Luke 8-9

[Josh]

Post your comments, questions, and discussion starters for Luke 8-9 as replies here.

Your posts can help guide or extend the Sunday teachings!

[Josh]

Not something we'll be focusing on this Sunday, but I've always found this an interesting paradox:

In our reading section this week, Jesus says:

Luke 9:49-50

"Master," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us."

"Do not stop him," Jesus said, "for whoever is not against you is for you."

Later, in chapter 11, in the context of being accused of being demon posessed, Jesus says this:

Luke 11:23

23"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.

At first glance these statements might seem contradictory.

Any thoughts on the meaning of these sayings and how they might interact with each other?

[robin]

Also in Matthew 7:22-23 Jesus says

"22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'"

[Josh]

As I was thinking/ praying about what to teach on for today’s lesson, the thought occurred to me that it’s often difficult for pastors to decide what to preach/ teach about on holidays like Mother’s Day.

On the one hand, I’ve known folks who have been offended by the pastor not speaking on a Mother’s Day theme. On the other hand, I know that Mother’s Day can be a particularly painful reminder of loss for others. What’s one to do?

This year I told God, well, I’m supposed to be teaching/ preaching on Luke 8-9. If there’s anything in there that fits with a Mother’s Day theme, then so be it.

I had to laugh when I realized there was one theme in this section of Luke that has a lot to do with mothers, but I’d almost guarantee you’ve never heard this passage preached on for Mother’s Day, for some obvious reasons:

Luke 8:19-21

Now Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you."
He replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice."

I can only imagine that this was a difficult moment for Mary, and a difficult thing for a mom to hear—a mom who has sacrificed years of her life to her children, only to see her own son changing up allegiances at the drop of a hat.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that her son threw her for a loop. Jesus had responded with similar seeming indifference to her when she finally found him after he slipped away for 3 days at the age of 12 (Luke 2:41-50).

Still, if we take into consideration the parallel account of this incident found in Mark, we know that Mary’s reason for visiting Jesus wasn’t exactly benign. Mark says that Mary and Jesus’ sibling came to restrain him in some way. Presumably, there was some concern among Jesus brothers that He was giving the family a bad name (maybe by hanging out with tax collectors and prostitutes, for one).

Mary had come, though I’m sure torn between her children’s perspectives, as an agent of motherly authority to set her son straight.

But instead, He sets her straight.

This passage is radical in that Jesus is once again shaking up all the conventions of his day—and in this case one of the most entrenched and important set of conventions- those having to do with family.

Jesus is re-defining what family means. He is saying that real family is not based on biology but on membership in the Kingdom He has come to found- a Kingdom made up of those who follow the Word of God—that is, follow Jesus Himself.

Earlier in Chapter 8 we are told that Jesus has been hanging out not only with his disciples, but with a lot of women. Some of them married. Some of them have a hint of scandal about them (Mary Magdalene, for example). We’ve already discussed how shocking Jesus’ friendships with women were probably perceived.
But here Jesus seems to be prioritizing these other women above His own mother!

We aren’t told how Mary reacted to these words of Jesus. Perhaps she was hurt by them. But what we do know is that at some point after this, Mary the mother of God made a radical shift in her way of thinking about family. By the end of the gospels we are told she is now part of the fledging Chrsitian community. She is walking arm and arm with those same ladies from early in Luke chapter 8 on her way to the empty tomb. She accepts John as a surrogate son, when it would have made more sense to look to her own son James for help and protection. At the crucifixion, Mary accepts John because her son James is not yet a believer that Jesus is the Christ. In accepting John, Mary is saying that the community of believers trumps her own family! That’s saying a whole lot for a mother.

I finished today with why I think this is a good Mother’s Day passage. Far from degrading the role of motherhood, far from saying that motherhood doesn’t count in the Kingdom of God, Jesus is actually affirming motherhood and sisterhood and brotherhood and fatherhood in his frank reply.

In the kingdom of God, we (that is, all of us) are called to be sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, to each other. In God’s kingdom every woman can (and I’d argue, must) be a mother, whether they have, or wish they could have, or have lost, or have chosen not to have their own biological children.

In Christ, every good human relationship is found in it’s fullness. We know ourselves as God’s true children. We know God as our perfect father (and mother). We, in turn, can be true mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters to each other.

Earthly relationships are copies of the spiritual ones—not the other way around. Bioglogical relationships serve as pointers to spiritual ones. At their very best, they are still merely pointers to the relationships of the Kingdom. At their very best, earthly relationships overlap with heavenly ones as much as possible.

That’s why I gave a rose to every woman today- to affirm what Jesus affirms, that in Him we will all find our true identities and fulfill our true roles. We are not guaranteed what our physical relationships will be, but we are told that in Christ nothing but our reluctance to truly follow the Word of God (Jesus) can ultimately hold us back from experiencing the fulfillment of the family of God.

I quoted from George MacDonald’s “Abba, Father!” at length today, which ended with the beautiful paradoxical statement,

“Because we are the sons and daughters of God, we must become the sons and daughters of God.”

Amen.