Bonjour, hope you’re having a good week. We’re in the middle of a 3rd or 4th heatwave. Summer will be over soon so hopefully the Winter in NZ as well ! For me it’s too hot because it’s quite limiting what you can do. 28° is about where it starts to get less enjoyable for me, at the moment it’s 35° and it got up to 41° a few weeks back. The biggest risk though is fire; they really need some rain. It could be very heavy when it comes so next big thing could be flooding, or power and food shortages, take your pick, prayers appreciated!
Last week we looked at the negative reaction of people when they have witnessed a great miracle – sometimes people can be exasperating, or should I say often! We need to remember a few things –
1. We’re not fighting flesh and blood - The battle is a heavenly one and we need discernment to recognize what spirits are driving the suggestions that are presented to our world today.
2. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit - The importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit which protects us from the evil one and Jesus said it’s as easy as asking and receiving - Luke 11:13 - If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”)
3. Signs are a witness to repent and believe - Not to be obsessed with signs but to get on with what Christ called us to do.
4. The Resurrection is the greatest sign
Let’s move on to today’s passage which immediately follows the miracle and see how Jesus takes aim at the biggest stumbling blocks – the religious leaders and other smart people like the lawyers. I think it carries a warning for all of us.
Luke 11:33-36
“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”
Jesus made the interesting statement that the light within can be darkness and that happens when our eye is bad. For the last 100 years we have had television and movies and of course recently we have the internet. Smartphones have been a tremendous resource, but there’s also been a lot of profiteering without consideration for the effect on the young. And just like all things invented by man, they have all be used for evil as well as good. Governments in Australia and the UK have woken up to the effect of social media on the young and they have banned it below a certain age which is a step back in the right direction. It has been too easy for young eyes to see truly evil things unfiltered; it poisons the mind.
But a bad eye can mean something else. A bad eye looks at the world with envy, judgment, or greed, failing to see truth, beauty, or God's goodness. A bad eye could also then mean looking at the world skeptically or cynically. Let’s face it, as we get older, we do witness corruption, injustice, crime and our expectations of humanity tend to get lower. But it can get to the point where all we expect is the worst from people all the time. At this point, our eye has become bad.
When we are unable to see the good that is happening right in front of our eyes, we end up with a distorted view of the world. That seems to be more in context with the passage we are reading when if you remember last week, people were attributing the miracles of Jesus to Satan. Sadly, we learn to look at the world cynically as we get older through comedy, through stories, through life experience. But a child looks at things innocently and in innocence sees a beautiful world.
You can see the light or darkness in a person’s eyes. But as Christians, we are lamp stands for the true light. People do notice us. So, it’s important that our light shines bright, especially in this darkness. They expect more of us than themselves! Is there hope for an older person like me?
Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Yes, our minds can be renewed by reading scripture and by asking the Holy Spirit to create a clean heart within. It is up to us to keep our minds clean by being careful about what we watch or listen to and by catching ourselves when we fall into cynicism.
More than ever today, the Christian needs to look after their eyes, the way they look at the world!
Luke 11:37-42
And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat. When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you. “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
For us, it is normal to wash our hands before eating because we know now about germs. In that day it was done for ceremonial purposes, in other words just for show. But Jesus didn’t do anything just for show. At this time, he chose not to wash his hands, I suspect to bring out a teaching point. Spiritually, he was already clean. The Pharisees were all for keeping their rituals and traditions but had forgotten about the most important things of justice and the love of God. In many ways it’s so easy for us to fall into the same trap and get distracted by our different theological points of view and forget about love and justice and our main task of proclaiming the Gospel. Satan without a doubt loves a divided Church, as it renders it ineffective in reaching the people who Jesus died for.
You’ve heard it said hate the sin, love the sinner. One way we can do that today is to ask questions of people, to challenge their logic in the way that Charlie Kirk did, rather than pronounce judgment on people we’ve never met. We’ll still get accused of hatred and bigotry but thinking people may appreciate it.
Luke 11:43-44
Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them. ”
And sorry to say that the main reason for the way they were was their big egos. They loved the power, they loved their status, they loved worldly success, they loved being right. Is this all starting to sound a bit too familiar? Have we lost our compassion for a dying World, what are we doing about that?
Luke 11:45-48
Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, “Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also.” And He said, “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs.
They were able to see clearly the faults in others but were blind to the poverty of their own spiritual condition. There is none so blind as those who will not see.
Jeremiah 5:21
‘Hear this now, O foolish people, Without understanding, Who have eyes and see not, And who have ears and hear not:
This is a fair criticism that is thrown at religious people. We are prone to judging others without actually doing anything to help another’s circumstance that lead to their bad choices. But it doesn’t take much to expose one’s hypocrisy.
Luke 11:49-52
Therefore the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation. “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”
We all tend to think we are good people; that’s part of our human condition. When someone turns the spotlight on us, it’s easy to get defensive. Sometimes I’m scrolling through my newsreel, and a Christian one comes up and I immediately scroll to the next one. Then I think to myself, why did I react like that, what’s wrong with me. Sometimes our own reactions do surprise us when we realise we’re not the good person we thought we were. The Pharisees and lawyers thought they were good people, but it wasn’t long before they were conspiring to kill the Son of God.
Jesus made the criticism that they had taken away the key of knowledge. It is one thing to know the law, it is another thing to understand the principles of justice, love and mercy behind it. The God that people saw through them was cold, judgmental and distant, one that they wanted nothing to do with.
And perhaps even worse is they actively tried to stop people from following the Lord in criticising Jesus and his message. The real question for us today is, do we do that? Do we hinder others from believing the Gospel by our words or deeds? Let’s take a sober look at ourselves and repent of we need to. Lord, I’m sorry for anything I’ve said or done that has hindered another from believing the Gospel.
Luke 11:53-54
And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.
It’s not an easy thing to have your life exposed in the light, there are plenty of faults we would prefer to keep hidden.
But if we catch ourselves reacting to a rebuke in the way the religious teachers and lawyers did, it’s time to realise we are the problem.
Keith Green sang a song called “Stained Glass”. Just like churches with stained glass windows, we’re here to let the colourful light in a darkened room and people should notice and appreciate the difference and ultimately see Jesus.
