#disciplemaking
#adventcalendarday19
#willyoujoinme

Hi everyone – will you join me in reading Luke chapter 19?

With only a few more days to go until we “unwrap the present” of Jesus – it might be worth starting to think back on all we’ve learnt about Jesus and ourselves so far in Luke, but for now we’ll press on with the text.

I’ve always loved the episode and exchange about Zaccheus – it’s the ‘Good News’ in a nutshell! Again, the unexpected one finds salvation, when he earnestly seeks after Jesus. His reputation was “sinner” (v7) which probably means he had been cheating people and was a collaborator with the occupying Roman forces. Notice again, that salvation is realised after repentance but that Jesus knows where to find him and engages willingly. And repentance looks like good news to everyone else. Everyone else is a recipient of good news (the reparations Zaccheus makes) once Zaccheus is.

Which begs the questions:

• How was finding Jesus and repenting – good news for you?
• How was/is it good news for those around you?
• Is there anyone you’ve inadvertently ‘written off’ or dismissed as a sinner? How can you provide evidence of good news to them?

And now as Jesus literally draws near to Jerusalem (coming up from Jericho) for me, there’s a sense of dread as I/we know what’s coming. As Luke has been recounting the historically verified accounts of the words, works and ways of Jesus, he’s leading us to the inevitable climax.

I was struck today with the emphasis change in Jesus’ self-identification. The parable of the Ten Minas uses the storyline of a King. The entry into Jerusalem is that of a King. He even says of himself when instructing his disciples, “Tell them the Lord needs it” (v31). His weeping over Jerusalem is like a father weeping over a wayward child. And his anger in the temple is against abuse in his (God’s) own house.

This is no longer just a rabbi and friend, or even prophet and miracle worker, standing by dispassionately dispensing truth, mercy and wisdom. This is the Lord, the King, coming to claim his own people, his inheritance and his responsibility. He comes resolutely with pathos and deep, deep relationship in preparation for his coronation – and what crown will he wear?

• What difference does it make to consider Jesus as King? How does it change your relationship with him? (ie not just, friend, teacher, saviour even)
• What are the implications for a world that hates him and tries to kill him – then and now? Why did/do they hate him so much?
• What does it mean when a monarch is willing to (and does) give up everything for YOU?