Allen Jackson - Ambivalence and Destruction - Part 2
So the very next verses, Luke gives us this scenario at a little village not far away. There's a funeral procession, and Jesus interrupts the funeral procession, and what does he do? He said, "Young man, get up". "And the dead man sat up and he began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother". Luke is highlighting something for us, that Jesus really did have a different kind of authority. We're Jesus followers. We're still having seminars debating whether miracles still happen, for real. We've got whole theological systems built on cessationism, that miracles stopped at the end of the 1st century.
Verse 16, "They were all filled with awe and they praised God. 'A great prophet has appeared among us,' they said. 'God has come to help his people.' And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country". Now, what intrigues me in this particular little scenario is it's an unsolicited miracle. Nobody asked Jesus to intervene. The centurion comes with some pomp and some circumstance and a curriculum vita, his resume. He's generous, he loves our people, he's been good to us, he hasn't mistreated us. He deserves to be helped and he might help us some more. But the widow in the Nain and this little funeral procession, nobody's asked for anything. Jesus's compassion initiated the event. And it's worth noting that the response is positive, grateful.
"The news about Jesus spread throughout the region". It's one of the very... it's a unique... many, many times in Luke's Gospel the response is going to be very different. We're gonna see that in chapter 7, the same chapter. Next verse, verse 18, "John's disciples told him all about these things," all about what things? Well, dead people are being raised to life, sick servants are being healed. All the things Luke's been telling us, John's disciples are telling him about it. "So he calls two of them and he sent them to the Lord to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?' And when the men came to Jesus, they said, 'John the Baptist sent us to you. Are you the one who was to come? Should we expect someone else?' At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, he gave sight to many who were blind".
Some of these verses, you need to take a verse and walk around with it all day long. He gave sight to many who were blind. Can you imagine? How far we have deviated. We have been content with Bible studies, with memorizing names, with arguing about translations, quibbling about worship styles, what time service should begin, how frequent we take Communion, what the architecture looks like, what we believe about eschatology. All those things have a place, I'm not opposed to them. I've engaged in some of them myself. But I don't wanna step away from the power of the gospel. Luke is telling us a story. He said, "I have thoroughly investigated this Jesus guy. I wanna tell you what it was like when he was here".
And when he gets to the book of Acts and he starts to tell us about Jesus's friends, they act the same way. Many blind people were healed. What if we just began to frequently sit before the Lord and say, "Lord, let your power be made more evident in our lives". Now, we gotta go back to that chapter 6 stuff. We want to do what you say, we want to value the things you value, and oppose the things you oppose. You see, we've spent decades now making friends with evil. It's very common in the American church to say that inclusivity and tolerance are primary biblical values. Jesus is not tolerant of disobedience. He's not inclusive of ungodliness. He's not. Doesn't mean we hate people.
We can love people who have a different viewpoint, but we have a responsibility and obligation to tell the truth. And if we fail to tell the truth, the Bible says we will receive the judgment that the ungodly will receive because we didn't tell them the truth. See, the reason we're in this terrible predicament as a people, the reason our freedoms and liberties are teetering on the brink, is because the church has been far friendlier to ungodliness than we have been to righteousness and holiness and purity. We can change. It's not the politicians and the parties that need to be different. It's the people of God that have to be different.
Well, I know I was in Luke. John's disciples, "Should we expect someone else"? How did I get there from that? "At that very time, Jesus cured many," that's what we did, "many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, 'Go back and report to John what you've seen and heard: The blind received their sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised. Blessed is the man who doesn't fall away on account of me". It's an interesting sentence. "Blessed is the man who doesn't fall away on account of me".
Why would you fall away? The good news is being preached, the dead are raised, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear. But we've been following Luke through this narrative and many people are falling away. In his hometown they tried to kill him. When he says, "Your sins are forgiven," they're offended. When the man is healed, they're agitated. On the Sabbath day, when someone with a withered hand is healed, they begin to plot how they can shut him down. And Jesus is reiterating, and Luke is repeating it for us, "Blessed is the man who doesn't fall away".
We read it when we read the birth stories from Luke a session or so back. But I put it back in your notes. When they brought infant Jesus to the temple in obedience to the law. He's eight days old, they bring him to the temple for circumcision. Simeon is there, a prophet, and he took the child, and listen to what he said. It's Luke 2. "Simeon blessed them and said to Mary: 'This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.'"
That's not really the language we would think of as an announcement for the Messiah. He's destined to cause the rising and falling of many in the midst of the covenant people of God. And so, Luke repeats it for us in this context of John the Baptist. Jesus says, "Blessed is the one who doesn't fall away". Verse 24, "After John's messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd: 'What'd you go out in the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what'd you go out to see?'" He keeps asking the question. "'A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes, they live in palaces. What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yeah, but I tell you, much more than that, more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it's written: "I'll send my messenger ahead of you to prepare the way before you".'"
And then there's that phrase you've come to know, "I tell you". It's the abbreviated form of "I tell you the truth," buckle up. "'Among those born among women there's no one greater than John. (The people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus' word acknowledge that God's way was right, because they've been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God's purposes for themselves.)"
Again, Luke keeps giving us this contrast. "Why do you call me Lord and not do it"? The tax collectors, the prostitutes, the publicly ungodly, the most immoral amongst us, reorient their lives around the message that Jesus presents. The Roman centurion will do it, but the people you expect won't. It should be a warning to us. We're the people that would be the most expected. Revivals and renewals very seldom start within the church. They almost always begin on the periphery. There have been some exceptions, but that's generally the case.
"'To what can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They're like children sitting in a marketplace, calling out to each other: "We played the flute for you, and you didn't dance; we sang a dirge, and you didn't cry". John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, "He has a demon". And the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, "He's a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors".'" Jesus's words are harsh. They're not conciliatory. They're provocative. In passage after passage, conversation after conversation, he says, "What are you thinking? What are you doing"? He's challenging the repeated, ever-changing demands of a dissatisfied audience. Luke pushes on.
Remember, this is one continual narrative. "Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house, he reclined at the table". He went to the party with the sinners, now he's going to the Pharisee's house. He told the sinners to repent, now he's at the house of the Pharisee. I'm curious what's gonna happen. A little spoiler alert, it's gonna be a very different attitude than the Roman centurion had. "A woman who lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house and she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. She wiped them with her hair, she kissed them and poured perfume on them".
Luke is gonna give us a very poignant contrast between what he simply calls a sinful woman. We don't know what kind of sin. I know, traditionally, we've kind of attached that she's a prostitute, but Luke doesn't say that. He just says she's sinful. She may have been a cat burglar. I mean, she may cheated poker. We don't know. It just says she's a very sinful woman. Now, I do think it's noteworthy that if you're cataloged in the Bible as very sinful, and she's public enough with it, the Pharisees recognize her, and go, "Oh, that's a very sinful woman".
So, it's not like something private. It's a part of her story. It's her resume, that woman is very sinful. Not just sinful, very sinful. And she's wiping Jesus's feet with her tears and her hair. "When the Pharisee who invited him saw this, he said to himself, 'If this man were a prophet, he would know who's touching him and what kind of woman she is, that she's a sinner.' So Jesus answered him, 'Simon, I have something to tell you.'" You've read enough of Luke, now you're going, "Oh, Simon. It would just be better if you got on your knees right now".
Jesus is going to address his host, and this is what... I don't want you to be angry or belligerent or obnoxious, but he is not going to let the moment slip past. He's not going to avoid the difficult discussion. Do you understand how differently we live? We sit in places where we hear ungodly things, immoral things. We hear people compromise all sorts of stuff and we think, "Well, I don't wanna be divisive. Jesus is all about love". Right? Is that not how we've been coached? We haven't been coached that way by Jesus.
"'Simon, I have something to tell you.' 'Tell me, teacher.' 'Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,'" $500, "'and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Which of them will love him more?' 'Well, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.' 'You've judged correctly.' Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon," he looks at the woman but he's talking to Simon. "'You see this woman? I came into your house and you didn't give me any water for my feet,'" which was a common expression of courtesy. You see, he's been antagonistic to Jesus. He invited him into his home, but he did it in a surly, suspicious, combative way. And this woman has come with the exact opposite attitude and Jesus is not gonna let it go.
"'She wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn't give me a kiss, but from the time I entered, she hasn't stopped kissing my feet. You didn't put oil on my head, but she's poured her perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, for she loved much. But he's been forgiven little loves little.' And Jesus said to her, 'Your sins are forgiven.'" Can you imagine, can you see the frustration on Simon? Can you see the veins distending? "Who does he think he is"? What fascinates me is the next sentence. "The other guests, they began to say among themselves, 'Who is this who even forgives sins?'" Simon's friends? They got his back. "Who does this guy think he is? Just who does he think he is? How does he dare behave that way"?
One of the things we'll pick up as we walk through Luke is place after place circumstance, after circumstance, Jesus faces rejection. Now, he doesn't shy away from confrontation, but neither does he withhold the power of God. And in spite of the demonstrations of the miracles and the supernatural and all of those things, there's not a universal response of, "Wow". There's just as frequently a response of, "I don't like the way you did that. I don't like the day on which you did it. I don't like the attitude with which you did it. I don't like the people to whom you're ministering".
Jesus has to overcome the rejection. He doesn't avoid it, he doesn't overlook it. He overcame it. We're gonna talk about that, what it means to overcome rejection, because we've been so frightened by it, so threatened by it, we've tried to avoid it. So we don't tell the truth. We don't even invite people towards the power of God because we're afraid if it doesn't work out the way that they would like, that we're gonna be left in some awkward place. So we've just kind of withdrawn from the whole discussion. We've looked for some kind of polite, sanitized discussion of our faith that couldn't offend anyone under any circumstance at any time.
And we have a gospel that Paul describes, I know I've left Luke now, but we've got a gospel that Paul's described is they have a form of godliness but they deny the power of it. It's a pretty good snapshot of where we're living. And Luke is inviting us back to something else, something dramatically different. The other guests of the Pharisee have thoughts very similar to their host. They're very prepared to be critical of Jesus. Jesus is facing a very difficult audience and it's compounded exponentially by a very sinful woman wiping his feet with her hair. Awkward.
And the group of people gathered had very little, if any, compassion for the woman or her transformation. She leaves this encounter having received forgiveness. Her eternity has been adjusted. Her life has been repurposed, and there's no joy for that. There's angst, there's frustration, there's resentment, there's rejection of Jesus. "How dare he? We don't have to be kind to him, but we're gonna sit here in judgment of him". And Jesus, he doesn't let it go. It's like, you know, in my mind, it's like he pulled his chair a little closer to the table and he said, "Simon, I wanna ask you some questions. You don't like this woman's behavior, but let me talk to you about your behavior for a minute".
And you can feel his friends. "Who is he to talk to him like this"? And Luke is giving us this very poignant contrast between sinful people, Roman centurion, sinful women, that come to Jesus and say... And all these religious characters with great credentials and covenant and access to power going, "I don't like the way you're behaving". And Jesus smiles and go, "Well, I don't think much of your behavior either. You call me Lord and you don't do what I do".
Now, the point of reading the scripture is not to assimilate historical data. As I understand it, the point of reading the scripture is that you and I might be transformed more fully into the image of Jesus. So when you say things like, "Well, you know, in polite company we don't talk about faith or politics," I'm like, "Well, in what Bible did you take that from"? In case you've forgotten, John the Baptist lost his head over commentary on his current events. And when Jesus is asked to give an evaluation of him, he said, "There's never been anybody better".
If John had been a bigmouth or a hothead, he might have said about Peter, "You know, Peter has a little trouble sometimes. His mouth gets ahead of his heart or his brain". But he didn't say that about John. He said, "There's never been anybody better. He was more than a prophet. He was preparatory for me. He had some hard things to say because when I'm coming along, what I'm gonna say is more difficult than what John said. You think he talked about current events? Get a load of what I've got to say". I don't imagine that we can take the gospel to our generation without grappling with rejection. I mean, in this single chapter Luke has given us these two groups, these two outcomes.
It concludes with this narrative around this woman. "'Your faith has saved you; go in peace.'" And the other group is left grumbling without any momentum, without any blessing, and they just had dinner with Jesus. Chapter and a half ago, Jesus has dinner with the sinners, the prostitutes and the tax collectors, and they are receptive and being transformed and repenting. And when he's sitting with these self-righteous crowd, they leave grumpy, grumbling, and plotting Jesus's demise.
Church, we've got to bring some alignment with our lives and our behaviors and our conversations to the Word of God. We've imagined we were biblical if we didn't use profanity. Well, I'm grateful that you don't use profanity. I'm not encouraging that. But we've got to be willing to tell the truth. Life is sacred. God defined marriage. Parental authority trumps the teachers unions. I mean, you can build your list. They're not political issues. They're biblical issues, and we've been hiding from them. Worse than that, we've been supporting unbiblical issues. But God is helping us. I hope you're enjoying Luke. I'm having a good time with him.
I brought us a prayer. My time's up. It's familiar to you. It's not new. It's a part of the proclamation that we've said around here for a bit. I'd bring you the whole thing, but I never quit on time, so I know you won't get through it. Let's stand together and take this piece. All these statements are derived from scripture. We could put verses to support them. We will, at some point. Roll it into a series and give it to you so you can share it and put, you know, a proclamation is when you take what God's Word says about you and you add the authority of your words in implementing it in your life. It moves it from theoretical to a part of your own journey, and that's a very valuable way to learn to pray. Let's read it together:
We are not satisfied. We are not distracted. We're not weary in doing good. We are not discouraged. We have our eyes on the cross and our hearts set on the prize. We believe the One who is promised is Faithful. We believe the Holy Spirit is our Helper. We believe that what we ask in Jesus' name our Father provides. We believe that the King of Kings is returning to the earth in all of His glory, and we intend to be about His business until that moment in time. WE WILL NOT STOP. Amen.