Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

July 21, 2021

7/21/2021

A Public Messianic Statement

        The disciples...brought the donkey....Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?" And the crowds said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee." Matt. 21:6-11, ESV.

    The time for privacy is over. In his triumphal entry into Jerusalem Jesus is making a public statement that He is the Messiah.

    The surging crowd recognizes the moment by giving Him the red-carpet treatment as they spread branches and garments on the road for Him to ride over while shouting "Hosanna to the Son of David!" a title with unmistakable Messianic significance. "Hosanna" translated as "save, we pray thee." The people were ready for the salvational role of Jesus. But it would be much different from what they expected on this glorious day.

    And where did the crowds come from? And why were they so enthusiastic? For one thing, it was the Passover season that celebrated God's deliverance of the nation from Egyptian bondage. Thus the roads teemed with people from all over the Jewish world heading for Jerusalem.

    A second thing to note is that Lazarus had just been raised not far from the city. That outstanding miracle had caused widespread excitement.

    But perhaps most important is the manner in which Jesus chose to enter the city. His deliberate choice fanned to white-hot flame the excitement and tension already in the air. The Gospels tell us that He entered town astride the colt of a donkey. That is interesting for a man who has just walked all the way from Galilee. Certainly He had no physical need to ride the last two miles. Furthermore, Jesus has always walked. This is the only time we find the adult Jesus riding in any of the Gospels. What He is doing is obviously deliberate.

    It is guided by the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, which says that Jerusalem's "king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" (NIV). Jesus is making a definite Messianic statement. The crowds do not miss the point. And neither do the Jewish leaders, but to them it is a challenge rather than something to be joyful about.

July 20, 2021

7/20/2021

The Beginning of the End

        Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days."...He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." John 11:39-41, RSV.

    Here we find one of the most dramatic moments in the life of Jesus and His greatest miracle. The two other individuals whom the Gospels report that He had raised to life were only recently deceased. But here was one who had been dead for four days, and that was problematic in the warm climate of Palestine in which decomposition sets in rapidly.

    There is something else important about this story. When Jesus had raised Jairus' daughter in Mark 5, He ordered almost everyone out of the room. And after the event He told them not to tell anyone. But now He operates before a larger crowd, putting His reputation on the line as He shouts to Lazarus to come out.

    And he did! It must have been a heart-stopping moment as they witnessed the bandaged figure staggering out from the tomb.

    As He performed this miracle, Jesus undoubtedly had thoughts of His own approaching death and resurrection. The raising of Lazarus foreshadowed His own experience. But with differences. Lazarus was raised back to earthly existence, but Jesus to a heavenly ministry. While Lazarus would die again, Jesus would live forevermore.

    The very publicness of the resurrection of Lazarus would lead to the final events of Jesus' earthly life. His disciples had warned Him not to go back to Judea because the Jewish leaders were looking for an excuse to kill Him (John 11:8). And now He had provided them with one. "From that day on they took counsel how to put him to death" (verse 53, RSV). Interestingly, they also put Lazarus on their hit list because many of the Jews were "believing in Jesus" as a result of the man's resurrection (John 12:10, 11, RSV).

    This greatest of miracles had taken place in Bethany, just a few miles from Jerusalem. Soon Jesus would make His final entrance into the great city as the crowds surged into it for the Passover feast. And following that entry would come the climatic events of His life.

    The Lazarus miracle indicates the life-giving power of Jesus. It is that power that forms the basis of the good news that He came from heaven to share with us.

July 19, 2021

7/19/2021

Real Firstness

        Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Matt. 20:25-28, NKJV.

    Correct ideas of Messiahship go hand in hand with right ideas on what it means to be a follower of the Messiah. And the disciples were having trouble with both.

    Sin breeds sin. The wrongheaded ambition of James and John had stimulated intense jealousy in the rest of the disciples. The little band had reached a crisis point right at the edge, so to speak, of Jerusalem with its cross. They were torn apart by tensions that might permanently separate them and frustrate Jesus' purpose in calling them in the first place.

    We don't know if Jesus felt tempted to give up on them, call them blockheads, and walk away. But certainly He must have sighed as He once again began to instruct the twelve on the basic principles of His kingdom.

    This time His focus is on true greatness and what it really means to be first. His upside-down principles are just the opposite of those of the larger world. Unlike the world, where the greatest are rulers, in the kingdom of heaven the "great" (referring back to the Zebedees' request in Matthew 20:20 21) are servants, and the "first" (referring back to the vineyard parable of verses 1-16) will be slaves. Jesus concludes by telling them that He Himself has not come to be served but to serve and to give His life.

    He could not have outlined the concept of servant leadership more clearly. How unfortunate that down through history church leaders and Christians in general have not been any more drawn to that concept than were the disciples. The reason is simple: the servant leadership model goes against human nature. Its successful implementation demands both conversion and transformation.

    Jesus has spent a lot of time on the twin themes of His cross and ours. Yet it is just as difficult to internalize the principle today as it was 20 centuries ago.

    Lord, take my ears and help me to hear. Take my life and live out Your principles in it today and tomorrow and every day. Amen.

July 18, 2021

7/18/2021

A Firstness Argument

        Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left." Matt. 20:20, 21, NASB.

    Just a little request. Only the two most important positions in the coming kingdom.

    Nothing speaks more loudly as Jesus and the disciples advanced toward the cross than their differing perspectives regarding the nature of His kingdom. The threads of the cross and human firstness run parallel in this final journey.

    And just as Jesus' predictions of His death become progressively more detailed, so does the struggle for supremacy scenes among the disciples. The one in Matthew 20:20-21 is by far the most blatant attempt at a power takeover by any of the disciples. James, John and their mother didn't beat around the bush. They wanted nothing less than the two most powerful positions in Jesus' forthcoming kingdom. Their request is the ultimate example of human self-centeredness in contrast to Jesus' humility and self-sacrifice.

    It is not surprising that James and John make their move for supremacy at this point. After all, the two brothers, along with Peter, made up the privileged inner circle at the Transfiguration (Matt. 16:23). Furthermore, hadn't Jesus plainly rebuked Peter at Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:23)? And hadn't he received an implied reprimand in Matthew 19:30 in Jesus' response to his question of what he would get for following Him?

    Now is their chance! So they come with their mother, who states their request. And she probably has excellent reasons to expect Jesus to grant it. Comparing Matthew 27:56 with Mark 15:40, we discover that her name is Salome, and John 19:25 provides evidence that she was the sister of Jesus' mother. That would make James and John full cousins of Jesus, and helps to explain why on the cross He committed His mother to the care of John (verses 26, 27). While we can't prove such identifications beyond the shadow of doubt, they are quite probable. They certainly help us understand "Aunt" Salome's aggressive request if it is a family matter.

    The power play, however, puts the other 10 disciples in an uproar (Matt. 20:24). Unfortunately, their reaction is not because the 10 somehow grasped the error of the Zebedees' request, but because they also wanted the top spot.

    There must be a lesson for me somewhere in this story.

July 17, 2021

7/17/2021

More on What Disciples Need to Hear

        Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day. Matt. 20:18, 19, RSV.

    They don't know it, but the disciples are totally unplugged when it comes to the essence of the kingdom and what was happening to Jesus. They were having visions of thrones (Matt. 19:27, 28) and personal greatness (Matt. 20:20-24) while Jesus struggles with forebodings of a cross and rejection. The disciples and Jesus are operating in two different worlds.

    As a result, He supplies them more of what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear. This time it is a third replay of His predictions about His forthcoming death and resurrection. That is their greatest need at the moment. After all, they are heading for Jerusalem and the cross of Calvary.

    Jesus had first raised the topic immediately after Peter's confession that He was the Christ. They had at last identified Him as the Messiah, but they had no idea of what that meant. So Jesus first tells them of His forthcoming death and resurrection in Matthew 16:21. He returned to the topic in Matthew 17:22, 23. And now in Matthew 20:18, 29 He sets it forth again. But with each repetition He fills in more details. Now He informs the disciples that the Jewish leaders, after condemning Him to death, will "deliver him to the Gentiles." Other first-time details are the manner of His suffering--mocking and flogging--and the type of His death--crucifixion. "The effect," pens R. T. France, "is to emphasize not only the totality of the rejection (Jewish leaders and Gentiles), but also the humiliating and the harrowing pain; this is to be no glorious martyrdom, but an ugly, sordid butchery. It is thus all the more striking to read yet again here that he will be raised on the third day."

    Yet the disciples heard none of it! They had their own concerns that were blocking them from grasping the clear word of God to them. Their own ambitions and daily struggles made them deaf to Jesus.

    Here is a theme of the gospel story. And rightly so. A perverseness of human nature makes us alive to our self and our desires and dead to God and His will. And that, my friends, is not merely a first-century phenomenon.

July 16, 2021

7/16/2021

Disgusting Parables Are for Peters

        But many that are first will be last, and the last first. Matt. 19:30, RSV.

        So the last will be first, and the first last. Matt. 20:16, RSV.

    Yesterday we began to examine the parable of the farmer and the laborers. We left the scene with those hired grumbling because they received the same amount as those brought in near the end of the day.

    The farmer replies that he had done them no wrong. After all, he had paid them what they had agreed to. The problem in the laborer's eyes was that he had been generous with those hired later. "Am I allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?" the landowner asks (Matt. 20:15, RSV).

    The issue at hand is one of grace--giving people more good things than they deserve. Thus the laborers hired first were really complaining about God's graciousness. They are upset because the farmer is generous.

    In our Scripture reading for today we note that Jesus bracketed the parable with a repetition of the "first will be last." It is a subtle warning and rebuke to Peter and his fellows.

    Jesus had already told them what they wanted to hear--that they would have thrones and riches and importance in the kingdom. Now He presents to them what they need to hear--that they shouldn't get puffed up with their importance just because they were the first disciples.

    Here we have a highly practical teaching with implications for us modern-day disciples. A very real implication of the parable is that the first won't be in the kingdom at all unless they get over their grumbling about God's graciousness and move away from too much concern with their position and rewards.

    Certainly Jesus aimed His first-shall-be-last statements at Peter and the disciples. But in our day they could apply to those who have served Jesus all their lives in contrast to those who are converted in old age, or longtime members of a congregation who helped finance and build the local church in contrast to later members who may be rising to positions of leadership.

    In the end we need to see the message of the parable as universal. None of us are so good and holy that we can grumble about God's grace to others. Doing so may leave us in the unenviable position of being last, even if we started first.

July 15, 2021

7/15/2021

A Disgusting Parable

        And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, "Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first." And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the householder. Matt. 20:8-11, RSV.

    Some of Jesus' parables are more disgusting than others. Near the top of the list in this category is the one about the farmer in Matthew 20:1-16. It tells about a householder (God) who goes out to hire day laborers for his vineyard. (Scripture often refers to Israel as God's vineyard--see Isa. 5:1-7). At the beginning of the 12-hour workday the landlord makes a formal agreement with the available workers to pay a denarius for a full day's labor.

    But the farmer is desperate because when grapes ripen they must be harvested immediately or many of them will spoil. So he returns repeatedly to hire more laborers. His last trip is at the eleventh hour, when the day is almost over. The implication is that the later workers can't be too ambitious or they would have been employed earlier. But they must eat, so they show up for work anyway.

    The story's irritating aspect begins in verse 8 when at the end of the day the landlord lines the workers up in the reverse order from which he hired them. Thus the last get paid first. Then, in plain view of the others, he pays those one-hour laborers one denarius--a full day's pay.

    Now what do you think is going on in the minds of those who spent all day in the vineyard? Arithmetic! "If those guys got a full day's pay for one hour's work," the logic runs, "we deserve 12 days' pay--that is two weeks' earnings, if you subtract the Sabbaths. At last," they rejoice, "we have discovered an employer who will allow us to get ahead."

    Then comes the bombshell. Everyone gets exactly the same pay! No wonder they complain. I was a young construction worker when I first read Matthew 20, and I grumbled with them. To me, it was a travesty of justice.

    And Peter undoubtedly had the same reaction. We need to remember that Jesus gave the parable in response to his question of Matthew 19:27: "What do we get?" His mind had been on extra-special honors. He liked the first part of Christ's answer in which he and the other disciples were to have thrones and riches. That is what he wanted to hear. But in Matthew 20 he gets what he needs to hear. And that wasn't so pleasant.

July 14, 2021

7/14/2021

Another Pregnant Peter Question

        Then Peter said to him, "We left everything to follow you. What will we get out of it?" And Jesus replied, "When I, the Messiah, shall sit upon my glorious throne in the kingdom, you my disciples shall certainly sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And any one who gives up his home, brothers, sisters, father, mother, wife, children, or property, to follow me, shall receive a hundred times as much in return, and shall have eternal life." Matt. 19:27-29, TLB.

    What do I get out of this?" "What's in it for me and those who have given up everything and followed you?" If I had been Jesus I would have been tempted to tell Peter to shut up and get his act together, that he didn't have the slightest idea what following Me meant.

    I guess we can be thankful that I am not Jesus. Our Lord used Peter's self-centered question to provide instruction needed by both those first disciples and His followers 20 centuries later.

    Jesus' answer to Peter's question has two levels. The first is what he wants to hear (Matt. 19:27-29). The second illustrates what Peter needs to hear (Matt. 19:30-20:16). He used the same twofold approach to the rich young ruler. What the man wanted to hear was that entrance to the kingdom is based on obedience (Matt. 19:17). But what he needed to hear was that it took total dedication (verse 21).

    We need to read Peter's question of what he will get in the context of the young ruler: He failed to give up everything, but Peter and the rest of the disciples had done so.

    Jesus' answer in Matthew's Gospel is fourfold. First, those who have had to relinquish their earthly families receive the larger fellowship of God's family of believers here on earth. Second, they have the promise of eternal life. Third, they will be made prosperous. Along that line, Peter must have been all ears when Jesus told him that he and the other 11 would each get a throne to sit upon that would presumably be quite near to Jesus' own throne. Thrones were important to Peter. And as we shall soon see, he wanted his as close to Christ's as possible.

    Last, Jesus' answer contains a cryptic warning to Peter and the other disciples not to become overconfident in their position in the kingdom just because they were the first of His followers. It is that lesson that Peter needs to hear in a mind crowded with thrones.

    Lord, help me to hear what I need to hear as I read Your Word and not merely what I want to hear.

July 13, 2021

7/13/2021

Human Impossibilities = God's Possibilities

        Then Jesus said to His disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matt. 19:23-26, NKJV.

    After the rich young ruler turns from Jesus and His claim of total surrender, Jesus tells His disciples that "it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven," just as difficult as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

    The camel going through the needle's eye imagery has had several interesting interpretations. One of them holds that walled cities had two gates. One was the great main gate through which all traffic moved. In addition, the wall often had a little low and narrow gate. The theory suggests that when the main gate was locked, the only way into the city was through the little gate through which even an adult person could hardly pass erect. It is said that this little gate was called "the needle's eye." Needless to say, if a person had to squeeze getting through it, it would really be tough for a camel, the largest animal in Palestine.

    According to that questionable understanding, it was difficult for the camel to make it through the gate, but not impossible if it expended a great deal of effort. Such an analogy would make entering the kingdom of heaven for a rich person possible if they worked hard enough at it.

    But that is not what Jesus was teaching. By the camel and the needle's eye illustration He was not saying that it is difficult, but that it is impossible--just as impossible as for the largest of animals to go through the smallest of holes.

    That teaching caught the disciples off guard. Like other Jews, they viewed the wealthy as blessed by God. Who, they ask, can make it into the kingdom if it is impossible for the blessed rich?

    "With men," Jesus replies, "this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." And with those words Jesus sets the stage for His parable of grace in Matthew 20.

    God, help me to move beyond my misconceptions of Your kingdom, including those related to our impossibilities and the possibilities of Your grace.

July 12, 2021

7/12/2021

A Side Lesson on Wealth

            Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions. Matt. 19:21, 22, RSV.

    It is easy to draw the wrong conclusion from these verses. The rich young ruler's problem was not money itself but the love of money.

    Jesus was not categorically condemning wealth in His confrontation with the ruler. After all, He did not make the same request of Nicodemus or Zacchaeus or other people of means that He dealt with. But wealth was the danger for this man. It was his idol, the thing that kept him from God.

    Halford Luccock points out that "Jesus was not laying down poverty as either a requirement or an ideal for everyone. He was a Good Physician, and did not prescribe the same pill for every patient. He looked on this patient and loved him with an individual love, a love which saw him as a person with a specialized need. Then he prescribed the action that would free him from the thing that was holding him back. In this case, it was wealth."

    For you or me it may be something different. But we all must meet the same requirement--total surrender of all that we are and all that we have to God's will so that He is truly Lord of our life.

    When I read the story of the rich young ruler, another rich-young-ruler type comes to my mind. But what a difference in their responses. Both had power, prestige, and money. Both received the invitation to discipleship. Both had to make a decision to give up their past. But what a difference.

    In Paul we get a glimpse of what the young ruler could have been like as he used his gifts for God. But the latter chose to use his gifts for himself.

    With such individuals in mind, the apostle would later write that "the love of money is the root of all evils" (1 Tim. 6:10, RSV). But for those who have been able to put wealth in its right place, God has utilized their gifts across the history of the church to sustain His work and help those in need.

    Wealth is tricky. It can be either a curse or a blessing. As with all gifts, it is up to each of us as to how we will use them.