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DAVID'S EMAIL BIBLE STUDY:
A.BACKGROUND
... Luke is the story of Jesus' life as told by Luke, a Greek convert to Christianity who was a close companion of St. Paul. He and Matthew provide the Christmas story. But the bulk of all the Gospels is the adult life of Jesus - from his baptism through his resurrection. Jesus spent most of his three-year public career in the countryside, far away from politics of Jerusalem, political and spiritual. But in his final weeks he steadfastly wends his way to his final fate in Jerusalem. He knows what awaits and uses his final weeks in increasingly blunt ways to prepare people. Prepare for what? Jesus' end, death, leaving, life after Jesus; and their own need to stop us, continue his work, take charge.
C. SUMMARY.
At our in-person Bible Study we looked at Luke 12:54-59, and Luke 13:1-21. One big teaching after another. How to summarize all that!? In short order, Jesus says that folks spend time trying to figure out the weather, but they miss the signs of what's really important (12:56); and since time is short and full of unexpected twists, get reconciled with people and with God before it is too late (21:58). Then he tackles a huge question: do bad things happen to folks because they deserve it (13:1-5)? No, he says twice. But every disaster is a reminder to focus on what is important and eternal. He follows that with a parable about a fig tree that doesn't produce, with a warning to start producing (13:6-9). Next (13:10-17), he is again criticized for doing good (a healing) on the sabbath, giving another occasion to point people to true essence of religion instead of rules and rituals. All this concludes with Jesus explaining that "the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed (or) yeast mixed in flour" (13:18-21). Both look insignificant but produce excellent results and stark changes.
D. KEY POINTS
1.
Again, BE PREPARED, be ready, focus, think, choose. These are urgent concerns for all of us in daily life. How do you prepare your house and household for winter? Your high school children for college? Yourselves for retirement? Your kitchen for Thanksgiving? Depending on your career, how do you prepare for your busy season? Annual reports and audits? Jesus' overall argument is that we should begin with the most important: how do we prepare for death, after death, eternity? Once those priorities are in order, we will be better prepared to handle the details of daily life. When your big worries are no longer bothering you, you see more clearly the way through other issues in your life.
2. "Your just desserts" is equal to "You get what you deserve". That's an idea with a long history rooted in religion. If God truly controls everything, if God is the master puppeteer pulling all the strings, if God is omnipotent/omniscient/omnipresent (all powerful, all knowing, all everywhere) then God must be in charge of even the worst - school shootings, forest fires, 9/11, cancer, hurricanes, accidents. Jesus described two current events from his day: some Jewish men killed by Roman soldiers while worshipping, and 18 people crushed by a collapsed tower. Did they do something to deserve either God's punishment, or God choosing not to intervene? "No", is Jesus' answer here. Elsewhere Jesus is even firmer, "a house divided against itself cannot stand". Jesus was referring to the innate nature of God which is goodness, while recognizing that there is evil in the world that hurts even the innocent. Eternity is the great equalizer. Until then, we use God's strength to carry us through the worst.
3. "CHANGE AGENTS". Some things have that power, to change everything around it. "A rotten apple ruins the whole barrel". "Better to light a candle than curse the darkness". "Random acts of kindness". Jesus called his movement "the Kingdom of God", something that is for now and not just later; something that is within and without; something to change everything around it. He uses two examples here, more elsewhere. Jesus calls us to be like the tiniest mustard seed that grows to become a true tree; to be the yeast of leaven that turns a small pile of flour into big bread; to be a candle on a nightstand that fills a whole room; to be salt that adds flavor to all it touches. Christlike people are not spectators or bystanders. We are to be active participants to civic life, social life, business life, school life, world life. We carry the teaching, and spirit of Christ into everything and being change agents, we make a difference.
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