Luke 20-24
20:1-8
In this passage, Jesus not only counters the question put to him by the Scribes and Chief Priests brilliantly, but more importantly he shows them that he sees through their hypocrisy. We know they didn’t believe that the baptism of John was from God, but they couldn’t publicly reject the ministry of John for fear of the crowd. John had also confessed publicly that Jesus is the Christ, which would of course be confirmed if they answered that John’s baptism was from heaven. So with his question Jesus showed that their question (‘By what authority do you do these things?) was disingenuous and that they lacked the courage of their convictions.
20:9-18
This is an example of a parable the meaning and purpose of which is very clear, as is the identity of people to whom it is addressed, confirmed in verse 19. The hearers would have recognised the vineyard as Israel from Isaiah 5 and Psalm 80, and the quotation of the messianic Psalm 118:22 in verse 17 makes it clear that Jesus is using the parable to confirm Israel’s rejection of the Messiah as foretold in the Psalm. The reactions Luke records in verses 16 and 19 confirm that the parable didn’t miss its target.
20:19-26
Jesus declines to take sides in the Jews’ political struggle with the empire. It’s noteworthy that the accusation made against Jesus in 23:2 (He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar…) is shown to be an obvious falsehood by Jesus' very clear and public statement that Caesar should receive what is due to him.
20:41-44
This is where the plan to trap Jesus into incriminating himself in responding to their questions backfires completely, as Jesus takes apart his opponents’ messianic theology with a single question. We know that Jesus is greater than the new David they expected as Messiah, but the Jewish leaders had apparently never considered how David could call his own son ‘Lord’, so they were dumbstruck and the interrogation game was up.
21:5-36
This speech of Jesus needs careful reading, since in 5-24 he foretells the destruction of Jerusalem (by the Romans in AD 70) which is then followed immediately by a passage (25-28) on his return at the end of age, but it’s all in one flow of apocalyptic language.
Verses 25-36 of chapter 21 probably came across most strongly in the reading, and we considered the need for watchfulness and being prepared for Jesus' return, which led us back to the previous discussion about the way we live our lives and what it means for us to 'seek first the Kingdom of God'.
22:24-30
This is the second time Luke records an argument between the disciples about their relative position and status (see 9:46-48). Jesus reiterates the response he gave the first time, except that this time greatness is described as servanthood instead of childlikeness. Then he goes on, despite their slowness in learning his way, and no doubt to their amazement, to say ‘...I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel’ (22:29)
24:13-35
Of all the remarkable things about this account, we were struck by how unlikely it seems that such an encounter could happen in our cultural context. Jesus is a stranger to Cleopas and his friend, but he intervenes in their conversation (17) about the distressing events they had witnessed and the crushing of their hopes in a way that, to us, reads as though it was a little rude, calls them foolish (25) and ends with being invited to eat with them and stay the night! Without forgetting the enormous importance of this appearance of Jesus, and the significance of his claim that the whole Hebrew Bible is about himself, we felt the account also shows something important about a culture of hospitality that, in general, we don’t share. We may suppose (among other things) that it supports the instruction in Hebrews 13:2 not to ‘neglect to show hospitality to strangers’. We don’t know what we might miss!
24:44-49
At the final appearance of Jesus recorded by Luke, the use of the phrase ‘he opened their minds’ to the scriptures, is a striking counterpart to 9:45 where Luke says that Jesus announcement to the disciples of his imminent arrest, torture, death and resurrection ‘...was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it’ which of course highlights the work of, and our vital need for, the Holy Spirit to open the scriptures to us.
So there it is…
Certainly a rather random selection of observations and reflections across the 24 chapters, but the reading process was a very absorbing one, helping us clarify some things and encouraging us to go back and consider others further (perhaps with some specialist help in places). It’s worth bearing in mind that the notes in a study bible can make sense of quite a few things which otherwise ‘trip up’ the reader, using simple background information on the historical and cultural context.
Overall, I’d say that the ‘weighty’ parts which will (and should) endure in our/my thinking are the parables and teaching in the middle of the gospel, especially 12:13-48, 19:11-27 and 21:5-36. These passages tell us how to live as ‘insiders’ in the Kingdom of God as it is revealed in Jesus’ teaching, rather than merely fitting-in with the 'normal' way of life in our time and place.
In this passage, Jesus not only counters the question put to him by the Scribes and Chief Priests brilliantly, but more importantly he shows them that he sees through their hypocrisy. We know they didn’t believe that the baptism of John was from God, but they couldn’t publicly reject the ministry of John for fear of the crowd. John had also confessed publicly that Jesus is the Christ, which would of course be confirmed if they answered that John’s baptism was from heaven. So with his question Jesus showed that their question (‘By what authority do you do these things?) was disingenuous and that they lacked the courage of their convictions.
20:9-18
This is an example of a parable the meaning and purpose of which is very clear, as is the identity of people to whom it is addressed, confirmed in verse 19. The hearers would have recognised the vineyard as Israel from Isaiah 5 and Psalm 80, and the quotation of the messianic Psalm 118:22 in verse 17 makes it clear that Jesus is using the parable to confirm Israel’s rejection of the Messiah as foretold in the Psalm. The reactions Luke records in verses 16 and 19 confirm that the parable didn’t miss its target.
20:19-26
Jesus declines to take sides in the Jews’ political struggle with the empire. It’s noteworthy that the accusation made against Jesus in 23:2 (He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar…) is shown to be an obvious falsehood by Jesus' very clear and public statement that Caesar should receive what is due to him.
20:41-44
This is where the plan to trap Jesus into incriminating himself in responding to their questions backfires completely, as Jesus takes apart his opponents’ messianic theology with a single question. We know that Jesus is greater than the new David they expected as Messiah, but the Jewish leaders had apparently never considered how David could call his own son ‘Lord’, so they were dumbstruck and the interrogation game was up.
21:5-36
This speech of Jesus needs careful reading, since in 5-24 he foretells the destruction of Jerusalem (by the Romans in AD 70) which is then followed immediately by a passage (25-28) on his return at the end of age, but it’s all in one flow of apocalyptic language.
Verses 25-36 of chapter 21 probably came across most strongly in the reading, and we considered the need for watchfulness and being prepared for Jesus' return, which led us back to the previous discussion about the way we live our lives and what it means for us to 'seek first the Kingdom of God'.
22:24-30
This is the second time Luke records an argument between the disciples about their relative position and status (see 9:46-48). Jesus reiterates the response he gave the first time, except that this time greatness is described as servanthood instead of childlikeness. Then he goes on, despite their slowness in learning his way, and no doubt to their amazement, to say ‘...I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel’ (22:29)
24:13-35
Of all the remarkable things about this account, we were struck by how unlikely it seems that such an encounter could happen in our cultural context. Jesus is a stranger to Cleopas and his friend, but he intervenes in their conversation (17) about the distressing events they had witnessed and the crushing of their hopes in a way that, to us, reads as though it was a little rude, calls them foolish (25) and ends with being invited to eat with them and stay the night! Without forgetting the enormous importance of this appearance of Jesus, and the significance of his claim that the whole Hebrew Bible is about himself, we felt the account also shows something important about a culture of hospitality that, in general, we don’t share. We may suppose (among other things) that it supports the instruction in Hebrews 13:2 not to ‘neglect to show hospitality to strangers’. We don’t know what we might miss!
24:44-49
At the final appearance of Jesus recorded by Luke, the use of the phrase ‘he opened their minds’ to the scriptures, is a striking counterpart to 9:45 where Luke says that Jesus announcement to the disciples of his imminent arrest, torture, death and resurrection ‘...was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it’ which of course highlights the work of, and our vital need for, the Holy Spirit to open the scriptures to us.
So there it is…
Certainly a rather random selection of observations and reflections across the 24 chapters, but the reading process was a very absorbing one, helping us clarify some things and encouraging us to go back and consider others further (perhaps with some specialist help in places). It’s worth bearing in mind that the notes in a study bible can make sense of quite a few things which otherwise ‘trip up’ the reader, using simple background information on the historical and cultural context.
Overall, I’d say that the ‘weighty’ parts which will (and should) endure in our/my thinking are the parables and teaching in the middle of the gospel, especially 12:13-48, 19:11-27 and 21:5-36. These passages tell us how to live as ‘insiders’ in the Kingdom of God as it is revealed in Jesus’ teaching, rather than merely fitting-in with the 'normal' way of life in our time and place.
Comments
Post a Comment