Monday 31^st May 2010

Luke 11.38-41

38 Now the Pharisee was astounded that He did not wash before the meal.

39 The Lord said to him: “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and plate, but your inside is full of robbery and wickedness. 

40 Are you unaware that the one who makes the outside also makes the inside?

41 However, give from what is within you as mercy and all things will be clean to you.

The Pharisees were stunned that Jesus failed to wash his hands before eating a meal.

We instruct our children to wash their hands before coming to the table for a meal. This is because of cleanliness, not knowing what they may have been playing with beforehand.

For the Jews the washing of the hands before a meal was about cleanliness, but it was also about obeying the law. The law was very clear about how to wash the hands, and when, and how many times.

Large stone water jars were kept for this purpose. No doubt it was the water from such stone water jars that Jesus turned into wine. (They must have got some more water for the ceremonial cleansing at that wedding feast).

W Barclay tells us that the amount of water used would fill one and a half egg-shells; not a lot.

The washing would take place by first running the water from the finger tips to the wrists, cleansing the palms by rubbing the fist of the other hand into it. After this more water was poured from the wrists to the finger tips. It was the law that this ritual must be carried out before the meal and between each course. Failure to do so was regarded as a sin.

Why did Jesus not go through this ritual cleansing? Perhaps the answer is that ceremony, tradition and law do not cleanse the soul of a man.

Elsewhere Jesus called the Pharisees whitewashed tombs, meaning that their appearance seems fine, but their insides were rotten to the core – Matthew 23.27: “You are like whitewashed (painted white) tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity”.

Sadly, most of us hide our real self behind the mask of respectability, but our real inner being is often very different.

It is amazing that our Heavenly Father knows and sees everything about us, and He still loves us.

Paul urges us with these words: that you obey his commands with all purity. Then no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ returns – 1 Timothy 6.14.

Sunday 30th May 2010

Luke 11.37

37 Now as He was speaking a Pharisees ask Him to have breakfast with him; Going in He sat down (reclined)   

Perhaps all of us like to receive an invitation to share a meal with someone. There is a great deal of enjoyment to be had in sharing a meal together.

This Pharisee obviously wanted to have Jesus eat with him. The word used for meal generally referred to a meal that was eaten after returning home from morning prayers. Perhaps Jesus and the Pharisee had been to the prayer time together and, as they came away, the Pharisee had invited Jesus to eat with him.

The response of Jesus to the invitation of the Pharisee was to go with him to his home, and when He went in He reclined.

This is a wonderful illustration of how Jesus treats us. He will respond to our invitation for Him to come and eat with us. We may be familiar with the following verse: “Look! Here I stand at the door and knock. If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends” – Revelation 3.20.

This verse is a practical demonstration of Jesus doing as He promised.

Today we have the same assurance that Jesus will respond to our invites and come to us. We do not have to plead with Him to come. We do not have to worry about Him having a full diary. We can be certain that He always has the time to come and relax with us.

I believe this short verse is an open invitation from Jesus for us to invite Him to come into our life, to spend time with us.

We all know that we live in a world where the pace of life seems  to be getting faster and faster, however, it is essential that we put time aside to pray and then to fellowship with our Lord Jesus.

Saturday 29 May 2010

Luke 11.34-35 cont.

34 The eye is the lamp of the body, if the eye is clear the whole body will be fully lit, but if it is bad then the body is in darkness.

35 Look out then that the light in you is not darkness.

36 Therefore, if the whole body is full of light, none of it will be in darkness. The whole body will full of light, just like a lamp light gives you light.

There are those occasions when someone suffers from a cataract growing over their eyes. This can be a gradual process that eventually obscures vision, making it impossible to see.

We can be thankful that we live in days when cataracts can be removed, restoring light to the body.

In Luke 2.30 we read about Simeon, who was in the temple when Joseph and Mary took the infant Jesus to fulfill the requirements of the Lord. Part of what Simeon said was this: my eyes have seen Your salvation.

He saw in Jesus the Light for the Gentiles and the glory for the people of Israel.

The moment that Simeon saw Jesus His eyes were opened and His soul saw the Saviour of the whole world.

The word of Jesus to all who hear Him a word of warning: 35 Look out then that the light in you is not darkness.

We are all responsible for the kind of light that enters our soul. Jesus tells us that there is a light that is darkness. It may seem strange to us that light can be dark. Maybe it can be the case that what we think is light and illuminates our soul is actually darkness. Satan tries to trick us into thinking that he is an angel of light – 2 Corinthians 11.14. Therefore, we should not be surprised that there is a darkness that can appear as light.

However, if we constantly look for Jesus, just as Simeon did, then we will always be placing ourselves in a position where the Light of Jesus is like floodlights to our soul.

The warning to be on the lookout for darkness dressed up as light is important to us all, since there are many voices that clamour to get our attention. Let us be always vigilant as to what we look at read and listen to; and let us allow the Holy Spirit to be the filter that only allows the eyes of our soul to see the Light of Jesus.

Friday 28th May 2010

Luke 11.34-35

34 The eye is the lamp of the body, if the eye is clear the whole body will be fully lit, but if it is bad then the body is in darkness.

35 Look out then that the light in you is not darkness.

36 Therefore, if the whole body is full of light, none of it will be in darkness. The whole body will full of light, just like a lamp light gives you light.

Jesus continues to use light and a lamp as an illustration. However, in these verses He concentrates on our personal and private life.

We probably all know the following saying: the eyes are the window of the soul.

Jesus said much the same thing. However, the saying generally relates to other people looking into someone’s eyes in order to discover what they are thinking. This is similar to body language.

When Jesus talks about the eyes He is saying that they are the door, through which either light or darkness enters our soul. It is our eyes that either bring us light or they bring us darkness. In Isaiah 6.5 we read: “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Seeing with his eye the Light of Almighty God brought Isaiah to see the sinfulness of his life.

As we look at Jesus, the Light of the world, then the darkness of sin that is within us is shown up.

It is impossible to look at Jesus and not have the darkness of sin revealed to us. This is a reason why the world does not want to look at Jesus. In John 3.20 we read: Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

It is a sad fact that the older we get the more accustomed to sin we can become. It is true that the older we get it may be that the eyes of our soul become dim causing us difficulty in seeing the Light of Jesus.

It may be that sometimes we deliberately refuse to look at the Light of Jesus, because we know it will mean we have to change and repent and mend our ways. At other times it may be a slow process until we reach the point of being blind to the things of the Holy Spirit.

Let us be determined to live by the truth of His Light.

Thursday 27th May 2010

Luke 11.33

33 No one who lights an oil light hides it in the cellar, nor puts it under a basket, instead they put it on a lampstand so that those going in should see the beam.

These words of Jesus and the following verses follow on from what Jesus has been saying in regards to Solomon and Jonah.

As we know Solomon was a man to who God had gifted amazing wisdom. He did not hide this gift but, instead he used it to rule the kingdom of Israel, also to build the temple, which was a splendid sight. At its dedication it was filled with the glory of God.

Jesus, One greater than Solomon, came into the world and entered into His ministry as the Light of the world. He did not come to be hidden away. He did not preach behind closed doors, in secret places. When He took the disciples to a deserted place for some rest; even there the crowds found Him. There His light shone as He preached God’s word and miraculously fed five thousand.

Jonah, although reluctantly, went to Nineveh, where He preached the word of God, letting the light of God shine penetrate the hearts of the Ninevites.

As we have seen, Jesus declared that One greater than Jonah was amongst them, Himself. He was not reluctant to let His light invade the darkness of His time. He stood out as The Light that shines in the darkness, which can never be got rid of it.

In these verses Jesus is telling the people that He was not going to hide away from them or the authorities, He was not going to go into hiding and allow the darkness of men’s hearts, society, and the religious and political systems to overshadow His eternal light.

In the same way we know that Jesus has called us to be the light of the world. It is a world where we must not hide from, but a world into which we carry the One who is greater than any other.

The word of God tells us: greater is the One in you than the one who is in the world – 1 John 4.4.

Wednesday 26th May 2010

Luke 11.31.32 cont

31 The queen of the south will be raised up at the judgement with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from far away (the extremities) to hear the Wisdom of Solomon (peaceful), and understand, one greater than Solomon is here.

32 Men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement, along with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and understand that one greater than Jonah is here. 

These may seem harsh words from Jesus. Certainly they would be frowned upon by our generation. However, God’s word is eternal and will never pass away; therefore, we need to let the Holy Spirit teach us the relevance of these words of Jesus and how they apply to us and our generation.

Nineveh was a strategic city, situated where modern Mosul is in Iraq. It was located on the eastern bank of the river Tigris. It covered an area of about 30 miles along the river to a depth of 10 miles east of the river. Jonah records that it took three days to travel through it – Jonah 3.3.

The king and the people of Nineveh repented when they heard the word of the Lord.

This is remarkable in that it was a Gentile city. Jesus draws a comparison between this Assyrian city and the Jews of His present day.

The preaching of God’s word always requires its hearers to make a choice, and the choice is quite simple: we either receive His word and act upon it, or we dismiss His word and sink deeper into our own sin.

The wise person will do the former.

Jesus had already proclaimed that “I have not come to call righteous people but sinners to repentance” – Luke 5.32. The message is still the same today, our salvation requires our repentance and the call to repentance comes to us by His grace. If any should fail to respond to His gracious calling to repent, then there is a judgement to face.

In these verses Jesus states that one greater than Solomon is here and one greater than Jonah is here. In this there is the clear claim by Jesus to be the Messiah, whom they were looking for.

The same is still true. Jesus is always amongst us, therefore we know that He whose name is above all names is with us – Hallelujah.

Tuesday 25th May 2010

Luke 11.31-32

31 The queen of the south will be raised up at the judgement with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from far away (the extremities) to hear the Wisdom of Solomon (peaceful), and understand, one greater than Solomon is here.

32 Men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement, along with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and understand that one greater than Jonah is here. 

The Queen of the South is generally understood to be the Queen of Sheba. There is some difference of opinion as to the location of Sheba, some suggesting somewhere near present day Yemen, others saying it could be Eritrea or Ethiopia. These locations are south of Israel.

We do not know her name and it is thought that she was born on 5^th January sometime in the 10^th century. This fits in with the Biblical account of her visiting Solomon.

She had heard of the wisdom that Solomon had been given by God, which is why she travelled to visit him and learn from him. According to God’s word she knew that his wisdom was from God: When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s reputation, which brought honour to the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions – 1 Kings 10.1.

This verse tells us that she came with hard questions. Young’s literal translations says that she came with enigmas, that is she came asking about things that were inexplicable, asking about matters that were perplexing and baffling.

She was a woman who believed that Solomon had been gifted understanding in such matters and she wanted to learn from him something of the mind of God.

She discovered that Solomon had the wisdom of God to answer all that perplexed her and she says: “The LORD your God is great indeed! He delights in you and has placed you on the throne of Israel. Because the LORD loves Israel with an eternal love, he has made you king so you can rule with justice and righteousness” – 1 Kings 10.9.

We read from this chapter that she gave a vast amount of valuable gifts to Solomon.

Jesus uses her as an illustration of someone who is prepared to go to extreme lengths to know the mind of God. For this reason Jesus says that she be raised up and condemn that present generation.

Let us continually devote ourselves to learning more and more about Jesus.

Monday 24th May 2010

Luke 11.30

30 For even as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, likewise also the Son of Man will be a sign to this generation.

What was the sign of Jonah that Jesus refers to?

Matthew gives a fuller account, adding these words: For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so I, the Son of Man, will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights – Matthew 12.40.

What do we know about Jonah? The following is something of what we know about him.

1 He was sent by God to go and preach repentance.

In John 6.44 Jesus declared that the Father had sent Him.

2 He disobeyed God.

However, Jesus was fully obedient, even unto death.

3 He paid the price for his disobedience by being swallowed by a great fish.

Jesus paid the price for the disobedience of the whole world.

4 Jonah was in the big fish for 3 days and nights.

Jesus was in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

5 Jonah was delivered from the fish by God.

Jesus was delivered from death as the Father raised Him from the dead.

6 Jesus faithfully preached God’s word.

Jesus is the Word of God, whom we preach.

7 Jonah was annoyed that the people had repented and that God had withheld judgement.

However, Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him.

As we look at this we can see that Jesus was prophesying to the crowd about His own death and resurrection.

It may seem strange to us that Jesus did not seem to regard other signs in His ministry as being signs that He is the Messiah, since He said that the only sign that was given to that generation was the sign of Jonah.

However, in John 14.11 we read Jesus saying this: “Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of what you have seen me do.”

The inference is that throughout His ministry the many things that He did were evidences of His identity as Messiah, but His death and resurrection is the only sign that proves that He is the Messiah.

Sunday 23rd May 2010

Luke 11.29 cont.

29 Now as the crowds thronged together He began to say: This generation is an evil generation. It looks for a sign, but it will not be given a sign, except the sign of Jonah (dove).

Perhaps it is true that each generation looks for a sign. It would appear that Jesus makes a link between a generation being evil and it’s looking for a sign of the miraculous.

Humanity is much the same today, as perhaps each generation is.

Many in today’s world are looking for a sign that God is real, or that Jesus is who He says He is. It would seem that Jesus considered this to be a sign of unbelief.

Looking for signs that proved a person’s claim to be the Messiah was not uncommon in the time of Jesus. Josephus tells us that around about AD 44-46 there was a man called Theudas. He in mentioned by Gamaliel in Acts 5.36: Some time ago there was that fellow Theudas, who pretended to be someone great. About four hundred others joined him, but he was killed, and his followers went their various ways. The whole movement came to nothing.

He persuaded people that he was a prophet to follow him to the river Jordon, saying that by his own command he would divide the waters so that they could walk through on dry land. This was to be a sign that he was the Messiah. Fadus, who was the procurator of Judea at the time, sent his soldiers to deal with them, which they did by killing them. They cut off the head of Theudas and carried it to Jerusalem.

Looking for miraculous signs does not necessarily lead people to accept Jesus as Messiah. We recall that Jesus healed ten lepers, but only one returned. It is not signs the Jesus wants us to look for, rather it is Jesus Himself and His words. It is His word that brings us life. Peter said to Jesus: You have the words of eternal life – John 6.68. Let His word live in us in a deep and life giving way.

Saturday 22nd May 2010

Luke 11.29

29 Now as the crowds thronged together He began to say: This generation is an evil generation. It looks for a sign, but it will not be given a sign, except the sign of Jonah (dove).

Jesus would not have won a popularity contest by saying that that generation was evil. In today’s world it would be considered to be politically incorrect to use such language. We must remember that Jesus was speaking to His fellow countrymen. These were the people who considered themselves to be God’s chosen people. Therefore, they thought of themselves as being righteous and elite, viewing the Gentiles to be considerable inferior, some seeing them as fuel for the fires of hell.

Therefore, when Jesus called them a wicked generation, they may have wondered if they had heard Him correctly. They probably felt that Jesus had gone too far. They may have felt that Jesus did not mean them, but, instead, was referring to the Gentiles.

However, Jesus makes no such qualification; therefore, He must have been referring to both the Jews and the Gentiles.

A wicked, evil generation is a generation that is ethically and morally fatally infected with sin. It is a generation that disregards God and does not have the life of God at its very core.

In the context of Jesus saying that true happiness is to be found in hearing and obeying God’s word it can be seen that an evil generation is one that is obstinate, refusing to both listen and obey the word of God.

This must have really cut into the heart of those who heard Jesus, because they were the people who firmly believed that they were being true to God’s word.

What do the words of Jesus mean for us today? What kind of generation do we live in? Would Jesus describe this as an evil generation? As we look at God’s word we know that God says that all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard – Romans 3.23. In Isaiah 53.6 we read: All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.

We must remember that Jesus came into an evil generation to save sinners, and He is with us in this evil generation to do exactly the same, which is why we are called to preach the gospel. Hallelujah, it is by His grace that we have been saved.