce confrontation. God doesn’t want us to be bench warmers or conflict-avoiders. He wants us to battle sin and shame, ignorance and tradition, jailers and Satan.

About this blog

During 2020 I plan to post weekly writings covering the material you would read during each week as you proceed from Genesis to Revelation in one year. And so for this week I have covered Mark 15 – Luke 11. Next week I will write about Luke 12 – John 2. I hope you will continue along with me. You can find daily posts about these chapters archived here on the Bible in a Year blog. For your convenience here are the previous posts covering Mark 15 – Luke 11.

Forsaken? Mark 15

Angels – when it absolutely, positively has to be there: Luke 1

The consolation of Israel: Luke 2

Miracles: Luke 4-5

The reward for mercy: Luke 6

Little is much: Luke 9

Legalism: Luke 11

Signs and Wonders: Mark 1 – 14

You can find a one-year Bible reading plan here.

How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.

Hebrews 2:3-4

Mark’s gospel presents Jesus as a man on the move. Thirty-nine times Mark uses the word immediately to describe Jesus’ actions. Jesus was a man with a mission, and that mission was to glorify God as a servant of God.

Jesus’ miracles were signs and wonders that worked in two directions: testifying to the divinity of Jesus but also glorifying God the father of Jesus. Baker’s Dictionary of Theology says miracles are “wondrous events … not explainable solely by natural processes but which require the direct causal agency of a supernatural being, usually God.” Wayne Grudem defines a miracle as “a less common kind of God’s activity in which he arouses people’s awe and wonder and bears witness to himself.” To put it a little differently, it’s God acting in a surprising way to make people take notice and give him honor and glory.

When Jesus drove out an unclean spirit, the people “were all so amazed that they asked each other, ‘What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.'” Jesus’ healing of a paralyzed man “amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this!'” But the signs and wonders were also a test. The same events which led many to praise God caused the religious rulers to plot to kill Jesus.

The miracles were acts of compassion – restoring Peter’s mother, raising a family’s child from the dead, or giving new hope to a woman suffering 12 years of uncontrolled bleeding. They were a means of teaching faith to his slow-learning disciples. They were also a way of birthing new disciples, as when Jesus drove a legion of demons from one man living among the tombs and sent him back to his own town as a witness to God’s grace.

In the end, all miracles are also a test for us, those who struggle to believe. Will we trust in the miracle worker and see wondrous things, or will we be part of the “unbelieving generation?”

About this blog

During 2020 I plan to post weekly writings covering the material you would read during each week as you proceed from Genesis to Revelation in one year. And so for this week I have covered Mark 1-14. Next week I will write about Mark 15 – Luke 11. I hope you will continue along with me. You can find daily posts about these chapters archived here on the Bible in a Year blog. For your convenience here are the previous posts covering Mark 1-14.

The kingdom of God: Mark 1

Demon possession: Mark 5

Crumbs for the puppies: Mark 7

Jesus’ glory revealed: Mark 9

The danger of riches: Mark 10-11

The greatest commandment: Mark 12

Counting the cost: Mark 14

The Kingdom of Heaven: Matthew 15-28

You can find a one-year Bible reading plan here.

The Kingdom of Heaven fills the last half of Matthew. Though Jesus is moving relentlessly to the cross, his most important work and teaching is advancing the invasion of earth by God’s kingdom.

This theme of the coming of the Kingdom of God was central in His mission. His teaching was designed to show men how they might enter the Kingdom of God (Matt. 5:20; 7:21). His mighty works were intended to prove that the Kingdom of God had come upon them (Matt. 12:28). His parables illustrated to His disciples the truth about the Kingdom of God (Matt. 13: 11). And when He taught His followers to pray, at the heart of their petition were the words, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). On the eve of His death, He assured His disciples that He would yet share with them the happiness and the fellowship of the Kingdom (Luke 22:22-30). And He promised that He would appear again on the earth in glory to bring the blessedness of the Kingdom to those for whom it was prepared (Matt. 25:31, 34). G. E. Ladd

Jesus taught his disciples that they would carry on the work of the kingdom after he was gone. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19

He told them that greatness in the kingdom was not measured by human standards. They would have to be like children to enter the kingdom, with a child’s trust and humility. Only the childlike would be great in the kingdom.

In the parable of the unmerciful servant, he revealed that the kingdom would be based on forgiveness and mercy. In his encounter with the rich man, Jesus pointed out how riches are a hindrance to entering the kingdom. Through the parable of the workers in the vineyard he made it clear that the kingdom would turn our expectations upside down, making the first last and the last first. By his miracles he demonstrated that faith activates the power of the kingdom, with prayer the vehicle of our faith. By the parable of the obedient and disobedient sons he taught us that repentance leading to obedience is the foundation of righteousness. And in the parable of the unfaithful tenants he revealed that he himself, the rejected stone, would be the cornerstone in the kingdom.

Like guests invited to a feast, many who are invited into the kingdom reject the invitation. Even those who make it to the feast must have the right clothing, the righteousness provided by Jesus’ blood through God’s grace. Those who enter the kingdom must be as ready as the bridesmaids who keep their lamps full and wicks trimmed in expectation of the wedding announcement. Those who enter and receive their reward are those who, in faith, take the gifts God gives them and use their gifts to enlarge the value of the kingdom. Like the sheep and goats separated by a shepherd, those who are given entrance to the kingdom on the judgment day will be separated from those who are denied entrance. And what determines the result? As Keith Green sang, it was what they did or didn’t do for the kingdom. As James might have added, it was the work they did for the kingdom demonstrating their faith in the kingdom.

About this blog

During 2020 I plan to post weekly writings covering the material you would read during each week as you proceed from Genesis to Revelation in one year. And so for this week I have covered Matthew 15-28. Next week I will write about Mark 1-14. I hope you will continue along with me. You can find daily posts about these chapters archived here on the Bible in a Year blog. For your convenience here are the previous posts covering Matthew 15-28.

Clean and unclean: Matthew 15

Gospel smorgasbord – It’s great!

Willing to change? Matthew 20-21

A wasted invitation: Matthew 22-23

Are you ready? Matthew 24-25

He knew, and still pressed on: Matthew 26

Thankful; even in death he gave life. Matthew 27

Blessings instead of a curse: Malachi – Matthew 14

You can find a one-year Bible reading plan here.

The promise of Malachi 3 bookends this week’s passages, repeating itself in Matthew 11:

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. “

In between, Malachi and the Old Testament close with a threatened curse. Despite their return to the Promised Land, and abandonment of idolatry, God’s people were failing in their devotion and returning to old ways of self-centered living. Malachi laid down an ultimatum, but he also offered a way out.

“Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? Malachi 3:1-2

The offer is a two-edged sword, threatening to bless or curse depending upon how it is accepted. After 400 years of prophetic silence the Messiah appeared, and Matthew’s account presents a very Jewish Jesus who fulfills all the prophecies of the Old Testament. Jesus repeatedly blessed the people with gifts of miraculous healing, showered them with grace, and revealed spiritual truth, but he also reminded those who rejected him of God’s impending judgment. Always at his heels were the Scribes and Pharisees, seeking every opportunity to trap him. I like to think of them as reactionaries against the failings of their countrymen so well described by Malachi. They were determined to save Israel by human effort in keeping the Law, but Jesus came to show them and us a better way.

Now the prophet lifts up his eyes again to see the day that is coming, not only the day 400 years later when the Lord Jesus will stand on the earth, but beyond that, across the great reaches of the centuries to the second coming of Christ, when all of God’s program will be fulfilled (Malachi 4, verse 1, 2): “For behold, the day comes, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall born them up, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.” Now that is one cause with two effects. The Son of Righteousness shall rise. And for those who refuse him, there is a burning. But toward those who receive him, there is a healing. It is the same Son. – Ray Steadman

About this blog

During 2020 I plan to post weekly writings covering the material you would read during each week as you proceed from Genesis to Revelation in one year. And so for this week I have covered Malachi – Matthew 14. Next week I will write about Matthew 15 – 28. I hope you will continue along with me. You can find daily posts about these chapters archived here on the Bible in a Year blog. For your convenience here are the previous posts covering Malachi – Matthew 14.

Closing the book on the old covenant: Malachi

Jesus Christ’s roots: Matthew 1-4

Fulfilling the Law, Jesus-style: Matthew 5

Ask, ask, ask! Matthew 7

Disciples: Matthew 10

https://oneyeardevotional.wordpress.com/2019/10/05/disciples-matthew-10-3/

Violence for and against the Kingdom: Matthew 11

Secrets of the kingdom: Matthew 13

“Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary” by Lawrence OP is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0