Month: November 2021

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Faith That Saves

Two tables. Two hosts. Two salvations.

The episodes I want to examine are both found in the gospel of Luke. The first one is toward the end of Luke 7 and involves a Pharisee named Simon who asked Jesus to come to dinner at his home.

The word on the street was that Jesus was very comfortable to share a meal with tax collectors and sinners. This activity brought questions and scoffs and mockery.

Jesus had an answer for such slanders and accusations: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). This habit of His was part of His healing mission, He said.

How would things go for Jesus at the table of “healthy” man?

Casual Reception

I am sure the Pharisee’s invitation carried an ulterior motive. It was calculated, a setup of sorts. Simon knew the talk of Jesus. Some were calling Him a prophet. His words were words that projected authority; His talk left hearers astonished with its clarity and penetration. His miracle works of healing and deliverance created a remarkable stir, an expectation was growing that perhaps the Messiah had really come.

Yes, Simon indeed had heard of His sermons and His works. His invitation offered him an opportunity for this “healthy” one to gauge the carpenter’s Son from Nazareth at close range.

And so Jesus showed up. However, His reception at the home was of a perfunctory sort. His was a somewhat chilly and borderline dishonorable welcome when judged by the cultural standards of the day and region.

The Son was not met with a kiss of greeting; He was given no water with which to clean His dusty feet; nor was the courtesy of fragrant oil for His sun-parched brow extended to Him. Still, Jesus entered and took His place of recline with the others there and was prepared to enjoy the meal that was to come.

An Uninvited Visitor

The scene at the Pharisee’s home soon was interrupted by one of the “sick” ones. A “woman of the city,” one well known as the village harlot, came in and she reached the Feet of Jesus. She began kissing those Feet and weeping upon them. She let her hair hang down – a somewhat immodest act when done in public — and with her hair she began to wipe those Feet. She lavished one more thing upon those sacred Feet as she broke a box of costly perfume and poured it out.

Likely this final act represented that there had been a real transformation in her life. This perfume was among the important tools of her trade in the sex market in which she trafficked. Here, she abandoned this valuable essence and sought to put aside her sordid livelihood. She was giving herself to the Lord.

Another from among the publicans and sinners had become a friend of Jesus. She crashed the dinner party and turned the event into a salvation celebration. For that’s what this became in the Savior’s heart anyway.

Hearts Revealed

Simon the Pharisee was too incredulous and too filled with scorn even to speak. Instead, thoughts of contempt percolated within him: “This Man cannot be from God for no holy Teacher would allow Himself to be part of something like this,” he thought.

Jesus heard those thoughts as if they were spoken out loud. He delivered a parable on big debtors and small debtors and drove home the point that those forgiven much are those who love much.

Forgiveness? Did Simon even realize how much he needed it? He did at least “judge rightly” in noting that those who are shown greater mercy respond with greater love.

Jesus then brought things to head with these words to her: “’Your sins are forgiven.’ Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this, who even forgives sins?’ And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace’” (Luke 7:49-50).

A Man Up a Tree

The other episode we want to look at is in Luke 19. It happens in the town of Jericho. There, a tax collector named Zacchaeus was stuck in the midst of a crowd awaiting the Lord’s arrival. Being a short man, Zacchaeus got himself up into a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus as He walked into town.

This time Jesus took matters into His hands, setting up His own lunch date with the notorious publican. “Zacchaeus, get out of that tree. I must eat at your table today,” announced the Savior.

The atmosphere was soon thick with consternation. Those in the throng muttered aloud about Jesus’ choice of company. The man was a cheat and a crook and all of Jericho knew it.

By the time Jesus reached his table, Zacchaeus was changed. Born again, the tax collector committed himself to new way of living. “And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, the half of my goods give to the poor. And if I have jdefrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost’” (Luke 19:8-10).

More Than Friends

This is one of the clear presentations from Jesus on the matter of saving faith. Abraham believed and was made a friend of God. By faith, righteousness was counted to him. Lost and desperate Zacchaeus was called out of the tree and shown the way to new life in Jesus.

The Son came to seek and to save – us, all of us. Revelation 3speaks of the Lamb of God knocking on our doors, bidding us to open up to Him. If we let Him in, He will sit down at our table and sup with us (see Revelation 3:20).

It’s a great bargain, a great exchange – He gives us His life for ours. All we have to offer Him is our faith, and that’s enough for Him.

Just open the door. Believe God, believe Him more than ever. He forgives and restores and cleanses. Friends of God are made this way.

He sees as more than friends really. He sees us as One with Him. He sees each of us as He sees Himself, as the Son of the Most High.

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The All We Have to Give

A widow marched to the offering box with all that she had, as we read in Mark 12. Just two mites were in her hand – all of the money she had to her name. A mite represented the smallest and least valuable of the coins in circulation during Jesus’ days on earth. It is likely that a single penny plucked out of a gutter on Dundalk Avenue would count for more monetarily than what this woman gave.

Others in the giving line that day, for sure, deposited far more by economic and business standards. But were these ones being as generous as her?

On this day, the Lord was watching and He liked what he saw.

Jesus took note of this widow and her gift, and He rejoiced. He gathered His disciples to Him and made much of her. “Truly I tell you, this widow has put more into the treasury than all the others,” the Savior explained (see Mark 12:43).Here was someone willing to give her all to the work of God. Her action revealed a wealth, a richness that exceeded the riches as they are measured by our world.

The One with Almost Everything

This story comes to us a couple of chapters after Jesus encountered a rich, young ruler. That man was a man of means. He had money, youth, and power – everything that the world counts as valuable was his.

Still, this rich, young ruler was missing something and he knew it. He surmised that he was somehow poor. The sense of his poverty brought him to Jesus. He fell before the Savior and asked:  “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (See Mark 10:17).

Jesus first deflated his words of flattery – “Why do you call Me good? None is good except God alone” – and then told him to keep the commandments. These things, the man claimed to have done from his youth.

Next came what Mark described as a moment of divine affection:  “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, You lack one thing:  go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me’” (see Mark 10:21).

Go, sell, give, come and follow. Simple and huge commandments had been laid before the rich, young ruler; these commandments were directed straight at his heart. He was unready for such an answer. He left the scene in dismay and grief, Mark wrote, for his possessions were many and these things possessed him, as they so easily do when we wed ourselves to the ways of the world.

Jesus sorrowed too at that moment. “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God?” He lamented to His disciples as the man walked away.

Seek His Face

What became of this rich, young ruler?

We aren’t told specifically. Some have conjectured that this man was really John Mark himself, the very one who wrote the story. The Bible, however, leaves open the question of his identity. The Word of God refuses to behave like fairy tales and legend stories. Tidy endings very often go missing, and we are left in wonder and moved to consider afresh His unsearchable judgments, His ways that are passed finding out (see Romans 11:33).

What the Bible does clearly tell us is this:  “Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His face evermore” (Psalm 105:4). His face, God wants us to come before His face.

This is the richness of real life in God. David wrote, “You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to You, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek’” (Psalm 27:8).

Could it be that the rich, young ruler had this going on inside of him? Jesus was there and this man wondered of a better life, of a life before the Lord, of a life eternal and forever, of the life missing among his prosperity. And so he sought the face of God in Jesus. He put himself right there.

This brings to my mind Ecclesiastes 3:11:  “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

The widow had so little by sight. Something in her brought her to the Temple on that day. She saw the richness of God and His grace. She committed herself to Him. She was richer than she, or anyone of the others giving that day, could imagine. She embodied what James wrote:  “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” (James 2:5).

The rich, young ruler, perhaps, wanted to be an heir in the Kingdom. He wanted peace with the Lord and an understanding and security in the life that comes from above. I pray that he did bring himself to heed the words of the Lord. I want to believe that he gave away his possessions to possess what really matters.

Oh, how rich we are because of our faith in Him. May we realize this eternal reality. And may we be generous with the love and faith the Lord has poured into us. Let us bless others and forgive and show mercy and walk before Him in His greatness.

Small things are never despised by Jesus. Anything given with the whole heart is worthy of honor for what the world sees as last is made first in Heaven.

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The Shadow of His Wings

A lot gets said about the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. We really make quite a to-do about the Christmas story with its manger. And well we should. Christmas comes during a season when it’s colder and darker. We enjoy the proclamation of the Light of God entering into our world. This warms our hearts.

Jesus came to earth with an ultimate purpose and eternal destinations in mind. We are getting close to that time of the year when we celebrate the Son and the story of His arrival, His original Advent, the time when He allowed Himself to live a “little lower than the angels.”

There will be dramatic presentations featuring choirs, Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men, the shepherds. Songs such as “Joy to the World” will ring throughout churches as we think on the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.

Yes, we hear plenty about how Jesus came – conceived of the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin girl. We also know a good bit about where He came from – the little town of Bethlehem, as prophesied in Micah 5:2. His birth was a miracle starting point – just the beginning of a series of things related to the Lord’s redemptive plans for the world that He so loves.

Now more than ever, what matters to me is where Jesus went and where He is at present.

The Savior reached His ultimate destination with the Ascension. He was lifted through the clouds to take His seat at the right hand of the Father. There, He sits as the Advocate for us. He speaks on our behalf for He brought perfected, glorified humanity to Heaven as the Resurrected One, the firstborn from the dead.

There were other stops along the way to this place of honor and intercession set above our world.

The Curtain Torn

During His days on earth, Jesus set His face “like a flint” toward Jerusalem and the Cross upon which He was nailed and hung (see Isaiah 50:7 and Luke 9:51). This city with its Golgotha – the skull hill of Roman execution — was to be the scene of His death.

He always understood this. The dark and bitter battle in Gethsemane marked a fierce struggle for the Son to push forward and reach the site of the ultimate offering for the sins of all. He labored in that Garden through a lonely and desperate evening of prayer for the Father’s will to be done.

He did arrive at the Cross – battered, scourged, crowned with thorns. He was lifted up from the earth as He said that He would be. From the wood He went to the grave, from the grave He came alive and went to the sky.

The reports of the crucifixion include the high moment when the Christ committed His spirit to the hands of the Father. “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split” (Matthew 27:51).

The curtain referred to in this passage is the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the worship center God had ordained and defined for His people. The only thing that rested behind that veil was the Mercy Seat. This seat was where the High Priest was to sprinkle the blood of atonement for the sins of the people.

The Mercy Seat

I have always been drawn to stories about the Mercy Seat. This significant item, related to the worship of God, is first introduced to us in the latter chapters of Exodus. The instructions for the Mercy Seat’s design and its position in the Tabernacle were given to Moses during his days before the Lord at Mount Sinai.

The Mercy Seat sat atop the Ark of the Covenant, a holy cupboard that originally contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments, a pot of manna saved from the days of Israel’s wilderness wanderings, and the budded almond branch labeled by Aaron that confirmed his family’s assignment to the priesthood.

This lid upon the Ark was a slab of pure gold and of one piece with the figures of two cherubim that framed it. The angel statues faced the space to which the blood was applied, their wings hanging over it and guarding it. This picture gets mentioned in a number of Psalms as “the shadow” of God’s wings. It is a place of refuge and rejoicing, according the songs attributed to David:

“Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings” (Psalm 17:8).

“Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by” (Psalm 57:1).

This Seat and the Ark it sat upon were rarely seen, at first. Only the High Priest was supposed to come before it as he entered into the Holy of Holies, illumined only by the glory of the presence of the Lord. And he was to do this just once a year on the Day of Atonement.

A reading of the Old Testament reveals that the Ark was eventually brought out into the open and not always for good reasons. In 1 Samuel, two diabolic priests carried the Ark to the battlefield because they perceived it would bring some magic power of victory to Israel’s army. They were wrong and they wound up dead, the Ark falling into the possession of the enemy Philistines.

Eventually, David brought the Ark with the Mercy Seat to his palace compound in Jerusalem. He sat and prayed before this as he ruled as Israel’s king.

Jesus, the eternal Son of David, would also come to the Mercy Seat, but not to the one fashioned by human hands.

The Blood Speaks

Like all things related to the Tabernacle and the Temple of Israel, the Mercy Seat was a figure of something actual and real in the place where God dwells. The book of Hebrews tells us this:  “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (Hebrews 9:24).

The veil was torn, as shown in the gospels, to indicate the new and living way that Christ made for us who believe upon Him. “He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12).

The Manger, the Cross, the Grave, the Throne — all of these are sacred places in the Gospel story, the telling of the works of the Son. We know them and talk about them and rejoice over what represent. They stir our faith.

For me, however, I want to ever keep the Mercy Seat in my mind. From that holy thing, the substance of our salvation continues to speak today, tomorrow, and forever. The Blood of the Lamb of God is there even now. The Blood answers every accusation made against us. We are declared to be all clean, made whiter than snow.

We stand redeemed in Him and eagerly await His arrival to reign as there will come the New Heavens and the New Earth.