The Other Six Days

Jesus was so smart. And quick with responses and insightful to get to the root of a question, to see what was really behind it. People before him and after him spoke words that frustrated their opponents to the point of killing them. Most recently watching the events with Charlie Kirk has helped me to visualize the crowd and also the infuriating cleverness of the quick wit for those who disagree.

Jesus is so smart. The leaders send people to trap Jesus in his words but it never works. By what authority are you doing these things? V2 Is it lawful to pay taxes? V22 These are tricky questions

Jesus is so smart! He has his own responses: by whose authority was John’s baptism? V4

Our eyes are distracted by physical reality. Give to Caeser what is caeser’s v25 and v34 about marriage in this reality vs the reality to come

Trickiest and idk why he says, is from Psalms 110–how is the Messiah David’s son if David calls him “my Lord”?

Zacchaeus (Luke 191-10): He’s a collaborator with Rome because he’s a tax collector—he bids for a job, he gets the job, he collects funds for Rome, and the extra he collects is his to keep. 

After the meal at Zacchaeus’ home, Zacchaeus makes an announcement: he will give half of his possessions to the poor and “if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” He’s like a pragmatic version of the tax collector in 18:9-14. He sees the depth of his sin and asks for forgiveness, but he seeks to restore.

Luke 18:9-14 – The Pharisee thinks he’s right with God and entitled to being heard because he observes God’s law and beyond. In fact, he looks down on “other people,” labeling them as “robbers, evildoers, adulterers.” The tax collector stands at a distance to plead with God for “mercy” because he knew he was a “sinner.”

Am I looking down on the Pharisee for his self-righteousness? If so, I am the Pharisee in this parable. That’s the whole point of this parable.

The story of the 10 pounds

A nobleman was going away to become ruler. While he was gone, he entrusts money to his slaves. He evaluates their effort when he is back, and he holds them accountable.

He doesn’t have patience for excuses. Everyone started with something. Now what do they have to show for it?

Let us not waste opportunity to use the gifts we have.

Jesus just said in v10 that his purpose was to seek out and save the lost. We imitate him.

So the bigger message in the story seems to be similar to not putting our light under a basket. Be transformed, be a witness, produce fruit, invest for more gain… Is it reasonable to say all those are the same message?

The people who hated him and didn’t want him to rule (v14) were slaughtered in his presence (v27) — what to make of that? There are consequences to being actively opposed to the authority?

In the hierarchy, best is to use what we’re given to produce more.
Second is to be paralyzed with fear and lack of confidence.
Last is to oppose. Def don’t want to be on the other side of that wrath.

That’s the image of God I think that gets most misrepresented and misunderstood: how to balance the love that God is with the destruction and judgement that God sanctions

V4 – If the same person sins against you seven times a day and turns back to you seven times and says, “I repent,” you must forgive

Forgiveness and restoration are two different things. Forgiveness doesn’t mean you don’t have boundaries. Forgiveness is a work in releasing bitterness, healing anger, letting go of what is hurting us to keep. Not necessarily to restore relationship with someone who is having their own struggles

The dishonest manager–
first, it’s funny that the manager has to ask the debtors what they owe. Wouldn’t a manager who is doing his job know that?

My understanding from one commentary is that his cancelling part of the debt is cancelling his commission on collecting it, not that it is stealing it from his master. I didn’t know that before. And it makes the praise from the master make more sense

The story of Lazarus at the gate–Lazarus is miserable in life but receives comfort eternally. The rich man wants comfort but gets none. He asks for Lazarus to warn his family so they repent. Abraham replies that they should listen to the prophets. If they don’t, nothing more will be enough to convince them

We have been given the same opportunity. Let it be enough. Let us have open hearts and minds t

The son chooses to leave home and creates distance between himself. He violates Jewish beliefs, and suffers as a result of his immoral behavior. The son hits rock bottom when he feeds pigs and no one is there to help him, so he “came to his senses.” when he realizes, The son determines to return home and confess his sins to his father, realizing it is better to be a hired servant in his father’s home than to live in dire poverty. To everyone’s surprise, he his father’s embraces him and throws a welcome back party. The father gets an earful from his grumbling son over how he has been disrespected. He thinks he has deserved.

What is forgiveness? Luke tells us about forgiveness, but I wish Luke had shared more about reconciliation.

Forgiveness may be enacted quickly but reconciliation between the runaway son and his father and brother would take time. Reconciliation requires truth-telling, repentance, and the restoration of trust. Forgiveness means a willingness to try to reestablish trust, but that reestablishment is always a process. Until a person shows evidence of true change, we should not trust him or her. To immediately give one’s trust to a person with sinful habits could actually be enabling him to sin. Trust must be restored, and the speed at which this occurs depends on the behavior.

Evangelical Christian teachers and preachers argue over infant baptism, women pastors, the rapture, and who gets communion and when. We tend to argue the most with those who are the closest to us. Are these arguments (or sometimes battles) theological driven, or are they driven by competing for the same people?

The Jewish populace had religious options, like the Essenes, Zealots, Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now everyone is giving Jesus their ear, and the group closest to Jesus and his followers were the Pharisees. Both had a similar audience—ordinary Jewish folks—and a similar biblical foundation, yet they were at odds on some issues: Jesus’ idea of the kingdom, his own way of “observing” the law of Moses and his approachability to the marginalized. They were close but too close, so they argued a lot.

I never noticed till pastor pointed it out how much ministry is done at the table.

Everything is two things: we honor the ones who are in leadership and so we follow laws. AND Jesus emphasizes not being enslaved to the letter of the law, so to be careful that the law hasn’t been prioritized over compassion for people

V4 he heals on the Sabbath, in part, to help the Pharisees and lawyers see where they have wrong thinking about what following the law means

The teaching in this section:
– Don’t puff myself up but allow honor to come to me (v10ish)
-Don’t seek to give to people who will repay but trust that the good I give will come back to me when it matters more (v14ish)
– be aware of excuses blocking my following: possessions, work, other relationships…(v 18)

Jesus in this parable says (v24) “none of those who were invited will taste my dinner”

The other hard sentence is v 33: none of you can become my disciples if you don’t give up all your possessions.

Awareness of what we’re holding onto tighter than jesus–what is that thing? Am I willing to let it go? There’s value in asking what i love more than Jesus

Repent or Perish. Pilate had Galileans murdered when they went to Jerusalem to sacrifice in the temple. There was the suggestion that the Galileans’ sins caused their deaths. Jesus does not deal with this. He does not give a direct answer, but adds another tragic story of when the Tower of Siloam fell. Do some people deserve death more than ever?

Jesus turns their speculation right back at them: the sole and necessary requirement for all humans is to repent. He doesn’t satisfy the “problem of evil” question that we all ask at some point in our lives. Jesus tells us that we should be more concerned with our struggle with sin.