Book of Faith - Luke 19:11-44 - The Parable of the Pounds and Jesus' Entry into Jerusalem

The Parable of the Pounds is well known.  A nobleman leaves for a far country, but before he goes, he calls ten servants and gives them a pound (a week's wage) each and tells them to trade with the money until he returns.  When he returns, the nobleman wants an accounting.  The first has made ten pounds and is rewarded with 10 cities.  The second has made five pounds and is given five cities.  The last servant in the story simply hides his pound and makes no money.  The nobleman is not pleased and gives the one pound to the first servant who made ten. 

The first thing the group noticed was how different Luke's version was from the one in Matthew.  In Matthew, the servants are given different amounts and the amounts are much higher.  In Mathew, the amount is  a talent (many years of income) rather than a pound.  This is another example of the gospels telling the story differently for different reasons.

In Luke, everyone gets the same amount, which speaks to God giving each person gifts that may be different, but of equal value.  Our being called to use those gifts is implied.  One person in our group pointed out that the return was exceptional.  We had a long discussion about how using the gifts that God has given you can grow exponentially.  One of the blessings of starting my ministry outside of Hagerstown, MD is that I had the opportunity to walk in the fields my father had planted.  He began his ministry in Christ Lutheran Church in Hagerstown.  Even though he was there only five years, the impact of his ministry was amazing.  The number of people I encountered whose lives were touched by him far exceeds what you might imagine.  People were still being impacted because their parents or grandparents were influenced by my father.  The ripple effect from our sharing God's gifts with others is extraordinary.

From the parable, we moved to Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.  At the end, Jesus predicts the destruction of Jerusalem that would take place in 70 AD.  This seems to be an addition by Luke or the early church which is put on Jesus' lips to give the words authority, but seems to reflect the early church's indictment of Judaism rather than Jesus' own sorrow over the city the would not repent.  Luke's gospel was written after the destruction of Jerusalem and the works Luke puts on Jesus' lips seems to give a reason for the destruction of Jerusalem.  

The group also noted that the crowd that greeted Jesus was not as large as the gospel seems to suggest.  Jerusalem would swell to 250,000 people during the Passover.  Even if there were 3,000 people gathered to greet Jesus, that would still be only be a drop in the bucket.  The gospels make clear that Jesus entered as the Messiah, as the King come in peace (Riding on a donkey).   However, the majority of the city did not see his entry that way.

Again, this week's conversation was rich and meaningful.  Please join us next Wednesday at noon as we enter into Holy Week through the words of Luke.  If you are unable to attend, keep following on the blog.

Peace,
Pastor Summer

 

Book of Faith - Luke 19:1-10 - Zacchaeus

The group agreed that we all love the story of Zacchaeus, the short tax collector, who climbs a tree to be able to see Jesus as Jesus made his way through Jericho.  We love the story because of the curious details. The tree was a sycamore tree.  We love the humor.  We have this image of this small man, who was hated by all, sitting up in a tree.  Everyone could see him in that tree.  There's no doubt people had a great time seeing him make a fool of himself.  And Zacchaeus was willing to make a fool of himself.  Finally, we love the wonderful sense of grace that concludes the story.  Jesus tells Zacchaeus to come down from the tree and that Jesus will go to his house (a huge honor) and have dinner with Zacchaeus.

The note of grace is striking in the story.  Rabbis would not have had dinner with a person like Zacchaeus.  As a tax collector, particularly the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus would have been placed on the outside of the community.  He would have been shunned.  He was working for the Romans, the occupying army.  Zacchaeus would have been viewed as a traitor.  Zacchaeus response to Jesus coming to his house was one of joy and repentance.  In that encounter, Zacchaeus was a changed man.  If he had cheated anyone, he would repay  them four times (Roman law for theft) and give 1/2 of all he had to the poor.  This is in contrast to the rich man in the last chapter, who was a righteous man, who would not consider giving all he had to the poor and walked away from Jesus.  Jesus tells the crowd that he has come to seek and save the lost.

Beyond Jesus having dinner with Zacchaeus, Jesus also invites and challenges the larger community to take Zacchaeus back into the fold.  This is a pattern throughout the gospel.  Jesus has those cured of leprosy showing themselves to the priests so that they might be welcomed back into the community.  Jesus tells those who are gathered that Zacchaeus is also a son of Abraham.  This can be  a powerful moment of grace.  A contemporary example would be an individual, who is released from prison (in other words having paid their debt to society) and being welcomed with open arms into the local community.  When this happens, lives are changed, lives are redeemed.  This is the gospel at work.

Peace,

Pastor Summer