Luke 11:5-8

Luke 11:5-8 

English Standard Version 

  Jesus is not trying to make God look like he's ignoring you.  Jesus is instead trying to make a point about how God is kinder/more generous than any of us.  If you go to a friend who is tired and already in bed, the friend will eventually get up and help you if you persist.  How much more will God help if you persist?

  I don't think there's a magic formula -- we often try and find exactly what the number is for God.  God is not a vending machine.  But Jesus is trying to show us that persistence matters.  Do we keep praying?  This is more than praying for something once or twice.  Do we pray consistently for things?  If so, we learn to keep things in front of God, to continue to depend on God.  God cares for you and wants to hear what you're praying about, what you're fearful of, what makes you anxious.  Take that to God, over and over and over and over again.  The more we pray, the more it trains our hearts to cast our cares upon God, the more focused on God we become, the less we try and carry things on our own.  God is stronger than we are -- may we place our fears and anxieties there.

Luke 11:1-4

Luke 11:1-4 

English Standard Version 

  I read somewhere that all of the apostles would've started out life in synagogue school before leaving at some point to pursue other vocations.  They're steeped in religious life... and yet they ask Jesus to teach them how to pray.

  They knew how to pray.

  But they watched Jesus pray, and they clearly saw something lacking in their own lives.  They wanted to pray like Jesus did, in a way that was a two-way conversation, conveying intimacy and enriching their lives with spiritual depth.  They wanted more than what they'd had before Jesus.

  Do you long for Jesus to teach you to pray?  Maybe this is something important for the church in the 21st century.  That we not simply look for the words, but we ask Jesus to teach us how to pray, how to pursue God, how to develop breadth and depth in our spiritual lives that prayer might be life-giving and nourishing, a drink from the living waters that quenches our spiritual thirst.

Luke 10:38–42

Luke 10:38-42 

English Standard Version 

  When we read this story, we have to remember that it's not meant to discourage us from serving.  Martha's serving is fine -- hospitality was vital in their culture.  The drawback is that she is distracted.  She is anxious.  She is so caught up in the tasks that she is missing the larger picture of who and why she is serving.  Her tasks have become overwhelming her and she is exhausted.

  When we focus on Jesus first, our fears should diminish.  We worry less about being unprepared and unqualified.  We worry less about appearing unworthy.  We realize that in Christ, we are enough, and that helps us find rest, even in the midst of busy-ness and numerous tasks.  We find ways to be with Jesus, to trust in Christ, even while we serve. 

Luke 10:33–37

Luke 10:33-37 

English Standard Version 

  Imagine the most despised person in society and making them the hero of the story.  That's what Jesus does -- no one would have expected a Samaritan to be the hero here.  For a priest and a Levite to pass the wounded man by and the Samaritan to show compassion is intended to shock the audience -- because Jesus wants to shock us.  Jesus wants us to step back from labels and think about acts of love and limits of love.  He wants us to realize that God thinks about love differently than we do.  God doesn't shy away from costly love.  Realize what this Samaritan does -- for a complete stranger, he not only inconveniences himself, but also writes a blank check so that this man can be healed.  He incurs great cost to himself for the sake of another.

  The idea is that we realize that we are the ones who are wounded.  We are the ones who need a Savior, and thankfully, Jesus is the one who comes with a willingness to incur costly love.  Jesus doesn't count the cost, but is willing to write a blank check, up to and including at the cost of his life, so that we might be healed.  Jesus shows us mercy.  

  If we hear this story enough, and let it marinate into our hearts, we are amazed at the love of God.  The more we do this, then it shapes us into a certain type of people.  We become the type of people we expand the limits on our own love, because we are busy giving thanks for the love of God that has expanded to include us when we are broken.