Leaning Into Luke

 

They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”  Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?  But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”  Luke 5:33-35

This is another human moment in scripture.  The religious people are comparing and competing who is being more faithful.  The religious people are trying to prove that their haloes shine brighter and bolder than others.  The religious people are pulling others down to prop themselves up.  What breaks my heart is the previous three sentences are as true today as when Luke wrote down the words above.  Churches constantly compete and compare worship attendance and budgets.  How many new members they gained in the last month?  The boasting and bragging sounds like the pastor thinking s/he is the “Thou” referred to in the hymn “How Great Thou Art,” rather than God.

Part of what I hear Jesus saying to us anew and afresh is that we cannot prove faithfulness.  Not by fasting.  Not be praying angelically.  Not be faithfully writing a morning meditation each day.  Faithfulness, the surge of the Spirit within, is creative and will call us to connect with others.

Yet, hearing this is not easy for us, because we want to think that our way of practicing faith is the correct way.  Recently, I was sharing about different biases we all have from author Brian McLaren.  We have a complexity biases in that we like simple explanation to a complex truth. We can’t see what we are unwilling to see, and we don’t want to be vulnerable.  Also, our brains are wired when something gets too hard, our “logic” tells us to stop and justifies it.  Our brains are comfortable and wants to maintain the neuro pathways that are there.  We are aware that change takes effort and energy to forge new understandings.  This is one reason why New Year’s resolutions are so difficult.

Is there an understanding of faith that might need to be let go of right now?  Is there part of faithfulness that isn’t connecting you to God’s grace?  Is there a place where you feel like you are going through the motions without feeling the movement of the Holy?

Let the questions above sing to you, soak into you, and let your life respond and react to these questions today.  Lean into Luke and sense the way Luke’s wisdom is seeking to be lived out in you.

And may God’s grace, peace, and love be with you now more than ever.  Amen.

Leaning into Luke

 

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him,  and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.  But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  Luke 5:27-32

Jesus had just healed someone, he headed out of the house where he was at and there is a tax collector.

That ominous sound you hear is because tax collectors were looked down upon and pushed to the fringe of polite society.  The soundtrack that should accompany the words, “Levi sitting at his tax booth,” would be like the theme song to Jaws or what played every time Darth Vader walked into a scene in Star Wars.

Tax collectors were not the heroes or sheroes in Jesus’ day.  The reason was that they worked for Rome.  The money you gave to the tax collector financed the Caesar who thought he was a god.  You felt the weight of the boot of Rome on your neck.  Some scholars suggest that the tax rate in Jesus’ day (between Rome, Herod, and temple taxes) could have been as high as 90 percent.  Ouch.  Suddenly, us saying that we have the worst taxes ever doesn’t hold as much truth.

Jesus goes and calls Levi to follow.  Think of a person you see as a villain, the least likely candidate for Person of the Year…Jesus calls him/her?  Before Jesus preached, “Love your enemy,” he practiced it right here and right now in the passage.  Levi throws a party and all his tax collector friends with their calculators, glasses, and number jokes (like why is six afraid of seven? Because seven, eight, nine – read as seven ate nine.)  When the Pharisees question the company Jesus is keeping, Jesus says that someone whose halo is shining doesn’t need polish.  Someone who thinks s/he has it all figured out, is not going to listen. 

One of my favorite quotes right now is that the more you know, the more questions you have. The more you learn, the more you realize how much you fail to grasp.  Amen to that!  I don’t see clearly.  I make a ton of mistakes and miscues and miss moments of the movement of God’s grace.  Levi and I might have more in common than I care to admit or accept. 

Where in the above description did you find yourself with a new insight or idea?  Where did you find yourself shaking your head in disbelief?  Was there anything above that frustrated you?

Let the questions above sing to you, soak into you, and let your life respond and react to these questions today.  Lean into Luke and sense the way Luke’s wisdom is seeking to be lived out in you.

And may God’s grace, peace, and love be with you now more than ever.  Amen.

Leaning in to Luke

 

17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.  20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”  21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”  Luke 5:17-27

The titles that appear in section breaks in your Bible are not original.  The Gospel writers didn’t have chapter titles.  As a matter of fact, if you have ever seen the Dead Sea Scrolls or writings from the time of Jesus there was no punctuation or vowels or even spaces between the consonant letters.  This sentence would look like this: thssntncwldlklkths.  Sort of makes my head hurt honestly. 

Since the titles of section breaks were added later, we have a permission slip to let our own imaginations loose with our thoughts on what a particular passage of the Bible might be titled.  If I had been asked, I might give the section of Scripture above this title:

I get by with a little help from my friends (you are going to be singing that all day long).

Or

Hold up your corner.

Both titles are important.  The first emphasizes that all of us stand on the shoulders of others.  There is no self-made man or woman.  You are who you are because of your family and friends – past and present.  You exist because workers grow food that you buy at the store or restaurant take out.  You drive on roads someone else plotted and planned and paved.  You live in a house, or at least I do, that I did not build.  I was taught by teachers who shaped and formed ideas.  I know what it is like to be on the mat, because others have carried me.  I know I am still carried by the love of family and our church.

And there are moments I try to carry others too.  I do this with my kids.  I do this when someone in our church is grieving or hurting.  I try to hold up my corner in these morning meditations and by supporting causes I believe in.  I seek to hold up my corner in sharing/shining my light where I can.

Healing happens in moments where we support each other, care for each other, and are willing to be supported by others.  Healing is dynamic.  There is a difference between healing and cure.  I can still struggle physically or emotionally, yet at the same time feel like the weigh of the wound is not as heavy because of those around me. 

Where are you helping and who is helping you?

Let the question above sing to you, soak into you, and let your life respond and react to this question today.  Lean into Luke and sense the way Luke’s wisdom is seeking to be lived out in you.

And may God’s grace, peace, and love be with you now more than ever.  Amen.

Leaning in to Luke

 

 While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”  Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.  Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”  Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.  Luke 5:12-16

There is such a humanity woven into this passage.  You have the passionate plea of a person who has suffered, struggled, and deep in his soul longs to be well.  You have Jesus’ willingness to embrace and enfold the one who was hurting (and considered untouchable because of the skin disease) with a tender hand laid upon this Son of God’s shoulder.  You have the gentleman being asked not to share, only to then Tweet out and post to social media a selfie with a before and after.  Insert Jesus shaking his head, muttering and mumbling, “You ask people to do one thing.  One simple thing!”  Then Jesus decided to get away to pray.

A couple of questions:

1.      Where does it hurt today?  Where is there pain that throbs physically or emotionally or spiritually or communally? 

2.      Where do you long for help and healing, long for a loving touch or to feel the brush of angel’s wings with the sacred stirring, supporting, strengthening you?

3.      What Good News of God’s grace can you not but help share?  Where has been that moment where hopelessness doesn’t seem like it has the last word over the last few days?

4.      Finally, do you find the space and place to pause, to breathe and be, to get away and pray?

The power of Scripture is not only for our minds, but our whole lives to encounter and experience.  The power of Scripture is not in these words you are reading from me, but when you let the words from Luke above be embraced and embodied and expressed in your life.  Let this passage read your life today, connect you to this bigger story of God’s love.

Go back to the four questions above, hold them, enter them, let your life respond and react to them.  Lean into Luke and sense the way Luke’s wisdom is seeking to be lived out in you.

And may God’s grace, peace, and love be with you now more than ever.  Amen. 

Leaning into Luke

 

⁴⁰ As the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various kinds of diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on each of them and cured them. ⁴¹ Demons also came out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Messiah. ⁴² At daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowds were looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them. ⁴³ But he said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.” ⁴⁴ So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea.  Luke 4:41-44

We wind down and wrap up this week where we began – with a pause.  With Jesus going to a deserted place.  Jesus gets a few moments for rest and renewal before the crowd catches up to him.  He doesn’t get a full vacation.  He doesn’t get the full spa treatment and to sit on the beach with a beverage in his hand.  He gets a few moments.

He gets a pause.

Today also marks the winding down and wrapping up of the first month of 2021 – which has felt a lot like 2020.  I think today might be the last day we can return this year in exchange for another, check the back of your receipt for the full return policy, exclusions will apply. 

We need a pause.  Hear this prayer for you:

To be open to the Spirit on this road we are making.

To sense God’s grace guiding, grounding, stirring, shaking.

To let the sacred attend, heal our souls which are aching.

To let God get a word in edgewise on the path we are taking.

Pause in the less-than-perfectness of this moment, let the holy awaken us to a movement beyond what we can comprehend or control. 

I pray today you might have moments of healing and hope; of God’s grace guiding you every step of the way.  And may God’s love be with you now more than ever.  Amen.

Leaning into Luke

 

³⁸ After leaving the synagogue he entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her. ³⁹ Then he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them.

Two healing stories back-to-back.  We met Simon last Sunday.  In that passage we learned more about his backstory: that he was a fisherman and that Jesus saw something in Simon that Simon couldn’t see in himself.  But before Simon was called to follow Jesus, he apparently invited Jesus over for brunch.  Simon, who we hear is married, has a family member who is sick.  While we can skate right past this detailed, but it is as true as each of our lives. 

In your story, you have had moments and memories of family being sick.

In the last year, we know that over 400,000 Americans and 2 million brothers and sisters world-wide have had a family member die from the coronavirus.  That doesn’t count deaths due to cancer or car accidents or violence.  Grief is woven into us. Recently, I read this poem/prayer by Jan Richardson from 2017 entitled, “ Irresistible Blessing”

This blessing has been walking for a long time, traveling with no map, no signpost, no guide. It has been aching with a heart unbelievably broken and unimaginably lost and immeasurably tired. This blessing does not have it all together. This blessing sometimes wakes up anxious and afraid. This blessing had to be quiet, had to let itself sit in stillness and sorrow, had to let itself stop and rest to allow for joy to become imaginable again and grace to become believable again and the presence of love to become inescapable again. This blessing knows you carry your own sorrow, your own grief. It knows the weariness that visits you, the questions that attend your road. It knows, too, how you keep turning yourself toward mystery, how you keep turning yourself toward hope, how you keep turning yourself toward this world with the beautiful stubbornness by which a way is made. And so this blessing is glad to finally cross your path. This blessing has been waiting for you. This blessing has been watching for you. This blessing has been wanting to see your face, to speak your name, to offer thanks. This blessing meets you with glad welcome. This blessing meets you with persistent hope. This blessing meets you with fierce love that is ancient and present. This blessing comes to you with heart impossibly open and irresistibly drawn and infinitely grateful for the blessing that you bear, for the blessing that you are.

I invite you to pause and re-read these words several times today.  Carry these words within you.  Let them sing to your soul.  

Prayer: God let your word of blessing find me in my need for healing and surround me every hour this day.  Amen.

Leaning Into Luke

 

³¹ He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath. ³² They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. ³³ In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴ “Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” ³⁵ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done him any harm. ³⁶ They were all amazed and kept saying to one another, “What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!” ³⁷ And a report about him began to reach every place in the region.  Luke 4:31-37

As we lean in and listen to this part of Luke, we know Jesus was on a preaching and teaching tour.  His words were awakening the Spirit, stirring the soul, causing the congregation to shout, “Amen” and thunderous applause.  And we have only the manuscript of the sermon in his hometown.  Otherwise, we really don’t know the content of what Jesus is saying.  Eventually, we will hear the sermon on the plain.  So maybe he was testing and trying out early versions of that sermon? 

I wish we knew.  But, then again, perhaps the point isn’t what he said, but how he said it and how he made people feel alive and awake to God with them and for them and for others. 

In this part of Luke we get Jesus’ first healing.

Notice that the unclean demon is the first one to witness to Jesus as the “Holy One of God.”  Lean into that tension – that even though people think Jesus is a swell guy who really seems to be able to string a series of words together; it is a demon who is the first to testify to the truth that Jesus has a sacred relationship with God.

The religious folk seem to miss the moment, the movement, and mystery of what is happening.

I wonder sometimes if that is not only true then and there, but here and now.  Am I missing what God is up to?  Am I busy saying, “Amen,” but not letting God fully have control of my heart and whole life?  Am I caught up in the Spirit only to the point that I don’t have to change and can still cling to my plotting and planning? 

Pause with me, lean into Luke, let this story interrupt you and interpret your story.  What response, reaction, reasoning, and rational do you hear in your heart about this story?  What sermon stirs in you as you hold the tension that a demon is the one to witness to Jesus while the religious folk are not being transformed in the same way? 

While such questions are uncomfortable, they help me pause in a way that doesn’t keep me complacent where I am.  They challenge how I can use religion to baptize my own beliefs, rather than let Jesus’ presence change my whole life. 

To be silent.  To let that Spirit interrupt and intercede and inhabit this space with me.  That is the power of the pause that can change everything.

Prayer: God, calm and quiet the part of myself that think I have this all figured out with a healing presence that can continue to change my heart/life.  Amen.