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THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – MULTIPLIED!

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MULTIPLIED!

“Peter tried to regain some initiative: ‘We left everything we owned and followed you, didn’t we?’

“‘Yes,’ said Jesus, ‘and you won’t regret it. No one who has sacrificed home, spouse, brothers and sisters, parents, children – whatever – will lose out. It will all come back multiplied many times over in your lifetime. And then the bonus of eternal life.'” Luke 18:28-30.

Sometimes we might be tempted to think that Jesus was so heavenly-minded that He didn’t care about people’s ordinary, everyday needs and wants. But Peter’s comment brought out the evidence of His sane and balanced thinking. Of course He cares! He doesn’t just treat people as ‘souls’!

We are whole people with human lives that have needs as well as souls and spirits that must be nurtured. As long as we are resident on this present earth in our present human bodies, He has pledged to provide for and take care of us if we trust Him.

However, Jesus did not specify the details of His provision for us. He did not for one moment guarantee that He would literally replace many times over what we sacrifice in order to follow Him. What would be the purpose of owning houses and lands if only to boost our assets?

But, once again, let’s put this promise into the perspective of His ‘kingdom’ thinking. Jesus was always pragmatic. What would be the value of hoarding wealth? From God’s point of view, anything that is not circulated, stagnates and loses its usefulness. He is willing to put anything into a believer’s hands that He knows will not be wasted on self or pulled out of circulation by hoarding.

But Jesus is also indescribably generous. He releases to us in superabundance whatever we need for ourselves and for whoever we can bless. He removes the boundaries of what is ‘mine’, family, possessions, property, money and resources, and opens up the resources of His kingdom in ways we could never dream possible.

What do I mean by that? When God calls us into His kingdom, we enter a realm where blood ties and personal assets no longer restrict us. Remember what Jesus said? ‘He who does the will of God is my mother and brother and sister.’ We become members of God’s forever family, bound by a blood tie much stronger than the ties of human family, the sacrificial blood of our ‘elder brother’, Jesus.

We also step into the realm of all the shared resources of the Father. “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” Psalm 24:1 (NIV). To claim ‘mine’ is to take ownership illegitimately of what is not ours. We are children in a family whose Father owns everything and who is loving, caring and generous beyond our understanding.

For Jesus, sacrifice is not a loss but an exchange, and, as always, we are never diminished by what we choose to sacrifice. If we let go of the little we claim as ours, we gain the limitless ‘much’ that God will pour into our lives as long as we use it for the ‘family’ and not hoard it for ourselves. Jesus put it like this: “‘But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.'” Matthew 6:33 (NIV).

People who do not trust God as their Father, run after ‘things’, because ‘things’ are the only thing that represents security for them. When ‘things’ fail, they have nothing left because they have never made the exchange of ‘things’ for confidence in a Father who has never yet failed those who trust Him.

We may think that this is a risky exchange. It is until we try it, and then we find that it is the safest investment we can ever make because it is built on the word of one who risks His own reputation if He fails to honour His promise. So, in the end, it’s not as much about us as it is about Him. If He reneges on His promise, He goes down with us, and that’s the bottom line. But…

“If we are faithless,                                                                                                                                  He will remain faithful,                                                                                                                        for He cannot deny Himself.”                                                                                                                                                     2 Timothy 2:13 (NIV).  

‘And,’ said Jesus, ‘there’s a bonus to all this “sacrifice” thing. You don’t only get all the perks of the kingdom in this life, but you are actually already a part of this kingdom of which there is no end. So, when you step over, all you lose are the restrictions and limitations of your sinful human life and you become a partaker of the life of God in its fullest possible sense.’

Faithful Women

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FAITHFUL WOMEN

Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome. In Galilee these women had followed Him and cared for His needs. Many other women who had come up with Him to Jerusalem were also there. (Mark 15: 40-41)

This was no place for a woman. They would have flashbacks of the horror of what they saw for months to come. It was only the most hardened and calloused of men who could look at so gruesome a scene and feel nothing.

But the faithful women were there, standing at a distance. No matter how terrible it was, they wanted to be near Him to show their love and gratitude and to support Him to the end. The soldiers ignored them because they could do no harm, standing there. At least He would know that they had not forsaken Him in His darkest hour.

Who were these women who loved Him so much that they were willing to put aside their own feelings to be near Him? Mary Magdalene needs no introduction. The subject of much speculation about a romantic connection with Jesus, she was a prominent female figure in the gospels. Strange that the writers were silent about any romance between her and Jesus when they were honest about the faults and failings of others. Did they cover it up because it was distasteful for them even to speculate about something like that?

I don’t think so. The love of Jesus for all people, including the outcasts of society and the women was more than human love. His love was “agape” love. What is “agape” love?

“The Greek word agape is often translated “love” in the New Testament. How is “agape love” different from other love? The essence of agape love is self-sacrifice. Unlike our English word “love,” agape is not used in the Bible to refer to romantic or sexual love. Nor does it refer to close friendship or brotherly love, for which the Greek word philia is used. Nor does agape mean “charity,” a term which the King James translators carried over from the Latin. Agape love is unique and is distinguished by its nature and character.”

(http://www.gotquestions.org/agape-love.html, retrieved September 2015)

Why were women so drawn to Jesus? Jesus treated all people with dignity and respect regardless of gender, social standing, religious persuasion, race, culture or physical condition. These women were comfortable with Him because He accepted them without criticism or judgment. They loved Him because He loved them openly, honestly and without any kind of suggestive attitude or behaviour. He treated them like human beings, not possessions to be exploited for His own ends.

Mary Magdalene was always in the forefront because “she who had been forgiven much, loved much”, in the words of the Master. Jesus had driven seven devils from her. How did they get there in the first place? Who knows but Mary might have been left fatherless and without support as a child or a young woman. She might have had no option but to turn to prostitution to survive or even to support her mother and siblings. However she got into it, there was no getting out of it. She was as effectively a prisoner as if she were in jail. Her owners saw to that.

But it was not only her livelihood that kept her enslaved. It was everything that went with it. Her choices had to fit her lifestyle, and the devil made sure she would never escape. Demons found entry wherever sin had become entrenched in her, until Jesus came and sent them packing. She relished her freedom and loved her liberator so much that she followed Him everywhere and could not do enough for Him.

There is no indication in the gospels of the other women’s debt of gratitude to Him. No doubt among the many unnamed ones who stood and watched from a distance, there were those who were equally indebted to Him for His mercy to them. Like the woman who washed His feet with her tears, they felt the glow of His forgiveness in their hearts and were heart-broken over His fate.

They were not ashamed to be associated with Him. After all, He had not been ashamed to extend love and forgiveness to them, and to welcome their company and support during His travels throughout Galilee. Some even supported the large group of thirteen from their own finances. O yes, there was an attachment to Jesus so strong that not even the spectacle of His broken body, His marred face and the blood that dripped from His open wounds, could keep them away.

They saw past His physical disfigurement to His compassionate heart, evident even in the last moments of His life, and stayed there to be with Him. Little did Mary know, in those final hours of agonising grief, that she would be the first one to see Him in His resurrection glory, and carry the message to His heart-broken and devastated disciples.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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