Mid-week Reflection; Luke chapter18

Scripture Union, The Bible in a Year Programme

Wednesday 30 March; Day 206

Consider

In chapter 18, we see three examples of Luke’s emphasis on prayer:

·         In the opening verses “a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men,” finally gives into a widow who keeps coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my adversary.” The judge worn down by her persistence grudgingly grants her request – so how much more will God hear the cry of his people when they pray.

·         The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple describes the upside down values of the kingdom of God where “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Respectable religious observers may try to rely on prayers and fasting but our loving Father answers the simple prayer of the tax collector “who beat his breast and said, God have mercy on me, a sinner.”

·         In the final verses, a blind beggar, cries out from the gutter, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” The crowd rebuke him but still he calls, “have mercy on me.” Blind to the physical world he senses spiritual reality very clearly. The beggar is an example of faith and his repeated appeal for mercy reflects the persistence of the widow. His humble cry for mercy echoes with the humility of the tax collector. Jesus breaks his journey and orders the beggar brought forward and asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?”  From the depths of his heart, the man answers for all lost and desperate people, “Lord, I want to see.” Jesus gives him what he asks and explains the reason why; “Receive your sight; you faith has healed you.” There is a double meaning: the man is both physically and spiritually healed and upon release from his darkness he immediately “followed Jesus praising God.”

The Jesus Prayer; “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”

From the earliest times Christians have practised taking a phrase from the Gospels or Psalms and repeating it in prayer as a method of calming the restlessness of their minds and hearts so that they could focus on God. The most famous of these short texts, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” has become known as the “Jesus Prayer” and it takes its biblical roots in part from phrases in Luke chapter 18. The tax collector’s words, “God be merciful to me a sinner” [13] was the only way he could express his deep sense of emptiness. And the blind beggars repeated cry, “Jesus, have mercy on me,” was the only way he could express his longing to be healed.

When words fail, deep, loving praise or deep yearning can find expression in these phrases repeated in the presence of God.

Try it out!

·         Find a quit place

·         At first practice for 15 minutes or so.

·         Be still

·         Sit comfortably.

·         Relax every part of your body.

·         Calm down and breathe gently

·         As an option breathe in as you say the first half of the prayer and out as you say the second.

·         At first say the words out loud, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”

·         Then, if it feels right, repeat the words silently, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on me

Try it alone or try it with others in a homegroup

Mid-week reflection; Luke chapter 13

Scripture Union, The Bible in a Year Programme.

Wednesday 23 March, Day 199.

Luke chapter 13, taking verses 10-17, Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman on the Sabbath.

Consider

It is the Sabbath and Jesus is teaching in the synagogue when he notices a woman bent double by a crippling disease, a condition she has endured for eighteen years. It’s what’s not said that makes this episode so heart-breaking. All the healing miracles start with great suffering. Sometimes a blind man calls from the roadside or a woman throws herself into the dust at Jesus’ feet or a crippled man is lowered through the ceiling by his friends. People driven by desperation, reaching out for Jesus. Unlike them, the lady in this story asks for nothing and expects nothing. Because of her misshapen body she wants to go unnoticed in the background.

Imagine her situation; hiding in the shadows. Ridiculed and living off hand outs. “It is more important that a donkey or an ox should get a drink than she is healed.” [v.15]. Her world is literally at her feet: starring day after day into the dust of the village street.

Then, out of the blue, three things happen: Jesus sees her, Jesus calls her, and Jesus touches her.

In an instant her world is transformed: she is straightened out and praises God [v.13]

A happy ending were it not for the synagogue ruler. What about the story from his perspective? He takes offence at Jesus flouting the rules and healing on the Sabbath. He’s a bit hasty in reaching for the rule book and his priorities are messed up but he’s the one with the responsibility for keeping things in order. Do we feel sympathy for him? Is there a bit of him in you and me? How would we feel if a stranger rolled into St Stephens with his hippy friends and started messing with our well ordered lives?

Who are you in the story?

·         Are you like the woman who craves healing but is afraid to leave the protection of the shadows?

·         Does it seem easier to look into the dust day after day than to step forward at the call of Jesus?

·         Are you like the synagogue ruler, quick with the rule book and good at keeping order but missing seeing God at work in the lives of people?

·         Probably, like me, there is a bit of both of these characters in your life.

Pray

·         For all those known to you with twisted lives, mentally, spiritually as well as physically.

·         For those like the woman in the story who are embarrassing to be with.

·         For people living day to day, staring into the dust and never seeing the horizon.

·         Ask for the courage to break the rules or your routine for them.

·         Like Christ call them forward into your life, your home, your church.

Mid-Week Reflection: Luke 8

Scripture Union, “The Bible in a Year Programme” Wednesday 16 March, Day 192.

[Apologies for being a day late but I was unwell yesterday]

Consider

Jesus has been described as hurrying but never hurried, a description that is fully in evidence in chapter 8 of Luke’s gospel. In the opening verses Jesus and the disciples are busy going “from one town and village to another”, their mission, “to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God.” This missionary task is not confined to the men and they are accompanied by “many” women with very different backgrounds. Viewed from our 21st century perspective, it is difficult for us to appreciate just how revolutionary the involvement of women is in the ministry of Jesus. Most of the men at that time believed that women were not even to be seen, much less heard and in their patriarchal culture it is men who provide and women, if they are lucky, who receive. By the standards of the day here is role reversal at its most inflammatory for the missionary work of Jesus is supported by the women “out of their own means” [v.3].

Re-read chapter 8 and enter into the scene. Become one of these men or women as they travel from place to place. Imagine the excitement as crowds gather round in village after village to hear Jesus: his promise of a new world order, which he calls the kingdom of God. Share in the amazement of the miracles. Finally become part of the greatest miracle of all, simply to be in the presence of Jesus as he hurries but is never hurried in the company of people he came to save.

Reflect

• On the sheer diversity of people in chapter 8: male and female, young and old, a local dignitary and a madman, rich and poor, family members of Jesus and strangers in the crowd. Can we do more to reach out to all sections of the community we serve?
• Like the women in verses 2 and 3, do you feel called to support the mission of the church “out of your own means”? This can be expressed in time, money, skills and prayer.
• On what this passage tells us about the role of women in the church today.

Pray

• For the ability to serve enthusiastically but not get stressed. Like Jesus to be hurrying but never hurried.
• For guidance and humility as the Anglican Church considers the appointment of women bishops.

Mi-dweek Reflection: Luke 3

Mid-week Reflection: Luke 3.

Scripture Union, “The Bible in a Year Programme” Wednesday 9 March, day 185

“A voice of one calling in the desert, “Prepare the way of the Lord”

Consider.

For John the Baptist, the desert is a quiet and productive place. It’s where he hears the word of God [v. 2] and it’s where crowds come to hear him preach the good news of the arrival of Jesus. But there is another desert, a wilderness that stretches further and goes deeper than the desert “country around the Jordan.” This desert exists in the hearts and minds of men and women. Consider the list of seven names at the beginning of chapter 3:

·         Tiberius Caesar, a ruthless dictator.

·         Pontius Pilate, a weak and manipulating politician, who in 3 years time will authorise Jesus’ crucifixion.

·         Herod Antipas ruler of Galilee who also plays his part in the crucifixion story and for the sake of his pride orders the execution of John.

·         Philip, Herod’s brother and puppet ruler of neighbouring territories.

·         Annas had been high priest and still really held power but in an act of nepotism had promoted his son-in-law, Caiaphas to be high priest. It was the manipulation and intrigues of these two that brought about the murder of Jesus.

Luke is not concerned to describe a geographical desert but a wilderness in the affairs of people. It’s a wilderness of human corruption: of broken relationships with God and between people. The real desert, then as now, is the world of deal-makers, power brokers, self-seeking and privilege. Only the voice of John is heard in this wilderness of cruelty and greed, exemplified by the names listed by Luke.

Reflect.

·         On who and how God calls people.

·         Is it the rich, the educated, the powerful?

·         Is it those, like John, who know that the wilderness is the place to hear the Word of God?

·         What is God saying to you in the silence in your wilderness moments?

Pray

·         What message does God want you to proclaim?

·         For the strength to be a “voice in the wilderness.”

Mid Week Reflection

Starting today, Wednesday, 2^nd March we will have a midweek reflection on a bible passage. This reflection will follow the pattern of Scripture union’s, The Bible in a Year programme which many of you have been working through. If you have been following the programme day by day, then this Wednesday is equivalent to day 178 and the reflection relates to Ephesians chapter 5.

 REFLECTION ON EPHESIANS 5

Consider

Throughout chapter 5 Paul emphasises the importance of unity and the need to lead a life free of “any kind of impurity” [3]. Towards the end of the chapter he turns his attention to practical domestic issues, his point being that, for the sake of credibility, church values of harmony and pure living must be reflected in the lives of church members.

The section opens at verse 22 with, “Wives submit to your husbands”, which in modern times, is one of the most controversial phrases in the bible. Some read this as a blueprint for the subjugation of women, yet with only a little context and closer examination it may be seen as a charter of genuine liberty.

In the ancient world women were held in disdain. A wife had no status and few legal rights; she was owned by her husband as a chattel and completely under his power. The idea of fidelity was non-existent so that “the whole atmosphere of the ancient world was adulterous.” [1]

Paul speaks into this darkness to tell of a new social order that reflects Jesus Christ who treated all people including women with courtesy and honour.

 In this radical society all Christians have a duty to “submit to one another” [v21]. Submissiveness is a universal Christian obligation. If, therefore, it is the wife’s duty to submit to her husband, it is also the husband’s duty, as a member of God’s new society, to submit to his wife.

The submission of the wife is founded on the love of the husband not his desire to control. Three times Paul stresses that the husband’s headship of the household is based on his capacity to love. “Husbands love your wives [v.25]; “husbands should love their wives” [v.28]; “let each one of you love his wife.” [v.33]. Moreover, this love is to be self-sacrificial for the husband is to love as “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” [v.25].

Re-read

·         Chapter Ephesians ch.5, at least from verse 22 to the end. To what extent to you think that the essence of Paul’s view on marriage is that, “Women submit, & husbands love”.

Reflect

·         What does it mean to submit?

·         What does it means to love?

·         Could it be that both mean, to give yourself over to somebody?

·         Are submission and love two sides of the same coin?

Pray

·         Irrespective of your marital status pray for you relationship with Jesus.

·         Is it based on submission and sacrificial love?

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[1] William Barclay