David Bahn – Reflections

On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.² But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”³ And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:⁴ how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?”⁵ And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

⁶ On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered.⁷ And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. ⁸ But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there.⁹ And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.”And he did so, and his hand was restored.¹¹ But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus. – Luke 6:1-11 [ESV]

I think I know why Jesus was so hard on the Pharisees. On the one hand they believed the Scriptures. They held fast to the commandments of the Old Testament. They valued the temple and worship, and had a great reverence for God. In fact it was at least in large part due to the Pharisees that the Jewish faith did not go away during the 400 years of silence after the Old Testament prophet (Malachi) and the last Old Testament prophet: John the Baptist. They jealously guarded the Word of God. They set up the synagogue system to allow Jewish families to learn and worship. This was especially important when there was no temple in Jerusalem. 

But as good as they were about keeping the Law, they missed the point of the Law. Man was not made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for man. Think about that. And think about the important truth that Jesus is Lord even of the Sabbath. 

All this becomes so very clear when Jesus heals the man on the Sabbath, and rather than rejoice in that, the Pharisees begin to plot how to take Jesus out. Rather than praising God for healing the man they are filled with rage. Rather then being filled with joy and gratitude they plot Jesus’ demise. 

I’m not certain we ever go to that extreme – picking and choosing our pet sin and ignoring a greater deliverance. But I suspect we all do. Somehow Jesus kept it all straight. And in doing so, he made a way for anyone to be delivered. Through humble faith. By his grace. We all want to put God on trial. But that has already been done. And the outcome was a sad commentary on the sorry estate of fallen men and women. 

But just as God worked through the man with the withered hand, he also worked through a cross and cruel torment. And any who look to him – all the way from the sabbath to the cross, and then to the empty tomb – will be saved. We certainly could never deliver ourselves!

On this Lord’s Day, please pray these psalms for the people of Ukraine.

And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? ³⁵ The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” ³⁶ He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” – Luke 5:33-39 [ESV]

One of my favorite YouTube channels is Jimmy’s World. Jimmy is a very wealthy man who loves to buy old abandoned airplanes, fix them up and get them airworthy again. He sells them (I think!) after the work is done and he’s gotten them back into the air. His most recent effort is around a Cessna 310. That’s the kind of airplane that Sky King flew in the television program from the 50’s. 

Well this particular airplane has been a tale of woe from day one. That seems to be because it sat unattended and unflown and uncared for for 37 years! Added to that – and perhaps even more damaging – was the manner in which it was repaired over the years. Wiring harnesses have been patched together willy nilly. Many wires unlabeled. Many simply cut when some of the initial restoration process began. It is a poster child for putting bandaids on broken arms and tire patches on Formula One race cars. Not wise. Not effective. Not good. 

You want to rebuild something? Get to the ground level. Don’t put patches on walls with faulty framing. Don’t try to cover up bad trouble with paint. Don’t put lipstick on a pig!

Jesus is bringing a whole new approach to God to the people of his day. They had strayed so far from God’s intent and desire of and for his people. They were more concerned about their power and position than they were about doing God’s work and serving God’s people. 

Jesus realizes this and speaks to them about trying to patch old clothes with new cloth. It may work for a time. But the new will soon be torn away from the old. 

Jesus is bringing a whole new way of life to God’s people. No longer centered in law-keeping and ceremonial religious activity. Not cozy with the Romans. Not concerned about self. Not worried about appearances. Concerned with the heart. 

In essence Jesus was calling for a heart transplant. He was calling people to a right-side-up view of the world, of God, and of their calling as God’s people. Theirs was a privilege coupled with responsibility. Theirs was a possession to be shared not hoarded. 

That called for new wineskins for the new wine of grace, faith, love, and mercy. Maybe you need that kind of wineskin as well. We all do. It may be time to discard the old wineskin of resentment, worry, greed, selfishness, lust, and mannouvering for favorable position. In place of those things, drink in the wine of God’s love. Clothe yourself in Christ’s righteousness. Seek to know and imitate the heart of Christ. 

That’s way better than any patch. Or mask. Or bandaid. Or pretention. 

And the Pharisees said to Jesus, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? ³⁵ The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” ³⁶ He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” – Luke 5:27-39 [ESV]

I was in college. And I was inspired to write a poem by a good dose of resentment that was added to watching an attractive college coed smiling and laughing. She was the center of attention. She was pretty. And I resented that. No excuse on my part. It was definitely not from a good place in my heart. A broken place for sure. But not a good place. “Good times Sally. She smiles and waves her hands. She sings and delights all the boys in the band.” Something like that. I guess it wasn’t such a great poem either. 

I took her for a party girl. I was not in a party mood. I was probably at that moment more like the older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son: resentful and self-righteous. All the while there was a party going on. For the lost one had been found. The dead one was alive again. The gone one was home again. But there was yet one who didn’t want to be in such a home. He remained outside. Refusing to come in and join the party. 

Jesus is partying with Matthew, tax collectors, and sinners (presumably prostitutes). And the Pharisees and their scribes are not happy. In fact they are offended. The are critical of Jesus and his disciples. They demand answers. Why don’t you act more like John’s disciples. They understand decorum. They don’t understand, however, what is happening right before their eyes. For the bridegroom is present. He’s looking for his bride. In Jesus’ day weddings were a cause for celebration. There would be great festivities. There will be much joy. Much celebration. There was no fasting or sadness.

Jesus will teach throughout his ministry that God loves sinners. He calls them to a better life. He brings them hope and a future. He is the source of praise to God. And when one sinner repents there is joy in the presence of the angels. This was a party in anticipation of all that would happen as Jesus touched more and more lives with his grace and love.

There are those even today who want to make the Christian faith all about dos and don’ts. Shalts and shalt nots. Long faces. Fearful silence. But Jesus is telling us that whenever he is present, and people are being brought to God in repentance and faith, there should be a grand celebration. A party. That’s not any excuse for a party. But it is a cause for a celebration of God’s grace and glory. Let’s not miss that party!

By the way, since I mentioned the parable of the Prodigal Son, I thought I’d share this video of the story told from the perspective of a modern day New York restauranteur. You may have seen it before, but it’s worth seeing it again. Indeed, let’s not miss the party!

After this Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” ²⁸ And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

²⁹ And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. ³⁰ And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” – Luke 5:27-32 [ESV]

My parents had friends who were from Germany. He served in the German army and it shaped him for life. My parents witnessed to them, but he would not believe. He said he had seen and experienced things so evil that he could not believe in God. I know little about the specifics, so I can only imagine. And I wonder whether he perhaps participated in some things he believed he could never be forgiven of. 

On another occasion I was standing in the gap for some members of the church I was serving. They were being visited by non-Christian “missionaries” and were considering abandoning the faith centered in Jesus Christ, and his gracious promise of forgiveness and salvation by grace through faith. There had been a particularly gruesome murder recently in the news and we spoke about how awful that was. Then it became clear that they believed the murderer would never be forgiven. No matter what. That was a powerful moment of clarity.

If forgiveness is anything it must be given. Freely. Trust must be earned. Reconciliation must be worked out. But forgiveness is the foundation of both. And unless it is truly and freely given, there is no foundation for the others. 

But forgiveness is freely given at a great price to the giver. Some people believe that to forgive is to say, “It was nothing.” In fact, however, forgiveness is to say, “That was wrong. I was hurt. But I let go of my judgement against you. I do not hold that against you.” That is costly. That is difficult. But even here the foundation of that is Jesus’ forgiveness of us. And his forgiveness is costly to him beyond measure.  

The Pharisees and their scribes may well have been sincerely worried that Jesus was usurping the place of God. They may have been afraid that people were being led astray by this Galilean preacher. They may also have been afraid of the sinners and tax collectors; fearful because they didn’t know how to relate to them other than by judging them. They needed to recognize their own sinfulness and learn how grace actually works.

But the same grace that Jesus was affording the sinners and tax collectors was available to the Pharisees and their scribes. It’s a shame they didn’t think they needed it. They did. More than they knew. But Jesus is now reaching out to the ones who were at the other end of the spectrum. It’s likely they were ones who would think there was no hope of God’s mercy for them because their sin was so bad. But just as there is no one who does not need God’s forgiveness and grace, there is also no one who repents of their sin whom Jesus will not receive. We all need God’s grace. God’s grace is available to all. 

Jesus’ first sermon testifies to this truth: “The time has come. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news.” That’s the kind of strong medicine we all need. 

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” ²⁸ And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

²⁹ And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. ³⁰ And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” – Luke 5:27-32 [ESV]

Diane had a very interesting experience in the ER waiting room a few years ago. It was a good thing, too. She was taken to the ER because she was feeling quite ill. In fact she had pneumonia! At the registration there was a question that got her to the front of the line. “Have you visited West Africa in the past 30 days?” She put, “I just returned from EAST Africa three days ago.” It was during the days of grave concern about ebola, and West Africa was a hot spot. I guess as far as they were concerned East Africa was close enough. The brought her right in, and put her in an exam room. And when they came to check her out, they were all garbed in medical has-mat suits. Turns out she did have pneumonia, but not ebola! 

So often we sit and wait, and wait, and wait…before finally being taken in to be cared for. You are surrounded by others who are waiting. And just when it is your time to go, someone comes in with a very serious injury is brought into the ER. You are no longer first in line. The more urgent need must be attended to. How do you feel about that? If yours is indeed an emergency, but the intake process/triage indicated you were a level 2 need and the person being taken in front of you has a legitimate need for more urgent attention, you might still wish you had not lost your spot. Don’t deny that too quickly!

In his book, Winning on Purpose, John Edmund Kaiser , Bill Easum, et. al., make a great point about the need to prioritize reaching the lost over caring for the saved. They say we need to do this because no one in the neighborhood who is lost and far from God will come in to the pastor’s office and lambast them for failing to reach out to them. In fact, most will be happy to be left alone! If they are going to be reached, we must reach toward them. 

This is what Jesus is showing when he calls Matthew the tax collector to follow him. Immediately after that Matthew has a party at which he invites all his apparently unchurched friends. Sinners, tax collectors, and other undesirable types are invited to the party. And Jesus seems to relish the moment. He is obviously not encouraging or validating the current religious leaders. In fact he appears to be snubbing them. At least he is snubbing their sensibilities. Jesus was engaging in a behavior no self-respecting Jewish religious leader would even consider. 

I have to breathe deep when I think of how this might be applied to the ministry of the traditional church today. I’m not sure we are as bad as the Pharisees are in this regard, but I’m not sure we’re not. What do you think? Is this a call to repent? Is this a call to pause to consider our priorities? 

Admittedly Scripture teaches us to do good to all people – especially those who are in the household of faith (cf. Galatians 6:10). And we must do this. Yet Jesus seems to make a point of doing good for lost people. I’m wondering how these two go together. How about you?

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” ²⁸ And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

²⁹ And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. ³⁰ And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

³³ And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? ³⁵ The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” ³⁶ He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” – Luke 5:27-39 [ESV]

How do you feel about cutting off your hand so that you are able to get into heaven? What about losing an eye? Or getting accused of murder just because you call someone a fool? These are jus a few hard sayings of Jesus. Most often we pass them off by saying that they’re hyperbole, symbolic, or applicable to someone else. 

But there’s one here in these verses that is easily dismissed because we miss it, and don’t recognize it as a hard saying of Jesus. 

Hard sayings of Jesus are those teachings that are difficult to understand, or believe. They call for extraordinary faith and action. But they’re pretty obvious. Camels don’t fit through something as small as the eye of a needle. And while it is better to enter heaven with only one hand, few think Jesus was teaching us to cut off our hands to get to heaven.

What of this one, however? “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” The dedicated Jesus-follower recognizes his sinfulness, and need for God’s grace. But I wonder how many people sit in the church pews not really believing that they are in desperate need of Jesus’ healing, forgiveness, and grace. I wonder if it’s really much easier than we think to believe that the really sick and sinful people aren’t actually the proper focus of the church’s ministry. 

It seems to me that this is one of those concept verses reality issues. We may believe in the concept of grace but desire only certain people to populate our pews on Sunday morning. We might believe conceptually that we ought to be reaching out to people who are in need of God, but we are much more comfortable reaching out to people who are not that kind of people.

Thankfully Jesus meant what he said. He came for sinners. He was seeking the lost, the sick, the hopeless. Sometimes we recognize we are the ones he is seeking. We must always recognize others as objects of is loving search as well. He is saying, in effect:

Come every beating heart that longs to find its worth
Come every aching soul in need of something more
Come with your questions
Come with your doubts
Bring them to the Lord

Come all you castaways, left out of every crowd
Come all you outsiders, unwanted until now
You are a people
You have a place
Waiting with the Lord

Troubled and restless, hungry and helpless

Sing for joy, the King is calling
Strong in justice, rich in mercy
Sing for joy, the King is calling
And His love is never-ending

Come all you servants, with no candle left to burn
Come every broken body, tired from years of work
Lay down your tools
Lift up your hands
Lift them to the Lord

Lift up a shout
Our King is full of grace
Lift up a shout
He’s worthy of our praise

The King is Calling – Kip Fox

For your personal meditation and reflection on this Lord’s Day.

On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. ¹⁸ And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, ¹⁹ but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. ²⁰ And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ²² When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? ²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” ²⁵ And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. ²⁶ And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.” – Luke 5:17-16 [ESV]

She was 87 years old. Not confined to a wheel chair, but definitely not very mobile. She lived in a skilled care facility, and I would visit her there regularly. She delighted in receiving the Lord’s Supper and expressed joy in our conversations. She had a wonderful spirit and exhibited a strong faith. One day I received a call that she had died. She had lived a good life. Taught Sunday School. Served in the women’s group. Faithfuly worshiped until she could no longer get out. She had not suffered unduly in her last days. Hers was a peaceful death. I felt it was a true answer to the Lord’s Prayer, “Deliver us from evil.” God indeed gave her a blessed end, and graciously took her from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven. (cf. Luther’s Small Catechism, The Lord’s Prayer, The Seventh Petition)

He abandoned his wife and children, and left them in a lurch. He was unrepentant. He made his choice known and followed his own dream. There was little evidence of his faith; in fact more evidence of abandoning his faith. 

Yet another young man took his own life. He had suffered gravely because of his drug addiction. Having suffered a stroke, he was recovering at home, mostly confined to bed. I visited him in the days immediately before he died. He asked for prayer, and seemed genuinely repentant. But he took his own life. 

Yes. No. Maybe. Would you say that pretty well captures the range of answers about these people’s faith? She did have faith; it showed in her life and end of her days. He showed every sign of abandoning the faith in his choice to leave his family. The other young man showed a mixed-bag of faith and despair. 

Thankfully we don’t have to make any of those calls – at least not in terms of their eternal destiny. That is God’s determination. I’m thankful for that on two levels. I don’t have the weight of that judgement on my heart. And God alone knows the heart, and is gracious and good. I thankfully put all things into his hands.

Jesus saw the faith of the men who brought their friend to him for healing. I’m guessing that while faith is a matter of the heart and soul, it is also something that can be seen. It’s not merely conceptual. It’s more than a theological bent. It lives in the soil of a faith-filled heart, but buds in the light of a faithful life. 

And here’s the delightful truth: God receives even the faint of faith. We may cry out, as the anxious dad, “I believe. Help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24) And God helps us in our unbelief. Want further evidence?

“He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle.” – Isaiah 42:3

The man who prayed in the temple, not even lifting his eyes to heaven, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” went to his home justified. (Luke 18:13)

The doubters (!) on the day of Jesus’ ascension were still commissioned for God’s Great Mission. (cf. Matthew 28:16-17)

We cannot actually see faith, but we can see evidence of it. God knows our hearts. And Jesus promises, “Whoever comes to me I will not turn away.” – John 6:37

On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. ¹⁸ And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, ¹⁹ but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. ²⁰ And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ²² When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? ²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” ²⁵ And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. ²⁶ And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.” – Luke 5:17-16 [ESV]

One of our sons was notorious for missing sights along the highway as we were traveling in our big blue van. We would load up the 6 of us in a full-sized Dodge Ram van and hit the road. Whether to visit family in Missouri or on a cross-country adventure. One of us would point out something interesting, the rest would ooh and ahh over it, and that one son would inevitably say, “What? What was it?” He would miss it. What amazes you? What catches your attention? What may distract you? What kinds of things might you miss because you’re watching something else? 

As I think about this encounter with Jesus and the paralyzed man with his four friends, there are at least three things that are noteworthy. Three things that might amaze people. 

There’s the earnest effort of these four who will do whatever is necessary to get their friend to Jesus – including lowering him through a hole they had made in the roof above where Jesus was teaching. Remarkable. Amazing. 

There is the grumbling of the Pharisees who are watching Jesus with the intent of shutting him down, discrediting him and his ministry. They had determined that Jesus was not the messiah. He was not to be trusted. He must be shut down. Sad. Amazingly sad.

And consider the words of Jesus: “Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say ‘Rise and walk’”? That is an amazing question. And the question itself is worth a second look. For to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” seems really easy to say. And no one can verify or discredit the statement. But we know when Jesus asks the question, he is not being merely philosophical. Everyone can see whether his words are true if he tells the man to rise and walk. But saying that the man’s sins were forgiven will require something way more difficult than just saying the words.

And what about seeing the man take up his pallet and walk out in front of them all – at Jesus’ command? I notice how Jesus couples that with a show of his power over sin itself. Jesus shows that he has the authority to forgive sins by healing a paralyzed man. 

The people’s response? “We have seen extraordinary things today.” Yes they have. All of the above are amazing. Which is most amazing to you?