Luke 13:31-14:6

Transcript

00:00:00:30 – 00:00:23:10
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Thanks for joining us on this Monday’s we kick off a week of broken up week. Just again, a reminder, if you missed the front part of the video of Tuesday and Wednesday and back on Thursday and then some long term stuff, but we’ll keep you posted on that today on as we start the week together, we jump in.

00:00:23:15 – 00:00:47:13
Clint Loveall
Back in Luke chapter 13, we’re at verse 31. An interesting placement for this passage that we see in other gospels. But let let’s read through and then we’ll talk about it at that very hour. Some Pharisees came and said to him, Get away from here for Herod wants to kill you. He said to them, Go and tell the fox for me.

00:00:47:13 – 00:01:09:49
Clint Loveall
Listen, I am casting out demons, performing cures today and tomorrow. And on the third day I finished my work. Yet today, tomorrow and the next day I must be on my way because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. The city that kills the prophets and stones. Those who are sent to it.

00:01:09:54 – 00:01:36:45
Clint Loveall
How often I have desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. And you were not willing. See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes. When you say blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. An interesting passage, Michael, in that it’s it’s almost split in half.

00:01:36:45 – 00:02:02:58
Clint Loveall
You have this you have this kind of intriguing beginning of the passage where the Pharisees come and appear to warn Jesus that the there are Pharisees that are friendly to Jesus or that are at least concern for Jesus. And they come with the message that Herod has taken a negative interest in Jesus and plans to kill him. And Jesus essentially says, Go tell him I’ve got work to do.

00:02:03:03 – 00:02:33:30
Clint Loveall
I’ll be on my way. More important things are happening. And then you get what is more typical in the other gospels. This kind of this morning over Jerusalem, this idea that Jerusalem rejects the people God sends to help it, that that Jerusalem and by extension those who are Jewish, those who live there, those who look their for leadership, don’t see the very thing God is doing.

00:02:33:30 – 00:02:57:00
Clint Loveall
And interestingly, giving some of the background of the passages we’ve seen rather than really condemn them for it. Jesus here expresses sadness and we’ve not seen that as much. But I think here we get the sense of this heartfelt grieving over the reality that he will find in Jerusalem.

00:02:57:05 – 00:03:12:46
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, this is a really interesting passage, certainly in its connection with those things that have come before. Have you been with us previously? We kind of have been. I don’t know if you would use the word slogging, but it feels like some of this part of Luke has been a building near.

00:03:12:49 – 00:03:15:12
Clint Loveall
There’s been a lot of this similar kind of stuff.

00:03:15:12 – 00:03:40:41
Michael Gewecke
And some of that is a reflection of growing action, growing sort of a problem that we see arising as Jesus teaches. Of course, he’s already had some very significantly difficult teachings, things like the way that the kingdom will divide families. You know, he’s talked about the ways in which the religious leadership looks out for their own interests and not the interests of the people.

00:03:40:46 – 00:04:07:12
Michael Gewecke
And I think we see some version of that escalating tension that’s happening here in the text. As you see right here from the start, this idea that the very Pharisees that Jesus has been critiquing are now pointing out that the power, the political power of the day has interest to kill Jesus. And, you know, Jesus does sort of like a duck with water on its back that kind of runs off.

00:04:07:12 – 00:04:49:58
Michael Gewecke
It’s not really concerned. You know, he just sort of moves on from that. But then this words offered to Jerusalem, which is once again, remember who Jesus is talking to. Glenn is talking to the Pharisees, is talking to people who care a lot about the location, the center of worship. And yet to these people that he speaks about, the city that kills the prophets, stones, those that are sent to it, you know, and Jesus makes it clear how often I’d like to gather your children together as a hand gathers a brood under her, her wings, a place of refuge, a place of care that that motherly image of the hand here being expert only used

00:04:49:58 – 00:05:15:00
Michael Gewecke
by Jesus to communicate a nurturing love for the people who are the children of those Pharisees. Right? The followers of Judaism who are not the people in power. And in a teaching like this, I mean, it doesn’t take much imagination to put yourself in the shoes of the people who have already had escalating tension and frustration and anger with Jesus.

00:05:15:00 – 00:05:40:19
Michael Gewecke
And now to imagine what this is going to do, to speak to the very people of the seat of power and say that those people are the ones who are not nurturing and caring for the people of faith. I mean, this this is a sharp escalation. And I think as the story continues with Luke, is providing ample reason for us to understand how Jesus is coming on the other side of the powers that be.

00:05:40:24 – 00:06:14:21
Clint Loveall
I suppose if we thought about it from a political perspective, you know, Jerusalem would be like decrying Washington, D.C. For Americans, it is right. It’s not simply a city, it’s an expression of the center of life for the Jewish people. The temple is there, the leaders are there. It is considered the history Brick city. The it it is in the land that was given by God to the people.

00:06:14:25 – 00:06:44:46
Clint Loveall
And so when when Jesus says this, it’s not even that simply saying Jerusalem, he’s indicting really the entire system, saying that the faith has slipped from being the faith. It is supposed to be. And I think, you know, that’s a telling critique. And again, I find it I find it interesting that rather than criticize them, Jesus offers compassion and even some grief.

00:06:44:51 – 00:07:08:54
Clint Loveall
This idea that I would love to gather them together so that your house left to you see your house left to you. But but they weren’t willing. And so you’re not going to see me until you see me as the one who comes in the name of the Lord. And that’s a reference to the cross and what’s coming down the road.

00:07:08:54 – 00:07:35:21
Clint Loveall
But it is interesting to see Jesus in a moment of compassion, wishing that those who have rejected Him weren’t doing so. And I, I think that gives a tender is a strong word, Michael, but it gives this passage a little bit of a softness that I think Luke hasn’t been showing us as much recently.

00:07:35:25 – 00:08:07:19
Michael Gewecke
There is a reference to that softness idea. There is a reference, I think that it’s worth slowing down to to recognize would be easy to read specifically here. Verse 34 Desire to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. That is a somewhat unusual reference that happens in other places in Scripture where where, you know, Jesus or God is described with what we would have traditionally given like a maternal kind of frame.

00:08:07:19 – 00:08:47:42
Michael Gewecke
It happens, but not incredibly often. And here we do have that idea that that Jesus wants the true betterment of the people. He cares for their souls. He cares for the outcome. He he wants the best for them. And it’s a genuine, nurturing moment. That idea that Jesus would would cover them with those arms of protection. And, you know, Clint, that that’s a beautiful image, especially when you are going through a season of your life, when it just seems like the universe is is against you or that everything’s gone wrong, or that you find yourself in some of those darkest valleys.

00:08:47:53 – 00:09:13:10
Michael Gewecke
This is an image that I think is beautiful, and it’s a reminder from Scripture itself that the God who has taken on flesh is a God who truly understands the concerns that we have and is one who who truly cares, who empathizes and who who nurtures and cares for us in the midst of those things, that that can be a great note of good news, especially when you’re in a difficult time.

00:09:13:15 – 00:09:20:48
Michael Gewecke
And it’s worth pointing out that that is part of the larger voice of scripture, and we certainly see it really reflected here.

00:09:20:52 – 00:09:43:28
Clint Loveall
Yeah. You know, essentially, if you boil that down, Jesus is saying, I’m willing, but you’re unwilling. I want this to happen. I want you to be a part of this. But you have not allowed me to do that. I, I would like this. But you refuse. And we get then an illustration of that, Luke gives us a really nice snapshot of that in the next passage.

00:09:43:28 – 00:10:04:18
Clint Loveall
So let’s continue here as we move into chapter 14. On one occasion, when Jesus was going to the House of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely. Just then in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy, and Jesus asked the lawyers and the Pharisees, Is it lawful to cure people on the Sabbath or not?

00:10:04:22 – 00:10:30:42
Clint Loveall
But they were silent, so Jesus took him and healed him and sent him away. Then he said to them, If one of you has a child or an ox that’s fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on the Sabbath? And they could not reply to this. So we’ve seen stories like this already, but for Luke, this is one of the miracle stories, one of the healings.

00:10:30:46 – 00:10:57:40
Clint Loveall
Jesus, of course, is on the Sabbath going and he’s in the audience of Pharisees and the religious lawyers, which is itself a kind of reminder of how often Jesus rubbed shoulders with these. It’s not all animus, at least at this part of the story. He’s going there for dinner. One of these men has invited Jesus into his home to feed him on the Sabbath, to be there with him on the Sabbath.

00:10:57:45 – 00:11:21:31
Clint Loveall
And this man comes with this condition called dropsy, which, as I understand it, is basically a swelling. It’s a condition in which a person would swell, and we might call it something edema, I think. But anyway, Jesus, knowing that these people will be thinking about this, says, should you help people on the Sabbath or not? And they don’t answer.

00:11:21:36 – 00:11:46:19
Clint Loveall
So Jesus does. Jesus speaks, heals the man, and then he says to them, All of you would take care of a child or take care of an animal if it was in need, even if it was a Sabbath, and they had no answer to this. So this is kind of a retelling. Michael, We’ve got we’ve already seen this kind of story with different characters and different circumstances.

00:11:46:24 – 00:11:49:59
Clint Loveall
But but here Luke moves us along the path again.

00:11:50:04 – 00:12:11:52
Michael Gewecke
Now Jesus continues to teach. He continues to show miracles of power. He continues to engage with the powers of the day. This is Jesus taking seriously this kingdom that He’s been proclaiming the whole time. But I think maybe we see a snapshot of it right here in this text. It’s not elaborate, it’s not ornate in its language, but it contains all of the themes.

00:12:11:52 – 00:12:37:58
Michael Gewecke
Jesus is the one who’s here. He’s preaching and teaching the people He is, letting them see that the Kingdom of God restores life. It restores bodies, it restores people to the way that God intended at the very beginning. This causes real tension and concerns, but Jesus knows it is omniscient in this text. He even knows what they’re going to be thinking.

00:12:37:58 – 00:13:03:46
Michael Gewecke
As this man comes in. He silences them with his critique and or with his question, and then they remain silent when he asks them what they would do about a child or a donkey in a rhetorical sense. So in the midst of all of this, Jesus is doing in kind of microcosm the thing He’s been doing this entire time, and that there’s something about moving the story along.

00:13:03:46 – 00:13:22:25
Michael Gewecke
There’s something about reminding us that this is the business that Jesus is about, that this is what the Kingdom of God looks like is it looks like the lost and the least being restored and looks like the highest, the greatest and the most powerless being silenced. And in the midst of that, I’m at the center of that is Jesus the Christ.

00:13:22:30 – 00:13:54:24
Clint Loveall
Just a quick check. My study Bible suggests that the condition of dropsy also left a person with kind of an insatiable thirst. And interestingly enough, it was sometimes used as a metaphor for the greedy, the person who had too much but wanted more. Whether or not that factors into Luke’s telling of the story, here it is the kind of detail that might have been of interest to Luke, who who is concerned about worldly wealth.

00:13:54:28 – 00:14:15:41
Clint Loveall
It’s pretty subtle. Generally, if the if the Bible is going to use something like that, it would maybe give us a little more help. But it’s an interesting background thing to know. And some have suggested that it should be seen as part of what Luke is saying in the text that I don’t know that I could say that confidently.

00:14:15:41 – 00:14:41:10
Clint Loveall
I haven’t done that background and I don’t know those things. But it is a it is at least interesting that the man being healed here has a condition that is sometimes used as an illustration of greed. And Jesus has accused the Pharisees of that kind of spirit. Earlier in the text.

00:14:41:15 – 00:15:05:33
Michael Gewecke
The I think the interesting thing for me in a story like this are the characters that show up in it. You’ve got you’ve got the Pharisees who are these religious leaders. Literally, the text goes out of its way to say that the house of a leader of the Pharisees. So Jesus is, as you said, not hobnobbing yet, but he’s he’s with the people.

00:15:05:33 – 00:15:42:37
Michael Gewecke
I mean, he’s having dinner with some of the most esteemed people. In fact, in books like Matthew, lawyers and Pharisees, lawyers are are high up the totem pole. They’re the educated, they’re the people with access and means. And and so here just the fact that you have these people who then observe the healing of this man, which is a thing that none of them are going to deny the validity of that, that’s the amazing thing, is you have the people who are the best witnesses that you can imagine observing the kind of radical renewal and transformation of the Kingdom of God.

00:15:42:37 – 00:16:04:37
Michael Gewecke
And and when that happens in front of them, their silence, they don’t have a single word that they can love you against Jesus. And maybe there’s also a lesson for us in that that idea of the spirit of the law versus the letter of the law, the idea that they might be fixated on what you can do on the Sabbath, but Jesus is instead fixated on what God wants to do in the perfection of all time.

00:16:04:37 – 00:16:21:18
Michael Gewecke
I mean, that’s certainly in the text like this, too. But the characters of this story tell us a lot about what Luke wants us to know about the gospel. And I think if we are attuned to that, it’s going to help us in our own imaginations be shaped as to what the gospel looks like in our own context.

00:16:21:18 – 00:16:26:43
Michael Gewecke
But the coming kingdom of God is supposed to be part of our own lives and faith.

00:16:26:48 – 00:16:48:11
Clint Loveall
I think if we try to put these two texts in conversation with one another, Michael, when we try to do something a little more devotional, what we see here is Jesus living out what he said. You know, he in the passage about Jerusalem, I wish I could take it under my wing. I wish I could take the people under my wing and protect them and help them and heal them.

00:16:48:16 – 00:17:14:13
Clint Loveall
And then he does that and he does that with a man who desperately needs him in front of people that he knows may criticize him for doing it, and he silences them and and you can easily read past that. But in the scripture, that’s a big deal. When someone is silenced, when someone doesn’t have an answer. These these books are written with those kind of themes in mind.

00:17:14:13 – 00:17:40:35
Clint Loveall
And so to have nothing to say is is very clear evidence that Jesus has gotten the higher position. Jesus has occupied the higher ground. So here he takes this man under his wing and he heals him even at the cost of this possible social status in front of those. But because of who he is and how he does it, they have no answer.

00:17:40:35 – 00:17:47:15
Clint Loveall
They have nothing to say, which is Luke’s way of saying there’s nothing you can criticize Jesus for.

00:17:47:20 – 00:18:13:59
Michael Gewecke
I’m trying to think of the context. Maybe you can help me with this. The closest analog to the kind of argumentative nature of religion. I don’t mean that in a negative way, but but the way that faith leaders practice faith was a very discursive back and forth kind of way. And I’m thinking, you know, maybe the closest thing that is like the coffee shop in America where folks gather around the table, they debate political debate.

00:18:14:04 – 00:18:24:57
Clint Loveall
Maybe on the national stage of people standing on a stage together and arguing back and forth ideas. I mean, that’s a that that’s kind of a boiled down version, but that’s the concept. Yeah.

00:18:24:57 – 00:18:50:06
Michael Gewecke
And where you get closer with that is the professional nature of it. The fact that Jesus silences professional debaters and arguers and feel logical, rather petitions. I mean, this is a strong statement because these men and they’re all men, these men have trained for their lives to argue. So the idea that they have nothing to say, that is a striking word.

00:18:50:07 – 00:19:25:48
Clint Loveall
Well, not not only that, Michael, but that very question. They would have argued, can you heal on the Sabbath? That’s not a theoretical fashion. Yeah, they would have read articles about that. They would have had conversation. I mean, that is a known quantity that they would have applied themselves to. So it’s not like Jesus is asking them a random question that’s a religious legal question that they would have all given thought to and they’re afraid to answer in front of Jesus and for that, it it’s a measure of what Luke is telling us and how strongly Luke is trying to say it.

00:19:25:53 – 00:19:36:10
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, it’s not like Jesus tricked them with trivia. You’re exactly right. Jesus made a point in a strong argument and he made the argument so strongly it was irrefutable.

00:19:36:12 – 00:19:48:25
Clint Loveall
And he lived it out so that it wasn’t theoretical, whereas they might argue about it in general terms. He said, Then I’m going to heal him. Right? And then they have nothing to say to that either.

00:19:48:30 – 00:19:51:00
Michael Gewecke
Because he’s the son of God. And that’s what Luke wants you to know.

00:19:51:00 – 00:19:52:18
Clint Loveall
Yeah, absolutely.

00:19:52:22 – 00:19:59:43
Michael Gewecke
Bryan, thanks for being with us here today. We look forward to see you at our next study, which will be Thursday of this week. We hope your well be blessed until then.