While Jesus was addressing the multitude that had come to hear His words (and perhaps catch a glimpse of His works), a portion of His family comes to speak to Him. The problem is the crowds were so great that they could not get close enough to actually meet Him. Word was passed through the crowd that His mother and brothers were on the fringes of the crowd and would like to speak to Him. The reply Christ gave may seem a bit odd or even rude, but it is very important. He asked the question ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers’. Now, the obvious response would be… your family, you know, the one that gave birth to you and raised you, along with those other folks that had been given life and were growing up with you… in the same house… every day… those people. The blood relationship thing.
But rather than recognizing blood ties as constituting a true relationship, Jesus pointed to His disciples – the people that had accepted His person by faith. This was a relationship that was not instituted by natural birth but was instead brought about by a supernatural birth. The relationship was wrought by faith in a person – the person of Jesus Christ.
So what does this mean? Is it that the only persons that Jesus would accept as being spiritually related to Him were those who had this faith relationship? Absolutely! Keep in mind that the nation of Israel but huge amounts of effort in showing that they were blood-related to Abraham. This common relationship allowed them to claim a relationship with the Messiah when the time was right for His appearance. But here, Jesus rejects this basis (blood ties) as constituting a spiritual relationship.
If someone wants to enter into the kingdom of the Messiah, the criteria was the blood tie to Abraham. The crowd probably had quite a few persons that would say ‘Amen’ to this and make the claim. Christ rejected this at this time – in other words, the relationship with Abraham was not the determining factor, it was not because of the act of that physical birth.
It was no mistake that this comes after the conclusion of the Pharisee’s (see verse 24) that Jesus was demon possessed. The nation that rejected the Messiah was now rejected by the Messiah. This passage of scripture anticipates God’s setting aside of the nation of Israel and prepares the way for the revealing of a new form of God’s program for the kingdom.
What practical things come out of this? Well, it would be convenient if I was allowed into God’s kingdom and heaven based on my birth – my blood ties. With Dad being a long time servant of the Lord, chairman of deacons, and coming from a family of believers himself (not to mention my mom, her faith and service, and the believing family she came from), this should be a slam dunk for me! But it doesn’t depend on that.
It doesn’t depend on the church I attend / am a member of either. It is independent of the denomination I am affiliated with. It does not hinge on the street I live on, my neighborhood, the city, state or even the country I claim. It’s separate from my socio-economic standing, me level of education, my shade of melanin, or my gender. It’s about my relationship with Jesus Christ. Have you accepted His offer of salvation? He extends it to you today!
This is a follow up to my posting on Communications. I’ve been intrigued at the concept of church marketing. And - I’ve been thinking about how we do it (or the lack thereof). I guess first things first - I’m part of the problem and part of the solution. Our mindset in many church environments is one of letting the paid staff do the work of ministry. That work, while including spreading the gospel (’isn’t that what we pay the pastor for?’), ministering to those in need, etc. seems to always be something staff should do. It is why they make the big bucks!
I’m thinking….NOT! I don’t want our staff to be the creative or end product of our efforts to market! It would be like asking them to be graphics artists - and the last experience they had with art was either doodling on a church bulletin (or in a hymnal if you’re old enough to remember them…) during a boring service or creating their paint-by-numbers masterpiece as a youth. What madness!
But God has given us diversity and talent, and I have no doubt that many in our body can be very creative in marketing. Please keep in mind I am talking marketing as in branding - putting what we, as the Body of Christ, are about in our fellowship. I’m not trying to ’sell’ anything - but what is our identity? And how do we portray it to others?
In that spirit, I ask for 5 minutes. You may laugh really hard at this. You may not…hard to tell on the web. I see this is a great portrayal of church marketing, in something most of us can relate to.
So…marketing…what do we do in this area? What can we do better? When can we get started? I’m excited about the potential marketing has for us - and some of these concepts, coupled with what is going on with the Church Health team and other areas, perhaps the time is right to review a vision statement, a mission statement (for those more traditional ‘things’ we do), and then look at placing that in an identity (meaning something that reflects it in a minimalistic way, logos, slogans, etc. - like Nike’s swoosh or Intel’s trademark sound). Why not leave your comments here - I’m interested in hearing what you think (I’m positive not everyone agrees we should even mention marketing and the church in the same breath!).
We enter this lesson knowing that Jesus has had the ‘rock star’ status for some time. He had done things that this generation had never seen. He was amazing, and crowds followed Him. I suspect, as perhaps you do, that the Pharisees knew full well that Jesus was claiming to be the heaven-sent Messiah. They knew full well the miracles that He had done and that these multitudes of miracles authenticated His person. But now they came to challenge Him and request a sign that would prove to them He was what He claimed to be.
And Jesus responded by explaining to them the reason for their request. It was not a request from faith, instead it was a request from unbelief and their unwillingness to believe His words and signs. And to do that indicated that they were evil and their intentions were less than stellar. In fact, He gave them a sign – the sign of Jonah. What was that all about?
Well, where would you find the story of Jonah? Look in the Old Testament book of Jonah. Here I will pause and say that Jesus is alluding to types. He is showing how Jonah had aspects of types of things that would be made clearer by experiences and things that Jesus Himself would show. This type, of course, points to the 3 days and nights that Christ would spend after His death and before His resurrection. The things that were not fully clear (or were not fully revealed) through this prophet would now be brought to light.
Let me try to be clearer for those reading this on the blog.
What is a type? Literally speaking, the word type comes from the Greek word tuptein, to strike. In Webster’s dictionary, type is defined as “to figure, to represent by a model or symbol beforehand. In the context of our study of the Bible we consider both the type and antitype. In our study of the Bible a type is a person, place, thing, or event that is a foreshadowing of a future person or event. The antitype or thing the type foreshadows is greater and clearer to understand. For example, a rubber stamp is a type. It is not clear and simple to understand. However, its antitype, that print that appears when the rubber stamp is pressed on paper, is much clearer than the type. The type was a shadow, or promise of the revealed antitype to come. There are dozens of types of Christ in the Old Testament. information Copyright 1999 by Grady Scott, taken from http://www.christianlibrary.org/authors/Grady_Scott/types.htm - on this page are some introductions to a few types that may be of interest.
I have no problem admitting that I had 2 favorite classes out of my studies in seminary, and the study of types was one of them. The text we used was ‘Study of the Types’ by Ada R. Habershon – I highly recommend it if you are interested in learning more.
Christ through an illustration revealed the condition of the nation Israel at that time as a result of its rejection of Him and His offer. Christ said that when an evil spirit leaves a man, it seeks rest and is unable to find it. Remembering the body in which it formerly dwelt, it determines to return. On its return it finds the main freed from evil spirits and determines to reenter but rather than to occupy that body alone it seeks seven other spirits more wicked than itself. Together these spirits move in and occupy that body as their dwelling place. Thus the man’s condition after his initial deliverance is worse than before. This illustration clearly revealed Christ’s reflection upon the recent history of Israel. John the Baptist had come to find the house of Israel occupied by evil spirits; the nation was full of unrighteousness and sin. As a result of John’s preaching, which brought about repentance and confession, the nation of Israel had been purged from its evil. Multitudes were awaiting the coming of the kingdom. But before the kingdom was established, the nation of Israel had returned to the sin that had been removed by John’s preaching, and now the nation was further from God. It was more wicked – and consequently under more severe judgment – than it had been before John began his ministry. Because the nation that professed to receive John’s witness had turned in unbelief from the One whom John introduced, it was now in a worse state than before John’s ministry began.
I ask you – have you found yourself in this condition? Have you lost that flame and are asking ‘Lord, where are you? Show me a sign.’ If so, would God answer you like He did with these Pharisees? What condition is your house? Perhaps you are overwhelmed with other things…concerned with the things of this world and not really focused on Jesus and how He is at work right now – in a very tangible and undeniably real way – in your life and in mine.
In the relationship triangle of the Pharisees, the nation of Israel, and Christ now comes to a critical point. In Mark’s account we see the multitude crowding around Jesus, and the demands were so great and pressing that there was not even time to eat. The family of Jesus (read that, His friends) realized the need for rest and sustenance while not underestimating Jesus’ zeal for what He was doing. So, their plan was to whisk Him away and their reason for this was that He had taken leave of His senses. Basically, He had gone mad.
This was an occasion that a demon possessed man who had other physical issues was brought to Him. Jesus healed every problem! This was a clear validation (again) that Jesus was who He claimed to be – the Messiah. The astonished question in verse 23 (in Matthew’s account) could easily be reworded in the negative – ‘This couldn’t be the Son of David, could it?’ You see, the Pharisees had rejected Christ. They had no problem telling others that Jesus was a false messiah, a false prophet, one that their religious leaders had found fault with. It wasn’t a lack of evidence provided by Jesus that was in question, it was the fact that the religious leaders had not given their stamp of approval that led to the question to start with. Keep in mind that the teaching for many, many years to the people was one of being sheep that were led by the shepherds, and they needed to follow the shepherds still. So the conflict was there in their minds, and was now brought out of their mouths. Look what Jesus did! Are you guys sure….
And the answer from the leaders came swiftly. Look at verse 24. It is interesting that the Pharisees did not deny the miracle, the healing and casting out of demons that had just taken place and everyone witnessed. But there was a different explanation – the devil made Him do it! The question of was this a miracle was not a question at all – but in who’s name the miracle was performed is now the main issue. And here is where the destiny of the nation, and of those watching this unfold while weighing the evidence, depends on the interpretation of the person of Christ.
Jesus offered three ‘proofs’ to who that the explanation offered by the Pharisees was false. The first was that division leads to destruction. His point was that unity was needed for preservation. Look at verses 25 and 26. Satan would not let his authority be used by anyone to assist in his own fall or destruction. It was a twist of logic that Jesus wouldn’t let pass without being challenged.
The next proof recognized the existence of exorcists in the nation of Israel. It was known that some could cast out demons – and the nation accepted these individuals as God’s gift to them. The Pharisees even thanked God for these folks. So…by what power, by what name did the acknowledged folks do their work by? Look at verses 27 and 28. The person observing and thinking this through must arrive at the conclusion that Jesus could actually drive out demons and cure the ill (they just saw it!) so either His claims to do this by the power of God were right as well, or … perhaps the Pharisees were not looking at the facts.
The last proof was looking at the need to have the power to subdue the guard of the place they wish to rob before the robbery can take place (verse 29). The inference was that if Christ can enter Satan’s stronghold and deliver people from his control as He had just done, then it is evident that He is stronger than Satan. The devil couldn’t give Christ a power greater than what he himself possessed. And with these three proofs Christ tried to show those gathered that the Pharisees were grasping for straws.
In verse 30 Jesus calls for their decision. What will be done with the information provided? Jesus expected a response to His words.
Now to the verses you may have wanted to tackle. What about this blasphemy deal? What is this blasphemy against the Spirit for which there is no forgiveness? Let’s see what Pentecost says.
If the nation rejected His own testimony concerning Himself, they might come to faith in His word through His Father’s word…If one rejected the word of Christ and the word of the Father, he might still be brought to faith in the person of Christ by the witness of the Holy Spirit. The miracles were the Spirit’s witness to Christ. The Spirit bore the final witness to both the person and word of Christ. If one rejected this final witness, there was no further witness God had to offer. While to reject the word of Christ was sin, a person could be led to a confession of that sin and to acknowledge the truth by the witness of the Father. To reject the witness of the Father was a sin; yet one could be led to faith in Christ by the witness of the Sprit. If one rejected the final witness, there was no further witness to bring him to Christ.
It is evident that this sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit could only be committed while Christ was personally present on earth. The sin could only be committed when the nation was being given evidences as to the person of Christ through the miracles which He performed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The necessary circumstances do not exist today and, consequently, this same sin cannot be committed today.
So, taking this in context of Jesus, addressing the nation or the whole generation that He was there in the midst of (and not as an individual sin, but viewed as a collective sin), could not be done today. If the explanation of the Pharisees was the one that was chosen, the sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit had indeed been played out by the nation, and there was no further witness that could be given for them to accept. The response to Christ had implications for a future destiny.
It is noteworthy here that – from this point on – the nation of Israel is viewed in the Gospels as having rejected Christ as Messiah. The unofficial rejection by the religious leaders would become official when finalized at the cross.
You will have noticed that I try to personalize this at the end of each lesson, and this one is no different. The words and works of Christ have spoken to all throughout history. And today, perhaps they speak to you. What will you do with the claims of Jesus Christ?
It’s heady stuff - I was asked to discuss some ideas I had on communication with the church staff. When you love your staff, that’s like being called before God’s royalty (although having been ’staff’, I’m positive there are many times when the staff feels as if they are much less than God’s royalty). The more I looked forward to it, the more I became mired in what exactly to say. Strange. I believe we wanted to talk of many things web related, but communications is so much more. So I started to do my homework. And this post is part of that process!
Communication - The activity of communicating; the activity of conveying information; Something that is communicated by or to or between people or groups; A connection allowing access between persons or places.
Some of us like our communications as they have always been - the church newsletter and the church bulletin. That’s the way God intended it! But there is so much more, and so many avenues that the church has not chosen to explore or benefit from. Let’s just look at some of the communication vehicles.
Newsletter - this is a very good way to get out tons of information. Everyone and their cousin can ask for inclusion in this medium. There are set deadlines to adhere to (this is published monthly) so items can be included. This is mailed to all members of the church. It is also posted to the web site.
Bulletin - another excellent way to get information out to individuals. This is also deadline driven (this is published weekly) and less information can be contained in this publication. It is available to folks who attend on any given Sunday and is also posted to the web site.
Fliers - these are mainly for special events or offerings being done within areas of the church. Many are posted to the church web site if ministry contributors are updating their areas of responsibility. Others are included as a matter of course (concerts, outreach events, etc.).
Web site - this was retooled a couple of years ago with a decidedly ‘outreach’ design. If you venture in past the initial pages, ministry contributors take care of updating the communications for those that are ‘on the inside’ of the body and are looking for information. Lots of potential here with current offerings being this blog, audio of sermons and publications of events taking place.
That pretty much sums up the vast majority of what many think of when we discuss communications. But I think there is more…much more that can and should be recognized. And if we’re brave / bold, perhaps we could even act on them!
Sermons, Sunday School, Awana, Upward, Vacation Bible School, Christmas Production - I’m going to lump these all in as things we are currently doing. With each one there comes a level of communication. While these are ‘things’ we do, how do we communicate them to the body and our community?
One of the better sites I’ve seen on this in recent days may catch you a bit off guard. It’s called Church Marketing Sucks. It’s a blog community of folks interested in spreading the Good News in a powerful and effective way. I would encourage you to read some of their articles, such as The Illusion of Community, Communicating To/With the Next Generation, or Stop Using Media. This is just a sampling of the food for thought in this area, and it certainly gets me thinking about not only what we are doing, but how effective (or ineffective) we are in our communications around this area.
E-mail - this is something that is effective. Personally, I believe we can do this better. Imagine that we could receive e-mails from a single source. Why is that important? If communications were not being received, the question would not be where did it originate from (that would be from a single e-mail address used for all church-wide communications), it would be what hindered it from reaching an individual (spam filter, black-listing, etc.). A single source for all communications! That would allow even those that didn’t want to hear from us from setting up a rule for those ’special delivery’ mails without having to unsubscribe or ask us to stop sending them communications. Hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?
Social Networking Sites - we already have a pretty good contingency of folks on MySpace and Facebook. Again, we may want to look at articles such as The Illusion of Community to see if we’re just huddling together or impacting others for Christ. Do we have members who publicize and write about what is going on in our fellowship? Can we be more effective using these tools?
Central Materials / Themes - bear with me here. I’m not advocating we all run back to Lifeway to get age appropriate materials so we’re all on the same verses or lessons. But I do want us to understand what we do when we’re all doing our separate things. We’re not connected. We don’t mesh. There is no central ‘theme’ or point for discussion. It’s like a family all living under the same roof but never getting together in the same room or at the same table to share a meal. It’s disconnected. And, just for argument’s sake - remember the 40 Days of Purpose study and how that sparked a connectedness, growth, and common ground among the entire body? I’d guarantee you we won’t see that again if we don’t ever revisit common threads of central materials / themes.
There is so much more to discuss about church communications. I realize I have only scratched the surface and given you food for thought at this point. On my quest I also found a fantastic post titled The Five Steps of Effective Church Communications and Marketing by Yvon Prehn. I will be sharing a portion of this with our wonderful staff today as we discuss communication.
Let me leave you with this. What if…
…we had a communications team?
…we committed to better communications to our community?
…we committed to better communications within our church body?
These are things we can do. But would it make a difference? Would it impact our community if we strove for excellence in this area? Would it impact us internally if we made it a point to communicate early, often, and excellently?
Jesus now leaves to begin another tour of the area of Galilee. Notice that the twelve are with him. Also of note are some women who apparently had some means to assist in supporting Him and His ministry. These ladies – as is noted in verse 2, had been cured from various issues. I believe we can make the leap of faith that these ladies accepted the message of salvation from Jesus, and were therefore following Him and assisting Him on the journey.
Perhaps more importantly, these women could be called on as witnesses. What I mean by that is they could give testimony not only of the healing that took place, but also of the taking on of His burden and experiencing their own burden of sin being lifted from them. You see, they had been delivered from the chains of bondage and delivered to liberty – the freedom found only in Jesus Christ!
This is as good a place as any to look at the subject of women! Here is some information from the Life Application Bible.
Luke gives more attention to women than any other Gospel. Women played a special role in the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus’ acceptance of women as disciples and as participants in his ministry and teaching gave women a positive place in the New Testament church (Acts 1:14). Women traveling with Jesus and his disciples would have been completely uncharacteristic of rabbis in ancient times. Rabbis refused to teach women because they were generally considered to be inferior. Jesus, however, lifted women up from degradation and servitude to the joy of fellowship and service. By allowing these women to travel with him, Jesus was showing that all people are equal under God. These women supported Jesus’ ministry with their own money. They owed a great debt to him because he had healed some of them and had cast out evil spirits from others.
The Gospel names three of the women. First, Mary Magdalene (from a town called Magdala or Magadan, see Matt 15:39) from whom he had cast out seven demons. Apparently Mary Magdalene had lived a very sorry existence because demons were usually associated with mental or physical disorders. The number of demons indicates the severity of the possession from which Jesus freed her. Although some have suggested that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, there is no biblical evidence to support this. Mary stayed at the cross, went to the tomb, and was the first person to see the resurrected Christ (24:10; Mark 15:40,47; 16:1,9; John 19:25; 20:1,18). Because she is always first in any list of women indicates that she probably had a special leadership role.
The second woman named is Joanna, the wife of Chuza, who was Herod’s business manager (or steward). He may have been in charge of one of Herod Antipas’s estates. Joanna is also mentioned in 24:10 as one of the women, along with Mary Magdalene, who told the disciples the news of Jesus’ resurrection. Otherwise, nothing else is known of her; Joanna’s husband is mentioned only here. Perhaps Luke’s Gentile readers knew of this man and the exact nature of the office that he held. Some have conjectured that this may have been the man whose son was healed in Capernaum, recorded in John 4:46-53, after which he allowed his wife to be a part of Jesus’ supporters. But this is uncertain.
Finally, Luke mentioned a woman named Susanna who is found nowhere else in Scripture and about whom nothing is known. Perhaps Luke highlighted these three women because they would have been known to his readers.
Besides these women there were many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples. This provides an insight into how Jesus and his disciples met their basic needs. John 13:29 reveals that Jesus and the disciples had a common pool of money from which they bought food and gave to the poor and that Judas Iscariot acted as treasurer. This passage tells the origin of that pool of money. People, like the women listed here, gave money to Jesus and the disciples out of gratefulness for what Jesus had done for them. Note that, in the Gospels, no women ever reject Christ or become his enemies, only men. These women are models of the faith response that Christ desires.
These same women also would witness Jesus’ crucifixion (23:49) and see the empty tomb (24:10,22,24). Luke revealed that they had been with Jesus from the time of his ministry in Galilee. He also wrote that women stayed close to Jesus and would have influential roles in the church (Acts 1:14; 8:12; 16:13-15; 17:4,12; 18:24-26). (from The Life Application Commentary Series copyright (C) 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 by the Livingstone Corporation. Produced with permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.)
These women were pretty amazing. They joined in with ‘the guys’ and worked in support of the ministry. They were faithful to the message and ministry of Christ. And, as far as we can tell, in this unusual situation. Let’s think of us…today…how are we doing? We may not be actually working during the first century with the Lord, His disciples, and serving with these ladies. But in a very real way, we travel daily with the Lord. We are His hands, His feet, and – very often – His mouth (with our choice of words). What kind of traveling companions are we? Do we wait for Him to whip up something to keep us fed, warm, amused? Or are we up to the task of working for Him, in the sense that all we do (the money or stuff we earn) goes to support the cause? Are we willing to make His priorities our own? These ladies were….
Many Pharisees had listened to Jesus teach. Not many Pharisees invited Jesus to their home for a meal, so this is an interesting opportunity. Eating with publicans and sinners (Matt. 9:10) we know about, but a meal with a Pharisee – one who was separate from sinners – here’s news!
Shepard writes of this scene – On this occasion came a woman, known by reputation and appearance to be a sinner, wearing her hair unbound, a sign of her sinful profession. Doubtless she had heard of the wonderful prophet who was reputed to be the friend of tax-gatherers and sinners. She may well have heard Him preach in the streets the sweet message whose burden was: ‘Come unto me all ye that are toiling and heavy laden.’Was she not in a terrible struggle in her own conscience and was not the burden of her sinful past crushing her life out? She resolved to brave ridicule and come to Jesus. Knowing that He was reclining at the banquet table in the house of the Pharisee, and bringing and alabaster cruse of ointment – a very costly perfume – she slipped in through the curtained entrance and coming stood behind Jesus, near His feet, weeping. It was not customary for any woman to appear under any circumstances on such an occasion, much less unveiled as she. Her actions betokened a woman of generous, affectionate, and impulsive disposition, who was the victim of others depravity.
She stood weeping because of her wicked life, brought home to her the more by hearing the gracious words of Jesus.She also met with the icy scowl of Simon. ‘What was she doing there?’ Ashamed, repentant and grieved, she bent over to hide her confusion, and as she did a shower of tears fell upon Jesus’ feet. As if in apology and having no cloth, she began to wipe the tears from His feet with the long tresses of her hair. Among the Jews it was a shameful thing for a woman to let down her hair in public, but she made this sacrifice as did Mary of Bethany on the eve of His death (John 12:3). Next taking the flask of fragrant perfume she anointed His feet and kept on showering kisses upon them in deep repentance and reverence.
Notice the response from the Pharisee (Simon) in verse 39 – don’t miss it! Simon did not address the woman because of her lack of etiquette, instead he use the occasion as a basis for his own rejection of the person of Jesus Christ. Here’s his logic – this man claims to be the revealer of truth from God, but if He was a prophet, He would know this woman’s character and reputation. Because of this knowledge, He would spurn these evidences of her affection, these were not something that those who had been removed from sin would tolerate.
At this point Jesus indicates He has a lesson to teach, and then tells the story of two men who were in debt to a money lender. The story had only one right answer, and Simon gave it. And the point was easily noted – if there was much benefit, there would be much love; if little benefit, little love. And looking around at the greeting Jesus had been given told the back story. To wash the feet of a guest, to give him the kiss of welcome, and especially to anoint him, were not the normal things done at a feast. But they certainly told the story that cried out for all to see.
Simon had not acknowledged that he was a sinner nor in need of a Savior because of his sin. The woman, in stark contrast, demonstrated the reality of her faith by pouring out her love gifts on Him. And these were gifts that Christ received because they were rooted in the woman’s faith! So, Jesus declared that her sins were forgiven.
Put yourself in the midst of this feast. The home of a Pharisee, with other Pharisees in attendance no doubt. It’s the same response seen in Luke 5:21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Those words were uttered after the healing of a paralytic who had his sins forgiven by Jesus. Jesus Christ here had not only spoken the words of God and done the miracles of God, but now He even claimed the power of God to forgive sin. Now the Pharisees had to weigh this evidence about His person.
What would you have done? All your life you would have been taught as a ‘good Jew’ that only God could forgive sins. Was this blasphemy? Or … was this God? Peer pressure would have mounted, there would have been deacon meetings, business meetings, family forums to address the excitement (or disruption, depending on your take of the matter). Simon went away from this, as far as we can tell, with proof that Jesus was no prophet, much less the Messiah. A woman went away with the gracious gift of eternal life. What would you have left with?
All around Jesus were the very evident signs of unbelief and rejection. That did not deter Him from extending His invitation to those that were listening to trust Him. He invites His hearers to receive His yoke.
Edershiem says – One of the most common figurative expressions of the time was that of ‘the yoke’ . . . to indicate submission to an occupation or obligation. Thus, we read not only of the ‘yoke of the Law,’ but of that of ‘earthly governments,’ and ordinary ‘civil obligations.’ . . . to ‘take upon oneself the yoke’ meant to submit to it of free choice and deliberate resolution.
But it is more than just submission. It is to be His disciple as well, for we need to learn from Him. We are to emulate Him! It wasn’t suppose to be a hard or heavy yoke – like the ones offered by the Pharisees that these folks were so familiar with. It was a light yoke, not unbearable at all. Jesus is gentle and humble in heart, a welcome respite to these folks that had been so burdened. Jesus did what He taught, and He taught what He did.
Is it like that for us? Or do we feel like we have a burden to carry, and it is the burden of religion? Or of living up to others expectations. Or maybe it is keeping up appearances. If we experience the gentle yoke of Christ, we should be able to experience that peace that passes understanding flowing from the Father – where peace is given freely to His kids. Really – what is it like for you? And why is it that way?
Why did the Jews, those folks that had been schooled in the Scriptures from infancy, reject the Messiah? Some say it was because He was not the fulfillment of the prophecies. Others say He could not substantiate His claims. But why not let Jesus speak for Himself. Look over these verses.
The fault was not in Him, but with them.
The view of the Lord was one of a nation that was blind, a nation that was unable to see until that blindness had been removed. The nation’s ‘fathers’ had willfully rejected the revelation which God had given them through the law. They had turned in disobedience from the law and abandoned the worship of the true God to serve idols. They had become blind. And all that was part of the nation’s history!
The story has been told of a waterman who worked day in and day out. One day, his grandchild took his hand and pricked it with a needle. The waterman never moved. This was curious to the child. So he took his grandfather’s hand and, with him looking on, tried again and again to no avail. You see, while this would have certainly affected him in his younger days, the years of toil had taken their toll. The waterman’s hands were calloused. This reminds me of us and our hearts. Our hearts towards sin, how we become enamored by the world and blind to the things of the Lord.
The Pharisees had a high view of themselves – they were wise because they were students of the Scriptures. This put them in a right relationship with God…in their view! These words that Jesus was speaking, they must have been aimed at some other group, certainly not them.
Ah…Jesus, just as much today as when these words were spoken, wishes to reveal the Father to any who accept His word. So, where are you in this area? Are you listening? Or do you think you’re OK and will ‘make it’ based on some other criteria (I go to church, I put money in the plate, my Dad is a deacon or preacher, or some other criteria)? We need to look at Jesus, listen to His words, and accept His offer of Salvation.
When you give irrefutable proof of something, and those that witnessed it reject it anyway…what then? Here, Jesus pronounces woe upon the cities that His miracles had been performed in. His words indicate that the hearts of the Jewish people were harder than the hearts of Gentiles. You see, if these miracles had been performed in the Gentile places, those folks would have believed His message and turned (repented) in faith to Him!
There is a price to be paid. That price remains today. If you hear the words of the Lord, the Living Word of Christ, and you choose to reject them, you do not enter the kingdom. In this set of scripture, you see the imagery of not being lifted to the skies and instead going down to the depths.
Let me throw out a concept here. Degrees of punishment are determined by the amount of light that one has received and rejected. What are your thoughts on that concept?
I’ve heard the story told of a man who lived a life like many others. He didn’t care much about the things of the Lord, but did his best to be a ‘good man’, doing the ‘right things’. He did accept Christ as his Savior, but other than attend church every now and again, that was pretty much the extent of his Christian growth.
Eventually, this man died. As promised, he got a home in heaven with Jesus! Upon his arrival at the pearly gates, he is greeted by one of the heavenly hosts and ushered in. He views that street of gold and starts to walk down it, admiring the mansions on either side and thinking to himself ‘I wonder which one is mine!’
As he goes further and further down the street, the mansions become more…middle class dwellings. ‘Not too bad,’ he thinks to himself, ‘this is certainly sufficient to meet my needs during eternity!’
But the journey continues, and the rent looks to continue to spiral down as he progresses down the street. His guide stops him near the end of the street in front of a shack that is barely holding together, it looks pretty sparse, small, and pathetic. ‘Here’s your dwelling!’ announces the angel. The man is shocked and can’t help but voice his disappointment, ‘Are you sure this is it? We passed many fine dwellings on our journey here.’
The angel looked at him and sighed, ‘We did the best that we could with what you sent up before your arrival.’
Ah – just an illustration of what many think of. And if the concept above caught your attention, perhaps you can think again about it. Remember last weeks lesson? In spite of the growing rejection of Christ and His person, the Gentiles saw the light and embraced it. The truth of what He had been teaching was validated – not only by His miracles and works – but also by the reception of His word by the Gentiles.
How much is expected of those that have been exposed to the truth of the Lord? I would contend that because the people had had the light of both Christ’s words and works, they were subject to greater judgment than the Gentiles who had not had that testimony.
So, for us today, many centuries removed from the happenings of Jesus. What light have we been exposed to? What are we doing about it? What are God’s expectations on us (we didn’t see the miracles, so are we less exposed to the light or more exposed)? Many are quick to lean on grace and cry ‘You created us Lord, You know we’re only human!’ If that is our stance, how will we measure up when we stand before Him at judgment day?
