Focusing on the North

During the Year of Popularity Jesus and his entourage toured the villages and countryside of Galilee three times. In ever-widening circles these walking tours began by covering a small area and ended by covering all of the northern territory and east and west. For the next parable we travel to Nain which was twenty-two miles south of Capernaum, a short distance east of Nazareth, and on the second tour of Galilee.

John the Baptist was being held in the prison fortress Machaerus which was located in the desert region east of the Dead Sea. King Herod Antipas, Roman Tetrarck of Galilee and Perea, had arrested John shortly before Jesus left the southern region in the inaugural year to move His base up north to Capernaum. Some of John’s disciples traveled from Machaerus to Galilee keeping Jesus informed of John’s situation, some followed Jesus completely, and others stayed close to the prison fortress and in touch with John.

Being fanned by reports of his power to heal everyone who came to Him Jesus’ fame was spreading. His last act before heading down to Nain was to heed the request from the elders of the Jews to heal a man who was dying. The man was the servant of a centurion and highly valued by his master. The Jews pleaded earnestly saying, “This centurion deserves to have you heal his servant, because he loves our nation and built our synagogue.” Well, Jesus did not heal people because they “deserved” it. Healing was based on His compassion alone. However, He began heading for the centurion’s house. Friends of the centurion intercepted Him with a message from the centurion. This message conveyed a level of humility and belief that caused Jesus to exclaim to the crowd following Him, ”I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” The friends returned to the centurion’s house and found the servant well.” The centurion was a Gentile.

As Jesus and the large crowd approached the town gate of Nain they came upon a funeral procession. A widow of Nain had only one son and he had died. His corpse was being carried out of the town in a coffin. A large group of mourners was in tow. Since I am a mother of three sons, I empathize and imagine her anguish and her sobbing. When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and He said, “Do not cry.”

Then He went up to and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still while He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The young guy sat up and began talking! Joyful pandemonium broke out and in awe and wonder the people said, “God has come to help His people!” News of this spread through all the land of the Jews and the surrounding country. John’s disciples told him about all these things.

Two men who were sent from John asked Jesus if He was the One they had been waiting for or should they continue waiting. Jesus’ response sums up His activity up to this point. “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have various diseases are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”

Jesus spoke to the crowd about God’s purpose for John’s ministry which was to get people ready to believe in Him. John was successful. All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words acknowledged that God’s way was right because they had all accepted John’s message and had been baptized by John. The Pharisees and experts in The Law rejected God’s purpose for themselves because they had rejected John’s message and had not been baptized by him.

“Parable of Two Debtors”

“Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him about a day’s wages and the other one-tenth of that amount. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which one of them will love him more?” Luke 7:41-42

A local Pharisee, named Simon, invited Jesus to have dinner with him. Other guests were in the home as well. An uninvited woman who had a bad reputation came to the house carrying her alabaster jar filled with perfume. Jesus was reclining at the dining table. She came up from behind Jesus, stood at his feet, and began crying, slowly at first and then profusely. So profuse were her tears that a stream flowed down soaking Jesus’ feet.  Her long hair became her towel drying His feet all the while kissing them. Finally, she poured the perfume out of the jar and onto His feet. Simon reacted self-righteously and called the woman a ”sinner” and thought that Jesus could not, after all, be a prophet.

Being referred to as a “sinner woman” could only mean one thing. Years of a certain type of behavior had formed her reputation; her class status, or lack of it,  had been decided. She was regarded as a whore, as wanton and marred by illicit sexual behavior. Throughout the centuries few women of any culture have been able to escape the lifelong repercussions of sexual misconduct…the scarlet letter. Society rarely smiles upon women who claim to be reformed.

Yet we see in this woman’s act of humiliation an act of worship. Somewhere in her heart she came to the end of herself and found a place to fall ~ at the feet of Jesus. Someone who falls at the feet of Jesus is not thinking about the outcome of their prostration. They are consumed with beholding His kindness, His compassion, and His love. She must have thought, “Yes, Lord, I have ruined my life but you are here and I cannot help but weep in Your presence.” Weep she did, convulsive weeping, not merely a trickle of tears but a stream of tears soaking His feet. Jesus grasped her wordless intentions.

The question in this parable regarding which debtor loved the forgiving moneylender more was posed directly to Simon. His reasoning was now regained and Simon gave the correct answer, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” Jesus then drew a comparison between Simon’s welcome and lack of Mediterranean hospitality with the emphasis on refreshment: 1) no water for my feet; 2) no welcome kiss; 3) no oil on my head.

Then comes the spiritual application, “…her many sins have been forgiven ~ for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” Jesus presents forgiveness and a corresponding gratitude as a ratio. Those who realize how much Jesus has forgiven them will, in direct proportion to that realization, pour out their lives and hearts in service and gratitude to Him. The converse must be true. Someone who is self-reliant and self-righteous will have a difficult time seeing their own need of forgiveness. Their servitude to the Savior will be lukewarm at best. In that state of heart they will never hear Jesus say to them what were His  last words to her, “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Because of God’s mercy in my own life I can identify with our sister with the alabaster box. I believe that our sins are forgiven upon conversion to Jesus Christ. Forgiveness does not end there though. My need for forgiveness has rolled over in time to each new year, new month, and each new day. When Peter asked Jesus how many times should he forgive his brother Jesus replied with seven times seventy times a day! Four hundred and ninety times a day! If God can ask us to forgive each other that many times do you think He wants to forgive us any fewer times?

The other thing I have come across in forty years of walking in God’s forgiveness is meeting people who feel like they can never be forgiven. In the early seventies young men who had served in the Vietnam War were returning to their homes in America. My husband, James, and I were part of a small church on Martha’s Vineyard Island off of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Many unsaved people were attending our meetings because we went out to the parks and streets regularly to witness and sing and preach the Gospel.

On one particular evening a returnee from the war came in to our gathering. My husband preached about Jesus dying for our sins. This soldier began crying violently and began to crumple on the floor. We went to him. He sobbed, “Jesus can never forgive me for what I did.” My husband reassured him that Jesus could forgive anything. Yet this young man remained in anguish and cried out, “Jesus can never forgive me for what I did!” James asked him what he had done that was so bad. He blurted out, “I killed people in the war!”

Now we were not inexperienced in bringing people to faith in Jesus and explaining the miracle of forgiveness. Most of us were ex-hippies who had truck loads of sins to bring to the feet of Jesus. Although many of us had watched in horror as friends overdosed on drugs none of us had killed anybody. Faith in God’s promise rose to meet the need and, after much talking and prayer, this veteran of the war experienced a lifting of guilt and depression. He believed Jesus could forgive him. And Jesus did.

The theme of this parable is Unlimited Forgiveness.

Sarah Anne Smith

Causing a Stir

As we follow Jesus’ movement through He Taught Them Parables we will discover that He sometimes taught a succession of parables which I choose to call  “cluster parables.” The next three parables illustrate His method of teaching several related truths.

Before we get to the parables, though, we must look at what transpired on two Sabbaths. Jesus is still in the Capernaum vicinity. One Sabbath Jesus and His large entourage of disciples were walking through some fields of grain. Innocently, the men picked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate some kernels since they were hungry. The stage for confrontation was set once again and the ever present players, the Pharisees, gasped with horror and exclaimed to Jesus, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” Seizing this opportune moment to tell the Pharisees what they should have already known, Jesus reminded them of an unprecedented event in the life of David, ancient King of Israel and one of the Patriarchs.

David and his band of loyal men were on the run ~ fugitives from the madman king, Saul, who was out to kill David and them. Jesus conveyed the severity of the situation by simply saying they were ” hungry and in need.” It had been days since they had eaten. David stealthily made his way to Nob where the Ark of the Covenant was residing causing Ahimelech the priest to tremble upon seeing him. Word of Saul’s rage had spread furiously.  After assuring Ahimelech that while on this holy mission “women have been kept from us,”  the consecrated bread from the day before was given to them and they were nourished and pressed on. For the record, this is something that God always like to do. After all, the bread in question had served its primary purpose the day before having been dedicated as an offering to the Lord and using it to save the lives of David and his band of brothers was allowed by the priest even though it violated God’s Law.

Our Sabbath day confrontations did not end there though. Adding salt to to their wounded religious legalism, Jesus further instructed the Pharisees that God’s purpose in establishing the Sabbath was to help His people take time out to rest from their labor which is a perfect concept for today and probably needed more than ever. Because Jesus had defined the purpose of the Sabbath and deftly handed them a precise example of its purpose, He got the final word by saying, “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Case closed. End of discussion. And…fuel for the emerging plot to rid the world of  Jesus Christ.

We are about to learn what event pushed the Pharisees over the edge to conspire to destroy Him. Keeping the Sabbath holy, set apart unto Yahweh, was evidently the centerpiece of the religious legalism of the Pharisees. The next lesson in the Master’s lesson plan would challenge their religious self-righteousness to the max.

Our setting is another Sabbath in the synagogue in Capernaum where Jesus was teaching. Enter right: a man with a shriveled right hand. Enter left: Pharisees and teachers of the Law looking for a reason to accuse Jesus. Quite aware of the fact that the man with the deformity was there among them the Pharisees watched closely to see if Jesus would do something. Jesus knew what they were thinking. Unflustered, quite the opposite, emboldened,  He did something.

“Get up and stand in front of everyone.” Obediently, the man did. Then came the question, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?’ No answer came. Jesus looked around at His opponents in anger and was deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts. Still no answer came. Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did and his shriveled hand was completely restored in an instant! Did the Pharisees join in the celebration of this miraculous healing? No…quite the opposite transpired!

Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. This healing on the Sabboth was the tipping point. Remember this.  Even the elation of the man who had been healed could not soften the stubborness of their self-righteous hearts. From this moment on moving about Galilee became more dangerous for Jesus. Predictably, news about Him spread. Swelling crowds traveled to the Lake area to see Him and to be healed.

Selecting Twelve Apostles

By this point in His public ministry dozens of men were traveling with Him as disciples and, specifically, as students of His teaching. The time had come to designate His A-Team while near Capernaum. In the morning, after spending all night in prayer on a mountainside, He assembled all of His disciples before Him. He called twelve of them by name and to His side. He appointed them and distinguished them as “apostles.” Their new distinction would allow them to: 1) be with Him at all times; 2) be sent out to preach; 3) have authority to drive out demons.

These are their names: 1) Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter; 2) his brother Andrew; 3) James son of Zebedee; 4) his brother John; 5) Philip; 6) Bartholomew; 7) Matthew; Thomas; 9) James son of Alphaeus; 10) Thaddaeus; 11) Simon the Zealot; 12) Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

The Cluster

After this He came down and stood on a level place with His new appointees. A great number of people were there including a large crowd of His disciples.  He sat down and began speaking to His disciples about attitudes and virtues of those who would enter the Kingdom of God. Before He concluded the day’s sermon He left them with three parables.

“Parable of the Sawdust & Plank”

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Luke 6:41-42

Ouch! I feel a searing conscience. How about you? This parable nails a self-appointed role as judge and “fixer.” Let’s face it. We all have a bit of this in us. Jesus is not saying that we should ignore helping someone who is tripping over something in life. What He is saying is to check our attitude and motive for examining some one’s problems in the first place. Do we want to make ourselves look good? Do we want to show ourselves better than someone else by demeaning them? Motive can be and must be pure of injury.

The theme of this parable is Avoiding Hypocrisy.

“Parable of Good and Bad Fruit”

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored in his heart, and the evil  man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart speaks.” Luke 6:43-45

As I am walking along through the woods, an orchard, or along the Hudson River how do I determine that a berry bush is a berry bush or an apple tree is an apple tree or a thorn bush is a thorn bush? In the proper season I look for its fruit. Then I know without a doubt and exclaim, “Look, there is a berry bush. Here is an apple tree. And watch out for that bush ~ it has thorns!” Applying this corollary to our human existence, we can say that our heart is the root system, trunk, branches,and leaves. Our words and actions are the fruit.

No one can deny that today there exists a blurring of the lines of what is “good” and what is “evil.” Jesus predicted this when He stated that a time would come when, “Men call good what is evil and evil what is good.” I believe that we are living in those times. I have seen Jesus’ prediction demonstrated in Western media and entertainment. Values and virtues are mocked and portrayed as “weak” and sometimes “hurtful.” In other regions of the world, killing, lying, and stealing are condoned, even advocated, in the name of religion. We cannot have it both ways ~ good helps, good heals, evil hurts, evil destroys. And, according to this parable all of it comes out of man’s heart.

The theme of this parable is Spiritual Fruitfulness.

“Parable of Building a House”

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words but does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” Luke 6:46-49

Due to global news coverage, we are all too familiar with the rage of torrential flooding upon not only homes, commercial structures, but also nuclear reactors. Nature, at its worst, has a method of humbling even the most self-reliant of nations and cultures. This devastation is painful to watch.

Jesus uses the analogy of house-building to tell that we are all building something. Every day, every moment we are constructing something with our words and actions. Daily decisions abound in twenty-first century living. Here’s the chief question ~ what are we going to base our decisions on? Something? Nothing? Variables? Basically, everyone is choosing some measure, some plumb line, some model even if it is “nothing” and that becomes their life philosophy.

If and when you choose to build your life on Jesus’ words, you have a promise. No one is twisting your arm. Jesus certainly is not. It is your choice. But, if you decide to follow Jesus and His words, He makes a promise in this parable. Oh, the troubles and struggles of life will come against you the same as everyone else. No one gets a free pass from difficulties even if they are seemingly stalled until aging and dying.

The promise of building our lives on Jesus’ words is this…your house will stand, I mean, for eternity. What you do with your life that brings honor to Jesus and His Kingdom will endure the test of fire and be your reward in eternity.

The theme of this parable is Sowing and Reaping.

Sarah Anne Smith