Monthly Archives: April 2020

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – IT’S A DARK NIGHT

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IT’S A DARK NIGHT

“Jesus spoke to those who had come – high priests, temple police, religious leaders. ’What is this, jumping me with swords and clubs as if I were a dangerous criminal? Day after day I’ve been with you in the Temple and you’ve not so much as lifted a hand against me. But do it your way — it’s a dark night, a dark hour.'” Luke 22:51-53.

Darkness…night! It’s amazing what people will do under cover of darkness that they will not do in the daylight! What is there about darkness that affects the way we think? Darkness in the Bible means much more than the absence of light. The theme of darkness is introduced in the first chapter of the Bible and is carried through to the last book.

Before God stepped in to restore the earth after He had created it, it was shrouded in darkness. Even the light of His presence did not penetrate the darkness until He took positive action. Why was that? Lucifer and a third of the angels tried to dethrone God and take over His role as God, but God threw them out of heaven down to the earth (Revelation 12:7-9). The darkness over the earth was symbolic of the moral darkness that the presence of Satan brought.

What did God do? His first words to rectify the situation were: “‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” Genesis 1:3 (NIV). But there is a problem. According to the Genesis account, He created the heavenly bodies on the fourth day. What was this light that shone on the earth on the first day?

John gives us the answer. “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it…The light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognise Him….The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us…” John 1:3-5, 9-10, 14a (NIV).

Just as God had confined Satan’s sphere of influence to the earth, so He assigned the earth to His Son before He began the work of restoration, to exercise His divine power and influence to win His erring sons and daughters back to Himself.

Darkness symbolises the state of mind that the devil’s deception brings. Satan is both deceived and the deceiver. Jesus called him “a murderer and the father of lies” (John 8:44). When human beings follow his lying suggestions, they lose their ability to think rationally and logically and are in a state of “darkness”. Moral darkness obscures the light of truth just as physical darkness hides people’s evil deeds.

There is no such thing as a battle between light and darkness. Wherever the light shines, darkness is dispelled. They cannot co-exist. Jesus is the light that brings light to every person who is born into the world, but those who receive Him are “enlightened” with the truth that God exists, that He is good and that He is in charge, not the devil.

Men are accountable to God and He has provided mercy and forgiveness through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. Every other philosophy and religion is a hoax to keep people in the darkness of deception that leads away from God to destruction.

Jesus and His opponents were entering the darkest hour in human history. Not even the holocaust can eclipse what men did to God on that day. Although His warning went unheeded, it had to be, and it happened because of the depth of the darkness that held those captive who wanted Him dead.

Jesus said to them, “This is your hour — when darkness reigns.” Luke 22:53b (NIV).  Darkness did not triumph over light; it only hid the light for a few hours but the rejoicing that men’s darkness brought in hell was premature and short-lived. It was temporary, for an “hour”. Three days afterwards, the light erupted from the tomb and lived again, and His light continues to shine on the earth and in the hearts of those who believe in him!

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – LET THEM BE, EVEN IN THIS

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LET THEM BE, EVEN IN THIS

“No sooner were the words out of His mouth than a crowd showed up, Judas, the one from the Twelve, in the lead. He came right up to Jesus to kiss Him. Jesus said, ‘Judas, you would betray the Son of Man with a kiss?’

“When those with Him saw what was happening, they said, ‘Master, shall we fight?’ One of them took a swing at the Chief Priest’s servant and cut off his right ear.

“Jesus said, ‘Let them be. Even in this.’ Then touching the servant’s ear, He healed him.” Luke 22:47-51.

Picture the scene. A mob, led by Judas, one of Jesus’ followers, moves menacingly towards Jesus, brandishing swords and clubs. Luke does not mention who was in charge. John tells us that there were soldiers and officials from among the crowd, sent by the chief priests to arrest Him.

Instead of slinking away into the darkness among the tress, Jesus steps forward to meet them. Judas has a prearranged signal – ‘the one I kiss’ – to identify Him. A gentle rebuke from Jesus, ‘Judas, you would betray the Son of Man with a kiss?’ does not even touch his hardened heart. How bizarre that Judas would choose a greeting of affection to show the soldiers whom to grab. This was surely an idea straight from Satan whom Luke said had taken possession of him.

The disciples react in a typically human way. “Boys, let’s fight.” Their entire disciple training to be followers of Jesus and to wear the Rabbi’s yoke goes straight out of the window. What happened to “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” and, “Turn the other cheek”? They are in no apparent danger. The soldiers are only interested in Jesus.

One of the disciples, the ever-impulsive Peter, lashes out with his sword – slicing off the ear of the one nearest to him. It happens to be Malchus, a high-ranking servant of the high priest. Now there’s going to be trouble! That action immediately involves the disciples and puts them in danger of arrest along with Jesus.

In the midst of the tumult, Jesus keeps His cool and remains who He is, the Son of Man and the Son of God. He stands as God’s representative and does what His Father does – restores the man’s severed ear.

What would Malchus remember of that whole incident when he lay in bed that night? Would he ever forget the face of the man they arrested as a criminal, the man who reattached his ear and miraculously stopped the pain and bleeding, in the middle of His own crisis? Would he ever understand the words and attitude of Jesus – “‘Let them be. Even in this'”? Six simple words in a paraphrase version, but loaded with significance!

Jesus had once informed His opponents, ‘No one takes my life from me. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up again. This was given to me by my Father.’ In that statement, He pulls the rug from under His enemies’ feet. They may think that they are in charge but they cannot do a thing to Him without His Father’s permission and His submission.

His statement also clearly indicates who takes responsibility for His arrest, trial and crucifixion – all those who were implicated in the event. This is a perfect example of God’s sovereignty working together with man’s responsibility. Our little brains will never be able to work out how He did it.

It was God’s plan, devised before the foundation of the world, working perfectly to effect man’s salvation but implemented through man’s wickedness so that God’s glory – His disposition of compassion and mercy, could be put on display. Wow!

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – DRUGGED BY GRIEF

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DRUGGED BY GRIEF

“He got up from prayer, went back to the disciples and found them asleep, drugged by grief. He said, ‘What business do you have sleeping? Get up. Pray that you won’t give in to temptation.'” Luke 22:45-46.

Even in the midst of His own ordeal, Jesus was teaching His disciples (and us) a powerful life lesson. The words “drugged by grief” in this paraphrase capture the truth He both modelled and communicated to His disciples.

The disciples were in the grip of a “drug” that paralysed their will and robbed them of their ability to know what to do in this predicament. Instead of preparing for the unknown by submitting themselves to the Father and receiving His strength to resist the devil (James 4:7), they copped out by sleeping.

Unlike them, Jesus used the situation to prepare Himself so that, when the temple guards swooped down on Him, He was not taken unawares. He was equipped, through His “reverent submission” (Hebrews 5:8), to accept the entire cross event without resistance or retaliation according to His Father’s will.

Emotions are a powerful and truthful gauge of the thoughts and interpretations of our life experiences. As we have followed Jesus through the Gospel of Luke, we have recognised that His perspective was always God-centred. Time and again He had to correct His disciples’ misunderstanding of their experiences by bringing them back to a God-awareness which gave them a proper understanding of what was happening.

Because they had filtered out of their minds Jesus’ warning that He was going to be arrested and crucified, but that He would rise again, the disciples were caught up in paralysing sorrow. The only way they could handle it was to sleep it off, perhaps hoping that, when they woke up, it would have only been a nightmare!

If we grasp this principle of maintaining our God-awareness , it will save us from unnecessary emotional pain and enable us to live in the inner rest that kept Jesus from falling apart in His time of severe testing. Jesus is our supreme example but there are others in Scripture who exhibited the same attitude to their suffering and came out on top.

Joseph stands out as an Old Testament character that recognised God’s hand in his circumstances, refused to become bitter, gave excellent service to his master in spite of his suffering and emerged a winner because he trusted God instead of collapsing into self-pity. Likewise Daniel centred on God and served Him in Babylon, probably the worst pagan environment of his day. No threats or manipulation could move him from his purpose to obey God, no matter what.

Our emotions are the clue to what we are thinking. If we view our situation as hopeless, we feel despair. We become depressed and our depression becomes the drug that paralyses our desire and ability to live normal lives. Depressed people are so self-absorbed that they shut out the world and retreat into a prison of hopelessness which is the perfect environment for the devil to sow his seeds of self-destruction.

What is the antidote to emotional “drug abuse”? Jesus said, “Pray!” What must we pray? The Apostle Paul gives us the answer in Philippians 4:6-7. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The key is not that you pray but what you pray. In this instance to “present” implies to reveal – come clean with God about what is really in your heart – anxiety and all its accompanying emotions. Expose them and give them to God, and He will replace them with peace that does not make sense to anyone else but you.

Had the disciples done that, they would have been released from their emotional drugs and in their right minds to face their situation and not give way to fear. God steps in with the grace to go through when we expose to Him what is really going on inside.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – SWEAT LIKE BLOOD

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SWEAT LIKE BLOOD

“Leaving there, He went, as He often did, to Mount Olives. The disciples followed Him. When they arrived at the place, He said, ‘Pray that you don’t give in to temptation.’

“He pulled away from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, remove this cup from me. But please, not what I want. What do you want?’ At once an angel from heaven was at His side, strengthening Him. He prayed all the harder. Sweat, wrung from Him like drops of blood, poured off His face.” Luke 22:39-44.

This is a very different Jesus from the one we have been accompanying through the Gospel of Luke. He was a man of many emotions, as we would expect from someone who was the perfect representative of mankind. Unlike many men, He did not ignore, deny or hide His emotions. He felt compassion, He rejoiced, He wept, He laughed, He grieved, He got angry and He got frustrated. Luke describes Him as a very human Jesus but also, always, the true Son of God.

This is the first time He showed His emotion regarding His approaching death. The dark shadow of the cross fell across Him in the olive grove. “Gethsemane” means “press” reflecting the process by which the precious oil was extracted from the olives that grew there. He was feeling the press of His impending sacrifice.

There were many “last times” for Him in the next few hours. The Passover meal He had just shared with His disciples was the last time He would eat with them. These moments would be the last time He would fellowship with His Father in the solitude of the garden and in freedom.

The overwhelming weight of what was looming was crushing Him like the press that crushed the olives. Only the pure Son of God knew what it meant to become sin for us. Only He felt the terrifying prospect of separation from His Father with whom He had lived in intimate and unbroken fellowship as a human being for thirty three years, of being cut off, abandoned and left alone in His time of greatest need.

Unless He was able to come to terms with, and fully embrace what lay ahead in the next few hours, the battle would be lost before it even began. His entire human life was consumed by this one purpose – to do the Father’s will. “Then I said, ‘Here I am, I have come – it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God. Your law is within my heart.'” Psalm 40:7-8 (NIV). Now was the time to put His purpose to the ultimate test,

There is nothing wrong with the process by which He came to submission to the Father. There was no rebellion in His heart, not reluctance to submit, only the horror of His impending ordeal. He was to embrace His Father’s will by submitting to the worst that human beings could do to Him at the instigation of His arch enemy, the devil, without resistance, either physical or emotional.

This was a struggle so severe that His blood began to flow even before His skin was pierced by the whip, the thorns, the nails or the spear. Our minds cannot conceive of the suffering it meant, not only for Him but for the Father who loved and delighted in His Son beyond anything we can imagine.

In that moment, in the full understanding of what lay ahead, Jesus embraced the Father’s will once again, and the deal was sealed. From that time on, He was secure in the strength of His submission and the knowledge that He would overcome – and He did. No amount of torture or torment could remove from Him the peace that surrender had secured. He was the only one, in spite of being the prisoner and the one in trial, in absolute control of the situation.

“When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made not threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness…” 1 Peter 2:23-24a (NIV).

This is a great lesson for us to learn. Jesus won the battle before it began by embracing the Father’s will. He was not caught out or taken unawares. Unlike Him, we do not know what lies up ahead but, as we live in daily submission to God, we will be ready to face our own ordeals without resistance if we entrust ourselves to Him who judges justly.

“So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” 1 Peter 4:19 (NIV).

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – IT’S NOT YOUR FIGHT

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IT’S NOT YOUR FIGHT

“Then Jesus said, ‘When I sent you out and without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?’

“‘Nothing,’ they answered,

“He said to them, ‘But now, if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag, and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. It is written: “And He was numbered with the transgressors,” and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfilment.’

“The disciples said, ‘See, Lord, here are two swords.’

“‘That is enough,’ He replied.” Luke 22:35-38.

Why did Jesus seem to be contradicting Himself? Why no equipment then but fully equipped now?

Firstly, He questioned them regarding their preaching trip when He instructed them to rely on the partnership of the people to whom they would be ministering to take care of their physical needs. This is how God’s kingdom works. It is a principle in His kingdom that those who preach the gospel should live off the gospel.

There is no such thing as using the world’s system of buying and selling, i.e., fund raising, to raise money for the work of the kingdom. The kingdom of God derives its resources from giving and receiving which God initiates and multiplies supernaturally to meet all the needs.

Secondly, He made it clear that this situation demanded the world’s resources because they would be in a conflict with the dominion of darkness. There would be no partnership with other people here; it would be every man for himself and they would be required to take care of their own needs in the crisis.

Strange that Jesus even instructed them to sell an important part of their clothing if necessary – their all-purpose outer garment – to buy a sword. It was not intended for battle but for self-defense. Peter used his sword to defend Jesus, not himself, and that was not His intention.

Jesus also explains His reason for His apparent contradiction. He would be falling into the hands of “transgressors”, not people who were sympathetic to Him. He did not want His disciples caught up in the situation at the expense of their lives at this stage. They were not to be the victims of the injustice meted out to Him. Better that they were armed to defend themselves than to become the victims of some over-enthusiastic supporter of the religious crowd which was baying for His blood.

There would come a time in the disciples’ lives when the use of the sword would be inappropriate. James would be beheaded; Peter would be imprisoned and awaiting the same fate because of their obedience to Jesus. They would submit to the hatred of the world system then, just as Jesus was doing now, without resistance because they were citizens of an everlasting kingdom.

It is important that we, as followers of Jesus, keep in mind that we are living in two kingdoms simultaneously. We are, of necessity, citizens of this world and subject to the systems of this world but we are also citizens of the kingdom of God and subject to the way God governs in His kingdom. We are to be in submission to Him and to apply the ways of His kingdom to the way we live in this world. We are “in the world but not of it.”

At this point, it was Jesus’ fight. He had to stand alone in this conflict. He had to take on the entire kingdom of darkness and come out of it the winner so that, when His disciples entered the battle, all they would have to do would be to stand in the victory He won for them.  It was not their fight.

“Therefore put on the full armour of God so that, when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and, after you have done everything, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13 (NIV).