Lenten Tour of the Gospels

Mark 7: Poles Apart

"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'?"

Although the crowds sometimes have difficulty accepting Jesus' message, as long as he keeps healing people they tag along. On the other hand, the religious, political and intellectual establishments all strongly oppose Jesus but cannot manage to loosen his grip on the common people. The Pharisees, in particular, keep trying to trap him in a major blunder that might turn the people- or the government- against him.

In many ways, the Pharisees make an odd set of enemies for Jesus, for most people would rank them as strict and religious. Although the Pharisees work hard to follow the Old Testament law, Jesus can see right through their pious behavior. He blasts them for focusing on the outside while neglecting far greater dangers from within.

The Pharisees are strict legalists, and Jesus reacts with surprising harshness to such seemingly petty matters. By concentrating on all the rules, the Pharisees risk missing the whole point of the Gospel. Showy forms of legalism do not move anyone closer to God; in fact, they tend to make people proud, cliquish and self-righteous.

One way Jesus exposes the hypocricy in the Pharisees' attitude is by publicly healing people on the sacred Sabbath. Fully aware that such acts will scandalize strict Pharisees, he goes ahead anyway, insisting that compassion for needy people must take precedence over tradition. Sure enough, they care more about keeping the rules than healing the sick.

Lenten Tour of the Gospels

John 6: Food that Endures

I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.

Apart from the resurrection, Jesus' feeding of 5,000 people is the only miracle that all four Gospels record. It shows Jesus meeting the most basic human need, food, by using barley loaves, the least expensive kind of bread. John describes the effect of the miracle on the ordinary people who saw it. Dazzled by Jesus' power, they try to crown him king. When he slips away, persistent fans commandeer boats and sail across a lake in pursuit.

The next day as the crowds catch up with him, Jesus meets them with a blunt warning: "I tell you the truth, your are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you."

Hearing this, many Jews no doubt remember the miraculous manna that their ancestors ate in Moses' day. Jesus points to a better, life-changing meal: himself. As the "bread of life," he will nourish his people far better than any miraculous meal could.

Sensation-seeking crowds, however, care more for physical spectacle than for spiritual truth. What happens next certainly bears that out. As Jesus is interpreting the spiritual meaning of the miracle, all their enthusiasm melts away. The crowd grows downright restless, then hostile. They cannot reconcile his exalted claim- "I have come down from heaven"- with their knowledge that he is a local man whose mother and father they know.

Lenten Tour of the Gospels

Luke 18: Underdogs

"He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'"

Jesus' stories in Luke 18 feature underdogs: a mistreated widow, a despised tax collector, little children, a blind beggar. A rich man makes an appearance as a negative example, as do most wealthy people around Jesus. Even Jesus' closest disciples have trouble swallowing his teaching that money represents a grave danger. Jesus spells out that danger, warning that wealth can keep people from the kingdom of God by tempting them to depend on themselves rather than God. The story of the Pharisee and the tax collector reinforces that message. Not only wealth, but any form of pride or self-dependence tends to lead away from God.

Even an effort to become "holy" may produce the opposite effect if it produces spirtual pride and a feeling of superiority. Human beings have an incurable tendency to feed their own egos, to take credit, to compete. The way to God, said Jesus, is just the opposite: Trust God like a little child, admit wrong, let go.

Jesus reveals the key to true success in the very first story in this collection, a parable to illustrate why we "should always pray and not give up." The persistent widow endures much frustration and apparent injustice before the judge finally grants her request. Similarly, Jesus implies, we may go through desert periods when it looks as if God is ignoring our heartfelt requests. In the end, God himself will settle accounts. And all those whose faith holds firm, even in the hard times, will see justice done.

Lenten Tour of the Gospels

Luke 16: Of Two Worlds

"You cannot serve both God and Money."

A story is told about Rabbi Joseph Schneerson, a Hasidic leader during the early days of Russian communism. The rabbi spent much time in jail, persecuted for his faith. One morning in 1927, as he prayed in a Leningrad synagogue, secret police rushed in and arrested him. They took him to a police station and worked him over, demanding that he give up his religious activities. He refused. The interrogator brandished a gun in his face and said, "This little toy has made many a man change his mind." Rabbi Schneerson answered, "This little toy can intimidate only that kind of man who has many gods and but one world. Because I have only one God and two worlds, I am not impressed by this little toy."

The theme of "two worlds," or two kingdoms, emerges often in Jesus' teaching, and a couple of stories in this chapter draw a sharp distinction between the two worlds. "What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight," Jesus says, commenting on his first story (verses 1-15).

The second story, about a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus, elaborates on the difference in values between the two worlds. The rich man prospers in this world, yet neglects to make any provision for eternal life and thus suffers the consequences. Meanwhile a half-starved beggar, judged by most standards as a failure in life, receives an eternal reward.

Jesus tells such stories to an audience with a tradition of wealthy patriarchs, strong kings and victorious heroes. He keeps emphasizing the stunning reversal of values in God's kingdom. People who have little value in this world (the poor, the persecuted- people like Lazarus) may, in fact, have great stature before God. Jesus consistently presents the invisisble world as a place to invest in for the future, a place to store up treasure for the life to come.

In a question that brings the two worlds starkly together, Jesus asks: "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:26)

Lenten Tour of the Gospels

Luke 15: Master Storyteller

"This brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!"

Using simple, homespun images, Jesus expresses profound truths in a way that holds his audience captive. His parables (concise short stories) have won high praise, even from literary experts who do not accept their spiritual message. Some of the most famous of these parables appear only in Luke's Gospel.

The three stories in chapter 15 stir up feelings for the lost- and for the loser. A shepherd scours the hillside in a frantic search for a missing sheep. A woman turns her house upside down over a lost silver coin. A runaway son thumbs his nose at a life of comfort and ends up half-starved in a pigpen. In a few brief sentences, Jesus' parables tug at feelings of loss and remorse that lie buried just beneath the surface in all of us.

Yet all thre parables end the same: spectacular good news floods in to replace the sadness, and partying breaks out. All the parables point to the limitless love of God for those in real need. God stands ready to forgive all those who cry out to him.

The parable of the lost son actually tells the story of two sons, one irresponsible, the other hardworking. One wastes his life and comes home humbled; the other proudly refuses to celebrate his brother's homecoming. The story ends with one son inside, enjoying a joyful family celebration; his brother lingers outside, bitterly unwillings to forgive. Which son is really lost?

Lenten Tour of the Gospels

Luke 12: Mysterious Power of a Dangerous Force

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Jesus has more to say about money than about almost any other topic. Yet 2,000 years later Christians have trouble agreeing on exactly what he means. One reason is that Jesus rarely gives “practical” advice. He avoids commenting on specific economic systems and, as in this chapter, refuses to get involved in personal disputes about finances. Jesus sees money primarily as a spiritual force.

In some ways, money issues can be reduced to three questions:

1. How did you get it? (Did it involved injustice, cheating or oppression of the poor?)
2. What are you doing with it? (Are you hoarding it? Exploiting others? Wasting it on needless luxuries?
3. What is it doing to you?

Although Jesus speaks to all three of these issues, he concentrates on the last one. As he explains it, money operates much like an idol. It can catch hold of and dominate a person’s life, diverting attention from God. Jesus challenges people to break free of money’s power, even if it requires the radical step of giving it all away.

Luke 12 offers a good summary of Jesus’ attitude toward money. Jesus does not condemn all possessions: “Your Father knows that you need (food, drink, and clothes).” But he strongly warns against putting faith in money to secure the future. As Jesus’ story of the rich man shows, money will ultimately fail to solve life’s biggest problems. The rich man’s money did him absolutely no good the night of his death.

Jesus urges his listeners to seek treasure in the kingdom of God, for such treasure can benefit them in this life and the next one too. “Do not worry,” he says. Rather trust God to provide your basic need. To emphasize this point, Jesus uses the example of King Solomon, the richest man in the Old Testament. To most nationalistic Jews, Solomon is a hero. Jesus sees him in a different light: Solomon’s splendor- long since faded- was no more impressive than that of a common wildflower. Better to trust in the God who lavishes care on the whole earth than to spend your life worrying about money and possessions.

Lenten Tour of the Gospels

Luke 10: Mission Impossible

The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."

A seismic change is rumbling through this chapter. As Jesus commissions 72 followers, he does not disguise his alarm. "Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves," he says. Finally, in a voice that commands attention, he gives this mysterious charge: "He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me." Then the recruits depart on their dangerous, important mission.

Luke's next view of Jesus is almost unprecedented. Nowhere else in the Gospels will you find Jesus so happy, even bubbling with joy. The caution in his face has brightened to exuberance. It has really worked, this perilous mission into the hill country, and Jesus celebrates the enormous breakthrough with these 72 disciples.

In his enthusiastic response, Jesus reveals that he has come to Earth to establish a church, a group of believers, to carry on his will after his departure. As these 72 disciples walk the footpaths of Judea, knocking on doors, explaining the gospel of the Messiah and healing the sick, Jesus watches the behind-the-scenes impact: Satan falls like lightning from heaven. Jesus' own mission- more, his own life- is being lived out through 72 very ordinary human beings whose actions win a cosmic victory.

Power can go to your head, especially if you've never before had any. The disciples, mainly farmers and fishermen, are overwhelmed to discover their spiritual authority. Jesus urges them to keep it in perspective. Their salvation, he says- their names written in heaven- matters more than their power. (The Bible often speaks of God's people having their names recorded in a heavenly book. See Daniel 12:1 and Revelation 3:5.)

Finally, Jesus's parable- beginning with verse 25, definitively shows the correct teaching of Christian charity and love. The priest observes a robbery victim in a half-dead state. According to Old Testament law, any priest who touched a dead body made himself ceremonially impure (Leviticus 21:1-4) Both he and a religious Levite decided not to get involved. Jesus' audience might have been expecting the third character to be a Jewish layperson. But Jesus added a twist by making the one who showed love a Samaritan, a racial minority despised in Israel. In this way, Jesus contrasted mere religious beliefs with true love.