2/27/22 Authentic Grounding with God Luke 5:27-6:16

             If you’ve ever read a book that’s part of a series you may have noticed that as you reach the end of one book the author is starting to weave in the plot lines for the next book.  So, you reach the end of the book but you haven’t reached the end of the plot.  It entices you to read on into the next book.  J.K. Rowling certainly did that with the latter books of the Harry Potter series.  Suzanne Collins does it with the Hunger Games books.

            The gospel writer Luke uses a bit of the same technique as he’s telling us about Jesus.  He doesn’t necessarily go from one topic abruptly into the next.  That’s the sort of thing we find in Mark’s gospel, and to some extent in Matthew.  But Luke begins to weave his next themes into the story before he’s finished making his current point.

            Last week we read about a couple healings: there was the leper that Jesus cleansed and the paralytic that was lowered through the roof of the house by his friends.  Luke has been developing some boundary breaking (or perhaps boundary disregarding) themes in Jesus’ ministry.  When Jesus touches the unclean leper he disregards the boundaries of clean and unclean; contagious and healthy.  With the healing of the paralytic Jesus first tells the man he is forgiven.  That is a blasphemous thing to say.  The religious leaders in the crowd made a point of it.  And so in a sense Jesus, in showing he is the Son of God, is able to disregard the normal boundary between human authority and authoritatively speaking God’s word.

            Today we start with Jesus inviting the tax collector Levi to follow him.  He then goes on to be a guest at a great banquet of other tax collectors.

            I don’t think we really grasp how much hatred we should be feeling for those who were tax collectors.  I know that hate is a strong word, but I think it can be accurately applied here.  I don’t think it was possible to do anything but hate them.

            It’s often believed that tax collectors overcharged those who were being taxed and that is the reason for them being disliked.  Indeed that certainly happened in many cases.  But we’ve talked before about how there is more.  Tax collectors were traitors.  They were Jews who were collecting money from their own people and turning it over to the Romans in order to pay for the ongoing occupation of their land.  It would be as if Cananda conquered the United States and then taxed us in order to pay for the ongoing occupation.  We wouldn’t like that!  And we’d despise those who were collecting the taxes!

            But there is more.  Commentator Joel Green points this out. So does the video series The Chosen that the Men’s Breakfast is currently viewing.  Tax collectors were also often snitches and spies.  They’d gathered information on their own people and turned it over to the Romans.  You’d never trust a tax collector!  How would you feel about your neighbor if your neighbor was gathering data about: your going out and your coming in, about what’s in your trash cans on garbage day, on what movies you watch, where you go to church, and on and on, and then turned that information over to a hostile government?

The lives of the tax collectors were leading to the ongoing exploitation and oppression of their own people.  The undermined their cultural identity, the strength of their faith, and their hope for independence.  And why did they do it?  Because they were paid off!  They could be bought.  They had sold their souls to the devil.  They were schemers, manipulators, and exploiters.

If you’d meet a tax collector in a dark alley your impulse would be to beat him into a bruised, bloody, unconsciousness pulp.  And the truth is he’d deserve it.  For that is just the sort of pain his treachery was causing to his fellow citizens. 

And so why is Jesus inviting one of them to become a follower?  Why would Jesus go to a banquet served by one of them?  A banquet, I might add, paid for on the backs of other exploited Jews!

Jesus says to the criticism, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinner to repentance.”  Well Jesus, you’ve certainly found the sinners!

Luke continues on with the religious leaders questioning Jesus about the practices of his disciples.  They aren’t following the disciplines and traditions of historic Judaism.  You’re probably sick of hearing me defend these religious leaders, but we do need to remember the desires of their hearts.  They were the religious leaders of the long-oppressed Jews.  They deeply believed that if the Jewish people as a whole were to grow in righteousness then God would send a messiah who would rescue them from the Romans.  However, if and only if the people were righteous enough – that is truly good enough to be genuinely loved by God – would a messiah come.  And how do you become truly good enough?  The answer was simple.  God had given it.  Follow the laws from Moses not only to the letter but also from your heart.

So they see Jesus not only spending time with the vile tax collectors but then Jesus’ own disciples don’t observe even the most basic faith practices designed to show devotion to God.

What these leaders missed is what we read last week.  Jesus is the Son of God. He is speaking a new word, a new way of being with God.  This way is not where one has to become perfect before God will help.  Rather, this is the way where God comes to you in whatever state your life is – even if you’re a national and religious traitor whose way of life hurts people.

Jesus talks about old and new wineskins.  He talks about sewing unshrunk cloth into an old garment and the mess that causes.  He concludes that little teaching with the words, “And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, ‘The old is good.’”

Complex and puzzling as that may seem Jesus’ point is simple.  God is not rejecting the old ways of Judaism.  In fact, the old laws from Moses are actually quite good – deeply good.  But they must be applied with grace in life-affirming ways rather than in life-crippling ways.

We then get two more scenes of conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders.  The stage is being set for the conflict that will develop throughout the rest of the gospel and ultimately lead to Jesus’ death.

 

Next week we’re going to look at the new principles Jesus lays out for his followers.  That theme is already beginning in where we left off for today.  But we are going to end with Jesus choosing the twelve disciples and making them apostles.

At first that just seems like a list of names.  But there a couple to note.  But before we get to them we have to realize the process Jesus uses to choose them.

Jesus did not put together a human resources department to determine who were the most promising and able-bodied people.  He did not hire a consultant to do a nationwide talent search.  No, he goes up a mountain by himself.  And he spends a whole night in prayer to God.

We Christians, often so gung-ho on intellectual beliefs and formal worship services, overlook the importance of abundant time for prayer, listening, and simply dwelling in the presence of God for helping to make decisions.

And so, who are these twelve super heroes Jesus will make apostles?  Who are the twelve who rose to the top after a night of the Son of Man praying to God?

Peter, James, John, and Andrew – all fishermen; if as you may recall, proved unable to catch fish!  Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, James, son of Alphaeus, Judas son of James, none of them with remarkable pedigrees or educations.  And then there are three shockers in the list.  One, Matthew.  He’s a tax collector!  One of those scoundrels among the twelve!  And then, as a shocking contrast, Simon called the Zealot.  The Zealots were known to carry out terrorist attacks on the Romans.  And so, among Jesus’ inner circle we have a national traitor, who’s sold himself out to the Romans, and basically a terrorist who’s willing to kill and destroy to get rid of the Romans.

Why, why, why would Jesus choose this lot?!?  None of them are remarkable.  Some are them are outright enemies!  We aren’t at all surprised to learn there was constant dissension among them!

And of course the kicker of them all, told right off here at the beginning, Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

What is going through Jesus’ mind that he’d prayerfully put together this bunch, and even sow the seeds of his own undoing?

God’s ways are mysterious indeed!

What do we take away from all this?

We need to recognize the vastness of God’s love.  Spiritual disciples are powerful.  I highly encourage them.  However, God will not be bound by them.  You can’t force God to act the way you want God to based on your piety.  That means that some people you feel are less deserving may appear to get better treatment than you.  That may not seem fair.  I get it.  But we have to remember that we are all in the same boat – religious fanatic, national traitor, militaristic zealot, failed fishermen, we are all sinners in need of God’s grace.  That is the new reality Jesus brings about.  All are invited.

And that means that when all are invited we should not expect sweetness.  While I don’t want to cause fights and conflict, if Jesus’ handpicked twelve can include some who are total opposites we should not be surprised if we do not like or agree with those God has chosen to be among us in the Church.

It human terms it doesn’t work.  It simply doesn’t.  However again, we are all sinners in need of God’s grace.  When we can see that reality in each other, and realize that all are indeed receiving God’s grace, then and only then can we be together.  And then the reality of God’s kingdom comes to earth among us.

2/20/22 Healings Luke 5:12-26

             The two healing scenes we read in our gospel have a very different tone.  The tone has been shifting a lot as we’ve been going through this part of Luke’s gospel.  Let’s remember back two weeks where we left off with Luke’s gospel.  It was the hilarious calling of Peter, James, and John to become fishers of people.  That whole scene was filled with levity.  Then our first scene today is remarkable for its gentleness.  The second scene is filled with conflict and boldness.  Different as they are, they both point to the same reality, which is where we will end up today.

            In the first scene we meet this man with leprosy.  We want to remember that their term leprosy was a catch all term for just about every kind of skin disease.  Some of it was contagious, some not.  In order to be totally safe those who had leprosy were forced to go into extreme quarantine; to move out and not associate with others.  You’d leave your family and live alone, or else in a leper colony.  If your condition improved you could return.  If not, then you were out for the rest of your life (which may not have been all that long).

            Remember also that many people believed that if you had a disease or impairment of some sort it was evidence that God didn’t like you.  You must be some sort of extreme sinner.  So, in the case of leprosy it was not only being removed from your community but it was also the stigma of God’s rejection of you.

            The leper approaches Jesus but appears to have stayed at an acceptable distance.  He bows with his face to the ground.  Notice he’s not bold enough to even look into the face of Jesus, this holy man.  Yet he does beg despite his knowledge of his unworthiness.  “Lord,” (recognize the respect in that address).  “…if you choose, you can make me clean.”  This is not a question or a command.  It is simply a statement of reality.  Contrast it to the earlier story of the devil testing Jesus in the wilderness.  Over and over again the devil said, “If you are…”  Or also translated as, “Since you are…” 

            The leper is letting the next step truly be Jesus’.  Jesus is given freedom to choose yes or no.  Notice Jesus’ next move, ‘Then Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.”

            Some people are perfectly fine without much or any human touch.  Other people crave being touched.  We don’t know this man’s situation but it is probably likely that no one had actually touched him for a long long time.  I suspect he was hungry for it.  It is perhaps more significant that Jesus touched him than actually healed him.  The leper, medically contagious, ritually unclean, outcast from human society, was physically touched by a holy man.  No amount of dirtiness was going to deter Jesus.

            Unlike the testing of Jesus by the devil where his arm is twisted to act against his will, here Jesus says, “I do choose.  Be made clean.”  Then he orders him to tell no one except the priest who will perform a medical exam on him.  Why tell no one?  That’s a big question but it can be answered simply by saying Jesus did not want to be known mostly as a miracle worker.  That is not his primary mission.  While that drew people to him he did not want that to be the case.

            Notice how warm the whole scene is.  There is deep respect between Jesus and the leper.  There is touch.  There is free will acknowledged.  And there is restoration to life.

            Now we contrast that with the next scene.  There is a huge crowd listening to his teaching.  Apparently they were quite packed together because additional people couldn’t squeeze in.  Luke makes an interesting comment, “The power of the Lord was with him to heal.”  What does that mean?  Does that mean that sometimes Jesus had “magic hands” and sometimes not?  That’s probably not what is meant, at least says commentator Joel Green. (New International Commentary on the New Testament, Luke, Pg. 240)  Rather it is a reminder that all of Jesus’ ministry is carried out in and through the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus does not act alone.  His actions and his powers are in sync with God’s intentions for the world.

            The calmness ends there however.  The paralytic’s friends are not willing to let a crowd get in the way of their friend’s healing.  They will go to extraordinary means to get to Jesus.  Somehow, someway they get him up on the roof.  Then they rip off the top of the house and lower him down through the hole they made!  Talk about devoted friends.  This is an amazing act of creativity, devotion, and pure nerve.  What a contrast these guys are to the leper we met before.

            I don’t think insurance agents get too many claims where people ask for coverage for roof damage caused by the ministry of an itinerant preacher!

            Will Jesus reject this boldness, this butting in front of the rest of the crowd, this destruction of property?  Who do they think they are anyway?            It appears as if the scribes and Pharisees in the crowd were not impressed by what they saw.

            Given what we know about Jesus to this point we’d expect him to either heal the man or else maybe send him out to wait his turn.  But he does something that we do not expect at all.  Jesus tells the man he is forgiven.  Forgiveness?!?  What about healing?

            For us the forgiveness sounds like an oddity.  For them it was a scandalous declaration.  The Pharisees and the scribes certainly think so!  “Who is this who is speaking blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 

            We are so used to receiving forgiveness at the beginning of a worship service by simply asking for it.  We have this sense that forgiveness is a given.  How cheap it all seems!  Not so.  That is a failing of our faith.  Martin Luther would call it “cheap grace.”  You can’t just go to God and expect everything to be patched over.  We humans do bad things.  We hurt each other.  We damage the creation.  Real damage means real restitution.  Sometimes I think our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ have it right when they expect people to have individual confession and then be prescribed actions for forgiveness.  Even so, that is cheap.

            We can learn something from the scribes and Pharisees here.  Sin is nothing more than brokenness from God.  Sin robs life.  There’s no cheap and easy way to fix it.  It certainly doesn’t come only by some guy pronouncing it.  So when Jesus says, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you,” they are rightfully claiming he is uttering blasphemies.  Only God can offer forgiveness.  Through Moses God had prescribed what forgiveness required.  There were ceremonies and animal sacrifice.  Remember, sin robs life.  Something needed to give its life for the life the sin stole.

            Jesus is not being arrogant when he says, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?  Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’?  But so that you may know the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” – he said to the one who was paralyzed – “I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home.”

            In a way, the healing was the lesser miracle here.  Forgiveness is the greater.  The real core of this passage is that Jesus has the power to forgive.  He, the Son of Man, speaks for God.  Vivid as the scene is, with the man being lowered through the roof, and the paralyzed man being healed, and the protestations of the religious leaders present, the real thrust is Jesus’ ability to authoritatively speak for God.  Jesus speaks.  Things happen.

            This is a serious threat to the religious leaders.  I don’t want to make them out to be close-minded old fools.  They weren’t.  They had carefully passed down Jewish traditions for centuries.  They knew how to be faithful.  They knew how to survive. 

            Until that day.

When I read this passage I often make a mistake in understanding the end.  I often imagine the scribes and Pharisees returning to wherever they came from and then formulating a plan to get Jesus later on.  Not so.  This is my mistake. 

Luke say, “Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe…”  “All of them” truly means all of them – critical scribes and Pharisees included. 

Next week we’ll meet more religious leaders and they too will be upset with Jesus.  But they are different leaders than these.

Whether we come to God with gentleness or boldness God sees us and God responds to us.  Whether the ills of our lives are quickly healed, or never healed at all, God is still acting in this world.  Jesus’ primary purpose was not to fix people’s problems.  Jesus’ purpose was to fulfill the promises God had made to humanity in the past.  With that fulfillment God was revealing something new.  I pray that we can all see that we are part of what God is doing.  And just as surely as Luke’s storyline moves forward, so God is moving us forward as well.