Luke 16:1-15 The Ways of the World

Does it sound in this parable like Jesus is actually praising the dishonest manager for being dishonest? This has always been one of those parables that has left me scratching my head wondering what Jesus is getting at. I don’t think I’m in the minority when I say that sometimes when a bible passage doesn’t quite make sense to me, I just read past it. That’s what I’ve often done with this parable. Yet there is always a lot to learn when you slow down and really listen, not just to the passage you’re not clear on, but listening to the verse around it and the book of the bible it’s found in. it’s amazing how often something that was kind of confusing can suddenly make sense. That’s what’s happened to me over the past 3 weeks I’ve been reflecting on this parable.

The dishonest manager is a smart man, though not as smart as he probably thinks he is since he got caught by his master wasting his possessions. Yet he is smart enough to go to the people who owe his master a fortune and lower their debts by a lot. He’s hoping to score brownie points with these people, hoping that when he gets thrown out of his job that one of them will take him in, even though he’s lost his job and a lot of his status by getting fired. The dishonest manager is trying to make himself a hero, a benefactor to the people who owe his master so much money, so that they will feel obligated, or a sense of friendship with him and will help him out. After-all, in most places money talks!

This parable comes after the parable of the lost son who wasted his father’s money and thought money would solve all his problems and build strong relationships. His friends didn’t stay around once his social status and money was gone, they were only friends with his money, fickle friends at best. You need to be careful about friends who like you only because of your money and your ability to make their life easier and more fun with it, not wise to build your circle of friends by buying them.

So, if this parable isn’t really about being smart in the way of the world, then what is Jesus getting at here? Part of the answer is found in verse 13, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the others. You cannot serve both God and money.” At one level, this parable is about loyalty and devotion to who you identify as your master; is it God or money and what money brings you in this world.

Part of the answer is also found in verse 10 & 11, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” You hear here an echo to another of Jesus’ parables where he tells the story of a master going away and entrusting 3 of his servants with different amounts of his wealth to take care of while he is away. 2 of the servants work hard and through using and investing the wealth, they are able to increase it, while the third servant buries it so he won’t lose it, operating out of fear rather than passion for his master. His master’s desire and trust are not a high priority with him, simply living a trouble and effort free life is good enough for him.

When you take these two things together, Jesus is calling us to live a God focused life, to be as wise in the ways of God as the people of the world are wise in the ways of the world. Jesus is straight up calling out those who are trying to have things both ways, enjoying investing in the world around us and embracing its values and benefits while trying to be completely loyal to Jesus and God, because the values and ways of each master too often are at odds against each other. You only need to listen to the news to get an understanding of this struggle. Our society is willing to invest in the poor and vulnerable as long as taxes don’t go up and you keep these people out of sight while Jesus is constantly calling us to be hospitable to the poor and vulnerable, inviting them into our lives and homes, sacrificing our money to help them. Just listen to the Sermon on the Mount. Hear how Jesus praises the poor widow in Mark 12, who puts her only 2 copper coins into the temple charity box to help others even worse of than herself. Her offering shows the state of her soul, “Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.  They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

You hear the fighting going on over abortion and LGBTQ rights, we close our eyes to the violence and drug problems in our community and we forget this is about people created in the image of God. We’ll never change the hearts and values of people by shouting at them, we’re called to build real respect filled relationships with all people, including those who identify themselves differently gender wise, ethnically, or faith wise. When we build genuine relationships, then we’re able to speak Jesus into their lives and help the Holy Spirit to settle into their hearts as they experience true love and acceptance, even if we say that we disagree with some of the choices that they may make, being humble enough to confess that we also make choices that displease Jesus. but this should not break the relationship or stop us from having deep meaningful conversations about what giving our lives over to Jesus really looks like in a world that insists on the freedom to define what is right and wrong morally based entirely on our feeling, which are always subject to change.

It comes down to who we really belong to and what are we going to allow to shape who we are as people. Do you get your identity from Jesus and being created in the image of God, or do you accept the world’s wisdom in telling us that our identity lies in our gender, our job, our bank account, or whatever the cause of the day is? Do you believe that you are not your own, but that you belong, body and soul, in life and in death to our faithful saviour Jesus Christ? We say the words, but do they truly shape who you are, what your values are, how you live your life? In the early church, being a disciple of Jesus meant that you followed the Way, the way Jesus lived, which helps us understand why Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” in John 14. It’s about imitating Jesus, following his teaching, and making Jesus the center of our lives, accepting Jesus’ way rather than the way of the world and its values and goals. Following Jesus is not just believing in Jesus, it’s about living in the way he teaches and shows us.

Jesus came to earth to lead us back to God and the way of God. He did this through modeling in his life the way of God, including accepting that God’s way is about justice, righteousness, wholeness, forgiveness and grace and it led Jesus to the cross where he took our punishment for our sin on himself because Jesus knows we’re unable to do anything to make ourselves acceptable to God. Jesus is our perfect substitute, addressing God’s justice and holiness through grace and forgiveness. Jesus now invites us to follow him, accepting him as our lord and saviour, and he offers forgiveness and eternal life with himself. We have a new mission in life; showing in our lives that we are thankful to God and taking on his call to share the gospel with all so that they too may find their identity in Jesus, accept him as their lord and saviour and find eternal life and forgiveness of their sins.

This parable is not about being wise in the ways of the world, but about being wise in the ways of God. You become wise in the ways of God by regularly listening to his Word, practicing the teachings of Jesus in our lives so they become second nature to us, talking with God regularly and slowing down regularly to listen to him. It’s about developing a servant’s heart by putting God and others first. Remember that what the world calls valuable is only for a short time, what Jesus calls valuable is for eternity.

Luke 15:11-32 A Father’s Joy

Have you ever done something you wish you could take back, something you need to ask forgiveness for but thought that maybe it couldn’t be forgiven? Listen to a story of a man looking back at just such a time.

When my son became a man, I told him our family story. Son, I’m glad we’ve found time for just the two of us. You’ve asked me a number of times why your uncle and I don’t get along and why your grandfather gave him everything when he died and we got nothing. Today it’s your Bar Mitzvah, meaning you’re old enough to hear how much your grandfather loves us and yet how even his love for all of us can’t seem to help your uncle and I get along.

My son asked, “Why don’t you and uncle get along, dad?”

It all started when I was just a little older than you are right now, about 16. I had celebrated my Bar Mitzvah, meaning I was considered a man now. I thought because I was a man now that I shouldn’t be treated like a child, being told what to do and how to live by my father. I was old enough to make my own decisions and I knew they would be better than my father’s decisions. I saw how dad ran the farm and how he would give money to people when they were having a hard time, even though he knew that they would never pay him back. Dad showed practical love to everyone, especially to people he often didn’t even know. I believed that dad was just giving away money that belonged to me. The people should work harder for their money, it’s their fault that they’re poor. Either they’re lazy or they’ve sinned so bad that God must be punishing them by making them poor. It’s not my fault, but it is my money!

It finally got to me one day. I’ll never forget that day. I wish I could take it back. Your grandfather had just helped out another family who had been robbed. He took them in, fed them, and when they left the next morning, he gave them a pouch of coins to help them on their way. He didn’t even ask the man to work around the farm, and it was harvest time, a really busy time. Grandfather just gave them money, blessed them and sent them on their way. I stomped up to your grandfather; I had had enough and I demanded my share of the farm, my inheritance, before he gave any more of it away. I was telling him I wished he was dead! I still can’t believe how selfish and mean I was as a young man; how greedy I was. This is why I’m telling you this story, because I want you to be a better person than me

I never expected my father to give me my inheritance, I thought he would beat me instead and I deserved that, but instead, a week later my father handed me a bag of coins. He had sold part of his land, a third of his flocks, and had money at home; he put it all together and gave it to me. I was rich, I could do whatever I wanted now! I knew I needed to leave home because I didn’t think your grandfather let me keep the money, so I packed up my stuff and left the next morning. I didn’t trust my father.

My son jumped in, “I understand why grandpa didn’t give you anything what he died dad. But when you left, didn’t you think that you’d miss grandpa and uncle, wouldn’t you get lonely leaving home?”

You’re asking wise questions son. I thought with all my money, it would be no problem finding new friends, and you know what, when I got to a new town far away, I found lots of friends when they saw I was rich. Life was good, I could do whatever I wanted and nobody told me what to do. There were lots of pretty girls and parties. Life was good. I hadn’t learned yet the difference between short-term happy and long-term joy. Wine, women and song are often short-term happy; family and deep relationships are long-term happy. After a couple of years, as rich as I was, my money began running out and a severe famine happened. As I stopped spending my money on parties and wine, my friends disappeared, and finally, I ran out of money. Then I was lonely, everyone left me. They loved my money, not me. I was in a foreign country and people didn’t care about me. The only work I could find was for a pig farmer.

My son reminded me, “But dad, we’re not supposed to touch pigs because that would make you unclean in God’s eyes, and everyone who touched you would also become unclean in God’s eyes.”

You’re right son, but when you’re hungry and your stomach aches all the time, you become desperate and willing to do almost anything to get a little food in your stomach. The farmer gave me nothing to eat, and I was so hungry I was even willing to eat the pig’s food. I was so stubborn and angry at my father though. It was only when I thought I was going to die from hunger that I began to think about home again. I remembered that even the servants back home had food every day. They had clean clothes and family and friends close so they weren’t lonely. I wondered if your grandfather would take me back as a servant. Anything was better than this, so I left one night began the journey home.

As I walked home, looking for scraps of food, begging from other travellers, I planned what I would say to your grandfather to get him to take me back. I will never forget what I came up with, “Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and against you. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.” By hating your grandfather and treating him so terribly, I’d sinned against God, showing God that in my heart I really didn’t care about God, in fact I hated him too. But I still prayed to God to make my father’s heart soft enough to take me in as a servant and I asked for forgiveness. The closer to home I got, the more nervous and afraid I got. Was your grandfather going to beat me, would he throw me off his land, he could have me killed for what I did to him.

My son stopped me, “But dad, you know how much grandpa loves you, he would never hurt you! He always wanted what was best for you.”

I know that now son, but I didn’t then. Satan has a way of making us doubt our father’s love, he loves to see families broken up. As I got closer to our village and home, I walked slower and slower with my head down. When I came to the corner of the road where the trees are, suddenly I heard someone shout out my name and there was your grandfather running as fast as he could towards me. I could see the tears running down his cheeks as he called out, “My son, you’re home again!” Before I got a chance to say anything he hugged me even though I was filthy and still smelled like pigs. He shouted for the servants to bring clean clothes and even a family ring for me. He forgave me, he had been patiently waiting for me to come home the entire time, he never stopped loving me even though I had wished him dead. He forgave me even though I had been so evil to him and had wasted everything he’d given me. I had abandoned him, but he never abandoned me, he patiently waited, knowing his love would bring me home again.

My son asked me then, “Wasn’t uncle happy to see you too, why does he always look at you as if he hates you?”

Your uncle was just as greedy and selfish as I was, he just showed it differently. He was angry when I came home and your grandfather forgave me so quickly. He thought I would take part of his inheritance away from him, he though your grandfather loved me more than him. Jealousy has a way of breaking up even really close relationships, even though your grandfather loves you uncle just as much as he loves me. Your grandfather never let the things we did make his love for us any less. You can always trust in his love and I pray that one day his love will bring your uncle and I back together again as we learn to forgive and love as he did.  

Jesus came to earth to call us back home again, to go to the cross to take the punishment for our sins and reconcile the relationship between us and our father. We’re unable to make things right on our own, but our father loves us so much he gave up his own son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but be welcomed home by the father and have eternal life with the father and the son.

Luke 15:1-10 Finding the Lost

Back when I was 15 and in Air Cadets, we were on a winter survival weekend just outside Thunder Bay, when my best friend, Pat and I decided to take the snowmobiles out for a spin on the lake after dinner on a cloudy really dark night. As we skimmed along the snow and ice of the lake, we enjoyed the brisk winter night until we decided to head back to camp and realized that we had gotten ourselves turned around and couldn’t find the camp anymore. We tried to follow our tracks back, but because there were so many tracks criss-crossing all over the lake, that didn’t help. As we drove around the lake, Pat suddenly spotted a light shining in the dark, waving back and forth. Our captain had gone out onto the ice and was waving a spot-light into the night sky to bring us back. When we drove up, the captain was freezing from standing in the bitter cold, but he didn’t curse us or even punish us, he was simply happy that we were back safely. As I let this story of Jesus and the Pharisees settle into my heart this week, this memory of my captain standing there in the cold and freezing for Pat and I, wouldn’t go away. 

It was a picture of what I think Jesus is getting at here. Jesus is drawing a crowd as he travels around teaching the people about God, inviting them to trust God’s love and commitment to them, calling them to repent and believe. But it’s not the Pharisees and teachers of the law who recognize that Jesus is from God, instead it’s the sinners and tax collectors who gather around Jesus to hear what he has to say. Now for the Jews, hearing was more than simply listening, hearing means that you listen and them put what you’ve heard into action into your life.

Now the proper people, the ones who seem to have their lives all together, are muttering, “This man welcomes sinner and eats with them.” This is said with a bit of a sneer and a sense that they’re better than Jesus, what’s Jesus thinking, eating with people like that. Jesus just doesn’t seem to care about the laws God put into place to keep the nice people separate from the scummy people, Jesus doesn’t seem to understand or care about who proper people should hang around with or eat with. You need standards after-all. Jesus actually hangs out with sinners as if they were family or kin, as if they were acceptable.

So, Jesus tries to explain to the Pharisees through a series of parables why he’s with the sinners. Jesus wants to help them see why he’s hanging out with the sinners, why it’s so important. Jesus asks them to imagine that they’re shepherds. The shepherd is a common image in Jewish thought and usually refers to leaders in Israel. One of the most well known passages of the shepherd as leader comes from the prophet Ezekiel who talks about uncaring shepherds in chapter 34 and tells the people that God himself will come and seek and rescue his sheep and care for them. The idea that God is a shepherd to his people is also found in the well-loved shepherd psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want.”

Jesus asks, “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.’” The shepherd loses a sheep and leaves the ninety-nine sheep in a safe place where they can keep eating and goes to look for the lost sheep. This is what a shepherd does. Sheep have a natural tendency to wander away, following the grass without often being aware of any danger, going off on its own without really thinking. There’s nothing more helpless than a lost sheep: they have no natural defenses against lions, eagles, wolves or other predators. The shepherd doesn’t easily give up, he goes after the lost sheep until he finds it.

Video of looking for lost sheep https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov6pyr8FM1I

We often picture the shepherd strolling through the fields, keeping an eye out for the lost sheep. It’s always a sunny day and not too hot in our minds. We never think that it might be dangerous for the shepherd, we only see a cute lamb wandering on rolling hills, the shepherd finds the sheep, easily lifting the sheep onto his shoulders and strolling back to the flock. But the reality is different, sheep have a way of finding themselves in odd and often dangerous places. The shepherd needs to work hard and even risk his life at times to save the sheep from their own foolishness. Even while getting a sheep out of a dangerous situation, they will often fight against the shepherd. Carrying a 100 pound sheep who is struggling and wiggling on your shoulders is hard work. Do you get why the shepherd calls his family and friends together to celebrate finding the lost sheep? It takes a lot of effort to find, save and bring home a lost sheep. It’s not like walking the trails at Chickakoo and coming across a small lamb, picking it up, putting it on our shoulders and heading home; this is about a full-grown sheep in rough country needing to be found and saved.

The meaning of the parable is no secret. Even in the Old Testament, prophets like Isaiah were calling those who’ve drifted away from God lost sheep. Isaiah 53:6, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Our going astray is usually not about deliberately going out and doing what we know is wrong and hurting God, someone else or ourselves. Most of the time we’re like sheep, nose to the ground following our appetites, whether it’s food, pleasure, power, or whatever, and then, as Tim Keller says, we take the good things God gives us and make them gods, they become more important to us than Jesus. Rosario Butterfield describes how Jesus saves us his sheep, Jesus comes untouched by the original sin that distorts, the actual sin that distracts, and the indwelling sin that manipulates. Jesus is no puppet on the strings of Satan, as we too often are. And when Jesus fulfilled the law by dying on the cross and rising by his own power to sit at God the Father’s right hand, he gave his people the power to overcome the sin that enslaves them. He gave us his blood to wash away our sins, he gave us his Word to instruct and heal us, and he sent the Holy Spirit to lead us in conviction and repentance of sin and to comfort us by the assurance that his saving love is rock solid.

Jesus is telling the Pharisees that he’s the good shepherd from Zechariah who has come to find the lost sheep and bring them back home and every time a person comes back to God, it’s party time, “there’s rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The sinners that Jesus is accused of eating with are the lost that Jesus has come to find and bring home. The sinners have responded to Jesus’ call to “Come follow me, repent and believe for the kingdom of God is near.” By eating with these sinners, Jesus is giving us a small glimpse of what waits for us, a banquet feast where Jesus is our host and we’re washed clean of our sin, healed from our sin, and being reconciled to our heavenly father who is number one in our lives again.

Jesus is inviting the Pharisees and us to join him in seeking the lost and bringing them home to the father again. This isn’t easy clean work, it’s hard, messy and sometimes dangerous; talk to our brothers and sisters in places like Syria, Egypt and other countries who have given their lives when going after the lost. We may get discouraged because we don’t see any results and yet we also believe that when God works in their lives, calling them to himself, that they’re unable to resist his call on their hearts, so we don’t give up. We’re called to go and make disciples because we deeply love our neighbours and want them to be with us at Jesus’ banquet. This is all about bringing home the lost, those who have forgotten that they’re children of God, loved deeply by their father. When the Holy Spirit moves them to accept Jesus as their shepherd, as their saviour, what an amazing time to celebrate!

Luke 17:11-19 Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving Day

Harvard Health magazine writes, “Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives. In the process, people usually recognize that the source of that goodness lies at least partially outside themselves. As a result, gratitude also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals — whether to other people, nature, or a higher power.” It also has health benefits including being “strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”

Gratitude is a virtue and shows us a lot about where our hearts and souls are at. We see this especially in this story about 10 lepers who meet Jesus. Leprosy is an infectious disease that causes skin sores, nerve damage, and muscle weakness that gets worse over time. People feared leprosy in Jesus’ time and lepers were isolated from everyone else, considered unclean and not allowed in the temple. People believed that leprosy was God’s punishment for sins. In this simple story we see people who are outsiders and who respond to Jesus with faith, the belief and trust in things unseen, as Hebrews puts it. Reading this story in Jesus’ life, I tried looking at it as if I was one of the lepers.

The sun is out and the day is hot. We’re sitting together, all us lepers and we can see people going and coming from the village. We don’t want to admit it to each other, but deep inside we’re hoping to see some of our loved ones, praying to our God that they are doing alright since we can’t take care of them or protect them. Life hasn’t gone the way we thought and each of us keeps looking back at our lives wondering what we did that was so wrong and evil that God has decided to punish us with this dreaded disease that has caused everybody, including our families to reject us and cast us out. Even though there are 10 of us here, we each suffer alone knowing that our life and death is going to be painful and filled with great suffering. Then we see a group of people coming towards the village and one of the other lepers cries out that it’s Jesus, he knows this because he had seen Jesus before and heard him teach about God, but he had also heard a story that Jesus had actually healed another leper, that he actually touched the leper when he healed him. Can it be that Jesus isn’t afraid of leprosy? If he can heal me, that means Jesus has power from God to heal and in healing us shows us that God forgives us from the horrible sin that brought this disease on us.

Suddenly there’s hope, we climb to our feet and move towards the road to the village so we can all out to Jesus, praying to God Almighty that he will hear us and have pity on us. We can see some of them notice us and draw away from us in fear and horror and we begin to cry out, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us.” Will Jesus hear us, will he help us, can he help us, was the story true? So many questions go through my head as we see Jesus stop. As Jesus stops, we stop shouting, waiting to hear him. “Go, show yourselves to the priests,” Jesus tells us. Could this mean, is it possible that our leprosy is gone, otherwise why tell us to go to the priests.

One of the other lepers starts running to the road that goes to Jerusalem where the priests can be found, and without even thinking, I start to follow him. As I’m running down the road, I look down at my hands and the sores are gone, my feet feel healthy for the first time in a long time. Then I remember that in the excitement of everything, I had forgotten to thank Jesus. I stopped and called out to the others, but they keep running. I turn around and come to Jesus and I throw myself at his feet, tears pouring out of my eyes, it’s the first time since I discovered I had leprosy that I could come close to someone not cursed by God. All I could say was “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” The tears were choking my throat because I realized that I could come close to God in the temple, that my sins could be forgiven and washed away.

Through my tears I could hear Jesus speaking again. He asked, “Were not all 10 cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then I knew that Jesus was from God, because how else could he have known that I was the only Samaritan among the other lepers. Imagine, wonder of wonders, Jesus healed me even though I’m not even a Jew! He’s changed my life! He’s made me clean, inside and out, I’m no longer rejected, I’m accepted, and could it also mean that God accepts me too even though I’m only a Samaritan? Jesus turns to me, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” It is well with me, well with my body and well with my soul. Praise the Lord!

We’re celebrating Thanksgiving Day and as followers of Jesus we know that our greatest reason to be thankful, to be grateful to Jesus is for saving us from our sin, from the soul sickness that comes from being sinners. Jesus cleans our souls, but through faith, he also brings healing, restoration and hope into our lives. Jesus changes us, makes us well. And so we live with a spirit of gratitude because we know that we’ve done nothing to deserve God’s blessings, it’s all about God’s grace and Jesus’ unconditional love for us. Through our faith, which itself is a gift from God, we find salvation and new life and we respond with thankfulness to Jesus and give our lives over to him.

Luke 13:22-30 Belonging

When I was 13 I joined the Air Cadets and at 17 I joined the HMCS Griffon, the Naval Reserve. I joined both for the same reason, I wanted some place where I felt like I belonged, where I was accepted for who I was. Both the Air Cadets and Naval Reserve demanded my commitment and to accept their values and goals to remain part of both organizations. We all have a need inside us to belong, to know that we’re part of something, usually something bigger than us that gives us some kind of foundation in our life to move forward on. This is why kids have their secret groups with passwords and secret handshakes, this is why some teens are drawn into gangs. I’ve often found myself amazed that so many churches are shy about demanding this kind of commitment. I’ve also found that when I join something that demands my commitment, I value it more and work harder for it.

We are created to belong, yet so many people search for a place to belong. Many people struggle with feelings of being left out, not included, of not being seen or recognized, of always living life on the outside looking in to everyone else’s life filled with joy and happiness. This is why social media is so addicting, because people look into the lives of the people in their groups to see if they are being included and still part of the group. If they see others enjoying themselves and they didn’t know about it, they feel a sense of being left out and even cast out. They then might search for places and groups in their community to join and belong. Some reach out and gather a few people around them who are also looking for someplace to belong and they may use a need or cause to build a sense of community among each other so they might have a place where they belong.

There are even members in the church who experience this, wondering if they really belong, wondering if Jesus sees them, accepts them. This is the kind of the thinking and feeling that lies behind the question Jesus is asked about being saved, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” The expected answer to the question of how many people are going to be saved is, “Don’t worry, there might only be a few saved, but you are definitely one of the few.” After-all, this is Jerusalem, the place of the Temple and they’re the Jews, God’s people, so of course Jesus is going to reassure them that they belong, they’re part of God’s “in group.” But Jesus takes the conversation in a different direction, to a parable about narrow doors, a feast, and people outside who are weeping and gnashing their teeth and never really gives them a straight forward answer. Jesus doesn’t answer the question about how many people are going to be saved, but instead focuses on the who and how.

“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.” My first thought is, ‘what is Jesus getting at here?’ then, as I tried to listen more carefully to what Jesus said, I begin to get some idea of what he’s getting at here. Jesus uses the phrase “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door,” and I took a look at the words Jesus uses here. ‘Make every effort’ in Greek is about striving, working towards, struggling, having a focus. Somehow it feels wrong to believe that my salvation depends on me making every effort to get in the narrow door, so Jesus must be pointing to something else instead.

We need to hear Jesus’ words that come before this. Jesus talks about repenting or perishing. Repenting is about changing our life in response to God’s grace and forgiveness. Jesus goes on to heal a woman on the Sabbath, which according to the religious leaders was wrong because it was considered work. Jesus is frustrated with these people and accuses them of caring more about their animals than about this woman. Then just before this story of the narrow door, Jesus tells the people that the kingdom of God is like yeast, starting small and growing in us. All these things point to the importance of relationships with God and with each other. Jesus is the one who saves us from our sins through his sacrifice on the cross, Jesus is the one who offers us new life, offers forgiveness and grace; the stuff Jesus wants us to strive for is a deeper relationship with him. As John 3:16 reminds us, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” That’s a relationship statement, believing in someone is about trust and trust comes out of relationship.

The struggle is against our own desires, our tendency to focus on ourselves instead of Jesus because our own will is so strong. This is what Jesus is getting at when he talks about those who try to enter and will not be able to. These people are looking to get in, but there’s no real effort made, nor a deep desire beforehand. They’ll have all kinds of excuses, “We ate and drank with you and you taught in our streets,” but they never cared enough to actually build a relationship with the owner of the house. They want the benefits of belonging without the effort. I’ve had people say that Jesus is playing mean here by rejecting people, but if you’re looking to find a place where you belong, it happens when you respond to Jesus’ invitation to come follow him, to find your rest in him, to find your identity in him.

It’s like marriage or any other relationship that’s meaningful. You need to put effort into it; if it’s all about you, the relationship will never grow any deeper. It’s like any relationship, if you don’t work on it, if you don’t make an effort to build your relationship, it shows that either it isn’t really important to you, or you’re so self-centered you put all the responsibility for the relationship on the other person. The people Jesus is talking about heard the words of Jesus, but never took them to heart, never allowed Jesus’ way and words to shape their hearts and lives, their minds and souls. They listened and then quickly forgot because it wasn’t about them. So then because they felt entitled, they believe they should be let into the house where there’s a feast happening simply because they should be allowed in, even though they never bothered with having a deep and meaningful relationship with the owner. They want what Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls ‘cheap grace,’ where people believe that God is obligated to forgive them and offer them grace but they don’t need to make any effort on to respond to God’s grace. Jesus died, we’re forgiven and therefore never need to change.

A true relationship changes you. It changes you because you care so deeply about the other person that you focus more on them than on yourself. Jesus speaks in parables and calls us to listen, and when a rabbi calls you to listen, it’s expected that you will respond to what you hear. Listening is not passive, it’s active. As you change in order to please the other person, they change because you have shown that this relationship is important to you and you are invited into their heart, you find a person and place where you belong. At the heart of this parable, that’s what’s going on. The narrow door is a relationship with the owner of the mansion, the host of the feast, with Jesus and our Father in heaven. It’s about working towards allowing Jesus to shape our lives, our desires, our focus and our goals. Jesus doesn’t say how many or how few will be saved, he points to the way to experience belonging to the Father through having a relationship with Jesus. Yet when you listen, the feast is filled with people from all over who have worked at their relationship with the host and are now inside. 

The comfort comes from knowing that Jesus reaches out to you first and never gives up reaching out to you to have a deeper relationship with you because he wants you to belong, he wants you to know that the feast is for you, that the narrow door takes you home.

Luke 8:16-18 Hiding Our Lamp

When I was in the naval reserve, I was on the emergency response team. We were trained to respond to any emergency that might happen while at sea: a breach in our hull, medical emergencies, and fire fighting. I remember the first time I went into the training center and we were suited up in our fire fighting gear, given the equipment we would need, and then sent into a burning building that simulated a ship’s engine room. It was so dark we couldn’t see our hands in front of our masks. The first few moments were spent fighting the panic that arose because of the pitch blackness, then as we opened the hatch, the flames provided us with some light and there was actually relief at having the light from the flames, even though fire is a serious issue on a ship. Our training officer talked us through this afterwards, and mentioned how the very fire we have to fight also gives hope that we could fight it because it gave light when all the power was shut off to that area. Whenever I read about light in the Bible, I remember that experience because the darkness was so overwhelming.

This is a short parable, it’s more of an image or picture instead. It’s also tied to the parable of the farmer sowing seed, sowing the word of God, that we looked at last week. Jesus ties them together by repeating the importance of hearing and listening. Jesus ends the parable before by saying, “The seed on the good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” In this parable or picture, Jesus ends it by warning us, “Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken away.” That feels so unfair! Now Jesus calls himself the light of the world in John 8, John the Baptist who prepared the people for the coming of Jesus said about Jesus, “the true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.” Now since Jesus is the light of the world and giving his light to us and we’re concealing it, why would he keep giving it to us?

Light is a powerful image in the Bible. When Jesus calls himself the light of the world and says that his followers will never walk in darkness but have the light of life, he’s talking about heart and life stuff. We talk about the darkness in our souls and hearts when things are really hard and hope feels far away. We talk about darkness when we hear about evil going on in the world. Then there are those times when we want to strike out with everything we have because of hurt or anger and we recognize that there is even the possibility of evil inside our own souls. This is why it’s important to allow Jesus to have your heart and life to chase that darkness out of you. The darkness retreats when you allow Jesus’ words, his teaching, his life, his call to love even your enemies to shape your response to the world, to shape who you are. Our world has a hard time with evil, not wanting to seem judgmental or racist or whatever, but Jesus offers a different approach, focusing first on our own hearts and then working to shape the places he places us so they’re places of fairness, righteousness, justice, grace, encouragement, love and health.

Darkness hates light because light exposes evil and darkness for what it is and drives it back. The darkness tried to snuff out the light of the world by nailing Jesus to the cross, branding him a traitor and blasphemer. But the darkness didn’t realize that on the cross the light of the world shone even brighter, taking our sin in himself so that we are washed clean, bathed in light and made right with our father in heaven again, forgiven and free from the darkness sin creates in us. When the darkness claimed victory over the light, the light shone even more radiantly into every corner of the universe, defeating and driving the darkness back.

When Jesus says, “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead they put it on a stand so that those who come in can see the light.” You can almost see Jesus do a forehead slap kind of thing. This is a ‘Duh!’ kind of statement, like why even bother wasting the fuel and risking burning down everything you own, risking harm to your family and loved ones if you’re not going to use the lamp for what it’s meant for. So, what’s this lamp light that Jesus is referring to here?

Light is Jesus and the hope he offers because he chases the dark away. A tiny light can be seen from a long way away. In the dark our eyes search for light. On cloudy nights when the stars and moon are hidden behind thick clouds and you’re far away from the city lights, you can feel the darkness settle over you and your eyes instinctively search for light. This is why light houses were so important because in storms, when darkness was deep and heavy over the water, the beam of light from the light houses could cut through the darkness and warn and guide the ships into safety. It’s the same in our hearts and lives, even when everything seems dark and hopeless, we can’t seem to help but to keep searching for hope, for light to shine into our troubles and chase them away, our hearts keep searching for Jesus even when we don’t realize it at first.

People will look for that light from governments, justice systems, and other people, but the better light, the light that can shine into every corner of our hearts and lives and chase the darkness completely away is Jesus. When you accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour and offer your life over to him, his light floods into your life. Your circumstances may not change, but the darkness that creates fear and feelings of helplessness begins to be driven back by the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ because you don’t walk alone because Jesus is always with you and changes you and your heart as you embrace him closer and closer. He calls you to hear the word of God and put it into practice. These are those whom Jesus calls his mother, brothers and sisters, his family, as he tells us a few verses later.

The light of Jesus is welcoming. Jesus talks in this short parable about people coming in, experiencing hospitality and acceptance and a place to rest with others. This is about relationships, we’re created to be in community and Satan tries to isolate us, make us feel as if we are alone. Jesus spent a lot of time around dinner tables, a natural place of hospitality with those who were considered outsiders and sinners bringing hope and light into their lives. The light of Jesus brings clarity into our lives, guiding us, showing us ways forward that bless us and others.

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the light of the world. We have the gospel message that God never gives up on us, desires a relationship with us, and goes to the cross to let us know that. Jesus calls you to let your light shine before people, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Our good deeds show Jesus’ love in our world, helping us build relationships so that we can share the light of the world, Jesus, with them, inviting them to accept Jesus and to let his light shine in their lives as he does in ours.

Luke 8:4-15 The Farmer and the Field

Stories have the power to touch us in deep ways  because a good story uses images and pictures that are close to us and help us understand with both our head and heart what the story-teller is trying to get across to us. A story can change us in deep life altering ways. Growing up in the church, it was the stories of Jesus’ grace filled encounters with people that finally got to me and helped me to give my dreams and life over to Jesus: the stories of Jesus and the Samaritan woman, the woman caught in adultery, of Zacchaeus the tax collector; all people who lived on the fringes of society, not really accepted by the people around them and yet embraced and shown acceptance by Jesus. Then there are the stories of the lives of Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and others who inspired me to completely trust Jesus and search for his call on my life.

Jesus is a master story-teller, able to touch the hearts and souls of the people around him, teaching us to see the world through the eyes of God. Often, we only see what’s directly in front of us like a horse wearing blinkers to keep it staring only ahead in a narrow line, unable to see the amazing things of God that surround us. In the stories of Jesus, we meet his Father over and over again. Jesus reminds us that God is our father and his love and his desire is for us to come home to him. He uses the images of everyday life to show us what the kingdom of God is all about. Because of this, the people were fascinated by Jesus and came from all over the area to hear Jesus speak.

The Jewish people were looking for a messiah, God’s promised messiah whom he was sending and would save them. The people kept looking back to the good old days when their own king sat on the throne in Israel. It’s kind of like today, where so many followers of Jesus keep looking back to the good old days when politicians and leaders listened to the church and Christianity was the dominant force in society. So many followers of Jesus continue to be shocked that our governments no longer listen to churches and shape society around what the church tells them is right and wrong. This past week the Alberta government threatened to pull finding from any school that refuses to allow GSAs. The problem with looking back to the good old days is that they often aren’t nearly as good as we think they are. There’s a reason God sent his people Israel into exile and let them be conquered by their enemies, there’s a reason why so many people have walked away from the church and Christianity in our own life-times. We too often focused on the sin, forgetting how much Jesus loves the sinner. We forget we’re also sinners.

Jesus is the Messiah, but he doesn’t come to set up a throne, instead he uses stories to show us the true kingdom of God. A large crowd is gathering around Jesus. He often taught outside the cities where more people could gather around and hear him, so I’m imagining Jesus standing on a small hill surrounded by farmers’ fields when he sees a farmer working in the field, planting seed. In Jesus’ day the farmers planted their seed by taking it in their hands or a scoop and scattering the seed in a side to side motion over the ground. Jesus says, “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times what was sown.”

Jesus explains the story, telling us that the seed is the word of God. The farmer scattering the seed scatters it generously, he’s not stingy in throwing the seed around because the more generous he is in scattering the seed, the larger the crop. When we hear Jesus talk about the word of God we hear the word ‘Bible,’ but for the people listening to Jesus they heard something else. They heard Jesus say the teachings and calls of the prophets to return to God was being scattered into their hearts, the wonder and beauty in creation itself was calling them to God, the words of the Torah was being planted in their lives and the still quiet voice of God was being set into their hearts, minds and souls, calling them to be with God and listen to his voice, his love, and his call on their lives. God’s word is not only the words in this wonderful book he’s given us; it’s every way he’s reaching out to us.

Jesus explains that the soils the seed falls on are the heart conditions of the people. Some people will never accept Jesus no matter how often they hear the word of God; it’s like the seed on the pathway. Some people believe the word of God when they hear it, but there’s no depth in their hearts and lives for the word of God to be nourished and grow, so it fades away after a while like the rocky soil. Other people hear and accept the word of God, but then get distracted by the worries and pleasures of the world and so the word of God is choked out and Jesus gets forgotten.

The majority of the seed falls on fertile ground where it multiples like crazy. These people accept the word of God and it changes their lives! Today, these are the people who accept Jesus as their Saviour, knowing that they’re sinners unable to save themselves and need Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross to make them right with God again. This changes their lives; life becomes an expression of gratitude and grace because know they’re forgiven and accepted and want everyone else to experience the same life changing relationship with Jesus. This is what Jesus is getting at when he says the good soil “stands for those with a noble and true heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”

When I hear this story of Jesus, it gives me hope. The word of God is getting scattered around generously and there’s plenty of opportunity to hear it and grow your relationship with God through Jesus. I know my heart and I know it’s not always good soil in there. There are rocky places and plenty of thorns in my heart and life. Remember, Jesus is using the image of a farmer for a reason, a farmer is always working his fields to make them better. I remember growing up helping out on my uncles’ farms, every spring they headed out into the fields to pick rocks, the first crop of the year as one of my uncles said. They worked hard every year to expand their fields, turning over new fields after clearing them and getting rid of the weeds and thorns. It’s hard work to create good soil.

If you feel as if your faith isn’t as exciting as when you first accepted Jesus, it feels like life is dusty and dry, Jesus reminds us that he’s the living water and is willing to water our souls and work with us to pick the rocks out of our lives that try to prevent the word of God from setting deep roots in our hearts. When worry creeps in and creates fear and anxiety, when your life begins to revolve around the next toy, the newer car, the next promotion or big deal, Jesus reminds us that true joy and meaning are found in a relationship with him. He offers you peace and brings meaning and purpose as he invites you to join him in growing the kingdom of God, beginning with your own heart.

Jesus comes to bring new life, he goes to the cross to deal with those rocks, thorns and hard soils in our hearts that are there because of sin and washes them away and brings forgiveness, acceptance and grace. As Jesus ends the story, he reminds us that hearing and embracing the word of God is the heart of God’s kingdom. You were led here this morning by the Holy Spirit in one way or another to open your heart to the living water, the new life found in Jesus, to get your heart soil worked over by the Holy Spirit to get you to Jesus or to give you a story from the Master Story-teller to scatter this week wherever the Holy Spirit leads you.