Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Luke 18:1-8


Dear Luke,
As a follower of Jesus, I will admit that there are times that I want to encourage you to skip over some of the more difficult parts of faith, but I know that is neither fair nor faithful.  You deserve a complete picture, and while I will freely admit up front that I don’t fully understand everything that Jesus says, we all deserve to be able to ask big questions and expect some answers.  I believe that God is big enough for our questions, and I also believe that a complete and dynamic faith is possible even if there isn’t total knowledge of exactly how everything holds together.  I have faith in the God who holds it together, and I hope that maybe after I die I’ll have a better understanding of the ways of the world and the teachings of Jesus. 
That’s not just a way to duck your questions.  They are fair questions, and I’ll start with the easiest—Lot was a man who lived in a city that was being destroyed by God because of their sinful choices.  Lot and his family followed God, so Lot was told by God to leave, but he was also commanded not to look back at the city as God destroyed it.  There was nothing left for Lot there, and not a bit of regret should be upon their hearts, for God’s way led them forward.  Lot’s wife, as you’ve probably determined by now, looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt.  Strange, I know, but it’s a lesson for us not to get so attached to the things of this world that we find ourselves looking back at them when we should be looking forward to God.  Jesus’ teaching is the same—we can’t be disciples if our eyes are trained backwards on the world and our stuff.  This is the heart of that admittedly-confusing sentence—if we are willing to give up everything for Jesus, to follow him and hand over our hearts and our lives, we’ll keep what is truly life, but it may seem, at first, like we’re losing life.  In contrast, if we hold onto the things of this world so tightly and try to keep them, we will end up missing out, losing Jesus and the abundant life he offers us.  True life is only in Jesus, and we don’t want to lose that.
As for Jesus discussing the vultures, I think he is just lifting up the point that there is usually nearby evidence to direct us to what we are looking for.  For instance, if you’re looking for a dead body in the middle of the desert, look for the vultures and they will point the way.  In that same vein, if you’re trying to discover where God is at work, look for transformed lives, for people willing to lose their lives for God’s kingdom, people willing to hand over everything to Jesus, and there you will find evidence of the kingdom.  This is what he means when the kingdom is within you—it is the transformation of God at work in those who choose to follow him.  The kingdom is hard to understand—but it is God’s reign, and when we choose to follow Jesus and hand over everything to him, that is God’s kingdom ruling in your heart and your life.  There is still more to come in the world than just God ruling in your heart and life, but that is a part of the kingdom. 
I hope this all makes sense, Luke.  Jesus wants people to follow him, but we have to be willing to let him take over to do so.  In the passage you related, Jesus talks about how the people of Noah’s time and Lot’s time were busy in their everyday lives before God destroyed their worlds.  God sent judgment for sin upon the land, and in both cases people were unprepared—they were so caught up in their own lives that they had ceased to pay any attention to God.  Jesus doesn’t want followers who pay more attention to themselves and their business dealings than to God.  Jesus wants disciples who follow him with their whole hearts.  This is the only way to live the abundant life God wants for us.
I love Jesus, and I trust him.  I don’t always understand him, but I believe that my life is in good hands.  From those questions, I’ll turn to what I have learned next.  It’s a curious story when we compare it to the often-immediate healings that Jesus offers so many who come before him.
It was described to me as a parable that Jesus told in the hopes of encouraging people to continue praying even in the face of long odds.  My own prayer life is hardly a model for others to pick up—I will often give up when my initial prayers go unanswered.  Jesus is addressing people like me in this story.
Jesus begins by describing a judge in a town.  The judge could best be described as arrogant—he had no respect or awe of God, and likewise, he did not care for the people in the town.  In this same town there was also a persistent widow who continued pestering the judge to grant the widow justice against one who opposed her.  The judge, caring not for the widow, refused to acquiesce to her plea, in time decided in the woman’s favor in the hopes that it would grant him some peace and quiet.  He did not give in to her out of a desire to do the right thing, rather hoping that a decision would quiet her constant voice. 
Strangely, this is the example Jesus lifts up, offering the teaching that God will listen to those who ceaselessly cry out to him for justice.  God will not only grant them justice, but do so quickly.  Jesus uses this story about the judge to describe God’s faithfulness. 
Luke, I know that this is odd, but I expect that it made sense to the disciples—they knew what power a judge had, and they could understand the idea that it was important to be persistent.  Jesus is encouraging them, and us, to be persistent in our prayers, secure in the knowledge that God will hear our cries for justice and rush to our help.  Based upon other teachings, I think we can safely agree that God will do so out of love rather than a desire for peace and quiet from our prayers, but there is the danger of reading that into the story.
Jesus closes with a question that probably kept more than one person up late into the night pondering the answer.  He asks whether the Son of Man will find faith when he comes to earth. 
Our knee-jerk reaction is yes, but I’m sure that people stayed up, just as I did, pondering what the threshold is, trying to understand just what it means for them to have faith, that they might stand before the Son of Man and be declared as having faith.  I believe—I just hope that my belief matches what Jesus is teaching that faith is.  Jesus sets a very high standard, and we all fall short.  I believe that he is gracious and forgiving, but at the same time, I know that there is plenty of room for faith to continue to grow to take over every corner of my heart.  For a life-dominating faith, I pray.
Sincerely,
Theophilus

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