Luke

On Earth, Peace

by Ben Zornes · Dec 6, 2023

Introduction

It’s really easy during the Christmas season to get the order of events wrong. With Christ’s coming, the order of the whole world was turned upside down, and this includes the relationship between work and rest, normal days and holidays, war and peace.

The Text

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Luke 2:8-14

The Peace of God

The message of the Angel choir is a striking one. A baby, wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger is a sign of something. It is a sign that Israel’s Savior had come. And this sign is accompanied with an angelic crescendo proclaiming that this child was bringing peace on earth, and good will toward men.

But what sort of peace does the Bible mean? For the answer to that question we need to go back to the OT. The Hebrew word for peace is shalom. This peace is not the rickety lawn chair of UN councils and agreements. It isn’t the numb mindlessness of the hippies who relax around a campfire with their drugs and aimless songs.

Rather, the Psalms give us a clear picture of this “shalom” of God:

Psa 29:11 KJV – The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.
Psa 37:37 KJV – Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.
Psa 85:10 KJV – Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Psa 119:165 KJV – Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

Peace is a result of God choosing to bless His people. The blessing of God isn’t something we earn or haggle over, it is something we freely receive from God who gives it freely. Peace is the end of the perfect/upright man; viewing that verse through the NT we can conclude that Christ’s righteousness/perfection resulted in true peace. Righteousness & peace can go together because of all this. And in God’s Law is great peace.

Putting all this together we can see that peace comes from being in covenant with God. Or as another Psalm puts it: happy is that people, whose God is the LORD. Christ came, and this brought great joy, because finally there would be a man who perfectly fulfilled God’s Law and so brought peace between God and man. Outside of Christ, there is no peace. There’s only the bitterness of the weight of unforgiven sin and shame upon your shoulders. Outside of Christ is like being in a desert and endlessly crawling towards that oasis only to find that every time it’s only a mirage.

Peace then Work

So then, it is important for us to get the order right. This peace of God is not something that you can work hard enough to earn. As we prepare for this Christmas, we should remember last Christmas…or more accurately, the first Christmas. We don’t scurry to get ready for Christmas, but rather Christ’s coming brought us peace, so that we might dwell under all the covenant mercies and blessings of God.

Work is a blessing. Your schoolwork is rewarding. Your chores are a delight. But only if you get this order right. God has made peace with you by sending His Son to live a righteous life and die a bloody death on our behalf. The peace comes before the work. And this is because Christ came to do the work to bring us peace.

So this peace makes it such that we can truly imitate our Father in His creative work. When you work on your grammar you are imitating the one who made a play on words so glorious that the word “light” which he spoke become light itself. When you puzzle over how to divide 37 by 14, you are borrowing the logic and logic with which God created this world with. You are subcreating.

Orcs and monsters take this world and try to make it work for them. They make machines that try to bring us peace without first coming to Christ. They want to control everything, to make everything comfortable without humbling themselves before God.

So then, it goes Christmas then work. It goes Lord’s Day worship each Sunday, and then joyful imitation of our Father in His wondrous work.

And this takes faith. It is isn’t your grades, or being on your best behavior (being nice instead of naughty), or by working hard enough. All this peace comes to you because God first gave you Christ.

You rest in the Glad Tidings of the Gospel, that God has made peace with us through the blood of Christ, and then offer up good works to God. As you celebrate Christmas this year, think of it as one more gracious gift of God’s peace. This is similar to what Paul exhorted the Colossian church: “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful (Col 3:15).”

Mary

by Ben Zornes · Dec 19, 2022

Introduction

The godliness & virtue of Mary coupled with the profound significance of the task appointed to her of bearing God in the flesh in her womb, has led some to revere Mary in her own rite. But, when we look at her life, we must resist two temptations. One would be to overly reverence her (the Roman Catholic error), the other to disrespect her (the error of our irreverent age). She ought not be venerated, but rather, emulated.

The Text

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Luke 1:26-33

Summary of the Text

The Angel Gabriel comes as one of God’s “mighty ones” to a virgin from Nazareth in Galilee. Two important descriptions are noteworthy: first, she is an espoused virgin; second, that she (as we saw with Joseph) was of the house of David (vv26-27). Gabriel’s greeting is packed with regal honorifics: she is hailed as with royal (not divine) honor (Cf. 1Ki. 2:19), she is highly favored, the Lord is with her, and she is blessed among women (v28). While she is quite flummoxed by this greeting (v29), the Angel goes on to unfurl the most important tidings any Angelic messenger had ever given. Mary had found favor in God’s sight (like Noah, Abraham, and Moses); like all moments of redemption, this was God’s free grace at work (v30).

This Incarnation of God in the flesh was the crowning jewel of all of God’s grace towards man. Mary is told that she would conceive & give birth to a son, who should be named Jesus (v31). So far, nothing that abnormal. Human mothers had birthed human sons before. Angels had come with these sorts of messages before. Prophets had made these sort of predictions before.

But then the Angel sets forth the towering glories of this Son. In Mary’s Son all the Messianic glories are brought into full flower. Her Son would also be divine. He would be great, the Son of the Highest, the fulfillment of God’s messianic promise to seat an eternal heir on David’s throne (v32), He was the prophesied Star which would arise out of Jacob to reign unto endless eons (v33, Cf. Num. 24:17).

Theotokos

As you recite the Definition of Chalcedon at Christmastime each year, you shouldn’t forget that almost every phrase in it was the topic of long debate. One of the principle debates was whether it was right to call Mary the “God-bearer”. The Greek word is theotokos. This debate centered on who Jesus was. Was He a Son of Man which God used? Was he the eternal Christ, but more of an apparition than a true human?

A few other suggestions were proposed: theotokos should becombined with anthropotokos, or Christokos. But by landing on calling Mary the God-bearer, the theologians of Chalcedon said more with less. It forced the Church to affirm the unity of the human & divine nature of Jesus Christ.

This isn’t just theological hair splitting; there are important practical implications, even if it gives us a bit of a headache in trying to get it pinned down. God the Son was manifested in the flesh. The Son never resigned His divinity while taking unto Himself true humanity.

If you erroneously split that theological atom, you end up with either a Christ who can’t suffer in your stead, or a mere man who can’t bring you up to glory. One is a ladder that isn’t tall enough, the other is a ladder that floats just out of reach. But theotokos puts both together. Jesus is God. Jesus is man. Mary bore God in her womb. Yes, this is mind-blowing. This was the most impossible thing to ever happen, and Mary herself knew it (Lk. 1:37).

God my Savior

One of the central errors of Mariolatry is that it neglects to reckon with Mary’s own words. This is seen particularly in her Magnificat. She describes there her wonder and worship at all that had befallen her in terms of fulfillment of OT types.

All the Psalmists’ pleas for God’s swift deliverance of His people (including Mary) are now answered. Mary sees Hannah’s exultation over her adversary (satan) played out once again in her own story, but cosmically, the woman’s seed overcoming the serpent’s seed. She sees that her Son is the Seed of Abraham, and this was the blessing for all the earth, for all generations.

She rejoices in “God my Savior.” She does not set herself above all others, but sets herself as the first blessed amongst all others who would receive this great blessing of the Savior. Mary needed a Savior. Later on in Jesus’ ministry, we also get a bit of a sense that Mary was pushing Jesus forward into being the sort of Savior she (as well as the other disciples) envisioned the Messiah would be. Simon surely prophesied well when he told Mary that a sword would pierce her own soul.

Mary was there when God first took on flesh, and she beheld when that flesh was hung––mangled and tortured–– upon the accursed Roman tree. She understood, imperfectly at first, and then on Calvary she came to see more clearly, that her Son was also her Savior.

Receiving as a Christmas Virtue

Generosity requires two parties: the giver & the receiver. One is active, the other is passive. Every gift we give is play-acting God’s creative power. It is He who made us and not we ourselves. Can the pot say to the Potter, “What gives?” Our modern world thinks that being can be taken for granted. Your existence isn’t your possession for you to do with however you please; it is a gift to be received and rightly used. All the modern jargon about “self-expression” & “finding your true self” is continuing the root rebellion of mankind.

Mary’s response is that of true faith: “Be it unto me according to your word.” Mary receives the unearned favor of God with humble faith. She doesn’t resist or object in doubt. She receives the gift. This sort of faith insults our modern egotistical age, and confronts it as a putrid rebellion against God.

What do you have that you did not first receive? Man wants to try to clean himself up to please God, before he receives God’s gift of cleansing. Man tries to reform himself, before receiving the reforming grace that God gives. Man tries to find rebirth in himself, before receiving the New Birth in Christ. The order matters, immensely. God casts His favor upon you, through no merit of your own, and calls you to receive it. Only then can you be remade.

Another Rebellious Miriam

Mary’s namesake was Miriam, Moses’ sister. Her name meant resistant/obstinance. Miriam notoriously resisted Moses’ authority (Cf. Num. 12). Here we have a profound contrast between two Miriams. Mary the resistant, says, “let it be.” Mary receives grace, and so resists the proud.

By God’s grace, the rebellious become the receivers. This is how Mary, and all true believers, overcome the world. We receive in order to overcome our adversary. We who were once rebels of God, when we receive His gracious favor, we are made more than conquerors through Christ, the Son of Mary. The overthrow of Satan had begun, because Christ was born of Mary.

The Parable of the Feast

by Ben Zornes · Sep 23, 2022

Introduction

PG Wodehouse, in one of his novels, defined a parable as a saying that has something tucked up its sleeve. As you work your way through Christ’s parables you find that the thing tucked up the sleeve is regeneration. It’s only if you have eyes to see, ears to hear, that you can understand the words declared.

The Text

1 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. 2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. 3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? 4 And they held their peace. And he took [him], and healed him, and let him go; 5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? 6 And they could not answer him again to these things. 7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, 8 When thou art bidden of any [man] to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; 9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. 10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. 11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. 12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor [thy] rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. 13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: 14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
Luke 14:1-14

Summary of the Text

This text breaks out cleanly into three sections. The initial section is the conflict over whether it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath day (vv1-6). This precipitates two separate parables (vv7-14). The first rebukes the human tendency to be proud power-grubbers, while displaying the blessing found in humility (vv7-11). The second is directed at Jesus’ host in particular, and instructs us that true generosity is imitative of the grace which God shows us (vv12-14).

Seating Charts and the Sabbath

The presenting conflict was that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath while feasting at a chief Pharisee’s house. Jesus sees the diseased man, asks the lawyers & Pharisees whether it would be lawful to heal on the Sabbath, to which they gave no reply, Jesus then heals him, and then makes a how much more argument. If watering your beasts is not a violation of the Sabbath, how much more is restoring a man’s health? Jesus brought rest/reprieve to a man in need of rest, and did so on the day of rest.

Initially, we might think that Jesus confrontation of their Sabbath hypocrisy is disconnected from the parable on what seat to take at a feast. But they go together more closely than we might first think.

Jesus tells us that instead of jostling for the best places and then be shamed when told to go down to a less estimable seat, they should take a lower spot and enjoy the glory of being bidden to come up to a more exalted seat. The Sabbath was a creational blessing. It was a day for man to rest in the fellowship and worship of God his Maker. Then, even in Moses’ Law, the Sabbath was a rest for God’s people.

God invited man in Eden and the Hebrews in Canaan (under the Mosaic covenant) to enjoy, enter into, and arise into the heavenly rest of God Himself. The writer of Hebrews makes this the pillar of his argument in Hebrews 4 to not come short of entering into God’s rest.

But to enter God’s rest requires the humility which comes by grace. As the Psalmist puts it, “We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly (Psa 106:6).” The Pharisees prided themselves on their adherence to the outward form of the covenant demands, but they had profaned the Sabbaths and were about to face the shame of being “demoted” and replaced by faithful Gentile saints. Instead, they ought to have received the covenant promises and duties with humble faith. But now, Israel must now take a lower place, in order to one day be provoked to jealousy by Gentile inclusion.

This is the argument which Paul makes in Romans 11:7-12, “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway. I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?”

In other words, the Pharisees were confident that in scrupulous adherence to the Law would come salvation. They ought to have recognized that Salvation, from first to last, is of God. They had been elected as God’s covenant people only through the kindness of God’s sovereign love set upon them (Deu. 7:7-8). Trusting in God’s sovereign grace which has elected us to salvation should not bring about covenant presumption and pride, but deep humility. This, of course, doesn’t mean that we leave off obeying His Word/Law; rather, we obey the law by first coming to the covenant blessings and curses with humble faith, gratitude, and joy.

Jesus summarizes this short parable for us. If you exalt yourself you’ll be flattened. Exaltation comes to those who humble themselves.

Caring for the Poor

JC Ryle observes on the second parable in our text that “We must be careful that we do not limit and qualify that lesson, until we have pared it down and refined it into nothing at all.” This is just the sort of passage that our selfish hearts can qualify & nuance to death until we have fully relieved ourselves of any duty to obey it.

Jesus command here isn’t that we should never show generous hospitality to our family or to those who are wealthy and well-off. It is that we should live in such a way as to pour out abundant and free grace, especially upon those who cannot repay it. We think that blessing is found in networking with the rich and powerful; Jesus teaches that true blessing is being like Him.

We should give freely to those in need, and give in such a way that they can’t ever hope to repay it. This is what godly parents do. This is what a good husband does for his wife. This is how we should disperse charity to the poor, maimed, lame, and blind. The Christian is one who makes feasts.

The sort of feasts we throw should reflect the free and sovereign grace we’ve received. Both in Jesus’ teaching here and in the OT Laws you should notice that care for the poor, widows, orphans, maimed, and strangers is personal. It isn’t faceless bureaucracies to whom this instruction to care for the poor comes; the command comes to individuals. Biblical charity is personal & familial.

Conclusion

Our salvation should be reflected in our life. If you have been saved by grace through faith, through no goodness of your own, but only by the great love and kindness of God, you should live like it. The proud and haughty jostle for the best spots, they throw feasts to gratify their own self-aggrandizing vanity.

True faith walks in humility and gives generously. You don’t grasp after the places of glory, elbowing others out of the way. You allow God, in His kindness, to promote you to glory. You don’t give just to get in return. You give to the poor in order to be like God has been to you. So, humbly walk before your God, by giving generously to those who can’t return the favor.

A Constellation of OT Saints

by Ben Zornes · Dec 26, 2021

Introduction

An ancient Christian heresy came to be called Marcionism. As with many ancient heresies, it wasn’t readily apparent that this was a heresy and it took many years of fierce debate to sort through the pertinent issues. The earlier heresy of the Judaizers had confronted the church in the 1st century, and was dealt with at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15). The Judaizers made strict OT law observance the gateway into the New Covenant, thus choking out the New Covenant. But Marcion introduced the inverse of this, and brought a new challenge for the church to face: can we dispense with the OT now that the Christ had come?

The Text

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name [was] Simeon; and the same man [was] just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.
Luke 2:25-33

Summary of the Text

In this wonderful episode we are given evidence of the vibrancy of the faith of the true saints of the Old Testament. Before looking at our immediate text, I want to first look beyond its borders. The Evangelists’ testimony of the coming of Christ are inextricably linked to OT imagery, ancestral records, and prophetic promises. Matthew tells us that “all this was done” to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy (Is. 7:14); the scholars knew to point the Magi to Bethlehem on the basis of the testimony of Micah 5:2; Mathew has a striking use of Hosea 1:1 to confirm that Christ is the New Israel brought out of Egypt. In Mark’s Gospel, the witness to Christ begins by putting forward John the Baptist, but in a similar manner he immediately links up with the prophetic witness, Isaiah 40 in particular. John begins by linking the coming of the Eternal Word with the creation narrative itself (“In the beginning”), before asserting that this Word was the light which had shone through the OT witness and whose full dawn had come.

In Luke, we’re initially introduced to Zechariah and Elizabeth, who were “righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless (Lk. 1:6).” Next, the Angel’s declaration to Mary is that her son would sit on the throne of David, clear reverberations of Ps. 132:11, 45:6, 89:35-37 and Is. 9:7. In Lk. 1:42-43 Elisabeth calls the unborn son of Mary “Lord,” and proclaims that Mary is blessed, a clear allusion to the blessed seed promised to Eve and Abraham (Gen. 3:15; 22:18). These various characters’ responses to these events are couched in language that heavily borrows from the praise of the Psalmists and the Prophets’ expectant oracles. Our more finicky brothers might turn a quizzical eye at their use of OT texts. There’s not enough time to detail it all, but this is a major intersection of OT texts and allusions.

Simeon, in our text, continues this train of saints who are depicted as glimpsing the ancient promises of God come to fruition. He (like Joseph is described in Matthew, and Zechariah and Elisabeth as described here in Luke) was just; he was awaiting Israel’s consolation (1:25). By God’s kindness, it had been revealed to him that he wouldn’t die until he’d seen the “Lord’s Christ” (v26). He was led by the Spirit into the temple as Mary & Joseph came to offer the proper offering for a poor family in accordance with Moses’ Law (v27; Cf. Lev. 12:6-8). Taking up the child into his arms he also takes up a prayer to bless God (v28); gladdened that God’s promise to him was now fulfilled by this child who was also the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, he now is ready to depart in peace (v29). He’d seen God’s Yeshua (v30); this is a reference to Is 25:9 “we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” This child was the One prepared before the face of His people (v31), who would lighten the Gentiles, and be Israel’s glory (v32) (Cf. Is 49:6 60:3, 19, 45:25).

Joseph & Mary marvel at these words, and received Simeon’s blessing (vs33-35), itself filled with allusions to both Ps. 2:11 & Is. 8:14, 15. Then to put a nice bow on this constellation of godly OT saints, we’re told of a prophetess Anna, who having seen Simeon’s actions joined in believing that this was indeed the fulfillment of God’s promise; and then she spake to all in Jerusalem that “looked for the redemption in Jerusalem (Lk. 2:38, Cf. Is. 2:3).”

Saints Behind & Saints Before

With ample evidence before us, what do the Gospel writers want us to come away with as we look at this constellation of OT saints? Are the OT saints only quaint moral stories/examples? Is Marcion right that we can now dispense with the OT and its virtuous figures? Should we just slam the door shut on the godly saints of the OT, because we have nothing in common with them as some allege?

What we’re being invited to see is the wonderful continuity between what God began to do in Eden and what He accomplished in Christ’s work of redemption. There’s a school of thought that wants to restrict the important Scriptures to a few Psalms, sayings of Jesus, and a handful of other memory verses. From this we can get the perception that we have no fellowship and that there’s no continuity between them and us. At the very least we use the OT saints as mere moral examples, like we would for one of Æsop’s Fable.

But these opening passages of Christ’s advent indicate that the true faith has a whole host of faithful saints to represent it, who were eagerly awaiting the coming of the Savior. Their faith was rightly placed in God’s Word of promise, and here it is depicted as representing the best of believing Israelites who all died in faith, not receiving the substance (Heb. 11:39). But in our text, we now find an exception as Simeon received the substance, by holding that son of David, named Consolation/Yeshua in his arms. Thus, we aren’t divorced from our OT brethren, but in Christ are joined with them.

There’s a long train of saints behind us, and this should give us assurance in these dark times that a great host of saints lay before us, yet unconverted and yet unborn, but who also shall be brought into the kingdom of the Lord’s Christ. The Consolation of Israel, is the consolation for all the saints, for all time.

A Complete Christ

Many false teachers preach a half Christ, a divided Christ. We create a false division when we present God as Allah in the OT and like a new-age, hippie, Guru in the NT. Both pictures are not only incomplete, they are false, and damning. This half Christ, can’t save you. The Christ of the Judaizers and the Christ of the Marcionites is an anti-Christ. Our only hope is in a whole Christ. We cannot see Him rightly if we sunder the ropes which bind the OT & NT together

The comfort found here in Simeon’s words, and in faith displayed in this constellation of faithful pre-Calvary saints is that you do not serve a God who wads up His purposes when met with resistance. You serve the God who promised a Seed to Abraham who would bless the nations, and who revealed to Isaiah that this Blessed Messiah would not restrict this blessing to the Jews only. Rather, this light would lighten the Gentiles, and true Israelites saw it and rejoiced in the dawning of that light.

You can too often gauge God’s faithfulness to you by measuring it against your more recent sins, failures, and set-backs. But God is not deterred in His purpose to sanctify you simply because you failed. The saints of ancient Israel witnessed national apostasy, yet clung to God’s promise to send the Messiah. Zechariah and Elisabeth, Joseph and Mary, Simeon, and Anna all exemplify what Simeon’s word’s declare: the consolation of Israel has come, and now Gentiles bask in His light, and true Israel glories in it. As one writer out it: “What Christ was to the believing Jewish remnant collectively, He still is to His believing people individually. In every possible variety of condition and circumstance; in all their needs and sorrows, their afflictions, their sufferings, their temptations and fears, this is the blessed ‘name with which he is called’–‘the Consolation of Israel.’” Your only comfort for trials, your only courage for temptations is found in this consolation, in the birth, death, and resurrection of this Child who was named Jesus.

Reading the Story

by Ben Zornes · Jul 11, 2019

There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Luke 13:1-5 KJV

This passage is quite instructive on a number of levels. First, we see that Jesus was not indifferent to current events. When the issue of the controversy with Pilate is raised for discussion,Â Jesus doesnâ€™t say,Â â€œI do not care about theseÂ earthly matters, Iâ€™m far too heavenly minded for such things.â€ We see that he notes that the Galileans had indeed suffered, acknowledging the tragedy as such. He is not caught up in current events, in the same way that a teenage girl might follow the gossip columns on BuzzFeed. But He is not ignorant of the goings on.

The second thing we learn is thatÂ Jesus wants us to read the story correctly. The problem with those who were raising the issue is that they were reading history the wrong way. They looked at the tragedy and thought, apparently, that thoseÂ Galileans must have really had it coming to them, otherwise something this bad wouldnâ€™t have happened to them. But Jesus answers them by correcting theirÂ â€œspinâ€ on the news story.Â

Which leads to a third thing we learn, which is the real pith of this passage. It is that when tragedy strikes a people, city, or nation, it is a warning. It is a prophetic sign,Â signaling the coming final judgement. In this way, every death, every tragedy, every hurricane, earthquake, etc. warns the unrepentant that this is their doom should they refuse to turn. The promise,Â however, nestled in this is that those who do repentÂ â€œshall not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).â€

We as humans cannot help but try to read history. Every religion and culture seeks to do this. We instinctively know that history is pregnant with meaning. The problem is that we try to read history by filling in the margins with our own sinful bias. One sentence out of a book on the history of the Czars of Russia isnâ€™t sufficient to make conclusions about Russiaâ€™s future. What we need is to read history as Jesus demonstrates for us here in this text. Godâ€™s redemptive purpose is the reference point for everything.Â

The Prodigal’s Grumbling Brother

by Ben Zornes · Mar 21, 2017

In the famous parable of the prodigal son, we often forget that the primary audience which Jesus aims this story at is grumbling Pharisees and Scribes. “Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them (Luk 15:1-2).” Jesus flies to the defense of his ministry to the worst of sinners, by telling three parables, ending in the prodigal son’s story.

A few things are profound in the story. First, the son, in demanding his inheritance is essentially demandingÂ that his relationship with his father be as if his father were dead. He not only desires a dead relationship with his father, but he also flees to a far country (Lk. 15:13), as far from his father & family as can be. The second remarkable thing is the fact that thisÂ jewish boy ends up eating the slop of the unclean pigs, and it is in this position of the lowest point that he remembers that even theÂ servants in his father’s household wereÂ better off than he was.

The third thing to remark upon is that in his return to the father, his father reinstates him to the household. A robe, a ring, shoes, a celebration feast all accompany the prodigal son’s return. But it is this lavish display of restoration to the household that causes the elder brother to grumble. The father’s entreaty to the older son is thatÂ everything the father has was his (Lk. 15:31)! The Israelites were, in fact, the people of God in this earth, and technically speaking, the earth was theirs. They ought to have rejoiced to see the Messiah come and restore the prodigal nations into the family of God.

But the pride of beingÂ comparativelyÂ more righteous, growsÂ quickly in the wreckage and ashes of the younger brothers sins. As a result, the older brother was very much in danger of missing the celebration, and insisted on staying outside the house (Lk. 15:28). Yes, Jesus gives this parable as comfort to the worst of sinners that they are welcomed back into the family of God through repentance. But it is primarily aimed at the self-righteous, who are aghast that God would not only forgive sinners, but not hold their sins against them, restoring them to their former estate of sons.