Life Project Blog

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:38-42

After reading this story, take a moment to sit back and imagine…

Years have gone by; Mary and Martha have grown old. One day, Mary takes her grandchildren to Martha’s house for lunch. After lunch, they move out to the patio. It’s a nice sunny day, the birds are singing in the trees, and Mary begins to tell the grandchildren the story about the day that Jesus came to visit. She pauses to take a sip of her lemonade, and one of the grandchildren, a precocious seven-year-old asks Martha what she was doing when Jesus came to visit.

“I barely saw Him; I spent the whole time in the kitchen.”

It would appear from Luke’s narrative that this little scenario would be just about right. What I like about this little aside from the larger narrative, is that it is so true to life. Mary is spellbound at the feet of Jesus, Martha is getting irritated because she’s the only one doing any work, and there’s so much to be done. Let’s see, Jesus was there, so there’s a really good chance that His disciples are there as well, and who knows maybe others too. They will need to be fed. If they are staying over, the guest room must be made ready… or wherever they would be sleeping. Martha is being hospitable, practical. Mary? Well she’s just sitting around!

Yet when Martha mentions this to Jesus, He sees that Mary has made the better choice, for she has chosen to remain in the presence of the Son of God, while Martha is so consumed by the cares of regular earthly life, that she is missing a chance to sit in His presence and soak in His Word.

Yes, this is so true to life.

Luke 10:25-37

On another occasion Jesus is confronted by an “expert in the law” who asks what he must to “inherit eternal life”. Jesus, as He often did, answered with a question: “What is written in the law; how do you read it?” Seems like a fair question to ask an expert in the law… The man replied:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (10:27)

Jesus told the man that he has given the right answer and that if he did this, he’d be in great shape. But the expert in the law had tried to challenge Jesus; Jesus had just made it obvious to everyone that the man was trying to snare Him, since he already knew the answer to his own question. Thinking quickly he asked a follow up question: “Who is my neighbor?”

The response to the question is vintage Jesus; He told a parable…

What follows in 10:30-36 is another very familiar parable, the parable of the “Good Samaritan” As Jesus often did, He follows the parable with another question: Which of the three men in the story were a neighbor to the injured man? The expert said that it was the one who had mercy on the injured man. Jesus’ classic response to another correct answer is priceless: “Go and do likewise”.

So what should we take away from this story?

First is that it isn’t a good idea to try to trap Jesus; He was pretty quick on His feet. Second, is that we should show mercy to people who need it… which is pretty much everyone at one time or another. Third, it wasn’t the very religious who showed mercy to the man, it was an unclean nasty Samaritan who went out of his way and out of his pocket to help the stricken man who had been left to die by robbers. Finally, we are to put our faith, our love into action to serve those in need, and that we don’t get to heaven by engaging in arguments or rhetorical tricks or word games.

You see dear reader, God doesn’t care so much about how much you know, or your important status, He cares about putting our faith in action and sharing His love with those who need it.

“Methinks there is much wisdom in these sayings.”

Luke 10:17-24

When the 72 return from their mission, they are filled with joy and are quite moved by the fact that even demons were subject to them in Jesus’ name. Jesus acknowledges that they are safe from the forces of the Evil One, but tells them that they should be rejoicing not at their authority, but that that their names are written in heaven (10:17-20).

I don’t know about you, but that seems like very sound advice for any of us in leadership positions today.

Then Jesus gives some rare insight:

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.  For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” (10:21-24)

This is one of those times when I see that anything I might try to add to these words would detract from them, not help to understand them. May each of us treasure these words in our hearts.

Luke 10:1-16

Some of our questions from the last passage are answered in this one; Luke now tells us that Jesus was about to send 72 of those following Him on a mission. No, there isn’t time to bury the dead or go home to say goodbye, and you will be taking nothing on this road trip…

To be clear, this doesn’t negate the principles found in the last passage, but it does finally give them some context. In serving God, we are to place our trust and faith in Him alone. And so, Jesus sends these 72 out ahead of His party to prepare His way. Like the adventures the Twelve had experienced, they were to take no provision, for they would be depending upon God who blessed them on their journey.

That part is simple enough.

But there is a larger context than that in play here; an apocalyptic context: The Kingdom is coming near.

Jesus tells them:

“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. (10:5-7)

They are being sent on an urgent mission, there isn’t time for messing around and extra socializing. They are to bestow God’s peace upon any house that will receive them. This is the customary Jewish greeting, but if their host is not receptive to their message, God’s peace will not remain on them. The missionaries are not to move about from house to house, they are to be about God’s purpose only.

When they enter a town that is receptive to their message they are to tell them that the Kingdom of God has come near, and heal the sick in the town. However, if a town does not receive their message…

…go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. (10:10-12)

Jesus continues this line of thought…

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.  And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.

“Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

It’s helpful for us to bear in mind that Tyre and Sidon were Gentile towns; Jesus has found more actual faith among the Gentiles than among the Jews, and His point is that when the great day of the Lord comes, being Jewish isn’t going to change the fact that they rejected their Messiah, and they will be doomed.

You see dear reader, this whole “Kingdom” thing is very serious business.

Off went the 72; we’ll hear their report next time.

As they were walking toward Jerusalem, there were a number of conversations between Jesus and those with His party. Luke has recorded for us several brief exchanges in which Jesus tells people about the high cost of being His follower. No, He wasn’t asking for money, far from it in fact; He was revealing the earthly, social cost of becoming His follower. Let’s take a look:

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (9:57-58)

Following Jesus wherever He goes doesn’t involve an expense account. He had no earthly possessions beyond the shirt on His back and being His follower will not result in earthly riches, but it might involve earthly deprivations.

He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” (9:59-60)

Social custom in those days required that a son honor his father by seeing to it that the father received a proper burial, but Jesus is telling this man that His call supersedes social custom and familial obligation, a tough lesson for certain. What do you suppose this man did? What would you have done? Yep, this is a really tough one; I’m not sure what I would have done here… Maybe the guy preached the Kingdom at the funeral…

Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”

Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (9:61-62)

Here we go again! You can’t even go and say “goodbye” first?

Luke doesn’t elaborate on these snippets, so I suppose they are open to interpretation, and I am quite confident that most of us today would prefer to understand these in a more liberal way than people might have in past centuries. For example, we might say that this last one meant that once the man said “goodbye” that was it, don’t look back after that. Maybe Jesus was using hyperbole whan He said He had no place to lay His head, so it’s OK to have a bunch of stuff, but don’t get carried away…

However you might prefer to view these, one thing is abundantly clear: There is a cost in this life to following Jesus.

As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them. Then he and his disciples went to another village.

Luke 9:51-56

Jesus was preparing to leave the region of Galilee to head to Jerusalem, taking the direct route through Samaria. He sends some disciples ahead to make preparations in a Samaritan village, and the village will not allow Him to stop over in their town.

James and John seem to have a “nuclear option” for that particular village, probably thinking of the life and times of Elijah, but Jesus wasn’t going to battle against flesh and blood; they visited a different village.

Wouldn’t that have caused a stir!

Of course, there would be more opposition to come. On previous trips, people had come out to see Jesus, bringing their sick and lame with them for healing; Luke has not mentioned a community that would refuse to receive Jesus up to this point.

Things were different now. Even so, Jesus would be welcomed in many places on this trip, but there would always be a hint of darkness looming as The Enemy was gearing up to deal with the Jesus Problem. Jesus would discuss this situation further with the disciples as the journey continued, for they needed to realize that there would be a cost in this world for following Him. That discussion begins in the next section here at the end of Chapter 9.

Luke 9:37-50

In this text are several events that take place right after the Transfiguration. First, as they were coming down the mountain a crowd gathers to meet Jesus. When they arrive, there is a man whose son has been inflicted by demonic possession and he begs Jesus for help. His disciples seemed to have tried already to handle the situation without success, but Jesus, expressing a little bit of frustration says the word, and the demon is gone (9:37-43).

Right after that, Jesus once again tells the disciples that He is going to be killed at the hands of men, but they don’t understand Him and are afraid to ask (9:43b-45). Notice how much of a contrast this is with His having just dealt so easily with the forces of demons.  In these two incidents Jesus demonstrated to them His identity as the Son of God and His mission as Messiah, having on one hand divine authority over spiritual forces, and predicting on the other hand His work on the cross.

Then the disciples begin to debate which of them is the greatest Hello, are you boys paying attention?

Who can blame them; this is a lot to get your head around. Jesus sets a little child in front of them and says: “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.” (9:48b) The little child has nothing to offer, no money, no position, no particular social importance and is entirely vulnerable, at least in an earthly sense. The one, who will be great in the Kingdom, is the one who is least in this world. With this, Jesus has not only revealed His nature and purpose, but theirs as well.

Finally, John tells Jesus that they saw a guy driving out demons in Jesus’ name and they told him to stop, since the man wasn’t “one of us”. Jesus’ reply to that bit of information?

 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.” (9:50)

The time of conflict had come, and from this point forward, Jesus would be viewed as ‘extreme and out of the mainstream’ and the full force of the establishment would be turned against Him.

Luke 9:28-36

A little more than a week after the last story that Luke has told us, Jesus took His disciples Peter, John and James up to a mountain to pray and that is where this story takes place. We might note that from Matthew’s account, Jesus and the Twelve have been in seclusion for several days. Jesus has been teaching them and helping them to understand and prepare for what would be coming along in the near future; we might say that He has been discipling the disciples.

There the four of them are on this mountain; Jesus was praying as the three disciples were having a hard remaining awake, and then it happened. His face was changed, His clothing began to shine brightly and He was joined by two other forms, that of Moses and that of Elijah in their glory; Jesus was speaking with them about His “departure” which was fast approaching. Becoming fully awake, Peter had the excellent notion of building shelters for each of them, but that was not the plan.

A cloud descended upon the disciples and from the cloud came the voice of God telling them that they should listen to the Son of God (not the servants of God). When the cloud lifted, only Jesus remained. As Luke mentions in the text, when Peter offered his idea, he did not yet understand what was happening, and to be quite accurate, it would still be some time before he did.

The three bewildered disciples kept this to themselves for the present.

Needless to say, this scene is an apocalyptic one, for it really isn’t the point that Jesus was having a conference with Moses and Elijah, although He was having a conference with them. The real point is seen by taking note of what they represented to the Jewish mind: Moses was the embodiment of the Law, Elijah was the embodiment of the prophets and the Law and the prophets speak of Jesus. When the Law and the prophets are taken away, only Jesus is left, because in Jesus we find the complete fulfillment of both Law and prophets.

The three disciples would have some difficulty getting their brains around this new reality, and if we are honest with ourselves, we still have some difficulty getting our minds around it as well. Jesus, having tried to teach the disciples about this new reality, would soon show them what He was all about…