Lenten Devotion – Day 33

Friday, March 27, 2015

Today’s Scripture: Luke 4:38-44

But he said to them, "I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose." (Luke 4:43)

“We preach grace, but we don’t always practice it. We talk about God’s mercy, but we don’t always want the people who need it most to know it or get in on it. We say we are in the redemption business, but the door to that redemption is often locked by us from the inside. We say, “Come in! All are welcome!” but “all” is often marked with an asterisk. How, I ask, can the world change – how can heaven come to earth – if we stingily protest against God for his grace to others, grace we have freely received ourselves? How can we pray “thy kingdom come,” and be resentful toward God and those he allows to enter the kingdom in his way and his timing?” ― Ronnie McBrayer, How Far Is Heaven?: Rediscovering the Kingdom of God in the Here and Now

  In our scripture reading today, we have Jesus’ first mention of the Kingdom of God in Luke’s gospel. Jesus came “proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities.” Jesus quite clearly states his purpose and he does this after healing Simon’s mother in-law, healing other sick people and casting out demons, who clearly knew who Jesus was. Ask anyone what they know about Jesus and most likely they will mention Jesus’s healing of the sick. Though Jesus healed and cast out demons, he also in this first mention of the Kingdom of God in the gospel of Luke states this is not his purpose for this ministry. “Proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God” is.

  We have been looking at what it is to enter and receive the kingdom of God as a disciple of Christ, which was a topic Jesus addresses frequently. So then based on Jesus’ parables and illustrations about kingdom, what then is the gospel? What is the “good news”?

  You will often hear others, speak about the good news by saying things, like, “Do you know that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life?” or “If you were to die tonight, and God was to ask you, why should I let you into my heaven, what would be your answer?” Though these are important questions, Jesus, on the other hand, did not approach his world with a question at all, but with a proclamation of the arrival of the kingdom of God. A kingdom that exist in the past, present and future, a kingdom is far off, but is also near, a kingdom that exists in heaven, but also is among us.

  Often churches and pastors reduce our faith to a series of decisions and transactions, and although there are decisions we each need to make as disciples, reducing the Gospel to a decision to accept “God’s plan for my life” or giving the right answer to the question of how to go to heaven seems to only comprehend part of the message Jesus was proclaiming was doing in his earthly ministry.

  The good news is about God and what God is doing. It is not about me and my doing what I think is important. It is not about some idea of success or happiness as the world might define it. For some individuals, they have reduced the gospel to what God is determined to do to fill out our shopping lists of needs and wants. This is not good news, spoken about. This good news is an announcement that things are going to be different. Back in verses 18-19, Jesus gives us more of an idea about this proclamation of the good news when he says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19)

Lenten Devotional – Day 17

Q. 23. What offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer?

A. Christ, as our Redeemer, executes the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation.

“Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb. 4:14-15)

The prophet was an individual who said No to his society, condemning its habits and assumptions, its complacency, waywardness, and syncretism. He was often compelled to proclaim the very opposite of what his heart expected. His fundamental objective was to reconcile man and God. Why do the two need reconciliation? Perhaps it is due to man’s false sense of sovereignty, to his abuse of freedom, to his aggressive, sprawling pride, resenting God’s involvement in history. - Abraham J. Heschel, The Prophets

  Mike Horton of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals says, We're raising our children to become atheists by turning Christ into little more than a football coach. ... I think it competes with His role as Savior if this is the primary message that people are getting. I don't think that Christianity is preventative. Christ has His three offices, prophet, priest and king. And certainly a prophet tells us how we should live as well as being a priest who lives in that place and fulfills the obedience that we couldn't deliver on. And a king rules us, but that's very different from simply giving us helpful hints on how we might be able to live a more fulfilling life. - Jamie Lee Rake, Door Interview: Mike Horton, The Door, March-April 1999, 20.

  “An enduring contribution is Calvin’s treatment of the work of Christ as mediator between God and humanity as expressed in a threefold office of prophet, priest and king. This tied the work of Christ to the covenant history of Israel in that prophets, priests, and kings in ancient Israel were all “anointed.” Christ as “prophet” is the teacher of perfect doctrine who conveys “perfect wisdom” to us. As king, Christ reigns over the church and enables us to pass through the miseries of the world with the assurance that “our King will never leave us destitute, but will provide for our needs until, our warfare ended, we are called to triumph.” As priest, Jesus Christ is our “everlasting intercessor” who through his death has “washed away our sins, sanctifies us and obtains for us that grace from which the uncleanness of our transgressions and vices debars us.” Jesus’ sacrifice was a willing self-sacrifice – not the demand of a wrathful or vengeful “Father-figure.” Jesus Christ was both “priest and sacrifice.” Jesus Christ was both “priest and sacrifice.” These biblical roles of prophet, priest, and king are ways of understanding what Jesus Christ has done. They link his work with God’s work in ancient Israel.” – Donald K. McKim, “Introducing the Reformed Faith”, p. 94.

Lenten Devotional – Third Sunday in Lent

Q. 22. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?

A. Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.

“the Word became flesh and lived among us and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

The angel says, "Oh, God, please don't send me back to Earth again. It's terrible. What can I do with these people? Please don't make me go back again, please!...What? I don't have to go? You mean it? I don't have to go? Oh, thank you, God, thank you! What? What? You mean-you're going?!" -Madeleine L'Engle, Penguins & Golden Calves: Icons and Idols (Wheaton, Ill.:H. Shaw, 1996), 106.

  The affirmation that everybody is made in the image of God is supplemented in Christianity by the belief that God was somehow fully present in a particular human body that lived in a particular time and place, the body of Jesus of Nazareth. The church has used the word incarnation to describe the conviction that God was incarnate, enfleshed in a body that ate and drank, slept and woke, touched and received touch. This body also suffered a death as painful and degrading as any human beings have devised. Early Christian testimony that this body also lived again after death shapes a profound Christian hope that undergirds the practice of honoring the body. Whatever else it means, the resurrection of Jesus suggests that bodies matter to God. And they ought to matter to us, too. — Stephanie Paulsell, Honoring the Body

  There was a Benedictine Monastic community where no one came to visit. As the monks grew old, they became more and more disheartened because they couldn't understand why their community was not attractive to other people. Now in the woods outside the monastery there lived an old rabbi. People came from all over to talk to him about the presence of Yahweh in creation. Years went by and finally the abbot himself went into the woods, leaving word with his monks, "I have gone out to speak to the rabbi." (It was of course considered humiliating that a Christian community had to go back to the synagogue to find out what was wrong with them.)

Lenten Devotional – Day 16

Q. 21. Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?

A. The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continues to be, God and man, in two distinct natures, and one Person forever.

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.” (Gal. 4:4-5)

“For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all —this was attested at the right time.” (1 Timothy 2:5-6, NRSV)

Christ "walks through the centuries alongside each generation, alongside every generation, alongside every person. He walks alongside each person as a friend. An important day in a young person's life is the day on which he becomes convinced that this is the only Friend who will not disappoint him, on whom he can always count." - Pope John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope (New York: Knopf, 1994).

  Pastor and author Max Lucado describes some of the weak views people have about Christ: For some, Jesus is a good luck charm. The "Rabbit's Foot Redeemer." Pocket-sized. Handy. Easily packaged. Easily understood. Easily diagramed. You can put his picture on your wall or you can stick it in your wallet as insurance. You can frame him. Dangle him from your rear view mirror or glue him to your dashboard.

  His specialty? Getting you out of a jam. Need a parking place? Rub the redeemer. Need help on a quiz? Pull out the rabbit's foot. No need to have a relationship with him. No need to love him. Just keep him in your pocket next to your four-leaf clover.

  For many he's an "Aladdin's Lamp Redeemer." New jobs. Pink Cadillacs. New and improved spouses. Your wish is his command. And what's more, he conveniently reenters the lamp when you don't want him around.

  For others, Jesus is a "Monty Hall Redeemer." "All right, Jesus, let's make a deal. For 52 Sundays a year, I'll put on a costume - coat and tie, hat and hose - and I'll endure any sermon you throw at me. In exchange, you give me the grace behind pearly gate number three."

  The Rabbit's Foot Redeemer. The Aladdin's Lamp Redeemer. The Monty Hall Redeemer. Few demands, no challenges. No need for sacrifice. No need for commitment.

  Sightless and heartless redeemers. Redeemers without power. That's not the Redeemer of the New Testament. - Max Lucado, Six Hours One Friday (W. Publishing, 2004), pp. 89 & 90.