Luke 3:10-20

Transcript

00:00:00:43 – 00:00:29:58
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Thanks for being with us. Tuesday, continuing through the Gospel of Luke, we’re in the third chapter focusing most of this chapter on John the Baptist. Kind of met him formally yesterday and the idea of baptism, repentance. As we continue with that today, verse ten here of chapter three, the crowds came and asked him, What should we do?

00:00:29:58 – 00:00:53:58
Clint Loveall
Then in reply, he said to them, Whoever has two coats must share with someone who has none. Whoever has food must do likewise. Even tax collectors came to him to be baptized and they asked him, Teacher, what should we do? He said, Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you. Soldiers also asked him, What should we do?

00:00:54:52 – 00:01:25:24
Clint Loveall
He said, Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusations and be satisfied with your wages. Stop there, Michael, for a minute. So very interesting here is we get kind of to listen in on the conversation that develops between John and the people. Remember yesterday he was pretty confrontational brute of vipers, you can’t escape, etc.. And then the follow up today, what should we do?

00:01:25:24 – 00:02:00:39
Clint Loveall
And it is interesting that John, in many ways equates the life that the people are to lead with being moral, that essentially to do the right thing. And it’s very interesting here, you know, as they came to be baptized, we see, John, here in this role of forerunner, both in his ministry and his proclamation. And we’re going to hear things like this from Jesus.

00:02:00:57 – 00:02:33:23
Clint Loveall
But John gives them voice here, and they’re largely in some way simple things. Tax collectors don’t take more than you should. Soldiers don’t extort money if you have more than you need with coats or food shared them. So there’s simple things here, but they are profound things. They speak to a life lived with a commitment toward generosity, towards justice, towards doing the right thing.

00:02:33:46 – 00:03:05:43
Clint Loveall
And really, I think, Michael, in some of this, we see what John has in mind when he uses the word we saw yesterday, repent, which we we mentioned means turn around. I think this is what he has in mind to turn and orient one’s life toward doing the right thing. And I don’t want to make John moralistic, but certainly moral action is a significant component of what he understands, of life, of faith, to include.

00:03:06:12 – 00:03:38:27
Michael Gewecke
The distinction that we sometimes, I think, mistakenly apply to issues of faith is this rubric of internal faith versus outward or the action. And that’s not a partnership particularly, I would even argue, New Testament scriptural view. We can have conversations about what it looks like, James versus Paul, but I think largely when you turn to a book like Luke, these things are not in opposition, but rather they are built together in a kind of indispensability, a tight way.

00:03:38:27 – 00:04:04:22
Michael Gewecke
And I think as we come to a text like this, we find that the revelation of our sinfulness, the awareness of the extent of our brokenness, which is what you’re called to in that moment of conversion, of course, that that awareness will be the thing that gives us the impulse or the energy required to pivot into change lifestyle, new action.

00:04:04:22 – 00:04:27:32
Michael Gewecke
And I think that this is really summarized in a really beautiful way here. When the crowds asked him in verse ten, What then shall we do? I mean, and for this section, this is an overriding question. Our question for every single person, including the reader, Well, what then shall we do? And if you take that seriously, you find that that’s not the only time.

00:04:27:32 – 00:04:55:25
Michael Gewecke
That question appears. In the Book of Luke, a tax collector asked it in chapter three. Soldiers ask it again and in chapter three, a lawyer in Chapter ten Ruler and Chapter 18 goes on and on into Acts. The point here being is when one person encounters that, that awareness of brokenness, the depth of our sin, that person will be moved to respond to that in real and concrete ways.

00:04:55:26 – 00:05:23:51
Michael Gewecke
What then shall I do? What is the next thing? How does this change something in my life? This isn’t just our kind of spiritual platitude. This is not just some kind of it’ll feel good or feel different. It’s that the behavior that comes before the revelation is different than the behavior after conversion changes something. And that is, to use your word, it is moral, it is ethical, it is physical.

00:05:23:51 – 00:05:25:33
Michael Gewecke
And that’s a thing that we should remember.

00:05:26:18 – 00:05:59:49
Clint Loveall
There’s an interesting background here, I think. Michael In who? Luke tells us we hear from who who whose words Luke share with us here. Tax collectors and soldiers. If we proceed on the, I think, very safe assumption that the people coming to John are Jewish. We saw that heavily implied yesterday. There’s no reason to think there’s no mention that there would have been Gentiles.

00:06:00:23 – 00:06:39:28
Clint Loveall
That means that the people we’re talking about, tax collectors and soldiers are Jews serving under and in Roman authority. This would have meant that they were largely shunned and not accepted by their own people. So it’s very fascinating that when Luke talks about those who need to live a moral life, he he’s letting us hear from people who would have been assumed immoral by their very position, according to their peers.

00:06:39:54 – 00:07:06:03
Clint Loveall
And so even here we see Luke kind of highlighting the idea that Jesus is going to change things. Notice that these aren’t these aren’t Pharisees, these aren’t religious people. These are the you know, he he specifically mentions people who would not have been acceptable to their peers. And I think that’s really interesting. And I think it’s it it is very classic, Luke.

00:07:06:03 – 00:07:33:01
Clint Loveall
And I think we see in it this kind of theme that we’ve been talking about that Luke is especially interested in the outsider and everyone in this conversation is an outsider. And yet John has words for them and the word isn’t stop being a tax collector or quit the army. The word is be moral in the pursuit of your duty and share with others.

00:07:33:32 – 00:07:43:10
Clint Loveall
Don’t exhort, don’t steal, be honest, be trustworthy. And I think it’s really fascinating. Michael, that those are the examples we’re given here.

00:07:43:44 – 00:08:12:50
Michael Gewecke
I’m struck here, too, Clint, by what is going to be a theme all throughout Luke And this is a mistake we don’t want to make. Luke does emphasize and give voice to the outsider, the person who does not have served social acclaim. But Luke also doesn’t hide or beat around the bush as it relates to what conversion looks like for those people.

00:08:12:50 – 00:08:39:30
Michael Gewecke
And that may surprise us a little bit because that the inclusion of tax collectors, as you share, Clint, is indeed novel and unique. The inclusion of soldiers matters. But look, he says clearly collect no more than the amount prescribed for you. So in other words, it’s not just, hey, being a tax collector is great. Keep being a tax collector and also give to my ministry campaign or you know that that’s not the.

00:08:39:30 – 00:08:41:11
Clint Loveall
Responsibility temple or.

00:08:41:16 – 00:09:09:50
Michael Gewecke
Yeah yeah it’s fundamentally you can be a tax collector but your behavior has to reflect charity for other it has to reflect being a person of character. You can be a soldier, but you can’t use that power towards your own ends. And so it’s a yes and a no simultaneously, it’s acceptance, and it’s also a rejection of behavior that’s not conduct conducive of the gospel or not reflective of a converted life.

00:09:09:50 – 00:09:36:30
Michael Gewecke
And that is going to happen over and over again. Yet Jesus himself is going to teach compassion, graciousness, forgiveness consistently throughout. That’s a read Crimson thread. Also, he’s going to say sin no more. He’s going to call people to conversion. How then what? Then shall we do will be the thing that happens in the midst of these encounters and both of them are held in a beautiful, mysterious tension.

00:09:36:30 – 00:09:38:11
Michael Gewecke
And we shouldn’t let go of that tension.

00:09:38:16 – 00:10:02:15
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I was just curious, Michael. Matthew does not mention tax collectors or soldiers. I’m not sure about Mark. We’ll try to do some follow up on that and we can let you know. But I think it’s you know, it’s again, it’s very interesting. And John does have we had this conversation to some extent yesterday. John has a tremendous impact.

00:10:02:34 – 00:10:23:24
Clint Loveall
So as we finish out the passage here, first 15, as people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John whether he might be the Messiah. John answered all of them by saying, I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I am coming. I’m not worthy to untie the falling of his sandals.

00:10:23:56 – 00:10:53:52
Clint Loveall
He will baptize you with Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear the threshing floor to gather wheat into the granary. But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. So with many other exhortations, he proclaim the good news to the people. But Herod, the ruler who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done added to them by shutting up John in prison.

00:10:54:34 – 00:11:20:36
Clint Loveall
So here we have this moment and we sort of foreshadowed this yesterday. Such is John’s impact that those who hear him and see him begin to think that maybe he’s the one who is sent. And we of course, in the beginning of this gospel, know that he is the one who is sent, but he’s the one who is sent to Herald the Messiah, not to be the Messiah.

00:11:20:52 – 00:11:48:54
Clint Loveall
And John knows that about himself, which is a mark of his spiritual maturity. When a group of people is suggesting that you might be the Holy Chosen one to say No, it’s not me, is is certainly a sign of your wisdom. John said, I baptize you with water one more powerful than I is coming. I can’t even untied his shoes.

00:11:49:12 – 00:12:21:39
Clint Loveall
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And then we get this theme that is uncut, suitable but prevalent. Michael, in the Gospels, this idea of separation, the idea that part of what the gospel does, part of what the truth does, part of what faith does, is it separates the in from the out. It makes room for everyone but those who choose to live on the outside are that choice is honored.

00:12:22:06 – 00:12:52:17
Clint Loveall
And in the gospel, there’s a great deal of this kind of separation language. And we see it. We see a beginning of it. Here we go as one place. Chaff is burnt up. Now, I want to be careful because you shouldn’t take a detail like that and turn it into a whole bunch of stuff that it isn’t. But it is a sign that even in the beginning, even before we get to Jesus, there is this idea that ultimately the gospel makes a decision and that has a dividing element to it.

00:12:52:17 – 00:13:14:40
Clint Loveall
And we see it here that Jesus is coming to gather his own. But those who won’t be gathered are are separated. They’re on, they’re on the outside, and we’ll have lots of other chances and frankly, better chances, better passages with which to have that conversation. But we see a beginning of it here.

00:13:14:49 – 00:13:37:17
Michael Gewecke
Well, you alluded to it, and I think it’s worth just making explicit. It’s fascinating our temptation to put things together in mental containers that make sense to us because I do think people read this, They read. But the chaff, he will burn with unquenchable fire and people immediately attribute that to an image of hell, the idea of a place of burning.

00:13:37:31 – 00:14:09:09
Michael Gewecke
But what is fascinating is look here, verse 18, we talk about these exhortations. He proclaims Good news. Verse 19 two verses later. Now we’re talking about Herod the ruler who’s been rebuked by John because of his brother’s wife, all these evil things. It’s interesting how we say, well, clearly John here is talking about hell, but then immediately starts talking about the person who chose a different way and immediately gets into a public fight with John and uses that power against John to lock him up.

00:14:09:16 – 00:14:38:54
Michael Gewecke
And we know that this is going to end very badly for John and and Herod’s going to give in to his brokenness. I think you’ve got to see that here we are already introducing who the oppositional characters are. Later, we’re going to have the religious leaders in Jerusalem. We’re even going to, in some sense have pilot. But here already in the story, we’ve introduced Herod, who’s the opponent of John, the one who is answered this question that the crowd has asked.

00:14:38:54 – 00:15:07:24
Michael Gewecke
Right? They’re asking themself, Is this the Messiah? And they are. They’re asking, what should we do? And here’s a example par excellence of someone who is chosen to do the wrong thing. He’s chosen to double down on his selfishness and his power, his acclaim, his resources, and to wield that hold over other people. And it’s just striking to me that maybe some of that winnowing, some of that chaff is being represented.

00:15:07:25 – 00:15:19:53
Michael Gewecke
I mean, the text may be moving to who that is who exemplifies that. And I think it’s fascinating what we might learn if we read the text without jumping to conclusions right off the bat.

00:15:20:31 – 00:15:50:07
Clint Loveall
Yeah, it’s difficult when we we see terms or themes that are loaded. It’s difficult for us not to bring extra stuff to the text that may not be what the text actually says or or means. Also, Luke has a pretty profound way here as verse 19 and 20 maybe feel dropped on to us where John the Baptist. John the Baptist.

00:15:50:09 – 00:16:08:38
Clint Loveall
Oh yeah. And Herod John made Herod mad and he ended up in prison. That’s a hard stop for Luke. And it’s it’s very much the way in which he sort of says, John the Baptist has done these things. The last thing he does, at least that we hear from him is that he predicts the coming of the next one.

00:16:09:18 – 00:16:50:31
Clint Loveall
And then we really kind of we really kind of put that story aside. Fascinating that in tomorrow’s text, we’ll see the baptism. And the baptism doesn’t even mention, John, in other gospels, we get this story of John and Jesus interacting. That’s not the case here at all. Luke has really told John’s story for a purpose, and when he’s done with it, he’s kind of done with it and he’s ready to move on and he does so I think, more abruptly than some of the other gospels, maybe, I would argue all the other gospels.

00:16:50:31 – 00:17:17:36
Clint Loveall
Michael And me, I suppose you could split hairs on that. But it’s a this isn’t a subtle transition. This is really a hard stop. And change direction. And I think it’s it’s interesting. I think in some ways Luke wants to make sure and maybe this would be the way a historian thinks that he’s he has to mention, John, And now that he’s done that, he’s ready to move on.

00:17:19:08 – 00:17:40:49
Clint Loveall
But he seems he seems at least aware of, if not concerned by the fact that he wants Jesus to stand alone and he does not want John and the role of John to add any kind of confusion to what I think he wants to do next.

00:17:40:49 – 00:18:01:01
Michael Gewecke
And I think that this is the right moment to ask what has John done in the preparing? And I think one of the things he’s done is he’s revealed the spiritual hunger of the people. He’s revealed that there is indeed a desire for transformation and for people to have an opportunity to respond. What shall we do? I think John has showed us that.

00:18:01:20 – 00:18:38:07
Michael Gewecke
But beyond that, he is also prepared the first step of showing what the people cannot do, that baptism is all well and good, and it’s that action of repentance that that does matter in the spiritual life. But ultimately, Luke is going to tell us the story of Jesus, whose life is the the Salvific middle. If it’s not for Jesus and his giving of himself, of his grace for us, really, none of our action does matter, because ultimately it’s Jesus, the Son of God who dies, rises again, ascends into heaven.

00:18:38:07 – 00:19:03:54
Michael Gewecke
It’s him who enables the kind of conversion response that the crowd is seeking. And I think that is one of the things that Luke does so masterfully as he is telling us. John’s story, which provides us some back story and also is a greater less than the situation that John is, is seen as great among the people. And Luke is now going to proceed to show us how much lesser John is than Jesus.

00:19:04:08 – 00:19:23:31
Michael Gewecke
And so if the people see John’s greatness and Jesus is so much more, what does that have to teach about us, about Jesus? These are all ways that I think John is helping to set the stage for Jesus, and I think it’s masterfully written. The only other note I would would point out your and Clint, correct me if I’m wrong on this, I was running through my mind.

00:19:24:52 – 00:19:50:52
Michael Gewecke
I can’t think of another person on Jesus’s team like the disciples or his followers. I can’t think of another example where the people get it, where where they are humble in the face of Jesus. You know, at some point, Peter and John, all of them have their their lapses in faith. They all have their seeking and vying for power.

00:19:51:03 – 00:20:15:30
Michael Gewecke
What does seem unique about John is the gospel account is one that, yes, he makes Herod mad, but when Jesus shows up, he sees Jesus for who He is. He He honors Jesus. He humbles himself before Jesus. The Gospels have a very positive account of John’s faith in a way. I can’t recall the same kind of consistency being for the other believers.

00:20:15:59 – 00:20:47:15
Clint Loveall
No, I mean, there’s there’s some complimentary moments of other characters. But John is uniquely celebrated. In fact, some have suggested that John is such a powerful figure that maybe by this point, the point that Luke has written, the church is trying to build in a little bit of separation. But you have you have an expanded treatment of John in another gospels.

00:20:47:15 – 00:21:25:57
Clint Loveall
You know, there’s that there’s that wonderful line he must increase and I must decrease. You’ve got, though, that kind of thing. You’ve got in other gospels, John sends disciples to Jesus to ask them questions, and Jesus and John sort of have this running conversation about what it means to be the Messiah and what it doesn’t mean. I think in Luke we can say we see a strong treatment of John the Baptist, but very much subordinate to the treatment that Luke is going to give Jesus, that that’s not untrue.

00:21:25:57 – 00:22:07:17
Clint Loveall
In the other Gospels, but I think it’s especially true in Luke. The other thing I think we see and we see it briefly 19 and 20 here, John proclaims, The truth speaks against evil and it costs him. And and in that we see a pattern, we see a small signpost of what is to come. Luke doesn’t want to play that card yet, but we clearly see if we’re if we read carefully, we clearly encounter the idea that you can be doing the right things for the right reason.

00:22:07:17 – 00:22:30:43
Clint Loveall
You can be moved by faith and still end up on the wrong side of the world’s anger and the world’s power. And that is a very subtle. Luke doesn’t mention it, but it is a very subtle pointer of where the Jesus story is going to end up, I think.

00:22:31:03 – 00:22:53:58
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, and it would be less subtle if you were in that first generation of Christians who knew someone who was put in prison for their faith and your church was bringing them food and prison because otherwise they wouldn’t get it. I think some of these references are coded in that way that that he doesn’t need to say it explicitly or directly because the earliest readers would have understood them implicitly.

00:22:53:58 – 00:22:54:54
Michael Gewecke
I think that’s a great point.

00:22:54:55 – 00:23:20:13
Clint Loveall
Well, yeah, I mean, if you’re the great prophet who’s going to herald the Messiah and you go and you proclaim repentance and baptism, and by the way, you make Herod mad and he you end up in prison, that both of those things are true, You are godly, you are proclaiming truth, and you end up punished. And that is a paradigm that’s going to matter in all of the gospels as well.

00:23:20:13 – 00:23:38:43
Michael Gewecke
So thanks for being with us for the length of this study. Friends, it’s good to spend time together. Hope there’s been something interesting, new and challenging for you in this. Certainly like this video, please. That helps other people find it later in the course of their own study. Subscribe to Stick with us in the midst of this series and we look forward to seeing you all tomorrow.

00:23:39:07 – 00:23:47:51
Clint Loveall
Thanks, everybody.