Luke 17:11-37

Read along as Matthew guides us through the Gospel of Luke. In these verses, Jesus is traveling between Galilee and Samaria, and he heals ten men with leprosy. But only one of them returns to say thank you. Why do some of us recognize God's handiwork and blessings in our lives, while others fail to see what's really going on? Next, Jesus get's into a discussion with the Pharisees about the kingdom of God and when or how that might come. Jesus explains the future is now, and he is here--come and see the kingdom on display in Christ!

Matthew Schmidt is the Pastor of St. Paul's United Church of Christ in the beautiful small town of Grand Haven, MI. Discover more about St. Paul's today. www.stpaulsgrandhaven.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, friends, welcome to Bible study. We will be reading Luke chapter 17, starting in verse 11 today. And why don't we pray before we begin? Holy God, you sit enthroned on high, and yet you stoop to pick the needy up from the ash heap. And we pray that you, great God, would attend to us needy today. Reveal yourself in the reading of your word and point us towards your unending glory. Amen. So Luke 17, verse 11. Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. Okay, so just a reminder that Jesus isn't just plugged into a certain village where he's rented an Airbnb and he's stayed there for a couple years. He is an itinerant preacher. He is a traveling man. He is wandering about, and almost all of these scenes and these teachings are taking place in different villages and in different places. Right now, he is on his way to Jerusalem. He's turned his face to Jerusalem, but he's taking his time. And he happens to be traveling along the border between Samaria and Galilee. We've talked about Samaria before. Galilee, obviously, a region up north. Samaria, a region in between Galilee and Judea or Jerusalem. Um he's this, whatever happens next, we know it's going to be a border story. And we have borders in our world. And uh, if you ever wonder, you know, what does the Bible say about borders? What does the say the Bible say about different nations, different ethnicities, different peoples? Well, we're gonna whatever this is that comes next, it's gonna be a story that comes alongside a border. So that's just an important context, right? So on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men with who had leprosy met him. So he's not in the village yet. He's about to enter the village and he encounters ten men with leprosy. Are these men coming to him from the village or are they outside the village? They're outside the village. You're not allowed to go into the village if you're a flock of ten men with leprosy. You live in a leper colony. You are somebody who doesn't live in Samaria or Galilee or the village. You live, you know. So if you wonder, are we talking about a border type situation? Now we are on the border of a village, and he's going to interact with people who aren't allowed to cross that border into the village. Ten men who have leprosy, and they are forced to live in a leper colony away from society.

SPEAKER_05 3:14

That's everything you have with leprosy, but call it it wouldn't be a breeding real.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Yeah. You know that the comment there, leprosy is obviously contagious. If you go to that lepra colony, you're gonna get it. That all that thinking, Lois, is it's it's exactly what they were thinking back then, too. Right? When people are sick, you don't want to go by them, right? Yeah, they didn't know anything about it. But even, I mean, even in today's world, you know, I've made hospital visits where somebody is so sick that they make me, as the pastor or the visitor, put on a mask. I've I've visited folks where um member uh Lady J, you would have to put on a full bodysuit in order to go into her room to visit her to make sure she didn't get sick. Forever, people have been concerned about cross-contamination, right? And that's part of so Luke is saying on the edge of Samaria and Galilee, on the edge of a village, and then he adds in on the edge of what's clean and unclean, right? So that's what the story is about. Can you cross those boundaries? Does Jesus cross those boundaries? Does Jesus build a tall barrier between himself and the other? Does Jesus put on a mask and a full bodysuit so that he doesn't get sick? How will Jesus behave when ten lepers approach him? Will he be like a smart doctor and wash his hands and scrub into the operating room? We'll find out. So they stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, Jesus, Master, have pity on us. Why are they standing at a distance and calling out? They're not allowed to get close. They have to warn people when they're coming, right? If somebody walks by and they would like to engage them, they need to shout and say, Hi, we're the sick people. Can we approach? Right? That's just custom. Unclean.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Yeah. Right. Right, right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yep. Um, and what they call out is interesting. They don't call out, hey stranger. They call out, Jesus, master, have mercy or have pity on us. Do any of your translations have something alternate to that? Something along the lines of Jesus, Master, have pity on us. It's pretty profound. Uh the entire temple system in the time of Jesus is set up to on the one hand protect a holy God from sick people. There's like exterior circles, and then if you're clean enough, you get to move into the interior, and then if you're holy enough, you get to move into the very interior. And if you're really have done all the right things, you get to move into the holiest of holy spots. And that is so burning, bright, and brilliant that you know, the high priest, if he goes in on that one day a year to offer that sin offering on behalf of the people of God who are sinners. Uh, it's so treacherous and dangerous. He ties a rope around his ankle because he's probably going to die in the holy, brilliant light of God. This is the God that the Jewish people believe in, the holy, pure, unsick God, and humanity is sick. And look what these people are crying out God, Jesus, Master, make us clean, right? Have pity on us, heal us, cleanse us. I mean, the audacity to be able to uh have a vision of a God in that time that is approachable. Jesus is doing a very good job communicating to people something about God's self that he's approachable, that you can call out to this God, that this God will listen, might even respond, might even do something about your problems. Not a God locked away in a closet protected by priests, but a God who is so priestly himself that he mediates God's visceral, tangible, real presence with every human being on planet Earth. This is what Jesus means when he says, My body is the temple. My body is the temple, right? Okay, so they're bold, they call in a loud voice, they do the right cultural thing. Hey, we're sick over here, don't come close. Uh, but can you, Jesus, master, have pity on us? When he saw them, he said, Go show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. That's the system, right? Go to the priests, show yourself to the priest. The priest determines whether you can re-enter society, clean or unclean. Those categories are religious categories. They're not medical categories. There was no modern Western science in the ancient world. You're right when you say this probably wasn't leprosy. Yeah, leprosy wasn't defined medically until like the 1600s. So this is like weird skin stuff that seems unclean, fits the category of pus according to Levitical law, and it's a religious problem. And so the solution would be go to the priest and show yourself. He'll inspect your skin. He will determine whether or not you have uh, you know, the ability to go back to your family or whether you gotta keep living with those 10 guys outside in the leper colony. And as they went, they were cleansed. It's this really beautiful idea that um being cleansed on the way. You know? W what do you make of that? Or what questions do you have?

SPEAKER_04 9:27

Well, got me. And it's normally it's you know, stand up, you're healed, or your sins are forgiven, or something like that. He didn't even say it. You're healed, go show yourself to the priests, he just said go.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Yeah. Yep. Yep. So the minute we want to make healing formulaic, do a certain thing, and then Jesus is gonna do a certain thing, and then you do a certain thing, and we categorically formulatize healing. Here we get a really mysterious story. Uh, they beg for pity, they acknowledge Jesus as master, Jesus says, Go and talk to somebody else who has authority, the priests, participate in the religious system of the day, and while they're on their way, just like a miracle, just like magic, just like something in the air heals them. They are cleansed, right? This isn't specifically healing, it's cleansing. And and I think that's one way of saying God is doing this, right? Because uh it's not a touch from Jesus himself, it's just this something in the atmosphere makes them clean. It's it's kind of their obedience to go. Yeah. Right. And and right, and and if you get in it, so you can like read this with like three sort of uh were they actually healed of an actual skin disease, and so they go to the priest with confidence, or are they heading to the priest to risk border crossing without a passport? And just risking border crossing without a passport is enough for God to make a way, right? Do you know what I mean by that? I I'm not talking about border boundary crossing. They're they're willing to risk the boundary crossing between clean and unclean to go to the priest who has this power to determine whether they are clean or unclean, and they start that process of saying, Yeah, something about what this guy said says that I am worthy enough to go to the priest now and see if I really am worthy enough to cross that boundary. And sure enough, the trusting that you are worthy enough to cross that boundary is enough to see, and they're and and it just works, it just works, and they really do, and the priest and they are cleansed, and they're gonna re-enter their lives in a really significant way, right? Exactly, so much mystery in the story. Did they actually have boils on their arms that get healed? And then did they actually see a priest and then did they actually re-enter their lives? It almost doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

Yeah, right. Yes, yes, right.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

So uh who really has the authority to heal and cleanse in Luke? That's a that's a question. Does the priest actually have any authority? Well, of course they have some. They they could get to the priest, and the priest could say, Nope, I see something there inside your ear. Go back to the leper colony. But in actuality, it does seem like God is healing and cleansing these people on their way, and Jesus has this authority to send them off to the priest, and maybe it will totally work. And the priest seems to be some kind of pawn or cog in a system that is either going to recognize the authoritative cleansing of God or not. And whichever trajectory that takes, I mean, people are gonna be reading that story in the time of Jesus talking about it. Can you believe those guys were healed and the priests didn't let them back into society? What does that do to your God, to your priestly system, to your temple? Lowers the authority, right? Makes people want to carry some pitchforks into that priest's office. You're gonna get a phone call from mom, priest, because my boy really is healed. He really is clean. I saw it with my own eyes, right? Or the priest will allow it to happen. And and God is reclaiming authority over the temple system. So either way, God is exerting a kind of authority in this story through Jesus. Jesus, Master, have pity on us. When he saw them, he said, Go show yourselves to the priest. And as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, there's ten of them. Now, one of them, when he saw he was healed, came back praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. By the way, he was a Samaritan. Those Samaritans who believe in a slightly different deity than those Jewish people. Those Samaritans who believe in a slightly different scripture than those Jewish people. Very, very close, very, very similar, but almost like so close that they're gonna hate each other. He recognizes God in this story. A Samaritan. Whoa. Let me ask a really simple question.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Why does one person turn around and say thank you to Jesus? That's what I'm asking. Why does one person turn around and say thank you to Jesus?

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Yeah, he he gets what's going on. He believes in God and sees that God is the one in this situation with all the authority. And so he turns and he falls at Jesus' feet and he thanks God. Why does one person do that? We could say because he has faith, because he believes. Your question was, Who what about the other nine?

SPEAKER_05 16:00

Well maybe it was meant to talk, but you already know what to do.

SPEAKER_04 16:08

But we would uh eventually take away the other nine were so ingrained in the Jewish law that we'd have to go to the priest and show ourselves, and then we have to wait another seven days.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 16:53

We have to wait another seven days and come back, and then he'll say, Yes, go wash here, go eat.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Yep. Yeah, I think I think you're you're right on. I my guess, what I'm what I'm imagining here is you have a colony outside of a village, and the village is on the border between Samaria and Galilee, and you've got nine Jewish lepers and one Samaritan leper, and somehow their illness, their label of unclean has united them, right? They the the problem in their life has kind of reset boundary for them. And now, as they're healed, what you get is the one foreigner turning back and recognizing Jesus, he has no temple to go to in the time of Jesus, right? The other nine, they have the temple to go and make pilgrimage to and see a priest who works in the temple in Jerusalem. And they choose to do that. They, I mean, they're following Jesus' instructions, but they're also kind of making a claim here, like, uh, okay, we'll go and participate in the temple system with the priestly authority, you know, recognizing the priestly authority. So Jesus is not breaking the law, right? But he is exposing the law in multiple ways. So this one Samaritan comes back and thanks him. What a good Samaritan. He gets it, right? And here's what Jesus says Jesus asked, uh, were not all ten cleansed, verse 17. Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner? And then he said to this foreigner, Rise and go. Your faith has made you well. And there's so much in a sentence like that. That word rise, I mean, Luke does not say that lightly, doesn't put that on Jesus' lips lightly. Rise is the Greek word that will be connected to what happens to Jesus after his death, when he rises from the dead, when he rises from being categorically most unclean, death is the most unclean. You don't touch dead bodies, they're the most unclean. When Jesus goes to, you know, tradition would say hell itself, to the most other place, and then rises from that to life, to new life, to a new creation, to a new way of being, to a new, you know, offering a new way of being human, a new way of living in the world, a new path towards life and goodness and grace and peace.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

And they're not a friend.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

No, they were not. They're enemies. Right. I yeah. Yeah, I I think we have to ask that question. What if you're reading a text like this, what in the world could cut down some of the boundaries we have between ourselves and whatever we would say is the other? You know, the whether it's the north and the south in the United States of America, what what could cut down some of those border boundaries? Whether it's, you know, back in the day, uh what this town probably had like the the Catholics and the Dutch and the Germans or something like that. You know, what could actually disrupt those boundaries? Sometimes suffering can. And suffering can bring about a kind of commonality. And you might wind up in a cancer support group and you can't believe it, but there's a Catholic next to you, and there's a person of color next to you, and there's a somebody who doesn't speak English very well next to you, but you've all got cancer and you need some support, and and you've been equalized in your suffering. So suffering can do it. You would think healing would do it though, too, right? And here there's healing, and immediately the healing sort of breaks the group in half. And that's part of the point of what Jesus is saying. It's like, I'm gonna come to this world, uh, offer salvation, and it's gonna rip the world in half. It's gonna tear families apart. Some people just won't be able to change, even though I'm saying be changed, right? That he's literally made them clean. They are healed and they are clean and they are welcome, and yet they don't trust the healing and the cleansing and the welcome enough unless the person with authority actually says it's real. And it's ripping society now. What would it take for humanity to really cross the boundaries and the borders that we have constructed and realize that look, our life is a gift from God, healing is a gift from God, breath in our lungs is a Gift from God. This planet is a gift from God. This place, this everything is a gift from God. And this one Samaritan recognizes it, believes it, comes back to the source of it. Jesus falls at his feet and says, Thank you. And then Jesus says, rise and go. I mean, rise and go. Like one, you are in the kingdom. Rise is this resurrection term. You're in, man. This is it. Welcome to the glorious new life. You're in the kingdom now, buddy. Now go. What's he gonna do when he goes? He's gonna tell everybody, man. If you're sick, you still belong.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

And I know a path of healing.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

That's right. Right. Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

It it takes sickness to make them humble. They were all humbled. They all call out Jesus master. But then the jujitsu of Jesus is he doesn't go and touch them in this story to heal them. And while they're on their way, they're healed. And it gives this opportunity for them to wonder, oh, who did it? I wonder how that worked, right? And in the wondering, hey, I'm feeling better. Oh wow, yeah, I think I'm good. And if I get that stamp of approval, I'm double good. I can go back to my family, right? And and do they even have eyes to see the source of the goodness that's rushing into their lives? Often we we don't. We're blind to it. And and then why are we blind to it? And what's going on? And and it often has to do with protecting ourselves. Uh, you see this opportunity for self-gain and you run after it.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

Right. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Yeah. Yeah. And I like to assume that some of these guys uh come back and find him later. I I mean I I just I'm living in a fantasy world maybe, but I have hope that some of these people they they went because he told them to go, and they didn't they should have said thank you. I think we all should say thank you a lot more quickly. But I I I'm reading this like I read the older son who's also lost. I think the older son goes into the party, maybe. I hope these lepers who are now clean come back and say thank you. Yeah, I maybe they'll go out to coffee with the Samaritan even after they're both cleansed. Maybe. Wouldn't that be nice? I mean, gee, Luke is asking that question. Are the are the Samaritans and the Galileans gonna have tea after they're all healed? Or did they only have tea when they were forced to live in leper colony together? You know, and some things never change. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:25

The other nine is really showers.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

And I think they just failed to recognize what was happening while it was happening to them. There's this mysterious blessing of goodness and healing, and it comes in for all of us in many forms. And and can we recognize the source? Or are we doing it because we're doing the next right thing and it's to our credit? That's kind of an endless temptation for humankind is to think, well, you know, the good things are happening to my life because I'm working really hard and I'm earning it, you know? And if you do this and then you do this and then you do this, you are gonna be a healthier person. Or if you do this and then you do this, and then you do this, you are gonna be a successful person. And that's to my credit because I'm doing the right thing. I think a lot of us live that way. And uh can we recognize the source of all of it anyway? Turn around and say thank you once in a while for this body. Thank you for this breath. Thank you for this grace, thank you for this forgiveness, for this healing. Yeah. Yep. Yep. So it's it's really this story about what is the kingdom, and this kingdom, again, is readily available. It's it's a kingdom that emerges on the margins, it's a kingdom that is readily available to both sides, and then also we have this ability to ignore it, to say no thanks, or just misunderstand the invitation and in ignorance carry on, you know, in in the world, as if the world hasn't been totally changed by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. Another story, verse 20, once on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, so different time now, different day, different spot. Um, but you know, Luke likes to connect these stories. So once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, the coming of the kingdom is not something that can be observed. So the Pharisees are talking to the kingdom. Jesus Christ is the incarnation of the kingdom. The kingdom has been manifesting itself all around Jesus, thrumming real life since the day that little baby was born in Bethlehem. It's manifested itself in that scene with the Samaritans and the uh Galileans. The kingdom is here, the kingdom is now in Jesus. And the Pharisees ask what question? Yeah, when will it come? Because their version of the kingdom is like an all or nothing thing. Their version of the kingdom is someday God will send a messiah who decisively drives out evil, vanquishes darkness, solidifies a prosperous kingdom, a son of David who will win all the wars and will have a rich, prosperous, promised land fully, fully actualized. And that's a someday reality. And so they ask Jesus a future question: when will the kingdom come? Already it's a bad question. Why is when will the kingdom come a bad question or an incomplete question? It's already here. It's already here. They're asking the kingdom, when are you gonna get here? It's like a child on Christmas morning saying, When is Christmas gonna start? Can we open my presents now? It's like, dude, it's already here. Have a cup of tea before you open the presents. Like it's not officially Christmas once you have everything. It's Christmas, you know? You can be happy before you open all the gifts. So Jesus replies to this future question: When will the kingdom of God come? Jesus says, the coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed. In other words, it won't be super obvious. Where people will say, here it is, or there it is. I.e., uh, it won't be like um an alien spaceship in Independence Day bursting through the clouds, where every human being is like, that's an alien spaceship, it's happening, the invasion is real, and everyone leaves their house and looks up, and we all see the same thing. It won't be like that. And honestly, if that happened, even that wouldn't be like that. Because the minute some people point and say, There it is, other people will be like, it's AI, it's not real. Half the world will be on the other side of the world, right? And they won't see it if it's coming from that direction, right? So it's not gonna be a thing, like we're all on this flat earth, and this dynamic thing happens, and everyone sees the same exact thing. There it is, it's happening. Why won't it be that way? Because the kingdom of God is already in your midst. It was born in Bethlehem, a tiny infant, helpless child thirty years ago, Jesus is saying. Then he said to his disciples, You want to talk about the future? We'll talk about the future. The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Now, one of the days of the Son of Man is this Daniel language where the Son of Man will come in on the clouds in his glorious presence, similar to the Independence Day movie, right? Where there's this giant heavenly sign that confirms to all people that the megatron is descending, the Son of Man will then save, you know, God's chosen people. And Jesus is saying, all right, that what they're kind of talking about is when is that gonna happen? I'll tell you what, the time is coming when you will wish that day is here, and you will not see it. What's he talking about? He's talking about his own death. There's gonna be a time, you guys, when it's so bad, when the lights go so dim, when the violence of war roars so loudly that you're gonna wish there was a son of man that pierces the sky like a mighty thunder cloud and descends to save the world. He's talking about his death. That would be the time when they would scream at the heavens, no, come on. People will tell you, there he is, or here he is. Do not go running after them. Uh a couple a couple years after the life of Jesus, Jerusalem goes to war with Rome. The the alternative messianic movements they get powerful enough that people take up arms and go to war against Rome, and Rome squashes the Jewish people like cockroaches. They destroy the temple, they stack up logs on the outside of those limestone bricks and they burn fires so hot that the walls of the temple themselves boil and pop and hiss and explode, rocks exploding, and and the temple is leveled and crumbled. And all that exists today is the Wailing Wall, just a part of Herod the Great's foundation, right? Uh Jewish people will be totally decimated in this time period from 66 AD to 70 AD. There's a Roman general who gets so geeked about destroying this little cockroach society that he like hunts down as many Jewish people as he can find and kills them all. I mean, just sends his armies to kill them all. You can see that uh in some of the desert fortresses where the last like flock of Jewish rebels are trying to protect themselves, and he spends like four years building a ramp up to this fortress just to kill these people. By the time he gets to them, they've all died of starvation because they've isolated themselves on top of these mountains and fortresses hiding from the Roman. I mean, that's how badly the Romans just pummel. And in that time, as the as the temple is being crumbled, if they didn't cry out while Jesus was being crucified, uh of the people of God are crying out, okay, we're losing the war. God, will you send the great warrior king now? Because pregnant women are screaming and children are dying, and the war is so bad, and we're all losing. And that happened historically. And the question is, you know, Luke is at he's writing this story after the crucifixion and after the resurrection, where the God crisis event happens. He's writing this story after the Great Jewish-Roman War, where the Jewish people lose, and they die themselves as brutally as Christ himself died, right? And he's referencing both of these apocalyptic moments as Jesus is telling this story preemptively in the Gospel of Luke. People will tell you there he is, or here he is. When they're at war, they're gonna point to this guy is a good fighter. He's he's sign up for his battalion, he'll lead us to victory. There he is over there. He there's the Messiah. I heard about this guy down south who's six foot four in a world where everyone's five foot five, you know. He's six foot four and he's so strong, he can he could rescue us. I heard he was born with a lightning bolt from heaven, though they might say. You know, you know what I'm talking about. Do not go running after them, for the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, will be someday, but first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. So the sign that the followers of Jesus will receive of the coming of the future kingdom will be the suffering and rejection of the Messiah. I mean, it's just it's brilliant that for hundreds of years Christians hold up a crucified Messiah as their king. They do not hold up a son of man who comes like a lightning bolt as their king. Now, this far from it, we're back to really hoping for that lightning bolt God. You know, we really are. There's a lot of churches today that to get us through the hard times will say, Yeah, but someday God's coming back, and then you're toast, all you evil people. Right? And what the followers of Jesus actually do in their actual life is hold up a crucified Messiah as the sign that they can get through this apocalypse. A weak and wounded hanging on a cross, Jesus Christ. And because they do that, you know, after that Roman Jewish war when the city is in ruins, it's it's historically some Christian followers of Jesus who are able to help rebuild that city, who are able to tend to the wounded, who are able to, because they they just were they were just neighbors who were nonviolently letting some of this stuff happen. And then out of the rubble heap, they come out and they're trying to love God and love their neighbor. And uh, you know, even the churches that they build historically become places where uh you know later on both Jewish and Muslim people are welcome. It you know, the holy site in uh in Jerusalem transitions from the Holy of Holies, the temple, historically, over the course of a couple hundred years, and it becomes the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Jesus was historically crucified. And that becomes the center holy spot in Jerusalem. I mean, the whole reason that uh, you know, in whatever it is, 800 AD, the Muslim faith is able to build the dome on the rock on the very site of the Holy of Holies for the Jewish temple, is because at that point, historically, it was the town rubble heap. It was just a it was where you you dumped the trash. The very Holy of Holies spot on planet Earth was, you know, for a couple hundred years, the town rubble heap. And uh, and now, of course, we want to reclaim that as the most, as soon as another religion sets up a holy spot, it's like, well, let's get that spot back. But really, historically, everything changes for Christians when Jesus Christ is killed on the cross. And you see, the Son of Man dies and is rejected by his own generation, and that teaches us something of who this mighty God is. Mighty God, yes. Lightning bolt God, sure. God powerful enough to create the world, absolutely. Also, God willing to die for you, suffering deity, God who has profound compassion on the marginalized, on the left behinds. And that's a dig on the left behind series. God who has profound compassion on the left behinds. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. He's just talking about his death, you guys. Verse 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying, and give being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. He's talking about these classic apocalyptic scenes from the Old Testament, where humanity has so lost the plot that God created this world, is the ultimate deity, uh, made the world in love, that they are to be people who worship God and not worship themselves or follow idolatrous trends and ways and means. Uh people are eating and drinking is a sign of what type of time? Good times. People are eating and drinking and partying means there is prosperity blooming in these times. And what comes when prosperity is blooming? Well, maybe society takes an ugly turn precisely because we're doing it to ourselves. Yeah, which day? You know, like if you if you really zoom out historically, and people like to say, oh, it sounds like today, the signs of the time now, maybe, maybe, I don't know. I mean, Jesus is clear, nobody knows the time. I will say it sounds like uh here's here's like a historical moment. It sounds like the roaring 20s giving way to the 1930s. You know, what was the difference between 1928 and 1932? Big difference. Right? Um, and so has it happened before? Yeah, go read Jared Diamond's scholarship. Society's collapse. I do I get concerned when I see an SP 500 that it dips once in a while, but it's dips are if you if you zoom all the way back and watch the historical, it's at a bell curve going up, up, up, up, up. The SP 500 hit records again last week Friday. 7100? Like, okay, it dipped for a second and bam. I mean, not much has changed, and our world is like rich again, right? So this is not sustainable. This is not sustainable. Uh, will the apocalypse come with artificial intelligence? I don't know. Will the apocalypse come in the form of World War III? I don't know. Will the apocalypse come if that party gets elected or that party gets elected? I don't know. That's not, I'm not in the predictive business. And I don't think precisely why Jesus is using two examples here of Noah and of Sodom and Gomorrah, is is I think he's also saying, like, we don't necessarily need to be in the predictive business here. The question is, who do you follow when that happens? I follow the crucified Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. That's who I follow. That's who I look to as my source of all hope. Prosperity looks different when you lift high the cross. We live, we are called to follow. Jesus calls us and bids us to follow him and die. I mean, that's it's different than the prosperity gospel. Now he's offering us the kingdom. He's offering like that Samaritan boy who comes back, he's offering us cleanliness, he's offering us welcome, he's offering us good. It's all here. It's all here, you know, right. Right. It's all here. We have enough food to feed the world. We have enough oil to put gas in our cars. We have enough. But there are millions of human beings who are convinced we do not have enough. And we are trying and trying and trying and trying to get more and more and more and more. And it will, as we eat and drink, and merry make, drive the world off a cliff. That's part of what Jesus is saying. It does sort of seem that way. You can read that and be like, wow, throughout history, it seems like an empire rises, and then God crumbles that empire. And we have this gift of history where we can kind of look back at about 4,000 years and see that trend happen again and again. Those Babylonians, let me tell you what, they thought they were hot stuff, wonders of the world, cities built along the river, and then here comes that Persian Empire. Bam! Bigger, badder. And a little fledgling Jewish people are able to say, those Persians sent by God to liberate us. You know, like that. It's you can read it three different ways. Right. Look what happens to Persia. Here comes Alexander the Great. That dude conquers half the world, which lasts for what, you know, one generation until his generals start fighting amongst each other, which paves the way for the Roman Empire, which now we're caught up to Jesus, and you're in this Roman Empire context. And some people they like this empire. And the temple is growing by the empire's prosperity. Herod the Great builds the temple with essentially Roman money. And it becomes a wonder of the world until those people, you know, think, okay, maybe we're rich enough and powerful enough to go to war, and then the empire squashes them. And of course, uh, where's Rome now? Right? It's become the next the Spaniards in the 1500s, the English in the 1800s, America, post-World War II, right? Empire's rise and fall. We can read that in Jared, Jared Diamond's historical work. It was, verse 28, it was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. That means in the prosperous, financially good days of Lot, things were happening that were good, but those people did not repent. They did not follow God. They were not sustainably loving the Creator God who made this whole world. The day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. Verse 30, it will be just like it will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, no one who is on the housetop with possessions inside should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot's wife, whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. He just said it right there. If you try to keep your life, you'll lose it. If you try to preserve your life, you'll lose it. And what's he talking about? Your house is on fire. What do you grab when you're running out of the house? What matters? I'm asking. Your house is on fire. Some of us, we know a loved one's house on fire. Your house, right? Yeah. What do you grab when the house is on fire? I'm asking. Your person. Quick, get the ID. Do you try to lug out that like case full of guns that's in your basement? Serve the gun. What do you grab? Your children? Do you go and get your kids so they don't? What do you grab when the house is on fire? What matters? What possessions define you? Those who want to save their life will lose it. Those who lose their life will gain it. That's a tough question. There's no good answer. Remember Lot's wife? Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night, two people will be in bed, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together, one will be taken and the other left. Where, Lord? They asked. So a lot of people read this. This is I mentioned that left behind series, uh, which was popular Tyndale press back in the 80s. This idea that when the apocalypse comes, some will be saved and transported to heaven, and others will die in the fields, right? But I don't think that that's actually what Jesus is saying. I think he's pointing to his crucifixion and he's saying, those who die are gaining their life. It's it's literally the opposite of what the left behind series is. Jesus is on the side of the left behind. He's not asking you to leave and save all your possessions. He's not asking you to, you know, like right now, the billionaires are all building bunkers. You know, like uh who's that guy who owns Facebook? Uh, I don't know his name. Mark Zuckerfluffer. Mark Zuckerfluffer has bought an island off the coast, like one of the smallest Hawaiian islands. I think he bought the whole island. Maybe it's just like half the island. And he's building like an underground volcanic cave bunker that goes 200 feet down, can survive with clean drinking water because it's got a reverse osmosis system and it's got solar panels and it's got like zombie-proof walls, and it's filled with everything he would need to run the world when the world collapses. And I think Jesus is saying, uh, Mark, you got it all wrong. When the apocalypse happens, don't be one who thinks it's time to leave. Be one who turns towards your loves, don't your loved ones and holds them close. Be one who, with a clear mind, can weep about the suffering, lament this punishing time, and try to be good to each other. I know a lot of people got ahead during the Great Depression, but I think also a lot of people, you know, there's there's businesses that got ahead. They saw the opportunity and they got ahead because the markets were down. They bought low. I think there's also lots of people who learned lifelong lessons of humility and kindness and neighborliness in the Great Depression, didn't they? And they shared, right?

SPEAKER_01 51:06

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:18

Yeah.

unknown 51:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:22

So most people read this and they say the people who left are the good ones, and I read it and I say, The people there's no good choice. But the people who try to do what's humble and generous and loving towards their neighbors, the people who trust the crucified Jesus, they're the ones who gain something. I think of the women at the cross. What does Mary Magdalene gain by watching Jesus suffer on the cross and not leave and try to save her own skin? She gains the kingdom of God. She stays at his feet while he's suffering. She sl you know, sits out there in the dark. She goes and visits the cave again and again, and she's the first one who sees him rise from the dead. And I think that's what is Jesus is trying to teach his disciples. The Pharisee asked a bad question, when is the kingdom coming? And he's asking, when will the Son of Man appear like lightning bolts and save the whole world? And Jesus says, okay, he'll come, but it's going to feel a lot like the death of the world. And when that happens, how will you act and how will you behave? And I think on a certain level, it's happened throughout history. And we have this, what Carl Bart would say the center point of history, the cross and the resurrection of Jesus, as already the solution for that terrible time. That the time, the kingdom is already in our midst. The kingdom is already here. And that that's in tiny ways and in mighty ways. Jesus Christ has already suffered and died to forgive you for your sins. Jesus Christ has already risen from the dead to bring you new life. Rise and go and be made well.

SPEAKER_01 53:19

I think you're right. We'll leave it there for now.

SPEAKER_00 53:22

Friends, uh grace and peace. Have a good week.