The Road to Jerusalem

Adventures on the Road

Labor Day weekend Jason, Kristen and Edris drove to Denver to be in a wedding.

It was supposed t/b a long weekend and back in MP Sunday or Monday.

Their car broke down while they were there and 2 weeks later discovered it was not worth fixing.

We flew them back. They’re here and we’re all working out transportation now.

Twice Sara and I have been on trips and had our car break down.

First, We drove from Dallas to Taos to ski w/ her parents.

Subaru broke down. Early fuel injection. No one could fix it there so we had to tow it to Albuquerque. Turned out t/b an electronic censor.

The fix was inexpensive. The tow however.

The second time we were driving from Minot to Wichita to visit my family. 3 kids asleep in the back of the mini-van, 1:30 in the am, about an hour outside Wichita on an interstate under construction the van just died.

Trucks whizzing by. No cell phone.

This weird guy in a pickup w/ a topper on the back stopped.

Sara got into the cab w/ our youngest. I got into the bed w/ our 2 oldest. We completely at his mercy.

Turned out he is a Christian who cleaned floors in convenience stores during the night. He drove us to my folks house.

Do you remember the old movies, “The Road to...

Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour

Between 1940 and 1962 they made 7 movies.

Singapore

Zanzibar

Morocco

Utopia

Rio

Bali

Hong Kong

All classic comedies about the adventures of the trip.

We are at a point in Jesus’ ministry when He is going on a journey that Luke wrote about.

It’s certainly not a comedy, it’s a tragedy. But, it’s a tragedy that’s filled w/ drama and ends w/ victory.

Today, we are looking at 2 miracles that occured during this journey that will demonstrate...

If we approach Jesus with humility and honesty, He will deal w/ us w/ grace and mercy and relieve us of our heavy burdens.

Miracles #28 and #29.

and .

Context

Jesus’ last few weeks

In our study of the miracles we are making the final turn and entering the home stretch. This study will take us 2 weeks into November.

Jesus is just a few weeks away from the cross.

It’s time for Him to start His final journey to Jerusalem.

All of His lessons have been important. But, now, these last few are of most importance.

The miracles and parables teach the most important things He wants the disciples to get before He leaves.

Chiasm in 9:51-19:27

Luke wrote about this journey in 9:51 thru 19:27.

This entire passage is structured as a chiasm.

A grammatical structure where the main point is in the middle.

We Westerners think linearly therefore our main ideas are at the end. We build up to it.

At the beginning and end of the passage there are 2 separate events that are related that function as parentheses.

Inside each, the same.

There can be any number of points in a chiasm.

4: A, B, B’, A’

This chiasm has 32 points.

Starts w/ A. Goes thru P. Then, P’ back down to A’.

And, the main point of the entire passage is P and P’.

A. It’s time to start the final journey

Luke 9:51 NIV

As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

Time to go up to heaven.

Implied, thru the cross and empty tomb.

B/C Israel has rejected Jesus the Kingdom has been delayed.

The Church age will begin at Pentecost and end when Jesus returns again.

N. Parable of a fig tree

13:1-9 for 3 years a fig tree has produced no fruit so the owners wants his gardener to cut the tree down.

The gardener convinces the owner to give him one more year and w/ some special treatment he hopes to get fruit.

If no fruit, he will cut is down then.

Jesus just sent out 70 believers, 2x2, into Jewish villages to give them one more chance to humble themselves, repent and believe.

God’s delay is a gracious act to allow more time for more people to come to faith.

O. 13:10-17 a miracle healing a woman who had been stooped over for 18 years.

P. 13:18-21 Parable of the growth of the kingdom. What starts small like a mustard seed will grow into a huge tree.

B/C the Kingdom has been delayed it will provide the opportunity for many, many Gentiles to get in.

P’. 13:22-35 A parable about the narrow door that Israel will not get thru because they rejected Jesus.

God will judge Israel b/c they had so many opportunities and still they rejected Him.

Not only has the Kingdom been put on hold to allow believing Gentiles in, God has put Israel on hold and He will get back to them and finally deal w/ their lack of faith during the Tribulation.

O’. 14:1-6 a miracle healing a man w/ a water-retention problem.

N’. 14:7-15 2 parables about inviting people to a feast where those who believe they are honored end up in less honorable seats and those who are humble and admit they are not honorable end up in honorable seats.

Point being, people typically don’t repent b/c they are not humble enough to admit their sin or its seriousness.

Those who do are honored by God, even those who do at the last minute.

A’. 19:11-27 a parable about investing money.

The Jews don’t want Jesus t/b their King so they don’t invest the assets He gives them in His Kingdom activities.

Those do want Jesus t/b their King do invest what He gives them and they earn dividends in the form of more people coming to faith and qualifying to get into the Kingdom.

Then, the next thing in Luke is the Triumphal Entry.

So, this morning we’re looking at the 2 miracles right at the target zone, sweet spot, main point middle of this entire passage.

On the journey to Jerusalem, these are among the last miracles Jesus performs w/ messages that are among the most important for us to get.

Jesus Will Lift Your Burden

Luke

Luke 13:10–17 NIV

On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Picture of Israel

This is the last recorded miracle in a synagogue

The woman’s condition is a vivid picture of the condition of Israel.

She’d had lived the first part of her life standing straight.

But, for the last 18 years, bent over, unable to stand upright.

Israel started out faithful.

For the last 500 years unable to stand upright before God because of their unrepentant hearts.

The weight of their sin bent them over.

Their situation, like the woman’s, dire, but not hopeless.

Jesus offered them both hope.

Jesus’ offer

God had been calling Israel to return to Him long before Jesus showed up.

Malachi 3:7 NIV

Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

The answer is simple.

Faith. Believe IN God. Believe you sin and take it as seriously as God does.

Repent: Own it. Apologize for it. Stop it.

Jesus’ offer to Israel and the woman.

Come to me and I will relieve your burden.

Israel rejected Jesus.

But the woman accepted His offer.

As she stood upright before Jesus (God) she glorified God for

She responded in faith.

Her faithful response

For the first time in 18 years she’s looking someone else in the eye, not staring at their feet.

She’s eye to eye w/ Jesus, standing upright before God.

Her faith in Him as her Messiah gave her the ability to stand upright spiritually in front of Him.

Her faith in Him also gave her the ability to stand upright physically in front of Him.

She glorified God, made Him look good. She didn’t claim that she earned this or deserved t/b healed b/c she’s been so religious.

Her humble faith made her well.

Jesus would do the same for all Israel if they would do the same as she did.

Israel’s faithless response

But, they didn’t

Rather than celebrating w/ the woman the synagogue ruler called Jesus out for doing this for her on the Sabbath.

Again, more concerned about their religious traditions than the people in their charge.

Jesus called them out by using their own contradictory traditions against them.

It’s not against their traditions to free their beasts of burden in order to give them water.

But they call out Jesus for freeing this woman from her burden so she can drink of Jesus’ living water.

She was Jewish by blood and faith.

She responded to Jesus’ invitation and was freed.

Freedom from the burden of guilt and sin that weighed her down worse than her skeletal condition.

Israel burdened people with the weight of useless traditions and rules while Jesus frees people from the burdens of their religious rituals and sins.

The woman was humble and freed.

The religious leadership was humiliated and burdened.

Here we are in the center of the passage where Jesus makes it clear that the Kingdom, while delayed, is going to grow fast and huge as it’s now open to everyone.

Israel has been put on hold. Jesus will deal w/ the Nation when He returns.

While the opportunity is now open to all Non-Jews, it’s not too late for individual Jews to respond w/ humility and repent.

If only the Jewish leadership would love the people and value them the way God does and instructed them too, then everything could have been different.

But they didn’t. They loved their children and valued their dumb animals more than the people God sent them to care for.

Next miracle, #29

Their Silence was Deafening

Luke 14:1–6 NIV

One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” And they had nothing to say.

Jesus’ loving touch

This was a man who had a water-retention problem.

He was severely swollen.

Hard to look at. Hard to be around.

Cultural norms would have led them to believe he had a spiritual problem that led to his physical problem.

Meaning, he’s cursed so no one would want to be around him.

They are at a prominent Pharisee’s house.

What’s he doing there?

He would not have been on this guest list unless he was a plant there to help them entrap Jesus.

It was a set up. They used him.

Think what went thru his mind. He’s been invited to this party. Finally, after all the cruel things they’ve said about him to his face and behind his back.

Now, he’s IN.

He gets there and realized he wasn’t invited b/c they had changed their feelings about him and now accepted him and honored him. No, they used Him just like every time before.

This was c1 body-shaming.

Again, Jesus called them out. It was never against the law to perform an act of mercy for someone on the Sabbath.

Jesus asked. But, rather than agree, they remained silent.

Here’s a man they had been afraid to touch or else they might catch what he had. Physically he was dying, his social life was dead, spiritually unable to attend worship.

Jesus took him, probably hugged him, then healed him.

After he sent him on his way, he turned his attention to the people there who were trying to entrap Him.

You valued the wrong things

They loved their children and valued their dumb animals.

If any of them fell into a well and risked drowning they wouldn’t hesitate go to work and pull them out, Sabbath or not.

An act of mercy.

Any of these have a water problem and they wouldn’t think twice. They’d immediately get to work.

What are the 2 greatest commands?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

These ppl loved their children, appropriately so. They knew how to treat ppl they loved.

And they valued their dumb beasts of burden, as they should.

But, clearly they did not love God nor the ppl he sent them to care for.

They also valued their traditions above both. They weighted down the people w/ rules that served like an anchor.

They were drowning under this weight and the leadership no only allowed it to happen, they were the cause.

They rejected Jesus and His calling on their lives to lead the people to Him.

While their situation was dire, it wasn’t hopeless.

If they would have approached Jesus w/ humility He would have responded w/ grace and mercy.

The woman and man who were healed did.

The decision had already been made to delay the Kingdom and open it up to people whom it had never been open to before.

It’s now an individual decision. It wasn’t too late for them. And, it’s not too late for us.

Applications

Burdens

Jesus said His yoke is

Matthew 11:28–30 NIV

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

If what you are carrying is destroying you, then it’s something God never intended for you to carry.

You’re trying to save people that only God can save.

You’re trying to do what only God can do.

Give up trying be God. Just be you.

God’s delays

I have to admit I am eager for Jesus to return to put me out of my misery.

It really is all about me, and maybe a little about my kids and all of you.

Hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, threats of nuclear war and economic collapse. Please don’t make us go through any more of this.

So, as God delays His return it can seem cruel.

But, in reality, it’s merciful.

Everyone of these disasters provides more people with the opportunity to turn to Him and be saved.

The longer He delays, the more will come.

Don’t resent having to suffer longer here.

There is a number of Gentiles that God is waiting for to punch their ticket to the Kingdom.

So, if you want to see the Kingdom come sooner rather than later, actively pursue activities that increase the numbers of Gentiles who come to Jesus to be saved.

Now, that’s still a little selfish, but only a little.

Humility

We don’t repent b/c we’re not humble enough to admit our sin nor its seriousness.

God takes our sin so seriously He sent Jesus to die for it.

Christians are already forgiven for every sin we commit.

But, if we fail to admit we do it, fail to apologize to God for it, and fail to stop it; it will create a distance between us and God.

The farther away from God we are, the more burdened and bent over we will be.

Religious practices can either help us or hurt us.

Humbly come to Jesus every day.

He will set you free from whatever you have bound yourself w/.

In our lives, there may be situations that are dire. It’s never hopeless, though.

If we will approach Jesus w/ humility He will respond w/ grace and mercy.

The woman and man who were healed did.

We don’t deserve anything good He does for us.

But whatever burdens cripple us, He will take from us.

All we have to do is own our sin, apologize for it, and stop it.

It’s an individual decision.

It’s never too late.

Communion