Mike Seawright

Luke 16:19-31 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. ²⁰ And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, ²¹ who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. ²² The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, ²³ and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ²⁴ And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ ²⁵ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ ²⁷ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— ²⁸ for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ ²⁹ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ ³⁰ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ ³¹ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

Devotion

This parable presents a striking contrast.  First, we have an unnamed rich man, clothed in the finest attire, who feasts on the very best food each and every day.  Second, we have a named Lazarus, broken, poor, and suffering in every way.  One is up and the other is down.

And then, as is so common with Jesus, we have the great reversal.  The first becomes last and the last becomes first, the one who has nothing gains everything, and Lazarus inherits eternal life while the unnamed rich man inherits death.

This parable is found only in Luke, and emphasizes again Luke’s thematic, practical, and tangible concern for the poor.  Jesus, in the telling on the story, makes it clear that what the rich man did with his money in his life actually matters—how he treated the poor, how he stewarded his physical resources—it really matters.  Jesus doesn’t let us off the hook by spiritualizing wealth and poverty.  What you and I do with our money, and how we leverage the resources God has entrusted to us for the sake of others has eternal ramifications.

Jesus doesn’t stop there, however—he takes it a step further.  He reiterates a truism found in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke): one can gain the world and still lose his or her soul.  The rich man in Luke 16 has just about everything the world offers and he still misses out.  In his preoccupation with the riches of the present he failed to invest in that which is eternal.

For Jesus, caring for the poor and fixing our eyes on the eternal is not an either/or, but a both/and.  We have a gospel imperative to care for the poor, to steward the wealth God has entrusted to us for the sake of others, while simultaneously keeping the end in mind and investing in that which will never spoil or fade.

How do we do that?  How do we live faithfully in the present moment while also living in light of eternity?  The parable tells us!  The instruction from Father Abraham is to hear from Moses and the Prophets, to listen to the instruction of the Holy Scriptures when it comes to rules for faithful living—to read the Bible and do what it says.  It’s simple, but not easy.  Come Holy Spirit, and transform us that we might live faithfully as followers of Jesus!

For further reflection: 1) What is particularly challenging or convicting for you in this parable?

2) How do you interact with the Lazarus’s in your neighborhood/life?

2) In what ways are you tempted to live an either/or life rather than a both/and when it comes to caring for temporal and eternal concerns?

3) What is one thing you can do this week to steward that which has been entrusted to you for the sake of others?  Likewise, what is one thing you can do this week to invest in the eternal?

Luke 4:16-21 English Standard Version (ESV)

4 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Devotion

I am so thankful that the Lord gave us four unique gospels.  The person and life and ministry of Jesus is too profound and too complex and too important to engage from only one single angle.  Instead, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are given a well rounded account of Jesus while simultaneously benefitting from the unique voices of each author.

None of the other gospel writers include this particular public teaching—it is only in Luke that Jesus uses Isaiah 61 to begin his public ministry in his hometown.  For Luke, this moment establishes what will be a dominant theme in his gospel—Jesus’ right concern for the poor, the captive, the blind, and the oppressed, and Jesus’ announcement that in him the year of jubilee is at hand (Lev. 25).

Luke doesn’t spiritualize Isaiah 61—he’s not talking about the spiritual poor, or those captive to sin, or the spiritually blind or oppressed.  No, he is talking about physical, earthly realities.  He has come to announce good news for those who are literally poor and for those in physical chains.  He has come to overturn systems of injustice that leave some oppressed.

I have had a very privileged life.  I don’t know much of what it means to be poor, captive, blind, or oppressed.  And yet, because Jesus announced that he was directly taking on the forces that result in such situations, I cannot ignore it.  I cannot ignore him.  Jesus doesn’t let me off the hook.  And so I must wrestle, as must any Christian, what it means to be about the Master’s business, to care about the things that he cares about, to live like him and with him and in him.

For further reflection: 1) What has been your experience being poor, captive, blind, or oppressed?

2) What might it look like for a follower of Jesus to be about the Master’s business when it comes to proclaiming good news for the poor, freedom for the captive, sight for the blind, and liberty for the oppressed?

3) What is one thing you can do this week to be good news for the poor?

Luke 9:51-62 (ESV)

Vs. 51-56: When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.

Vs. 57-62: As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Devotion

My life is comfortably busy.  I mostly have what I need, and parenting, work, and marriage ensures my days stay full.  Even as a comfortably busy pastor, it is easy to reduce the Christian life to one more obligation amidst soccer practices and lawn mowing and work and trips to the grocery store. 

Verses 51-56 mark a significant turning point in the plot of Luke’s gospel.  Up until this point, Jesus has been doing the sorts of things people expected from a Messiah: healing the sick, expounding the scriptures, even raising the dead.  In verse 51 (and again in verse 53), Luke notes that “Jesus set his face for Jerusalem.”  Luke wants to make clear that Jesus isn’t merely the Messiah everyone expected, who would heal the sick and give sight to the blind and set the captive free.  He is more than that.  He is the Messiah—the King–who would die.

If the first section of our text makes clear that Jesus is the Messiah who would die, the second section makes clear that following Jesus is costly.  If Jesus’ eyes our fixed on the cross, then followers of Jesus must keep their eyes fixed on him, even if that means following him to the most costly of places.

In this instance, Luke repeats himself three times.  Jesus makes it perfectly clear: he is not one obligation among many.  He is not a relationship to be squeezed in when we have some space in our day or when our work schedule isn’t too crazy or when our kids’ swim season ends. 

Most of us live comfortably busy lives.  We have responsibilities and commitments, many of which are good.  I have a friend who once said that “idolatry happens when we take good things and make them ultimate things.”  Likewise, we miss out on the fullness life with Jesus has to offer (even when that life means following him to the cross) when we reduce life with him to one good thing among any number of other good things. 

Jesus is the King who fixes his eyes on Jerusalem, on the cross.  Following Jesus means fixing our eyes on him first, and likewise following him into Jerusalem.  Comfortably busy people—we tend to avoid Jerusalem.  In doing so, we often miss the pain and costliness of death.  But we also miss the joy and wonder of resurrection that lies on the other side.

For further reflection: 1) By setting his face towards death, Jesus is upending everyone’s expectations of the Messiah.  How has Jesus challenged your expectations of who he is or what he is supposed to do?

2) We all find ourselves regularly prioritizing human obligations over following Jesus.  What obligations do you find yourself most frequently overwhelmed by?  What might Jesus say to you in that?

3) Has following Jesus ever been costly for you?  How so? 

4) What is one step you can take this coming week to follow Jesus into the costly places?

Scripture: John 16:12-15 (ESV)

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Devotion:

Most of us like to know the plan.  We like to know where we’re headed, what comes next, what danger or opportunity lies around the next corner.  And not knowing?  For most of us, not knowing where we’re headed, not having at least a small sense of the plan, produces a great deal of anxiety. 

Can you imagine what the disciples might have been feeling in this moment?  Jesus has just told them that he will be leaving them (13:36) and that they will be hated and persecuted (15:18-20) because of him.  The disciples have left everything to follow Jesus, rested their hopes and dreams on him, walked with him, learned from him—and now, all of that is about to change.

Of course, the plan isn’t really their plan.  It’s Jesus’s plan, and he has every right to reveal it in his own time. Furthermore, Jesus makes it clear that they’re not ready to know the plan yet: “you cannot bear [the things I have to say] now.”  And yet, in this moment of anxiety-producing, everything-is-changing unknown, he makes a promise to his disciples.  They would not be alone.  He might be leaving for a time, but the Spirit would be sent to guide them and comfort them and reveal everything they need to know about Jesus and his plan to them.  The early church father Chrysostom wrote, “In this way, then, he raised their spirits. For there is nothing for which people so long as the knowledge of the future.… He relieves them from all anxiety by showing them that dangers would not fall on them unawares” (Homilies on the Gospel of John 78.2).

Friends, the dangers of the unknown future will not fall on you unawares.  After all, the future and all our plans aren’t really our plans anyway.  They’re Jesus’s.

And so, even in times of transition or turbulence, when everything is changing and the future seems unknown and unknowable, we too have a Helper.  Jesus doesn’t leave us alone and wondering, but sends the Spirit to us, to comfort us and guide us and to reveal to us everything we need to know about Jesus and his plan and our place in it. 

For further reflection: 1) What do you think the disciples were feeling in this moment?  How do you think you would have felt?

2) When was a time you faced an unknown future?  How did it make you feel?  How did you respond?

3) How has the Holy Spirit comforted you in times of change?  What does paying attention to the Spirit look like in your life (how do you do it)?

4) Share a time of stress where the Spirit pointed you back to Jesus and His plan.