The Scandal of Repentance

To be called to repent is surely one of the severest and sweetest things to come from Jesus lips. Severe in that it involves a fundamental acknowledgment of our worthlessness and need and sin. Sweet in that the one who repents experiences great joy and confidence because Christ and all his blessings are now freely theirs to enjoy. So repentance it is both scandalously hard, and scandalously good at the same time.
Last Sunday’s talk: Outraged by the Scandal (Luke 13:1-17) was one of the more difficult for me. It is hard to be faithful to the text and to bring out the severity and the sweetness at the same time. But it is even harder knowing there are people in our midst and in our lives who have not yet yielded to the call of Jesus and so God’s judgement hangs over them. To those unwilling to submit to the wonder and authority of Jesus the news from passages like this is not good. Yes it is doom and gloom…forever. But to the one willing to trust the unfailing and merciful gift of Christ for us, there is perfect joy and comfort….forever.
Please pray that more and more people would both feel the gravity of Jesus warnings and the wonder of his work for us. It will mean being brought to our knees in great sorrow. But it will also mean we will stay happily on our knees in awe and praise.

The Parable of the rich fool

Anthony writes the following for this week's blog:

The parable of the rich fool cuts to the heart of the sin of our age, living without a deep reference to God. The rich fool makes no account of the fact that it is God who makes the land produce bountifully, he finds security in wealth rather than knowing God and he operates with a godless perspective limiting time to the here and now rather than eternity. But like the rich fool we are fools if we live without a deep reference to God in all we do and all we have. Jesus will not arbitrate between two fools both of whom are living without deep reference to God, because Jesus' kingdom is not of this world, and it isn't concerned with the things of this world. It is in Jesus' kingdom that we find true security that lasts for eternity. So the scandal of wealth as Jesus portrays it is that wealth can lead a person who treasures it away from God as surely as I can lead a thirsty dog to water. The scandal of wealth is that rich people who trust Jesus can and do enter his kingdom. The scandal of wealth is that in our society and our culture there are countless millions of rich fools. Don't make the rich fool's mistake.

Further thoughts on the disaster of religion

     Luke's Gospel really does have one of the sharpest critiques of religion. The amount of meals, confrontations and explicit teaching from Jesus that undermines our natural approach to God is staggering. Chief tax collectors and criminals find there way into the Kingdom of God - religious experts find themselves excluded. It is a confronting read. 

     In reflecting further on Jesus rather confrontational dinner tactics in Luke 11:37-53, (remember those woes?) I can't help but think ahead into Luke 15 and how Jesus nails the religious yet again. But do we miss it?  This chapter contains the much loved Prodigal Son story, but I think calling it this can lead us into the very religious trap Jesus is seeking to demolish! Really it should be called the "Prodigal God" for the one who is excessive (prodigal means excessive) in the story is not the younger squandering Son, but the gracious forgiving Father. I think this title may help us sit up and take more note of the strong warning about 'older brotherness' that is highly likely to be alive and resident in our "churchy" hearts.

    We easily see the rebellion of the younger son who represents an open defiance to God expressed in immoral excess. However we don't often consider that the older brother is just as sinful. He needs salvation too - from his 'damnable good works' done is self righteousness.

     It means there are two ways you can rebel against God. You can either be really, really bad...or you can be really, really good! How can a legalistic really good religious life be a way of rebelling against God? Well it's a way of effectively shutting who God is out of our lives. The older brother syndrome believes that God owes us something. We force God's hand of favour...and we get cranky when God doesn't pay up. God becomes a means to an end. Indeed what happens is the legalist will end up railing against the God he/she says they serve.

     How the Pharisees and scribes hated Jesus....to death. How Jesus shattered their world. 

The  question Luke would ask us is this: Is the real Jesus shattering ours...for the better? Are we allowing the scandalous Jesus to be  reprogramming our natural religious default setting so we relate to God in humbleness, confidence and joy. This is something religion promises, but can never deliver.