Luke 24
Bible Passage: Luke 24
Yep, that’s right! It’s Luke 24 today… the final chapter of Luke. Apologies for the wrong chapter listed in the Bible Blog schedule. But we have now arrived at the last chapter of the 3rd Gospel book we are reading this year.
Reading Luke 24 reminded me of the sermon by Pr CAQ on some of the questions Jesus asked. Do you still remember the questions? (hint: Luke 24:17; 38). Anyway, I am not going to address them (although I was tempted but Pr CAQ’s sermon is so much better than my thoughts so go and borrow it!). Instead, two things stood out for me….
Reminders… How Much Do We Need Them!
One of the failures of most men is how quickly we forget.
Lessons that we have learned are quickly forgotten and somehow we commit the same mistakes time and time again… even hurting those whom we love a lot. Maybe it is in the DNA of man. Somehow nothing sticks in the big empty space between our ears. We know… or rather… we think we know…. but when it comes to the crunch…. we forget and antagonize our loved ones.
I found it interesting that after the resurrection of Jesus, the Lord had to spend a lot of time reminding His followers His words and deeds again.
First off…. in Luke 24:6-7…
6 He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’”
Then Luke 24:25-27…
25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
Luke 24:30-31
30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
Luke 24:44-45
44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
What are your thoughts on this? Why did Jesus need to remind them so much about what He taught and who He was? Did they not already know? Were they not with Him for almost 26,000 hours? (that’s 3 years for the mathematically challenged (: ).
Why the need for Jesus to repeat Himself again?
As I thought about this, I am overwhelmed by the love of the Lord Jesus for us.
He knows our weaknesses. He knows how we struggle to do right in His eyes. He knows we ought to do better… but we are not. He knows we should be…. the list continues.
But… despite our failures, weaknesses and memory loss… He is slow to anger.
I mean… if it were me… I would have shouted and rebuked them already.
“What? You cannot even remember what I said? How dare you call me Teacher!”
“You good for nothing disciples! If I had known it would turn out like this, I would have chosen someone else!”
Yep! Even mild mannered Clark Kent would have lost it already.
But not Jesus. He takes the time and makes the effort to remind us. And He promised to send His Helper to help us.
Today, I believe we all need constant reminders of the Word of Jesus as we go through our lives. And the only way we are going to get it in our daily routine is if we attend services, read the Bible and pray. There are also special occasions like Spiritual Meetings, Bible Seminars, Home Fellowships, Bible Studies… etc. And also the talks with your fellow brethren in church. All this can help us remember what Jesus said and what we have to do.
I am truly thankful that Jesus is not like me in that He is willing to forgive those who forget.
May we remember His Words and keep it in our hearts…. and be as forbearing as He when others forget our words.
Witnessing – Jesus’ Style
It is very hard to read the Gospels and not talk about Evangelism. Because the message of the Gospel is not just for us…. but for everyone around.
Many a times when we mention about Jesus’ commission for His disciples to go and preach, we would quote Matt 28:19 and Mark 16:15. But do you see the same commission given in Luke?
46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And you are witnesses of these things. 49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
Luke 24:46-49
Yesterday we went door to door preaching in a new estate. We thank God that we had an older sister who joined us for the first time as we knocked on doors and tried to do some follow up from our last Evangelistic Service.
As we talked with a few families, there was a constant mention about a church that was located nearby this estate. These families will say that either they are attending this church, or have been to this church before, or at least one of their family members are quite involved in that church.
This made me think that this church has been quite active and effective in their evangelism work. They have been following the commission of Christ quite faithfully… starting from where they are (i.e. beginning in Jerusalem).
This is indeed one area we can still improve upon a lot.
Door to door evangelism is just ONE way of preaching. It is NOT THE ONLY WAY.
I know that knocking on doors of strangers is not for everyone… and I do not expect everyone to join in preaching this way. But after reading the 3 Gospel books so far, I think we can learn a lot from the Evangelism style of Jesus.
Through a reference book, I found out that in the four Gospels:
- Jesus started the conversation on nine occasions, e.g. the Samaritan woman (Jn 4) and the crippled beggar (Jn 5)
- On 25 instances, it was the other party who initiated the conversation and Jesus responded to their questions, e.g. the rich young ruler (Matt 19); the demoniac, Jarius and the woman with flow of blood (Mk 5)
- Other conversations were triggered by third parties, e.g. tax collectors and other “sinners” invited to Matthew’s party (Matt 9), Nathaniel – invited by Philip (Jn 1).
And the majority of the conversations took place at the work places of people, or their homes. Very few were in religious settings. Instead, Jesus spoke to them about spiritual issues where they were most familiar.
And in talking with them, Jesus asked questions in more than half of them. This is something to learn from.
After trying to be a witness for some time, I have come to this conclusion (correct me if I a wrong).
Witnessing is a science, an art and a mystery.
There are techniques or methods we can learn. But we cannot be ‘dead’ and just work blindly on using a fixed formula,
It involves connecting our faith with people’s experience in a way that they can understand, in their own time and manner.
But the greatest thing that we need to do is to work with the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God. We can go and sow the seeds… but it is God who moves the hearts. Sometimes… no, many a times, we do not even know how is it someone comes and believe because we have certainly not done a good job in explaining the truth to him. But it is the Spirit of God that convicts. Not us.
May we all be true witnesses for Him wherever we are.