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Meditative Reflection
The Lord of Sabbath

“The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Lk. 6:5)

The Law of Moses makes the breach of Sabbath a capital offense that is punishable by death (Exod. 31:14). The reason is that it not only is the 4^th of the Ten Commandments, but it is also a “sign” between God and the Israelites (Exod. 31:13). In other words, this is the visible sign through which the Israelites would demonstrate that they are a people of the Covenant. By not observing the Sabbath, they are signifying their severance from this covenantal relationship with God.

In the observance of the Sabbath, they are not only to rest from work, but to keep it as holy to the Lord (31:15). This means that they separate not only the day itself but also themselves to the Lord.

Indeed, the disciples’ action of picking and rubbing the grain heads because of their hunger did violate the fine print of the Law of Sabbath, but the way Jesus defends their action is not only interesting, but also significant:

He likens the disciples’ action to that of David in 1 Samuel 21:1-6 and admits that the bread that David and his men ate was lawful only for priests to eat. However, David was the anointed of God. He was consecrated to the Lord just as the priests were. So, he could eat, especially in his case of extreme desperation and hunger. In a way, the show bread was meant for David and his men that day.

But here is one who is bigger than David, the “Lord of the Sabbath” Himself (Lk. 6:5). This is certainly an astounding statement by Jesus, especially to the ears of the Pharisees, because Jesus declares that He is none other than the Lord who made the Law of Sabbath, the object of Sabbath, and the Creator God who “made the heavens and the earth in six days and on the seventh day He…rested” (Exod. 31:17).

In other words, He is the ultimate judge of the Law of Sabbath. He is the God in whom and in whose presence we find rest, and He is none other than the Creator God, Yahweh. The disciples, by following Him, have entered into His presence and His Sabbath’s rest. The disciples have fulfilled the ultimate demand of Sabbath — the sign of having entered into an everlasting relationship with the Creator God.

Although the term, Triune God, is not strictly a term used in the Bible, we, once again,  have a direct statement by the Lord Jesus of Who He really is, the “Lord of the Sabbath” — an unmistakable claim of being the Creator God of the heavens and the earth.

Meditative Reflection
People are Important to God

“I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath…to save life or to destroy it?” (Lk. 6:9)

The four books of the gospel do record incidents where Jesus was angry, but those incidents are not the “norm”. Sure, Jesus was distressed and saddened by the disbelief and rejection of the Jews, but only in a few incidents did He get angry. The watching by the Pharisees as to whether Jesus would heal the man with a shriveled hand was one such incident (See Mk. 3:1-6 also).

The fact that the Pharisees were watching means that they did believe in the power of Jesus, and they cared less about the life of people than their strict “observance of the law”. This reminds me of a story I read years ago about a church in one of the poorest cities in America, Camden, New Jersey.

A dying church with a congregation of just a handful of senior citizens was initially receptive to opening their doors to minister to the neighborhood’s poor children through an after-school program. As the program prospered, with an increasing number of kids coming to be tutored (which was so desperately needed in a city like Camden) and more importantly to learn about Jesus, the church was “disturbed” by these energetic children. These few remaining people of the church cared far more about maintaining an empty, tidy shell, than allowing these children, generally surrounded by crime, drugs and guns, to take shelter in their only sanctuary. Yes, some of the children liked to kick open the door on their way into the church. As they were about to kick out the children and discontinue the after-school program, their eyes were eventually opened. They saw that as much these children behaved outwardly exactly like children for the most part, they had also been transformed from within by the Holy Spirit. They had the joy of baptizing many of these children into God’s family, in spite of the dents and scratches on the door.

People are important, because God cares about people!

Meditative Reflection
The Less-than-magnificent Twelve

“When morning came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them whom He also designated apostles.” (Lk. 6:13)

I really wonder on what basis Jesus chose His twelve disciples!

First, why would He overload the team with fishermen — Peter, Andrew, James and John? They were utterly uneducated. How effective could they be? Furthermore, He knew how hot-tempered the sons of Zebedee were: He even gave them the nickname “Sons of Thunder”! Why did He choose them? Peter wasn’t any better. As it turned out, he always put his foot in his mouth, and denied Him three times — at the worst possible time!

Thomas was notorious for his negative attitude. While everyone assured him that Jesus had resurrected, he still remained a skeptic and would have remained so if it were not for His mercy, showing him the wounds on His resurrected body.

We learn far less about the rest of the Twelve. This aptly shows that they were not apostles that could really do much for the Kingdom, except Judas. But Judas did more harm than good anyway. I would not have hired Jesus as the head of my Human Resources Department.

The amazing thing is that these twelve-minus-one disciples, with all their flaws, weaknesses, cowardice and lack of credentials, did turn the world up-side-down.

For one, we have come to know that after all, it is the work of the Holy Spirit that counts. This is why many of the early church fathers were inclined to call the Book of Acts as the Acts of the Holy Spirit.

On the other hand, it is also clear that obedience, not credentials, is what Jesus looks for in His disciples. Failures are always part of being His servants, but repentance and obedience allowed them to be used by Him for His purpose.

And finally, the willingness to suffer for Him marked the lives of all of them. They have learned not to fear those who can kill their bodies but not their souls! This willingness to suffer made them not only invincible, but extremely effective in the spread of the gospel.

Had Jesus chosen the elite of society, the sophisticated and the powerful, not only would they not be able to handle suffering, obedience, and failure, they might end up preaching a very different gospel — one that would not reflect accurately the image of the suffering Christ, nor the gospel of grace.

Meditative Reflection
Blessed are the Poor

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Lk. 6:20)

It is certainly true that Luke, in his gospel account, has more references to condemn the rich, and thus he appears to “favor” the poor to the point that his account of the “Sermon on the Plain” calls the poor and the hungry blessed, and not just those who are “poor in spirit” and not those who “hunger and thirst after righteousness” as in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:3, 6).

We have to remember that whether it is the gospel of Luke or the gospel of Matthew, they are recording the words of Jesus, not their own. All three Synoptic gospels record Jesus’ comment that it is hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God (Matt. 19:23, Mk. 10:23; Lk. 18:24). Indeed, it is harder for the fortunate in this life to feel the need for God. However, it does not necessarily make the poor, the less fortunate in this life, to necessarily feel their need for God. Carlo Corretto, who purposely led a life of poverty, had this to say in this respect:

“And when I thought of the poor I had met in my life, especially in recent years, it was clear that there were poor who were only poor — very sad, often angry and certainly not blessed.

"And again, I recalled very well, there were poor people who were quite otherwise, poor people who wore their poverty beautifully.

"Poor people who had the conviction that they were guided by God, supported by His Presence.

"Poor people who were able to love, in spite of their sudden vexations — poor people who were patient in trial, rich in hope, strong in adversity.

"Poor people who were blessed because they could bear witness, every day, that God was present in their lives, and that He provided for them as He did for the sparrow of the sky, which possess no granaries.”

I believe he captures the meaning of “Blessed are the poor” beautifully.

Meditative Reflection
Who is the Ungrateful and Wicked?

“Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.’” (Lk. 6:36)

The teaching by Jesus to love our enemies, to do good to those who hate us, to bless those who curse us and to pray for those who mistreat us appears to be unreasonable and impossible to do, except for those who truly recognize their own wickedness before God and truly experience the mercies of God:

- We were His enemies and yet he loves us.

- We were God-haters and in the words of John Newton who wrote the famous “Amazing Grace”, we did not even want Him, and yet He sent His Son to die for us.

- We were God-cursers and we mistreated our Savior. Through the mouths of the religious leaders, the soldiers and the passers-by and the thief on the cross, we and the world mocked and despised the Lamb of God, and yet He says, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”.

We are the wicked, we are the ungrateful, and yet all we receive from God is mercy upon mercy — which we do not deserve, which we did not even want to receive. If this is how God has treated us, His enemies, how else can we treat our enemies?!

However, the recognition of our wickedness and the experiencing of God’s mercies do not “naturally” enable us to love our enemies. To forgive is still a divine act, as the many stories told by Corrie Ten Boom show. Here is one of them:

“Once after Corrie talked in a church the people got up silently, as they always did in Germany, and filed out. But working against the flow was a man coming toward Corrie. He looked familiar.

" 'No'! She wanted to scream.

"The man stopped in front of her, smiling, 'What a fine message. Frau ten Boom. I’m so glad to hear our sins are forgiven.' This very man was at Ravensbruck (the Nazi camp in which Corrie and her sister, Betsie were held and the latter eventually died naked without being attended to in her prolonged sickness)! He was one of the guards who watched coldly as Corrie and Betsie filed past, naked and degraded. She remembered him distinctly. Corrie could not speak. She pretended to be preoccupied. 'You mentioned you were at Ravensbruck. You won’t believe this but I was a guard at Ravensbruck. However after the war I became a Christian. God forgave me. Will you forgive me?' He extended his weathered and  hairy hand. It was as repulsive as a snake.

" 'Oh, how hard it was to be in Christ at times like this', thought Corrie. She had a thousand reasons to hate this evil man. Poor sweet Betsie. But Betsie would have been first to forgive him. Corrie had to forgive him. Or God would not forgive her. It was perfectly clear in the Bible. She looked at the man’s repulsive hand. Forgiveness was not an emotion one indulged in. It was the will of God.

"She extended her hand and said, 'I forgive you.'

"Warmth flooded over her. It was intense. She felt herself glow with love. But it was not her love. She was powerless. It was God’s love just as Paul wrote in the fifth chapter of Romans, 'And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us'.”

(Heroes of the Faith, Boom, 182-3)

Meditative Reflection
Give and It Will be Given to you

“Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap.” (Lk. 6:38)

This particular verse in the Bible has spoken to me in a very personal and special way. It was on June 1, 1991 that I was listening to a sermon preached based on this verse during a worship service.

Somehow, as this verse was being expounded by the pastor, it seemed to jump out of the page before me and I heard a voice speaking to me, “Give yourself to me in full-time ministry, and I’ll worry about the rest.”

I had never heard the voice of God before. Sure, He spoke to me through impressing upon me certain Bible verses from time to time. The Holy Spirit often drew my attention to my sins through a sense of peacelessness, especially when I was praying to Him. But I had never heard His voice so audibly and clear in my life.

As the service progressed, the voice would not leave me, and in fact, my heart was about to explode, sensing the working of the Holy Spirit.

To cut a long story short, I resisted the call and even said in my heart, “You must be kidding. No way, not at this time!” You see, it was a time when I was arranging bridge financing to complete a very lucrative business investment and the prospect looked awfully good.

After a while, by the grace of God, I yielded to the will of God. I gave up my financial and career dream. From the worldly point of view, I gave up all that I have been trained and worked so hard for.

But the result? I have been given a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over poured into my lap. I have truly experienced the promise of the Lord in Luke 18:29-30: “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and in the age to come, eternal life.”

Not only have I been blessed with a very supportive wife and godly children who continue to follow the Lord, I have been blessed with many spiritual children as well. And I can also say with the children of Israel that, during all these years, our clothes have not worn out, and our feet have not swollen (Deut. 8:4).

Meditative Reflection
Fruit That Counts

“The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” (Lk. 6:49)

“Man of Vision” is a book about the founder of World Vision, Bob Pierce. He was obviously a very successful and influential man. He obviously preached in the name of Jesus. He might not have driven out demons, but he certainly performed things that very few could match — the setting up of World Vision that has greatly impacted the lives of many in the Third World, especially children in abject poverty.

But in the book I just mentioned, his daughter honestly tells of how he could not get along with other people in leadership, how he ignored his family and how he contributed to the suicide of one of his daughters. While he might have helped millions of families, he ruined his own. It was by the extreme mercy of God that he was able to somewhat reconcile with his family before his death.

Bob Pierce’s life is a warning to us, especially those in Christian leadership. Jesus is not looking at the fruit of our lavish claims about Him, our effective preaching and teaching ministry, our great sacrifice for Him or any achievements recognized by the world. He only looks at our relationship with Him — if we are obedient to Him and His will. That is the only fruit that counts.