Day 299 (Luke 12-13) - Year 4
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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

One day, Jesus is preaching a public sermon about trusting God and not man, about God's provision, when he gets heckled by a man in the audience who appears to have totally missed the point. He asks Jesus to settle a family financial dispute, and Jesus is like, that's not really what I'm here for, but since you brought it up, you need to check yourself because it sounds like you might be putting your hopes in money, and that doesn't go well in the long run. This question serves as the launching pad for the parable of the rich fool. It's about a man who has built new barns to hold all his wealth.

and he preaches the false gospel to himself, being comforted by all his worldly possessions. Wealth and possessions are blessings, but they have to be viewed rightly. In light of eternity, his possessions are worthless and his perspective is wicked, because putting your hope in financial security is the anti-gospel.

Jesus continues by saying the man will die that night, and all the things he's stored up will be divided among other people. He stored up treasure on earth, but he did not store up God. He points out that death can come at any moment, and for those of us born post-resurrection, he says to be mindful of the fact that we have no idea when he's going to return. So he says to be prepared for that. Preparation can only mean one thing. Do we know him or not? This is all about relationships.

That's the only kind of preparation possible or necessary. It lays the foundation for everything that happens from that moment on. Daniel 12 and Malachi 4 tell us about the two possible outcomes based on knowing God or not knowing God.

After he says these things, Peter's like, "Hey, um, that doomsday prep stuff, was that for everyone to hear or just for us?" Peter's starting to understand that sometimes Jesus speaks differently to his kids than to outsiders. Jesus gives them the same info again, but this time he does it in a parable. And he's told us before that he often uses parables when he's speaking to a large crowd, but wants his disciples in the crowd to have a specific takeaway. So by speaking in a parable, that almost seems like an answer to Peter's question already.

Then the parable talks about a servant who is supposed to feed the master's other servants. And later, Jesus instructs Peter to feed his sheep.

When we connect those little bits of information, it seems like Jesus' answer to Peter's question was, this is just for you guys. Then he answers a little more clearly and says, the more information you have, the more responsibility you have. While this is a kind of broad answer that could apply to everyone, it seems like Jesus is saying that by knowing and walking with him daily, the apostles have more responsibility than the others. He will demand a lot of them.

Chapter 13 opens with a story that seems odd at first because we don't have much of the backstory on it. But here's what scholars have pieced together. Pontius Pilate is the Roman governor appointed to run things in Judea. And apparently there were some Jews from Galilee who went to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices and Pilate had them killed. The people tell Jesus about how this has just happened and he asked them, Do you think this happened to them because they were worse than everyone else so this is a punishment for their sins? Then before they have a chance to answer, he says, No, that's not how things work.

He even talks about a parallel account of mass death where a tower fell over and killed 18 people. Jesus says, Your level of suffering doesn't tell us anything about whether you're walking in sin or walking in righteousness. You can't look at trials and tragedies and assume they're punishment from God.

That's a relief. But he ends with a warning. Judgment is coming. And the only way to survive the judgment is to repent and turn to God. Then he tells a parable about a barren fig tree. This story may seem odd, but it actually fits in perfectly with everything Jesus has been talking about. A man plants a fig tree and has a gardener care for it. For three years, the tree doesn't bear any fruit. The owner is frustrated, but the gardener who tends to it, the one who has to care for it every day, he says, hey, give it time, be patient with it.

You'd think he'd be the frustrated and impatient one, but he isn't. He has invested time and effort into this tree, so he wants to give it a chance to bear fruit. He doesn't want it to get cut down.

He continues to fertilize it and care for it as they wait to see what will happen. This is almost certainly a metaphor for Israel specifically at this time in history. And if so, then it seems like Israel is the fig tree, Jesus is the vine dresser, and God the Father is the owner of the vineyard. It's been three years since Jesus began his ministry, and there are no signs of repentance. So we wait to see what happens.

God is willing to chop down a tree if it doesn't prove fruitful. But God is also patient with a tree that hasn't yet produced fruit. Fruit takes time for all of us. He patiently tends to us and waters us and fertilizes us, which isn't my favorite part of the metaphor, but it feels pretty accurate at times. And here's an interesting connection that isn't in the text, but that's worth noting.

Historical documents from the first century say the early church took three years to affirm the faith of new converts. If someone professed to be a Christian, they'd say, great, we'll see. They knew fruit would come eventually, but probably not automatically. Next, Jesus heals a woman who has been disabled for 18 years because of a demonic disabling spirit. And of course, he does it in the synagogue on the Sabbath. At this point, we just expect it, right?

The leader of the synagogue confronts him, Jesus rebukes the guy, and the crowd goes wild. One thing I love about this story is that the woman doesn't even seem to approach him. He just sees her, calls her over, and sets her free. Jesus is a pursuer.

He continues preaching on his way from Galilee toward Jerusalem, which, by the way, is his journey toward the cross. And while he's on his way, someone asks him an important question. They want to know how many people will be saved. This is an interesting term to use here because we don't have much context for what they're referring to. Saved from what or from whom? Because lots of people who use that term are talking about being saved from Rome, not saved from their sins. So who knows?

Either way, Jesus doesn't answer the question directly anyway. It would be very unlike Jesus to just say, "Well, how do you ask? 300 million. Next question." Jesus almost never does that kind of thing. He tells people what they need to know, not what they ask, because they often ask the wrong questions like this guy did. So let's dig in on his question. This reality of judgment and salvation is one people often prefer to depersonalize.

They want it to be about the world at large, maybe because it seems to distance them from the reality, which is easier than making it about them and God. So Jesus turned things around on this guy. He doesn't say anything about numbers. He just says, here's what you need to do. He tells a parable that is basically imploring the guy to respond to God's invitation. He tells stories of people who spent time with and near God, but in the end, God says, I don't know you.

Jesus says there will be people from all over the world who are in the kingdom and that lots of them might be surprising because it's not about your race or nationality or what you do. It's about who you know.

As Jesus continues on his journey, some Pharisees tell him that King Herod wants to kill him. They're either trying to keep Jesus away with death threats, or it's possible there are a few of the Pharisees who aren't hostile toward Jesus. Jesus sends them back to Herod with this message. I've got work to do, but I'm heading your way. I have to die in Jerusalem after all. I want to shower Jerusalem with love, but the people there reject me. I'll be there soon though, and when I do come, the people will greet me by saying, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

By the way, with this last sentence, Jesus is prophesying Palm Sunday. We'll read about that soon. What was your God shot today? There's a lot of warning about judgment in these pages, and if you're someone who doesn't know Jesus, that's really important to hear. It's important for believers to hear too, because it reminds us to share the gospel, to tell others who don't know him about the joy and beauty of who he is.

But the thing that was heavy on my heart for all of you when I was researching this was that I know some of you will leave today's reading more terrified of judgment than in love with Jesus. You may worry that you haven't crossed all your T's and dotted all your I's. What if you're one of the ones he says, I never knew you to? It's definitely important to evaluate ourselves. Peter and Paul both encourage believers to check their hearts to make sure they're in the faith.

That's in Corinthians 13 and 2 Peter 1. But both calls to examine ourselves imply that we can reach a conclusion. We can know that we have been adopted into God's family. Because this is such an important topic, we've linked to four articles in today's show notes for those of you who want to know more. So what does this have to do with my God shot? In chapter 12, Jesus is talking to his disciples and he's telling them all the reasons they don't need to be anxious because their father is attentive to their every need.

In verse 32, he says, Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. God delights to give good gifts to his kids, and there's no greater gift than a relationship with him. He's where the joy is.

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