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Luke 19
Jun 23, 2008 10:24:46 GMT -8
Post by Josh on Jun 23, 2008 10:24:46 GMT -8
Post your comments/ questions/ discussion starters on Luke chapter 19 as replies to this post.
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Luke 19
Jun 24, 2008 14:26:25 GMT -8
Post by Josh on Jun 24, 2008 14:26:25 GMT -8
Regarding Zacchaues and the sycamore tree, I found this passage in Augustine to really cut to the heart of it:
Zacchaeus climbed away from the crowd and saw Jesus without the crowd getting in his way.
The crowd laughs at the lowly, to people walking the way of humility, who leave the wrongs they suffer in God’s hands and do not insist on getting back at their enemies. The crowd laughs at the lowly and says, “You helpless, miserable clod, you cannot even stick up for yourself and get back what is your own.” The crowd gets in the way and prevents Jesus from being seen. The crowd boasts and crows when it is able to get back what it owns. It blocks the sight of the one who said as he hung on the cross, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.”
He ignored the crowd that was getting in his way. He instead climbed a sycamore tree, a tree of “silly fruit”. As the apostle says, “We preach Christ crucified a stumbling block indeed to the Jews, [now notice the sycamore] but folly to the Gentiles. Finally, the wise people of this world laugh at us about the cross of Christ and say, “What sort of minds do you people have, who worship a crucified God?” What sort of minds do we have? They are certainly not your kind of mind. “The wisdom of this world is folly with God”. No, we do not have your kind of mind. You call our minds foolish. Say what you like, but for our part, let us climb the sycamore tree and see Jesus. The reason you cannot see Jesus is that you are ashamed to climb the sycamore tree.
Let Zacchaeus grasp the sycamore tree, and let the humble person climb the cross. That is little enough, merely to climb it. We must not be ashamed of the cross of Christ, but we must fix it on our foreheads, where the seat of shame is. Above where all our blushes show is the place we must firmly fix that for which we should never blush. As for you, I rather think you make fun of the sycamore, and yet that is what has enabled me to see Jesus. You make fun of the sycamore, because you are just a person, but “the foolishness of God is wiser than men”.
-Augustine, Sermon 174.3
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Luke 19
Jun 25, 2008 20:47:43 GMT -8
Post by michelle on Jun 25, 2008 20:47:43 GMT -8
Luke 19:41 "As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it."
I think that one of the things that I am most thankful for is a God that cares so deeply and is so tender-hearted that he weeps. We are so blessed that our God is so loving.
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Luke 19
Jun 27, 2008 20:06:02 GMT -8
Post by Josh on Jun 27, 2008 20:06:02 GMT -8
That is a powerful picture of God incarnate.
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Luke 19
Jun 27, 2008 20:12:59 GMT -8
Post by Josh on Jun 27, 2008 20:12:59 GMT -8
11While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. 12He said: "A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. 13So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. 'Put this money to work,' he said, 'until I come back.' 14"But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, 'We don't want this man to be our king.'
15"He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.
16"The first one came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned ten more.'
17" 'Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. 'Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.'
18"The second came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned five more.'
19"His master answered, 'You take charge of five cities.'
20"Then another servant came and said, 'Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. 21I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.'
22"His master replied, 'I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? 23Why then didn't you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?'
24"Then he said to those standing by, 'Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.'
25" 'Sir,' they said, 'he already has ten!'
26"He replied, 'I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. 27But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me."
Interestingly, my NIB commentary, contrary to common interpretation, argues that the king in this passage is not Jesus, and that this is not a sister-parable to the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, but rather a foil showing what kind of king Jesus isn't.
The main thrust of the argument is that all the descriptors of the king in the passage above match exactly the kind of shenanigans that the despised and despotic Herods (rulers of Palestine in the 1st Century) engaged in {seeking a title from the Romans, oppressing the weakest elements of society, slaughtering their enemies}. Christ couldn't possibly have been comparing himself to Herod, so he must be illustrating how the kingdoms of this world differ from His kingdom... which he was just about to announce in a peculiarly humble manner.
Hmmmm, I'm not sure how well the theory works with all points considered.
However, since I'm not going to be covering this passage on Sunday, I do want to point out how the ending of this passage (about the killing of the malcontents) serves as a pointer to the impending destruction of Jerusalem that Jesus is going to be discussing in great detail over the next couple of chapters.
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