Luke 14: 1-14 

Laterally Luke…Pentecost + 12…Revised 2019

Fathers’ Day reminds us life is about relationships. With God, & between human beings. It’s worth bearing that in mind as we preach today. The RCL allows omitting vv. 2-6, but to keep them in highlights the ‘Opportunity Principle’ Jesus works by: do what’s good in God’s eyes anywhere, anytime, for anybody!

It’s Sabbath again. Jesus has been invited to dine with a prominent Pharisee - strict keepers of the Law. Others present include religious lawyers, watching Jesus closely. In religious circles, legalism never seems far away, in Jesus’ day, or ours. How legal-istic are we in circles where we preach? Who’s watching who? With loving eyes, or critical ones? To help us come up higher, or to keep us confined?  

‘Reuben’ (let’s call him) a man suffering from what we’d call an oedema, turns up uninvited; no doubt watching from a distance. Aware of Jesus’ presence in such unusual company, & ready to grasp a once in a lifetime opportunity. Has the grape-vine been at work regarding Jesus’ movements? Does our local grape-vine alert others that we are people who represent Jesus in their midst today? Jesus discerns Reuben’s predicament & after testing & silencing His host & friends, heals him. What’s been causing Reuben to swell up, physically, yet narrow down his life, is dealt with. As he’s healed, life expands to normality again. Jesus, though, scores another black mark from those who think Sabbath-keeping over-rides healing a person in need. Jesus’ enemies are in the narrowing down business, rather than the opening up of people to new life. Today, Sabbath keeping isn’t as much of an issue among most Christians as is our applying the opening up rather than narrowing down principles to our lives, & encouraging others to do the same. Are we among the legalist, narrowing down camp - as we’re seen to be by many - or open for business as He is? 

When He heals ‘Zara’ last week, & now, Reuben, Jesus demonstrates God’s expect- ation of all citizens of the ‘Kingdom’; ‘Kingdom’ being God’s way of ruling by opening people up, rather than closing us down. Each time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, personally, or in public worship, let’s be aware in all our senses that praying God’s loving, healing rule on earth will happen now. As it is in heaven means doing our bit to make that happen - now! Next time we pray the prayer Jesus taught us, let’s pray it, whether liturgically or in private, from our personal experience of an opened-up life as Reuben does in our hearing today. And teach those to whom we preach to do the same.

Brian

Afterthought: 

The godly bishop who confirmed me long ago, preached on today’s: ‘Friend, come up higher!’ Encouraging us to take this aspect of Jesus' teaching to heart & live it out. Every now & then, though, we all need a prod from Holy Spirit to live that higher life - & preach it! 

LK 12: 49-59 

Laterally Luke…Pentecost + 10… Revised 2019

Entry points I can see for preaching our passage include: Jesus as Fire, Jesus & Baptism, Peace v Conflict, Family relationships, discerning the signs of the times, righting wrongs….But I’ll focus here on just one: Jesus as Fire.

Charles Wesley wrote the words of  ‘Gentle Jesus, meek & mild’. Was he racing to produce a hymn to meet a deadline, & didn’t discern what he was saying? If we ever have to meet preaching deadlines, beware lest we fall into any ‘gentle, meek, & mild’, or any other kind, of mis-portrayal of Our Lord! He’s far from any of those things!

“I came to set the earth on fire” is hard. In 3:16, though, LK reports John the Baptiser speaking of Jesus as coming to ‘baptise with Holy Spirit & Fire’. Might this be a clue to how Jesus understands God’s love & God’s Fire as being two sides of one coin? I suggest this might repay exploring. The Spirit of Jesus is God’s love in action, & love often faces hard going. What gets Jesus crucified - His baptism of blood - is the un-wavering love He offers us all. Would a ‘gentle Jesus’ have been worth crucifying?

God is love. Fire may be the other side of the love coin, but it's still love. Hard love, costly love that will inevitably bring disunity, division, judgment, & even destruction, as well as those Fruits & Gifts of the Spirit we find it easier to preach. Perhaps we can explore whether there’s some ‘costly love’ we need to fan into fire?

In the Gospel of Thomas (10) Jesus says he's 'guarding the fire until it blazes’¹ Was that the kind of imagery Wesley has in mind when writing his great hymn: ‘O thou who camest from above, the fire celestial to impart…’? (A hymn we might consider singing today?) How do we ‘guard’ the fire except we keep it blazing in the rough & tumble of life situations to which Jesus refers here? What might that cost us? How far are we prepared to go in exploring that? How far are we prepared to stand up for a Jesus not at all meek, not at all mild?

Brian

Afterthought: A story from the days of the Christian Desert Hermits has one of them, anxious about his spirituality, coming to a fellow hermit & saying, “I keep all the rules of the Community, I fast, I study the Bible, I meditate, I avoid bad thoughts…what more do I need to do? The one he approaches doesn’t answer in words, but stretches out his hand towards heaven, & his fingers become flashing  lamps of fire. Then he simply says to his questioner, “Why not become changed into fire?” Why not, indeed?  

LK 12: 32-40 

Laterally Luke…Pentecost + 9…Revised 2019 

When I was a small child I remember two things making me afraid! One was a big spider on the wall of an aunt’s house; it took me time to realise it was made of tin, & never moved! A second thing was in my grandmother’s house. At night, if I were to look down the passage, there was always a bogey-man looking back at me. It took me time to work out it was a street light shining through a stained-glass inset! Do we have any such ‘spiders’ or ‘bogeys’ in our lives? Still reaching out to scare us today? Fear not little flock!

Rather than thinking - & teaching - of Jesus giving us God’s ‘kingdom’, how about settling for the more dynamic ‘Rule’? Besides, there are few ‘kingdoms’ left in the world today. Most have been replaced by ‘democracies’ or dictatorships of one kind or another. Shakespeare has Richard the Third saying he’ll swap his kingdom for a horse, but you & I don't even need a horse to trade for a ‘kingdom’. We already have God’s Rule. Jesus says so. We're given it because it pleases God to give it to us. God is a Great Giver. God takes the initiative because it pleases Him to do so. It’s at the heart of God’s nature to be a Great Giver! God's Rule isn’t some kind of coloured line drawn round some place up there, or, down here somewhere. It’s a Rule of the Heart. God’s & ours. 

In going on to use the example of the readiness of servants for their master’s home-coming, might Jesus be making a connect between not being afraid & readiness? Is He saying “You can’t be ready (to serve God) if you’re afraid in any sense?” That may be worth exploring. 

We may be only little, we may be only a flock, but we don't need to be afraid if we're in love with the God who's in love with us. If we’re ready & prepared because we  recognise God in the here & now, we have a realistic expectation of recognising God in any future coming among us. Any blessedness in being ready to welcome God's coming in some future sense will be an extension of recognising the blessedness of God in our hearts ruling among us now. Apocalyptic expectation must be earthed (incarnated) in present reality. There is a heavenly Son of Humanity thanks to the earthly One.

Understanding Apocalyptic stands or falls with understanding Incarnation. By the Holy Spirit of Jesus (who better to help us recognise God?) may we experience the blessing of every hour being God's expected hour.

Brian 

  

Afterthought: Was it ex-king Farouk of Egypt who was long ago reported to have said, “There will soon be only five kings left: Spades, Clubs, Hearts, Diamonds, & England”? O Farouk, Farouk! You left out God!