Recap

So far in Luke, we've read through the introduction, Jesus' ministry in Galilee, and started the journey to Jerusalem. We noted how this book was written with the book of Acts to be one continuous story. We also looked at how, for Luke, the kingdom of God is centred on uplifting the marginalised and outcasts and bringing salvation and repentance, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

We read the two miraculous conception stories of John and Jesus who would both fulfil Old Testament prophecies. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, announced to shepherds by angels, showing God's desire to reach the poor and outcasts. At twelve, Jesus is in the temple, focused on God's work. He is later baptised and resists the devil’s temptations in the wilderness. Throughout, people are filled with the Holy Spirit to fulfil their roles. John the Baptist taught the importance of repentance and caring for the poor.

Jesus began his ministry by declaring his mission to those on society’s margins using Isaiah 61:1-2. After being rejected from the synagogue, he liberated people from demons and illness, demonstrating his power by filling fishermen's nets and calling his disciples. He healed a leper and a paralysed man. In all these he showed his care for the marginalised.

Jesus then taught his disciples the values of his upside-down kingdom, where the needy are blessed, and the self-reliant are warned. His many miracles, from healings to feeding 5,000, led to Peter recognising him as "The Christ of God." Jesus revealed his coming suffering and was confirmed as God's chosen when three disciples witnessed his transfiguration.

We began the journey to Jerusalem focusing on the call of the disciples. Lacking faith, they failed to cast out a demon and argued over who was the greatest. When rejected by Samaritans, they threatened violence instead of showing mercy. Through them, we learn what not to do when following Jesus.

Jesus reclaimed his kingdom by sending out seventy-two disciples. He was symbolically reclaiming the earth, even seeing Satan fall. An expert summarised the law as loving God and neighbour, illustrated by the parable of the Good Samaritan and the story of Mary and Martha. Jesus taught the disciples to pray, while others accused him of casting out demons by Satan’s power.

Jesus then linked his teachings to final judgement. He urged consistency between the public and private life and trusting in God’s provision. He then warned Jerusalem that their pride would lead to destruction. Despite this, the people rejected him.

Luke 14-16

Next up is a section focused on inheriting the kingdom of God and helping others to do the same. Jesus is at the house of a pharisee, and while there he watches the other people at the gathering. Each of them is jockeying for a good position amongst the tables. A seat that shows of how important they are. But as we know, the kingdom of God isn’t about pride and showing of position. It’s about humility.

So Jesus uses this as a teaching opportunity. He tells the people to humble themselves. But rather than pointing to a moral code for evidence, he points to an example that was familiar to them. It is better to pick a humble position, because if you’re wrong someone will come and invite you to take a better position. This has got to be better than picking a good position for yourself and then being asked to move somewhere worse.

In today’s reading, we’re going to see Jesus do this a couple of times. He uses a worldly example to point to a kingdom value. The point isn’t that we humble ourselves in the hope that someone comes up and promotes us in front of everyone else. The point is, if we can see the value of humbling ourselves in regular society, how much more is that the case in the kingdom of God! 

Next, he turns to the host of the gathering. Parties and gatherings like this were how people showed off their social status and climbed up the social ladder. The quality of your parties, the kind of people who come, and the kind of parties you go to all show off how important you are.

The key is to throw a great party and invite a number of important people so everyone can see how important you are. The hope was also that these important people would then invite you to their parties, which would also improve your social status.

But again, this isn’t how the kingdom of God works. Jesus challenges the host to invite the poor, and the marginalised to his parties. These are people that aren’t going to raise your social status, and they’re definitely not going to be throwing their own parties and inviting you to them. In this, your focus isn’t on yourself and on your own importance, but on blessing others. That’s the heart of the kingdom of God.

God’s kingdom is like a giant banquet that God wants to see filled with people. He will continue to invite everyone in, even those that the religious leaders might have frowned upon, because he wants to bless them.

Later, while travelling, Jesus turns to the crowds around him and encourages them to count the cost of being his follower. This isn’t an easy life he is calling them to and they better understand that before they commit, rather than starting off eager, then quickly falling away.

Tax collectors and sinners starting coming up to Jesus, and the religious leaders begin to grumble amongst themselves. They see these people as beneath them and believe that Jesus shouldn’t be dealing with them. But we know that Jesus came specifically for these kinds of people, and so Jesus uses three parables to explain this to the religious leaders.

It’s like a shepherd with 100 sheep and one that runs off. The shepherd is going to be focused on rescuing and bringing back the one, rather than the ninety-nine who are safe. It’s not because he doesn’t care about the ninety-nine, but they’re already secure. It’s the one that needs rescuing. Next is a woman who turns over the whole house to find one lost coin.

Then finally, is the story of the prodigal son. In this story, we have a rebellious son who betrayed his father and went away. After ruining his life, he comes back, willing to be a servant. But the father is just overjoyed that his son has returned and throws a big party to celebrate.

But there is a second son who is angry about how his brother is treated. He betrayed their family and ran away, and now he is celebrated. With each of these parables, we tend to focus on the compassionate love of God, and that’s definitely true.

But let’s remember who Jesus is talking to. The religious leaders. In these parables, they’re represented by the ninety-nine safe sheep and the frustrated brother. The main point of these parables is that we should celebrate when God lifts up other people. That’s what his kingdom is all about. We need actively to avoid the trap of jealousy and bitterness.

Jesus now turns to his disciples to talk to them about money. This gathering would have had a lot of wealthy people there, so it’s the perfect backdrop for this teaching. The message of Jesus’ teaching is not to chase after money. Instead, use your money as a tool to build meaningful relationship, because the kingdom of God is relational.

Like before, Jesus uses a worldly example to explain this kingdom value. A manager was caught mishandling his master’s wealth and was fired. Realising that he’s going to be out of a job, this manager used his position to reduce the debts of a few people. At least that way he would have some friendships he can rely on now that he is fired.

Again, the point isn’t that Jesus is encouraging us to be dishonest with our money. The point is that just corrupt people recognise that solid relationships are more useful than money, how much more important are relationship in the kingdom of God.

We are called to be faithful with all that God gives us, including our money. Are we hoarding it for ourselves or are we using it to bless others and spread these kingdom values? We can’t do both.

The religious leaders snort at Jesus, because they love their money and see themselves as the most righteous people around. So Jesus gives one more parable to point out the danger in this thinking.

There is a rich man and a poor man. In this life the rich man seems himself as so much better than the poor man, but after they did the poor man ended up with his ancestor Abraham, but the rich man was punished and tormented.

The rich man’s wealth and importance meant nothing now, and even in death, he couldn’t see that there were plenty of signs pointing him to what was important. He just ignored them, blinded by his wealth and importance. The lesson? Be humble, not allowing yourself to be blinded like this.

Psalm 117

This psalm isn’t attributed to anyone in particular and falls into the category of praise psalm. Not only that, but it wins the award for the shortest psalm at just two verses.

It is a simple call and declaration. All nations are to praise the Lord, because he is loving and faithful, and will be so forever. These are themes we’ve seen many times before in the psalms. The ultimate goal is for all nations to come and praise the Lord, not just the Israelites. One day, they too will experience the same love and faithfulness that the Israelites were called to experience.