The Weeping King

Luke 19:37, 38, 41

As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives— the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it...

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What are things that make me weep?

Exhaustion, weariness, frustrated plans, shame over my own sin, sympathy for a friend who is painfully sick or mourning the loss of family. These are all fitting things to weep over.  But, how frequently do I weep for the spiritual condition of my city? For the blindness that causes people to curse God or simply ignore his kindness in their lives.

Why does a king weep?

In Luke 19, Jesus enters Jerusalem with a throng of supporters declaring his coming kingship. Luke describes this crowd by citing their eager expectation of an immediate political regime change (19:11). We then see the symbols of the donkey and the palm branches, traditional elements of coronation ceremonies in that culture. And the Pharisees demand that Jesus put a stop to what they see as treason and blasphemy and insurrection! But Jesus accepts the adoration, for it is perfectly fitting - a foretaste of his eventual exaltation.

Eventual.

In the meantime, he must face the cross and death and the penalty of mankind's sin - all for a wicked, ungrateful, and blind generation. That's enough to make a king weep, which is exactly what he proceeds to do.

He weeps for one reason: their judgment is coming, and they are too blind to see that he himself is the way of escape. The time of his visitation is arrived, but they bicker and quarrel. The Creator himself has come down and revealed the beauty and power of heaven! And they sell animals in the temple for a quick profit. The pathway to peace is among them, but they choose strife, pride, envy, greed, and violent abuse of enemy and friend alike. 

Jesus weeps for them, even as they stand rightly condemned before his holiness and authority. The king has come down from his throne to die like a lamb for those who barely pay attention or notice.

Do I weep for those not worthy of tears? If not, then do I really know the heart of God?

The Bitter Son Who Stayed

Luke 15:1, 2

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."

Luke 15:25-32

"Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, "Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound." But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, "Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!" And he said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found." 

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It was tempting to focus today's meditation on the parts of the chapter where forgiveness, compassion, and joy are so colorfully portrayed. The shepherd rejoicing over his lost sheep, the woman rejoicing over the valuable coin she had searched for so diligently, and the emotional reunion of a patient father with his wayward son - these parables tug at our heart strings and whispers to us that God has reached across the chasm of human evil and welcomed us home to be his children forever. Few chapters of the Bible receive more attention and rightly so.

But, if the opening and closing statements of this chapter are any indicator, Luke appears to be drawing our attention not only to the mercy of our Abba Father, but to the folly of ignoring and spurning this mercy. Jesus is telling us that there is something about this heartwarming narrative that many people will ignore and even despise.

Perhaps what is considered folly here is the idea that God has welcomed even those that we ourselves hate and distrust. Jesus dined with sinners and tax collectors - the outcasts of his day. This was outlandish to the religious leaders.

Perhaps it was the quickness of God's mercy that struck the leaders. Jesus paints the older son in the place of the Pharisees, and his reaction to the feast for his brother is anything but positive. This feast seemed completely unfair and seemed to ignore completely the gravity of the younger son's shameful lifestyle. He had humiliated his father! Now he is being celebrated? And so quickly? So soon after the shame had took place? This was scandalous!

Perhaps what seemed so foolish to the religious leaders was that the gravitational center of their worldview was so publicly discarded by Jesus and his love for sinners. The older brother's objections revolved around himself! Where's my party? How about a goat? I've served you and I get nothing!

Which shows so clearly who they were really serving, doesn't it? They were serving themselves, even with all their knowledge of Scripture and zealous practice of rituals. It was about justifying themselves in the eyes of their Father, rather than admitting their utter inability and running to him for the unfair grace that he so freely offers.

Unfair grace.

It is unfair for the younger son to get a feast! Ever fiber of our sense of justice agrees with the older son. But that's because we have gotten things so wrong, and missed who is really at the center.

My confession is that I've often acted like the older son, especially at my job at Humana. I get pretty competitive sometimes, and I am often tempted to wish for the misfortune of others, rather than celebrate when they succeed, even if they are promoted or recognized before me or more than me. This feeling of envy is the opposite of Christlike love, as Schaeffer pointed out in his True Spirituality:

"Natural desires have become coveting against a fellow creature, one of our kind, a fellow man, when we have a mentality that would give us secret satisfaction at his misfortune. If a man has something, and he loses it, do we have an inward pleasure?"

To covet, envy, and lust for my own superiority is the height of self-idolatry and is utterly offensive to God. The lesson for us is to apply the picture of the younger son to our immediate context, instead of living out the self-righteousness of the older son.

For me, that means working at Humana in such a way that seeks the betterment of others, that serves them without expectation of return or even recognition. It means being more shocked at my selfish interest than I am shocked at God's unfair grace. It means trusting that the feast will come and that my Father himself alone is reward enough for life's trials and tests.

It means joining the feast, for it is really all about Him.

Judging Books by Their Covers

Luke 13:30

And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.

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We humans like to judge.

We judge people based on their skin color, their clothes, the kind of car they drive (or lack thereof), and any number of superficial factors that may or may not be someone's own choice.

Luke 13 contains several examples of misguided human judgment, and concludes with a glimpse into the far more accurate judgment of God.

1. We judge those who have experienced unexpected calamity. Verses 1-5 reveal that people assumed that those who suffered under the Roman government or some unfortunate death were somehow to blame by their own sin. This is not unlike some modern Christian groups who protest funerals, condemn those who suffer, or try to interpret natural disasters as specific judgments from God for various sinful lifestyles. Jesus immediately countered this false judgment with a reminder that ALL of us stand condemned apart from repentance and faith in God's saving power.

2. We judge those in the church who don't appear very fruitful. Verses 6-9 are about a fig tree, but really it's about not being hasty in our judgment of brothers and sisters who struggle in their faith or their lifestyle habits. Jesus reminds us that his judgment will come eventually, but in the meantime, let's give that person another chance to bear fruit.

3. We judge those with special needs. Verses 10-17 show that physical ailment was seen as a sign of God's disfavor. Jesus counters that this woman was really a victim of Satan's power to cripple - perhaps another way of saying that we are all cursed since Adam and equally susceptible to any number of painful circumstances. John 9 delves into this further, as Jesus countered the assumption that a man born blind must be suffering due to his sin, or his parents' sin. The truth was that the immediate cause of suffering or misfortune is less important than God's ultimate purpose of showing his glory in our weakness:

Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him." (John 9:3)

The chapter ends with a glimpse into God's perfect judgment, which is not based on superficial things, but on the heart. Jesus tells us that many will choose the wide path, thinking they are saved and right with God. Many who are first will be last. When all is finally revealed, many of us may be very surprised.

Notice also the glimpse into Jesus' compassion as he laments over Jerusalem (13:31-35). God's judgment over the city was based on their rebellious hearts, rather than any superficial reason. And his judgment was full of grieving compassion, not petty hatred. Compassion and righteous judgment hang together, much like mercy and justice in the heart of God.

So, judgment is tricky, and often abused. But, I should note that just because it is often misguided, that does not imply we should never judge anyone. If we are slow to judgment, praying to understand each man's heart, and full of compassion, we may grow to judge our neighbor more accurately - exposing and confronting evil for the good of our neighbors and to the glory of a holy and just God.

I pray that I can receive the judgment advice from God that Samuel received long ago:

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

The Heart of a Prophet

Matthew 23:37-39

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'

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After flawlessly answering the well-designed questions and attacks of the religious leaders, Jesus turns the tables and lets loose one of the most scathing critiques of the scribes and Pharisees ever uttered in his teaching. He blasts their hypocrisy, their pride, their futility, their false logic, their poor priorities, their insincerity, their hidden uncleanness, and concludes by making them complicit in all the murders of the prophets sent from God. The blood of every martyr was called down upon their heads. This is Jesus the prophet.

Based on what I know about the Old Testament prophets, here are a couple of parallels I see between this passage and the classical prophecies that came before:

1. The Emotions of God. The earmark of a true prophet is that he feels and communicates the heartbeat of God Himself. He is a living, breathing channel for the words of God. And, in the cases of Hosea and Ezekiel, he communicates God's message through actions as well as words. The point is, that God feels very strongly concerning the rebellion and heart-break of human sin, and even more strongly concerning the people who perpetuate that sin when they should be living to correct it - in this case, the hypocrisy and duplicity of the scribes and Pharisees.

2. The Justice of God. Another common thread in classical prophecy is God's desire for justice. Whether it's the rolling stream of justice described by Amos, or the true fasting of justice described by Isaiah, this theme presents the motivating vision behind the prophets' words. God will not tolerate the destructive and oppressive consequences of human sinfulness. Rather: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)

3. The Mercy of God. People often fail to see the mercy that is inherent to the harsh statements of the prophets (and of Jesus). We hear Jesus saying "Woe to you" and "Blind guides!" and "Hypocrites!" and we naturally cringe, wondering where is the gentle shepherd who we know from most paintings of Jesus. Well, in reality, these apparently judgmental statements communicate a message of mercy. Just the fact that God sent warnings, rather than cutting straight to annihilation, is evidence that we have received abundant mercy. Jesus' threatens the Pharisees with the fire of hell, but he does not send them to hell right then and there!

There is an implicit and explicit offer of forgiveness and new life, if they would hear the warning and turn from the injustice and hypocrisy. This is why almost all of the classical prophets (and this chapter in Matt. 23) conclude with a brief message of hope, a window into the heartbreak of God. Hosea revealed the heart of a father longing for his wayward son (11:1-9); Jonah revealed the heart of a king saddened by the hedonism of a pagan city (4:10-11); Zephaniah wraps up his fire and brimstone with a glance at the future, where God will rejoice and sing over the ones that he loves (3:17). Jesus is no different. He reveals here the heart of a mother desiring to gather her children to her bosom, but being rejected. And sadly, though the prophets offered hope in the midst of injustice, they were almost always rejected, beaten, and killed.

It would be no different for Jesus. Except, that his death would not be the end of the story.