Many will not be saved

Zechariah 7-9, Luke 13

Luke 13:22-30

22 Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”

He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’
“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’

26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’

28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

Are only a few going to be saved? Many will try to enter but will not be able to. This sounds to me like a reference to other religions – those that think they are worthy of salvation but have been following a different God all along.

Why worry?

Zechariah 4-6, Luke 12

Luke 12:22-26

22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life^[b]? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

Why worry? Worry is our natural response to a lack of faith. Faith in ourselves, faith in others, faith in God. When we don’t trust others, we worry. When we don’t trust ourself, we worry. When we don’t trust God, we worry.

But why? What does worrying accomplish? Nothing, except that it takes time away from our lives.

Blessed Mary… or not

Zechariah 1-3, Luke 11

Luke 11:27-28

27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.”

28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

Blessed is the Virgin Mary… or rather, no… let’s not single her out. Blessed rather are those not for whom they are, but rather for what they do – those that hear the word and obey it.

Scripture interpretation

Haggai 1-2, Psalm 129, Luke 10

Luke 10:21

21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

This is a bit of self-referential scripture analysis, but I wonder if this verse is pointing to the fact that the scripture is not clear on all points; that at times it is difficult to ascertain the meaning. I believe that scripture is read and understood with the help of the Holy Spirit – however, this presents a difficulty for the non-believer. How can they read and understand when the interpretative voice is not available to them? Perhaps that’s something similar to what Jesus is saying here. The scriptures are hidden to the wise and learned, but revealed to little children.

The unbelieving and perverse generation

Ezra 4, Psalm 113, Psalm 127, Luke 9

Luke 9:37-42

37T he next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. 38 A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. 40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”

41 “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

42 Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil^[b] spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father.

Verse 41 is an enigma: Jesus says two things that don’t appear to go together.

“O unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I stay with you and put up with you?”

“Bring your son here.”

To whom is he speaking? Clearly the second phrase is to the father, but to whom is the first? “O unbelieving and perverse generation…” He’s talking to the gathered audience – to the generation that is listening. But they are unbelieving and perverse, and Jesus sounds like he’s getting tired of their nonsense. What is he reacting to? It sounds a little harsh for him to be reacting to the father; after all, he is believing – or at least, he believes that Jesus can heal her son. Jesus appears to be reacting to the disciples, because they were unable to heal the boy. Is that correct? Or does the generation somehow empower the demons to come and inhabit the boy, and others? Perhaps it is a characteristic of unbelieving and perverse generations that they have increased demonic activity.

Rebuilding the temple

Ezra 2-3, Luke 8

Ezra 3:10-13

10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel. 11 With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD :
“He is good;
his love to Israel endures forever.”
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. 12 But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. 13 No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.

What a scene this must have been. After the devastation and destruction of Israel, the years spent in captivity, now a group of Israelites have returned to their land and are beginning to rebuild the temple. This is the fulfillment of God’s promise to them, and even though a generation has passed, they know that God’s word is true.

The elders of the Jews

Ezra 1, Psalm 84-85, Luke 7

Luke 7:1-6

1 When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them.

The centurion wants to have Jesus heal his servant. But he doesn’t ask Jesus himself. I had always assumed that he spoke directly with Jesus, but he sends his request throu “some elders of the Jews”. Now there’s an interesting thing. We’ve got some elders – namely, the Pharisees, who are already opposed to Jesus and want to kill him. And now we’ve got this other group of elders – elders of the Jews who believe that Jesus does do miracles, that he does heal, and that the Centurion is worthy of Jesus’ attention. Point: not all of the Jewish authorities were opposed to Jesus.

Healing = work

Daniel 11-12, Luke 6

Luke 6:6-8

6 On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. 7 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. 8 But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.

This is one of those passages where I think there’s more to the story than what we are told. Yes, the pharisees are looking to trap Jesus, because he represents a threat to them. But – I find it difficult to believe that the pharisees were so either (a) jaded or (b) single-minded that they were waiting for Jesus to perform a miracle so that they could accuse him of doing work on a sabbath. I mean, come on… they had no reaction to the fact that Jesus was healing people? Were those miracles commonplace? How could they overlook that?

Wine

Daniel 9-10, Psalm 123, Luke 5

Luke 5:36-39

 36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ “

There’s a particular belief, held by some people, that drinking alcoholic beverages is forbidden; that it is always wrong and a sin. The people who believe this are usually very dogmatic in their belief, and go to great lengths to justify it and to explain away scriptures which seem to show Jesus drinking wine or talking about wine in a favorable light. This is one passage which ties in with another in a surprising way. Jesus is talking about wine skins – leather bags where wine was stored. (Just for reference, the anti-alcohol people believe that Jesus was always talking about “juice”, i.e., non-fermented grape juice.) Jesus talks about two types of wine – new wine and old wine. Let’s assume that both types of wine are, in fact, non-alcoholic juice. So we have “new wine”, or freshly-pressed grape juice, and “old wine”… which would be… what? Grape juice that’s sat around for awhile? Grape juice is an organic material and when it sits around, one of two things happen: it either ferments into wine or it ferments into vinegar. Vinegar is sour wine where the ethanol has oxidized. But here’s the catch – when comparing “new wine” and “old wine”, who would say that the vinegar is better than the grape juice? That is, if this is truly what is being discussed. No one. But “old wine”, if it is alcoholic – ah, that is better than new wine. The grapes and complex flavorings have had a chance to mix and temper each other, and old wine is better than new wine. 

This ties in with the wedding at Cana, where again the anti-alcohol forces have claimed that Jesus turned the water into grape juice. But again, after Jesus’ miracle, the head of the house wonders why he has saved the best for the last. Jesus’ grape juice wouldn’t have been thought to be better than wine – it would have been quite a surprise to all the guests if their supply of wine was replaced with juice. Instead, Jesus was performing a miracle by turning water into not only wine, but “old wine” – the best-tasting wine that the guests had ever had.

Songs in a foreign land

Daniel 7-8, Psalm 137, Luke 4

Psalm 137:1-4

1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept 
       when we remembered Zion.

 2 There on the poplars 
       we hung our harps,

 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, 
       our tormentors demanded songs of joy; 
       they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

 4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD 
       while in a foreign land?

For some reason, this psalm just makes me ache. There’s something in it with such a description of longing that it resonates with me. I can imagine that feeling of loss and despondency.