Luke 10:21-24

Transcript

00:00:00:32 – 00:00:24:15
Clint Loveall
All right. Hey, thanks for joining us. On Wednesdays, we continue through the Gospel of Luke. We’re in the 10th chapter. Not a long passage today, but I think a tough passage. So let me go ahead and read this for you. Remember that Jesus is talking the aftermath of the return of the 70 who have been sent out to do evangelism and to spread the good news.

00:00:24:19 – 00:00:47:25
Clint Loveall
And now in sort of the back part of that story that conclusion of that story, Luke gives us a little blurb here. So let me read it for you then we’ll talk about it. At the same hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, because you’ve hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and revealed them to infants.

00:00:47:25 – 00:01:10:16
Clint Loveall
Yes, Father. Four Such words, your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my father, and no one knows who the son is except the father or who the father is. Except the son and anyone whom the son chooses to reveal him to. Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.

00:01:10:21 – 00:01:36:11
Clint Loveall
For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it. And to hear what you hear but did not hear it. So I’m not sure where this works best, but think go ahead and start with it. We’ve said many times that in regard to the Gospel of Luke, one of Luke’s special themes is that Luke is very much an advocate for the poor.

00:01:36:16 – 00:02:16:55
Clint Loveall
Luke is deeply concerned about the lives and the needs and the status and care for those who are kind of at the bottom. Now, it is likely that Luke listed here is is the Luke, the physician in the Book of Acts, which means that Luke probably has a background of some education and perhaps some wealth. But at some point, if that’s the case, Luke becomes deeply invested in the idea of those in the world who are ignored or who are shunned or even oppressed or abused.

00:02:17:00 – 00:02:50:43
Clint Loveall
And if you’ve known somebody that does nonprofit work, if you’ve known somebody that runs a shelter or that advocates on behalf of those who get ignored a lot, they can develop a kind of edge. And I would say that Luke at times gives us that impression that Luke has a kind of bias. And so when we see here and the reason I bring all that up is that we jump in here and it says Jesus rejoices.

00:02:50:43 – 00:03:39:05
Clint Loveall
And that’s a strong word. Jesus rejoices and says, I thank you, Father, because you’ve hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants, for it was your gracious will. And it is troubling on the surface to have Jesus rejoicing that God is hiding the meaning of things from anyone. But I think it helps to remember that Luke does hold on to this idea that the wealthy and powerful in the world not only don’t see the truth often, but in some instances may not deserve the truth.

00:03:39:12 – 00:04:03:11
Clint Loveall
If if we could put it that harshly and this is one of those things, I think, Michael, that a person could read past and read this passage and just move on. But I think it is it is troubling here. And we should stop to think what this means when we see Jesus rejoicing that God is hiding things from people.

00:04:03:16 – 00:04:23:51
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, this is a troubling aspect, of course, of Luke’s gospel. We should note that this is in the other gospels as well. It is very prominent in the Gospel of Mark with what is called the mark in secret. It’s not the same, but it’s once again Jesus reveling in things that are not known or keeping people from knowing.

00:04:24:05 – 00:04:53:06
Michael Gewecke
And then, you know, in Matthew, we see similar themes and John does as John always does his own thing. So what we have here, I think Clint is an opportunity to see that the order of the world that everyone assumes is not the order of the world. As Jesus sees it. And that’s by definition from the start going to sound like critique, especially if you’ve lived a life in which you’ve had some privilege.

00:04:53:06 – 00:05:27:36
Michael Gewecke
If you can put yourself in position of considering yourself wise and intelligent, then by definition you’ve been set up in this position of of being critiqued. But that being said, Luke wholeheartedly cares for who’s called the infant here. He wholeheartedly cares for the person who society, who the kingdom of the world, who those who are outside of Jesus’s Lordship would would be put down, would be considered to not even have a start or place.

00:05:27:36 – 00:06:03:50
Michael Gewecke
And so this is grace, but it’s not a simple grace, it’s not an easy grace. And I think it’s worth noting that Jesus in the gospel account is all of those things that are said about him. He’s loving, he’s merciful, he’s gracious. But if you lose in your picture of Jesus, a Jesus who’s also sharp, who also cuts with a knife, who also critiques, who also challenges, and in some cases, if we’re giving us unnerves, then you’re forgetting the whole gospel account of Jesus.

00:06:03:50 – 00:06:25:12
Michael Gewecke
Both of those things exist, and they exist in meaningful ways. And in sometimes they exist at the same time. At some moments of our life, we feel that we could relate to that idea of being an infant and then at other moments or in other disciplines or other areas of our life, we feel like the wise. Yet both of those junctures we find acceptance and peace.

00:06:25:24 – 00:06:51:34
Michael Gewecke
We also find challenge and maybe concern. And I think that that’s intentionally bundled in a text like this, a reminder that Jesus is coming to inaugurate a different kind of kingdom, and we should be careful about how we align ourself and what titles we give ourselves, because if we do that without thought, we’re likely to find ourselves outside the bounds of who Jesus is and whether he’s come to do.

00:06:51:39 – 00:07:22:23
Clint Loveall
I suppose there’s a reality, Michael, that when you are among the underdogs, when you’re the person who works all the time for very little money, when you’re the person who doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt, when you’re the person who who isn’t given special attention or special treatment, you you can’t help at some level to maybe resent those who are the favorites, who are the successful.

00:07:22:28 – 00:08:02:33
Clint Loveall
And some of that may be built in to Luke’s gospel. But I also think at another level, this is simply a reminder that the status of the world is not the status of the kingdom, that the ladder of the world is not the ladder of the kingdom, that those who are looked upon into work by the world and seen as wise, as successful, as intelligent as somebodies, that means nothing before Jesus infants, no more than they do the disciples who are no particular impression.

00:08:02:33 – 00:08:27:34
Clint Loveall
Impressive People know more and see more. And so then Jesus, you know, finishes down there. Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. Many prophets and kings, many wealthy people, many people who have wanted to know and see these things. And here these things haven’t gotten to. But you have. And why not? Because you deserve it. And that is that’s built into all the gospels.

00:08:27:34 – 00:08:53:55
Clint Loveall
But it’s especially apparent, I think, in Luke. It is those who are given grace, who are lifted up and those who are celebrated as being special most often miss it because they can’t see it from a worldly position. They can’t see it through worldly wisdom and worldly success. The Gospel is different than the world, and and Luke hits that theme pretty hard here.

00:08:54:00 – 00:09:19:39
Michael Gewecke
I am really encouraged. I think it’s really helpful that Luke includes this distinction here, because if you talk about the whys, if you think about those with influence, you might think of those with earthly power, national power. You might think in the Bible context of Caesar, or you might think of pilot or something like that. But here in verse 24, there are many proper assets and kings.

00:09:19:39 – 00:09:41:18
Michael Gewecke
I think that prophet is a really interesting inclusion here because prophets have a kind of power. Yes. As a as they speak for God, as they speak the words of God. But this is a religious power, and this ties deeply into the themes of Luke that the religious leaders are the ones who should be the closest to the revelation.

00:09:41:18 – 00:10:14:25
Michael Gewecke
They should be most ready, most primed to see who Jesus is and what God’s doing through Jesus. But what actually happens, ironically, is both the Prophet, the religious power and the king, the civic political worldly power both would have longed to see this day, but don’t because of their concerns, because of the ways that they have essentially made up the ideas of how the world should be so they can’t see who Jesus actually is and what is now what they desire.

00:10:14:25 – 00:11:00:46
Michael Gewecke
But what is And I think that there’s a fascinating opportunity for us in this because on one hand, we could be critiqued, especially those who have been Christians for a long time. Maybe that’s been your experience your entire life. We all do in that have a temptation of becoming hardy, of becoming prideful. But if we are able for just a moment to recognize these words, we might find in verse 23, Blessed are the eyes that see what you see and see in that an opportunity, an invitation from Jesus to turn to Luke, which is account of what the disciples saw and get to see Jesus with those eyes, that there’s actually a kind of grace

00:11:00:46 – 00:11:23:22
Michael Gewecke
in a text like this for anyone who opens that invitation to say, Will you open your eyes to see who Jesus is? Will you have eyes to see? And if you will have eyes to see, then you don’t have to be a Ph.D. You don’t have to be a person with the greatest faith. An infant can understand who Jesus is, if we yet have the eyes to open, the willingness to be transformed and changed.

00:11:23:22 – 00:11:32:12
Michael Gewecke
And there’s actually good news for us in that if we can find a way to also hold on to the tension of what may be a critique.

00:11:32:16 – 00:12:02:31
Clint Loveall
Yeah, well, I mean, I think we see that there in verse 21, Michael, you know, this is your gracious will. And then Jesus goes on to say, These things have been handed over by the father and no one knows the father but the son and those to whom the son reveals him. And so again, we find ourselves in the biblical world and in the biblical world, all knowledge is really a gift of God, divine knowledge.

00:12:02:36 – 00:12:31:52
Clint Loveall
This isn’t something we figure out. This isn’t something we deserve. It isn’t something we’ve earned or discovered or, you know, somehow crack the code. This is a gift and the knowledge of Jesus to hear Jesus and understand what it means to see Jesus and know who He truly is to do the right thing is a gift of God.

00:12:31:57 – 00:12:54:13
Clint Loveall
And it is a gift delivered not because of one’s worldly position or worldly status and not this not to steal any thunder from tomorrow, but it’s no accident that we go from this discussion to this parable of the Good Samaritan, and we can talk more about the connection to the two texts tomorrow when we go through the parable.

00:12:54:18 – 00:13:21:01
Clint Loveall
But it is the perfect parable to unpack what Luke means here and what Jesus says here and not surprisingly, only Luke tells this parable, which again, we can we can cover tomorrow. But to think of these two texts as a unit, which most people don’t, or which we most often don’t, I do think is helpful to see that they belong together.

00:13:21:01 – 00:13:24:09
Clint Loveall
They they speak to one another.

00:13:24:14 – 00:13:45:00
Michael Gewecke
And I certainly don’t want to belabor this, but it’s worth pointing out here, Clint, most of the folks who are going to join us for the study are going to be comfortable talking about Jesus as the son of God, the idea of God being Jesus’s father. Most of us are comfortable with that because that’s a critical and key part of the Christian faith.

00:13:45:00 – 00:14:16:28
Michael Gewecke
But it’s worth noting that these words, this idea is rooted in Scripture itself, were quick to read by that because we take it for granted. But Scripture lays the framework by which we understand Jesus to be the Son of God. That prayer that we have, the Lord’s Prayer, our Father who art in heaven, that this language here I thank you, Father, Lord of Heaven, you’ve hidden these things, Father, for such was your gracious well, Jesus here is making a clear statement of Sonship.

00:14:16:35 – 00:14:42:27
Michael Gewecke
It’s making a clear statement about relationship with the Father. And for Christian, this isn’t scandalous. For a first century Jew, this is very scandalous. It’s a kind of claiming of relationship or kind of claiming of even authority and power, which would have been considered heretical. And Luke includes these words specifically. We are comfortable with them because of Luke and because of the other gospel accounts.

00:14:42:41 – 00:14:57:51
Michael Gewecke
But let’s not read past the fact that they are put you’re intentionally we are to know that Jesus claimed this relationship. And you know, when we come across it in Scripture, we may go by it on auto pilot, but it’s worth noting it’s there and it’s intentional.

00:14:57:55 – 00:15:38:48
Clint Loveall
Yeah. And, you know, if you’ve been in the church tradition, maybe particularly a Southern tradition, you’ve undoubtedly heard someone pray who leaned on the word father many times. Father, father, father, father. This isn’t that Jesus uses the word father. Luke uses the word father five times in two verses to make a theological point that Jesus is the Son of God, and that Jesus deserves that language, owns that language, and stands in unique relationship to God.

00:15:38:52 – 00:15:55:10
Clint Loveall
Nobody else is saying things like this. And so it’s five times in two verses. The point is, you’re not supposed to get to those two verses without noticing you, that Luke wants to make sure you catch that.

00:15:55:15 – 00:16:37:25
Michael Gewecke
Isn’t it kind of interesting, Clint, That thing that would have been radically scandalous in Jesus’s hearers years loses its substance and weight in a way when it’s proclaimed or said in the Christian context and some of the work of the spiritual discipleship, some of the work of biblical study and I mean study in the broadest sense, not just getting it in your head, but allowing Scripture to form you is to allow some of that force to land on you to learn to hear the late Jesus is calling God the Father.

00:16:37:30 – 00:17:02:04
Michael Gewecke
That is an unbilled, lovably face foundation statement. And the question is, can you make that statement yourself? Can you believe that’s who Jesus is and that’s his relationship with the Father? Because if it is true for you, you’re close to the center of what Christians believe. They’re at the center of the what we would use the term revelation.

00:17:02:09 – 00:17:29:02
Clint Loveall
Well, I don’t want to make light of, you know, a certain prayer tradition that uses father heavily, because I think the same could be said of the mainline church. In most congregations, we pray every single week. Our father And how many people say that without being struck by it, without being in all or even in fear of it?

00:17:29:02 – 00:17:45:02
Clint Loveall
I mean, how how many of us can rattle those words off without ever really thinking through the implication and the depth of what they mean? So, yeah, I think that’s a danger in getting familiar with any language is that it tends to lose some of its power.

00:17:45:07 – 00:18:03:22
Michael Gewecke
Friends, we’re glad that you spent this time with us today. We certainly hope you have been encouraged, hope there’s been something that is inspiring for you in it. And we would love to have you join us as we continue this study. So we’ll be back tomorrow, 2:00 Central Standard Time. Love to have you subscribe if you’re on YouTube so you can stay up to date with the study as we go.

00:18:03:27 – 00:18:15:25
Michael Gewecke
Until then, be blessed and we look forward to continuing with what is one of the best known stories in the Scriptures. I think something that will be encouraging for all of us till then, be blessed.

00:18:15:30 – 00:18:15:41
Clint Loveall
You.