MPC
26th July 2009.July 26 - Luke 13:6-14:6 - "Doors Closing"
MPC
26th July 2009.
Phil Campbell
I'm not sure if the movie Sliding Doors is Gwyneth Paltrow's finest... but it's a movie that does something incredibly creative with the plot. It's a movie that tells two completely different stories in parallel. two streams of time. Two very different futures. She's Helen, who at the start of the movie misses a train as the doors slide closed in her face. And because she misses out on stepping through those sliding doors, her life heads down a terrible path. She's Helen, who at the start of the movie catches the train. And because she squeezes through those sliding doors, her life heads off to romance and prosperity.
It's kind of weird how they do it.
Same Helen. Two very different futures. Depending whether she steps through that door.
All because she misses stepping through the narrow gap of the closing doors of the train. I wonder if you've ever had any decisive points in your life like that. Touch and go. In or out.
Now do you notice at the heart of our passage this morning Jesus is using an image that's almost identical. To make a very similar point.
He's talking about a closing door. That's even more decisive than the doors in the movie. Verse 24,
Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'
Now there's a door closing scenario for you. With some big consequences. I mean, in the movie it makes all the difference how things pan out for Helen in this life. But Jesus is talking about a doorway to even bigger stakes. Being part of the kingdom of God. Or shut out and weeping.
Now I want to step back with you for a moment and set the scene. And ask the question who's he talking to. And what's it about. Because it's one thing to generalise from the parables and draw morals from them. But the reality is, Jesus is caught up in a drama here, and when he tells parables, he tells them for a very pointed reason.
We're picking up halfway through Luke's gospel, and it's more than a year since we worked through the first half. So we need to freshen up the details.
So I want to remind you who he's talking to. And why.
And as we pick up the series I want to encourage you to be reading Luke's gospel along the way, and hopefully working through the growth group studies as well, and as you do that I want to try to get you to be carried along by the stream of the story. Instead of reading the bible like it's a cookbook, and you just turn to the soup recipe on page 15 or the chocolate mud cake on page 25, and there's no connecting storyline.
Luke is taking us on a journey with Jesus. A journey to Jerusalem. And it's full of dangers, and full of opposition, and it's full of confrontation.
The Jesus we're going to meet these next few weeks in Luke's gospel is controversial. The Jesus Luke paints for us is contentious. The Jesus on these pages is confronting. And yet at the same time he's fiercely compassionate. Which is where I think the challenge lies for anyone who follows.
Luke has very clearly painted Jesus as the one who's come to save God's people, the nation Israel. To restore them to their God. To bring blessing and life in place of the death and decay and curse that's all around them. And yet it seems at every point Israel doesn't want to be saved. It's a window of opportunity, it's an open door. And yet over and over again you get the religious leaders of Israel opposing him.
In Luke 9, Jesus has set out from the North, from Galilee, and he's on the road to Jerusalem. Where he knows he's going to die. And over these next few weeks that's the journey we're going to be following.
And at the exact point where we left off the last series, there's been an ultimatum. Because the point is, as the leaders of Israel sit in judgment on Jesus, God sits in judgment on them. And he's warning them of that time and time again.
And so we left the series last time part way through Chapter 13, where Jesus has just told them they face a choice. Repent. And really change. Or as a nation, they'll perish.
And he's told them a very pointed parable about a fig tree with no fruit. Run your eye down it from verse 6. The owner says to the gardener, for three years I've been looking for fruit on this fig tree; let's cut it down. And the gardener says to the owner, no, let's fertilise it for one more year. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not... then cut it down.
Which of course is talking about unfruitful Israel. One more chance. One more season to be fruitful. Or they come crashing down.
Which leads us very directly to the point where we pick up. The account from Luke 13 verse 10 of this poor bent over woman, crippled and in pain and despair, she's been like it for 18 years. As we look for any sign of fruit in the nation of Israel.
Here she is in verse 10, it's the sabbath day, the Jewish day of rest, the Jewish day of rules for what you could do and what you couldn't. "On a Sabbath," verse 10, "Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for 18 years. She was bent over and couldn't straighten up at all."
Now you might know that kind of pain from personal experience. The last few weeks we've watched Doris and we've watched my own mum with terrible back pain, and even with the benefit of a Morphine patch it's debilitating. She's got nothing. Bent over double, locked in by her infirmity. Trapped by life's circumstances. Trapped, according to Jesus, by Satan's power who loves holding the people of Israel in that kind of bondage. I mean, this place is meant to be the kingdom of God. This place is meant to be the place of God's blessing. And yet she's trapped. And here she is, faithfully on the sabbath day struggling along to the synagogue to hear the teaching of Jesus. Full of hope. Because she maybe senses Jesus is where freedom will be found.
Jesus sees her, verse 12, and he calls her forward, and he says, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." And he puts his hands on her. And incredibly, after 18 long years, she's standing straight again. Looking Jesus in the eye. Face to smiling face.
Now you'd have to say, wouldn't you, this is terrific.
Except that, if you're a religious leader of Israel, you'll know what Jesus has done is very wrong, isn't it? And the synagogue ruler goes ballistic. Read it in verse 14.
"indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath."
Which assumes of course there'll be anyone like Jesus there on those days who can do them the slightest bit of good anyway.
I mean, here's Jesus offering real rest, here's Jesus setting a woman free from 18 years of Satan's bondage. And the synagogue ruler says come back tomorrow. The synagogue ruler saying getting Jesus to heal you on the sabbath is making him work.
At which point the words of Jesus are confronting, aren't they? Straight to the point. As he's looking for any sign of fruit on the tree of Israel.
He says, verse 15,
you hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his 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?
You care more for your farm animals than you do for your people. You're hypocrites. Because you're piling laws and regulations on people in the name of religion without the slightest thought for compassion. You're hypocrites. Because you think God's impressed by your severity, by your harshness, by your meticulous observance of the sabbath... and you couldn't care less about this poor bound woman. You're hypocrites. Because you don't give a second thought to doing the stuff you want to do when you're all the time picking on everyone else.
Any fruit on the Israel tree? Well, not much.
When he said this, verse 17, all his opponents, the leaders and the religious elite, they're humiliated... but the people, they're delighted with all the wonderful things he's doing. They've never seen anything like it.
At which point Jesus tells two more parables. Which you can see there in verses 18 to 21. In answer to the question he puts to them, what is the kingdom of God like? A parable about a tiny mustard seed that grows into a tree full of birds. A parable about a tiny pinch of yeast that mixes through a large amount of flour to raise the dough. Two parables about inconsequential tiny things that grow and permeate and fill out in unexpected ways. Verse 19,
"What is the Kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches." Again he asked, "What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."
The Kingdom starts small. With Jesus. And it spreads. And it grows. And it permeates. As the ordinary people delight in the powerful compassion of the Lord Jesus, who it seems stands alone against the kind of religion that says no to setting someone free on the Sabbath.
And so another parable. The parable we started with; the closing door.
Notice, verse 22, Jesus is on the road again, he's going through the towns and villages as he makes his way to Jerusalem. And someone asks him in verse 23 a question. Because time after time, where-ever he goes, Jesus is giving the same warnings. Looking for figs on the unfruitful Israel tree. Jesus isn't out there on the road giving nice abstract moral lessons and 10 principles for succeeding in your business. He's putting Israel on notice. And so the guy says to him, "Lord," verse 23, "are only a few people going to be saved?"
To which Jesus says, don't just stand there asking abstract questions about everybody else. Worry about you!
Because this is a point of opportunity. This is a chance to to squeeze through the train door. Before it's too late. Because those who are thinking that they're in, the Pharisees, the Synagogue Rulers, the Teachers of the Law, they're going to find themselves shut out of the Kingdom of God.
Look at his words. He says to the guy, verse 24,
Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you'll stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.' Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.' But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!' There'll be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.
Now can you see, Jesus is aiming this fair and square at the Pharisees. This is a broadside. This is an ultimatum. Most times we read the parables, we try to work out all the hidden meanings of what Jesus is saying, we try to draw out all the clever parallels. But the fact is, there's nothing mysterious about what he's saying at all. The door's closing in your face. And you guys with your regulations and your rules and your absolute lack of compassion for anyone trapped or struggling or bent over and broken - you might think you're part of the kingdom of God, but you're about to be shut out. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the prophets will be there. But you... you'll be thrown out.
And you know what's worse? All those outsiders you so despise... they'll be in. There'll be Greeks there, there'll be Italians, one day there'll even be some Queenslanders.
Verse 29. "People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God." All kinds of birds of the air are going to nest in the branches of the Kingdom. While the great ones of Israel, while the Scribes and the Pharisees and the Saducees and the Synagogue Rulers and the Priests and the Teachers of the Law and all who stand with them, while the proud and the self righteous and the arrogant of heart have missed the train. And are left watching as it pulls out from the station.
"Indeed", verse 30, "there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."
At which point the Pharisees in verse 31 try to shut the door on Jesus. They come to Jesus and say it's time to leave. They say Herod and the Romans want to kill you.
To which Jesus says, I'll keep doing what I'm doing. I'll keep driving out demons and healing people. I'll keep heading for Jerusalem. Because in a long tradition of Godly prophets, I know I'm going to die there. Because it's not Herod and the Romans who want me dead. It's you guys. It's Jerusalem.
Which is why Jerusalem and the whole kingdom of Israel, the nation that right through the old testament was the focal point of God's plans and God's blessing... Jesus says, it breaks my heart. But it's going to come crashing down.
See, here's the radical compassion of Jesus. Because he's longing to gather up and protect the nation that's going to kill him.
Pick up verse 34 and get the tone.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'
Which is a scene we'll see a little further down the road in chapter 19. As he rides into Jerusalem. To the sound of praises, that soon turn to calls for his blood.
So again, are they going to listen to his warnings? Or not? Are the Pharisees and the Teachers and the Synagogue Rulers going to soften their hearts and learn some compassion? Are they going to start bearing fruit? Or not? That's the issue that Luke's laying out for us. the door is closing. Who's going to squeeze through? Warning after warning. So let's keep looking for any signs of softening. For any signs of fruit.
Interesting as you step into chapter 14, it's kind of like groundhog day, isn't it? That's the movie where every day is exactly the same as the day before. So take a look. Again, it's a sabbath. And again... somebody needs healing.
The point is, of course, he's been put there as a test. It's a sabbath lunch invitation to the house of a prominent Pharisee, but it's not hospitality at all. It's a set up. He's being carefully watched, verse 1, as this guy with terrible swelling from congestive heart failure is somehow there in front of him at the lunch table.
Now I guess in a way this would be frustrating. I mean, I know how tough it is for some of you when people keep coming to you about work stuff at church when you just want some time off - but it reminds me I need to ask Dale about getting the car serviced. But Jesus doesn't mind at all. Even though he knows it's a trap. He doesn't care who's watching. There's the man. Standing. Swollen.
As the Pharisees watch every move to catch Jesus out.
And Jesus confronts them. Did I mention we're looking at the confronting Jesus in this series? Here he is again. Chapter 14 verse 3, he turns directly to the Pharisees and the law experts. And he says - Well? "Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath or not?"
But they don't say a word. And so he takes hold of the man and he heals him and he sends him away.
And then he says to the Pharisees almost the same words he said to the Synagogue ruler before in chapter 13. You hypocrites! I mean, if your son or your ox falls in a well on the Sabbath, you pull him out straight away. You don't even think about it. And that's what I'm doing. And for a second time, they're silent. Verse 6. And they had nothing to say.
Because obviously, there's nothing you can say is there? In defense of a position that's so very religious... and yet so heartless. I mean, why would you possibly think God would be more pleased with you for not helping someone than for helping? Just because of the day of the week it is. Oh, no, sorry, I'm not being helpful today because it's my rest day.
As so as they close the door on Jesus, these Pharisees don't realise the door of the kingdom... is closing in their own faces. Shut out.
Hard to see why, isn't it? With all the powerful acts of compassion Jesus was doing that the Pharisees thought it was a good idea to stand against him.
I noticed the other day when we were out visiting Jo, on the doors of one of the pubs up there's a funny ad for the bingo. It says rush on in for the bingo, and there's a life-size picture stuck on the sliding doors of the back end of a lady with a handbag, except you can't see her head because it's squeezed in between the doors. Apparently the bingo's so good there that you'd give anything to squeeze in there.
Well, if the bingo's that good, how good is this? Here's Jesus who we're going to see is bringing nothing less than resurrection. Here's Jesus bringing compassion and life and freedom where there's only been oppression and rules and demons and decay. I mean, why wouldn't you be rushing in?
And yet as we've seen, the Pharisees and the nation of Israel have got better things to do. Being religious. Making rules. Keeping their hearts hard to anyone with needs.
And they thought God would be impressed with them. Yet they've been shut out. While people like us from every point of the compass are invited in to take their places. I hope you've rushed in. Because here's a momentary opportunity, here's an opening that makes all the difference in the world.
But of course... it's an incredible shame, isn't it? It's an incredible shame if we who have come from the north and the south and the west and the east to take our place in the Kingdom do the pharisee thing all over again. And think it's all about power and prestige and position. And not compassion. If we think it's all about rules and regulations and doing things right. If we're failing to do the right things. And instead of doing what we can to set people free from Satan's bondage and showing compassion we just end up going round in the empty circles of religion that Jesus so despises. And so we become just another generation of fruitless, compassionless hypocrites.
Later on, the apostle Paul puts it this way in Colossians 3 v12. He says, "Therefore as God's people" - that's us - "clothe yourselves with compassion."
Were you here a couple of weeks back to hear Andrew Merry? He's the guy from Compassion Australia. I'm not sure if this is a good statistic or not, but Andrew says he was delighted by the fact 14 people signed up with him that morning to sponsor a child. Maybe everyone else is doing it already.
But it's actually great news isn't it? That there are 14 more kids now with meals on the table every night. That there are 14 more kids with fresh water and schoolbooks. That there are 14 more kids with a weekend bible club program. That there are 14 more kids maybe at Christmas who tear off the wrapping paper and are going to be delighted to find a gift like maybe a saucepan. While kids here throw a tantrum if it's not an X-Box.
Encouraging as well to hear from a couple of our growth groups who have been getting into their service projects. Like Gary and Libby's group with the hospital packs. Because they've seen first hand what it's like for parents and kids in there. Or Chris and Jo Myers' group helping with the gardens at the abused kids preschool. There's so much we can do out there if we can just learn to see it. And not be religiously hard hearted and blind to it.
It's one of our re-church goals for the year. To be a church full of people who really care. So stop. And look. And listen. Maybe here at church. Maybe in your office. Because they might laugh at the fact that you're the token Christian in your workplace, but let me tell you if you're not the one they're turning to when things are tough, if you're not the one known for your practical compassion, if you're only the one known for your criticism and your rules and your self righteousness, there's something badly wrong, isn't there. Ken was the only other Christian where I used to work. Ken was known for the way he disapproved of everybody. How is it with you?
Maybe in your street. Friends of ours have just moved in next door to a young single mum with two babies who's struggling to make ends meet and she's working the regular night shifts at the local retirement village. By the time she pays for childcare, she's working for nothing. How does someone like that get out of the hole they're in? Andrew and Jayne said, we can help. And so it's free childcare. Every night shift. These two babies that Jayne gently puts to sleep. With a kind of a genuine love included that I reckon is going to shape those two kids for the rest of their lives.
You know what Andrew and Jayne could have said. They could have said, single mothers shouldn't complain. She's made her choices. Two kids in two years with two different blokes. She got herself into it. she can get herself out of it. That's the self righteous Pharisee line. That's the religious line that so many people expect from us, isn't it? And then in Christians like Andrew and Jayne, they meet costly compassion instead. This is night after night. This is waking up at 2am to give them the bottle.
Friends, do not think for a moment that coming along to church and going through the motions make you part of the Kingdom of God. Do not think for a moment that shrinking into a comfortable little cocoon of looking after yourself and your nearest and dearest and closing out everyone else constitutes coming into the kingdom. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that acts of kindness get you into the kingdom of God.
But I am saying, do not think for a moment you can come into the kingdom without coming first to the confrontingly compassionate Lord Jesus. The one who holds open the door. And says come in while you can.
See, in the Kingdom Tree that Jesus is still growing from those first tiny seeds, there's room for all kinds of birds. But there's no perch for the hard of heart. At the party that Jesus is preparing, the door is shut tight on the self righteous. If that's you, hear the words of Jesus today and squeeze in while you can.