Tag: salvation

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Rejoice That Your Names Are Written In Heaven

Names

We don’t know much about the seventy-two people who Jesus sent out to preach. What we do know is that he sent them two-by-two, that they were to go ahead of Jesus into all the towns he would be visiting, and that he told them to heal the sick in those towns and proclaim that the kingdom is near. We really have no idea who these people were, what their backgrounds were, or what professions they had. Jesus did tell them not to take anything with them except what was already in their possession.

When the seventy-two returned, they were astounded at what all God was accomplishing through them. “Lord!,” they exclaimed. “Even the demons are subject to us in your name!” (Luke 10:17 ESV). Jesus told them that he saw Satan fall like lightning from the sky, and that he gave the disciples authority over all the power of the enemy. It was an incredible responsibility that they were given. But Jesus didn’t want them to rejoice in this.

“Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). Jesus’ warning here was to not get intoxicated with the power they had. Sure, he gave them authority over the power of the enemy. But that didn’t make them invincible. Authority can be infatuating. It can lead to pride and arrogance. It can blind people to compassion. Jesus would rather them remain humble and rejoice that their names are written in heaven. This is a good reminder that our message needs to be seasoned with hope, grace, and must point people to salvation.

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Out of Egypt I Called My Son

Jesus

The parallels between the Exodus story and Jesus’s birth and first years are not accidental. Throughout the Bible, and because of God’s throne of righteousness and justice, God cares for what philosopher and theologian Nicolas Wolterstorff dubs “the quartet of vulnerable.” Those include widows, orphans, aliens, and the impoverished. It’s no accident that Jesus was born extremely poor to an unmarried Jewish couple. They were outcasts and had to flee to Egypt to escape death.

King Herod wanted to see Jesus, under the pretense of worshiping him but presumably to kill him. The wise men tricked Herod and an angel warned Joseph to take the child and flee to Egypt. Matthew records: “And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son'” (Matthew 2:14-15 ESV).

This evoked the whole Egypt experience. Israel was living under oppression with a Pharaoh who wouldn’t let the Israelites go. The last plague required a sacrifice, a slain lambs’ blood to be painted over the door frame. Then God miraculously led the Israelites out of the foreign land of oppression into the Promised Land. God doesn’t just parallel these stories, Christ reenacts the whole Egypt experience.

People waited for the Messiah with anticipation. They longed to be healed. They longed to be freed. The vulnerable quartet of widows, orphans, aliens, and impoverished finally had a redeemer and protector-one who not only could save them, but one who also would.

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“We grope for the wall like the blind”

Blind

Christmas is a time when people around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus, Messiah. He is the savior of mankind, and certainly is worth celebrating. But we can’t forget that the reason there was such a high anticipation for the Savior to come is because people were living in desperation, having been ravished by Assyrian and Babylonian captors and seeing the daily oppression that was their new reality. It wasn’t just sin that mankind needed saved from. It was oppression and a lack of justice.

Isaiah 59 foretells a time when the Christ will come: “‘And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,’ declares the Lord” (Isaiah 59:20 ESV). Before the Light came, there was darkness. The people were despondent from living in utter darkness for so long.

Isaiah painted the grim reality: “We hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men. . . We hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us” (Isaiah 59:9-11).

If we truly are going to get into the Christmas spirit, we need to remember the oppressed. We need to reach out to those who are destitute and feed and clothe them. Jesus can’t be reduced to a Christmas tree and lawn ornaments. The reason we celebrate a savior is because people needed a savior. They needed a protector and defender. They needed a savior who was willing to lay his life down for others. Always remember the reason for the season.

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The Three Tables in Luke

Lord's Supper

We tend to think of the Lord’s Supper as only being linked to the Last Supper, where Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples. At that meal, Jesus broke bread and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Then he took the cup and said, “This is the new covenant in my blood.”

But only linking the Lord’s Supper to the Last Supper misses the deep connections throughout Luke’s gospel. Israel already had a deep connection with the Passover to the whole of Israel’s story–from Creation, to the Flood, the Exodus, the crossing of the Jordan into the promised land, and beyond. God was with His people from the very beginning of time, acting as a forgiving Father who loves, redeems, and renews his people.

In John Mark Hicks’ book Enter the Water Come to the Table, he rightly says, “At table, Jesus receives sinners and confronts the righteous. At table, Jesus extends grace to seekers but condemns the self-righteous. Jesus eats with ‘others’ to introduce them to the kingdom. . . The table is missional, communal, and hospitable” (pg. 48).

Luke records three times where Jesus messiah is host at the table–the feeding of the 5,000 in Luke 9, the Last Supper in Luke 22, and the post resurrection meal in Luke 24. In all three Luke undeniably links them with the language: Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it. Hicks says the feeding of the 5,000 is significant for these reasons: “First, it is the only meal in Luke prior to the Last Supper where Jesus is the host. Second, it contains language that is explicitly tied to the Last Supper. Third, the Messiah, as a new Moses, feeds his people in the wilderness” (pg. 48).

We cannot miss the significance of these intentional links. All three were in the evening. The suppers were hosted by the messiah himself. They looked forward to the kingdom anew. At the third table, the resurrected Jesus hosted the meal on the first day of the week, demonstrating the continued hope and renewal we will find at the final banquet!

So the Lord’s Supper is not only about remembering Jesus. At the table, Jesus and God’s Spirit are communing with us. We look back through Israel’s history, we remember Christ and him crucified, and, through the resurrection, we anticipate the future when we will recline at the table with Jesus and all his saints for eternity. But, equally as important, we invite people to the table with us.

The table was not exclusive. As Hicks says, it was missional, communal, and hospitable. We need to revision the table where we invite people to participate in the redeeming story of Christ. The Lord’s Supper unites people at the very table where Jesus is host. He invites people to repent, be baptized, enjoy the seal of the Spirit, and celebrate at the table.

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