I have decided to combine last week & this week’s reflection into one “slightly longer” reflection.
I do feel that these two Gospels have a unique connection.
Last Sunday, we first read from Exodus 3 – where Moses has this unique encounter with a burning bush that has not been consumed by the fire. Moses receives instructions to remove his sandals for the ground was holy. He also learns of the mission that he was about to embark on through this encounter with God – where he also learns God’s Name – I AM WHO AM! It is important to remember though that Moses had been in the desert for 40 years as well since his murder of the Egyptian. And yet, God calls him to this extraordinary mission to lead His people from the terrible conditions in Egypt to the Promised Land. It is critical for us to remember in the spiritual life that God’s timing may be very different than ours. We are called to be patient while we wait for the Lord to act – especially when we are in need or seeking God’s assistance. His will or our own will. We must cultivate the soil of our relationship with God, with Jesus and with the Holy Spirit.
In the Gospel (Luke 13:1-9), we see Jesus repeat a statement. Just as God repeated Moses’ name twice as he approached the burning bush, so also Jesus repeats a line in the Gospel. That stresses the importance of the “encounter” or the “teaching moment”. Only 7 times in Scripture do we see God call the name of a person twice!
Jesus repeats this line: But I tell you, if you do not repent,you will all perish as they did! (Luke 13:3, 5).
Repent – not a word you see often on social media or hear on the news. But it is a word that we need to be “comfortably uncomfortable” with. We are all sinners in need of a Savior. If we were not, then there would be no need for Jesus to have undergone the ultimate torture on Good Friday to save and redeem us. So let me say it again, we are sinners in need of a Savior. Jesus sounds harsh when He says, if you do not repent, you will perish! It’s not harsh! It’s the truth!
John 14:6 – Jesus says, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Each and every day, are we mindful of the times we have failed to live as Jesus calls us to – the 10 Commandments; the Beatitudes; the Sermon on the Mount, just to name a few.
· Have I gossiped about someone?
· Have I been envious of someone else’s success?
· Have I failed to forgive?
· Have I failed to feed the hungry or give drink to the thirsty?
Jesus is very clear – the measure with which we measure will be measured out to us.
So what does it mean to repent – it literally means to “turn around” – turn our lives (our hearts) back to Jesus – I love the Greek word – “metanoia” – a change of heart – a radical change of heart – to intentionally turn from our sinful ways & turn toward the Lord and live as He lived and to do as He did. Repentance brings renewal. Even David, whose heart was like God’s – needed to repent after his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and his killing of her husband Uriah. And today’s psalm of David are words that should roll off our tongue (Psalm 103) –
The Lord is kind and merciful; slow to anger; He pardons all your iniquities, heals all your ills, He redeems your life from destruction,crowns you with kindness and compassion. Merciful and gracious is the LORD, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
And we see this slowness on display as we hear the parable of the fig tree. A tree that bears no fruit is a tree that needs to be cut down. And despite the owner looking to cut the tree down, the gardener says:
“Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future.”
Who is the gardener? Jesus! What us the fruit that he wants to cultivate in us? Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22-23:
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Jesus wants to cultivate that personal and intimate relationship with us. He does not want to cut down any of the trees. As we read in the parable of the sower & the seed, there are different types of soil –
· soil that gets eaten up on the path (the Enemy is quick to snatch away the seed from those who do not understand)
· soil on rocky ground – no roots when hardship or persecution comes along
· soil on thorny ground – the lure of riches, wealth & worry choke away the seed
· soil on good soil – those who hear, understand & produce 30, 60, 100-fold
But we also have to put the work in our spiritual life to produce that rich soil. It cannot just be showing up for an hour each week. It requires a daily commitment as we have been saying throughout this Lenten season to:
Be with Jesus
Become like Jesus
Do as He did.
Spending time with Jesus in His Word; in prayer; in reading & reflection – carving out time each day to be with Him!
The fruits are on display throughout the Gospel, even when Jesus preached the hard messages. And we are called to produce the same fruit in our lives. And the process starts with a daily commitment to turn our hearts back to God and Jesus; to acknowledge the times we have failed to live as His disciples & seek His compassion and His mercy. For the good Lord always stands ready to shower us with His grace, mercy and love – a process of renewal. But we must take that first step to repent!
And as we will see this coming Sunday in Luke 15, He leaves the 99 to go after the one who was lost; He welcomes home the prodigal son who was dead and has come back to life, who was lost and has now been found.
Close Encounters – Prodigal Son (March 30)
What does this word prodigal mean? Here are two quick definitions:
· spending money or resources freely and recklessly (prodigal son)
· having or giving something on a lavish scale. (prodigal father)
The word itself has both a positive and negative connotation as we see on display in the parable.
First, though, I would like to quickly talk about the first parable in Luke 15 – the parable of the lost sheep. With familiar parables like these, it can be very easy for us to tune it out as something familiar and not new. Yet, that would be highly presumptive on our part for every time we open God’s Word, God and Jesus want to speak to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. There is always something for us to gain even in the familiar verses – a word, phrase or idea.
There is a song by Cory Asbury called “Reckless love”. I highly recommend listening to it this week. Here is the link:
In the middle of the song, he reads the passage of the lost sheep. This man welcomes the sinners and eats with them – have we ever reflected on that particular line? The “church people” of Jesus’ time grumbled about who Jesus ate with. And Jesus ends the short parable with this:
I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.
Repentance – Renewal – Radical/Reckless Mercy
He is the God we worship; He is the God we LOVE and who LOVES us.
“God is not reckless; the way He loves IS reckless – His love bankrupts Heaven for you & I – He puts Himself out there – in the hope that we would turn our hearts back to Him. His love ransomed His own begotten Son so that everyone who believe in Him would not perish, but have ETERNAL life.” Cory Asbury
Luke 15 is a magnificent chapter of God’s extravagant and downright ridiculous mercy and love. And yet, that is who God is. I AM WHO AM!
Who is in need of God’s mercy today? Dare I say, all of us! And when was the last time you experienced radical mercy? How did it make you feel? And when was the last time you extended radical mercy to another person? And when was the last time you experienced that radical mercy of God the Father?
God the Father stands ready to meet us every time we turn our hearts back to Him. Jesus says we need to forgive 70 times 7 times. And the measure with which we measure will be measured back to us. With this same mercy that we extend to others who have hurt us, so too will God the Father shower us with His mercy.
For while the younger son was a long way off, the father caught sight of him and was filled with compassion for him & “ran to him”. That is our loving Father in Heaven. He runs after us when we turn around and experience that metanoia that Jesus spoke about last week. We must repent when our hearts have turned away from Jesus.
When Jesus taught us to pray the Our Father, he used the word “Abba” in Greek – an endearing term that literally means Dad or Daddy. Truly intimate – when we pray the Our Father, we should be using that same endearing word for God, our Heavenly Father – He is our Dad – He wants and desires that intimate relationship with us – He knows everything we need – including the forgiveness we seek, when we humbly come before Him, acknowledging the times we have falied to be obedient and live out His commandments and teachings.
The parable of the prodigal son is one where we can see in ourselves character traits of all three people.
The younger son – there have been numerous times in my life where I have chosen to do it my way (the wrong way); being disobedient to what I know is the right thing to do – in times of disappointment; in times of fear, in times of impulse – walking in the way of the world, not the way of the Lord
The older son – choosing to be belligerent, envious, jealous when someone was chosen over me for a team, a position, a job. Choosing selfishness instead of selflessness. Wanting harm to come over someone instead of God’s grace
The father – going out of our way to help someone in need; going the extra mile; extending grace and mercy to someone who has hurt us or wronged us; radical generosity
We can listen to this parable and easily dismiss it as one we have heard a million times. But God’s Word meets us right where we are – as long as we are open to it.
Isaiah 55:11 - So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what pleases me, achieving the end for which I sent it.
God’s Word never returns void and is always achieving the end that it is intended to.
And the message that God wants us to hear and obey: Repentance is necessary in the spiritual life. For the times we have failed to live by God’s Word and obedient to His teachings, we must turn our hearts back to God in humility, seeking His forgiveness and mercy. And when we make that act of contrition with humility, we open ourselves to receive that radical and reckless mercy and forgiveness that God is eager to shower upon us.
For just as Jesus, the Good Shepherd rejoices when He finds the lost sheep, and God the Father rejoices when we return to Him, we can rejoice and utter those final words of the Father in parable:
I was lost; I turned back to God; and I have been found by His radical grace and extravagant mercy.
As we prepare our hearts and minds for Jesus’ Passion, Death and resurrection in a few short weeks, let us seek the Lord with humble and contrite hearts each day and pray the words of Psalm 23 that we hear today:
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose;beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul.
God the Father, Abba, Dad, wants to refresh and renew our souls each day. All we need to do is approach him with a heart that is contrite and humble seeking His radical mercy, His radical compassion, and His radical love. Amen
Luke 13:1-9
Some people told Jesus about the Galileanswhose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.Jesus said to them in reply,“Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this waythey were greater sinners than all other Galileans?By no means!But I tell you, if you do not repent,you will all perish as they did!Or those eighteen people who were killedwhen the tower at Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guiltythan everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?By no means!But I tell you, if you do not repent,you will all perish as they did!”And he told them this parable:“There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard,and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none,he said to the gardener,‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig treebut have found none.So cut it down.Why should it exhaust the soil?’He said to him in reply,‘Sir, leave it for this year also,and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it;it may bear fruit in the future.If not you can cut it down.’”
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying,“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”So to them Jesus addressed this parable:“A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father,‘Father give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’So the father divided the property between them.After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongingsand set off to a distant countrywhere he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.When he had freely spent everything,a severe famine struck that country,and he found himself in dire need.So he hired himself out to one of the local citizenswho sent him to his farm to tend the swine.And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed,but nobody gave him any.Coming to his senses he thought,‘How many of my father’s hired workershave more than enough food to eat,but here am I, dying from hunger.I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him,“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.I no longer deserve to be called your son;treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’So he got up and went back to his father.While he was still a long way off,his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.His son said to him,‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you;I no longer deserve to be called your son.’But his father ordered his servants,‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him;put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.Take the fattened calf and slaughter it.Then let us celebrate with a feast,because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again;he was lost, and has been found.’Then the celebration began.Now the older son had been out in the fieldand, on his way back, as he neared the house,he heard the sound of music and dancing.He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean.The servant said to him,‘Your brother has returnedand your father has slaughtered the fattened calfbecause he has him back safe and sound.’He became angry,and when he refused to enter the house,his father came out and pleaded with him.He said to his father in reply,‘Look, all these years I served youand not once did I disobey your orders;yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends.But when your son returnswho swallowed up your property with prostitutes,for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’He said to him,‘My son, you are here with me always;everything I have is yours.But now we must celebrate and rejoice,because your brother was dead and has come to life again;he was lost and has been found.'"
Comments