Author: Bryan Richardson

Re: Verse reading – Luke 24:13-35 (Day Three)
“What things?” [Jesus] asked.  Even after his resurrection, our Savior was the same Jesus, the same teacher who patiently walked alongside anyone who would engage him, engrossed in conversation, shepherding the curious to clarity, leading the acquiescent to alarm, bringing the sorrowful to surprise.  Jesus wasn’t playing dumb when he asked the Emmaus-bound travelers to explain their dejected state.  He well knew that when we tell him what is on our minds, when we converse with him, we begin to think more deeply.  He leads us into the light.  Jesus knew “what things.”  The question is, do we?

Re: Verse reading– Luke 22:66-23:25 (Day Three)
“[Herod] hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort.”  We’re all Herod now.  To the extent that we want adventure, amazement, or a break from the wearying business of living with people, we want exactly what Herod wanted.  It’s easier if we get a “sign” to reveal what we should do than it is actually to make a decision.  It’s more affirming to our sense of self to receive a dramatic divine affirmation that we’re right instead of figuring out how to live in peace with someone we don’t like.  We serve ourselves.  Herod was stricken dead because he served himself rather than God.  Therefore, if indeed this Savior has the power to give the sign that we seek, should we not rather fall at his feet like a dead man until we hear him say, “Do not be afraid?”

Re: Verse reading – Luke 21:5-38 (day three)
“Not one stone will be left on another…”  Everything that comes from the way of men will be overturned.  The way of men is a way of impossibility, a way of limited resources, a way of temporary life, a way of fading riches.  As a building is demolished, so the way of man will meet the wrecking ball.  But we are not doomed: “I will give you words and wisdom; stand firm, and you will win life,” our Lord says (Luke 21:15, 19).  Nothing outside of that way of Jesus will survive.  Nothing.  But within that way, nothing will perish.

Re: Verse reading – Luke 20:1-8, 20-26 (day three)
“Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”  Jesus refused to answer the question, but not because he was attempting to avoid a trap.  He refused to answer the question because it was not his question to answer.  It was the interrogator’s question to answer.  It’s your question to answer.  It’s my question to answer.  And therein lies the reason for astonishment at the statement Jesus made: God allows you to have say over resources.  Therefore, he will not answer your question, but there’s coming a day when you will answer his.

Re: Verse reading – Luke 19:1-10 (Day Three)
“Look, Lord! Here and now I give….”  The road not taken by the rich young ruler is the road we find Zacchaeus beginning to travel.  The former wandered down his road sad and still lost; the latter traveled the road to eternal life.  Which road have you refused to walk?

Re: Verse reading–Luke 18:18-30 (Day Three)
“Who then can be saved?” This question is a good one as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go very far.  Despite its passive voice, it’s still concerned with the detection of some quality, some attribute of a person that would signal his acceptance by God.  The question looks for its answer among men.  But it won’t find the answer among men, for that is the realm of the impossible.  When we seek God, when we lay down our efforts to impress him, when we ask him to “forgive me, a sinner”, we’ve begun to turn our eyes to the realm where all things become possible.

Re: Verse reading–Luke 18:9-17 (Day Three) 
“For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled.”  Why is this so?  Does God do this in order to teach self-exalters a lesson?  Yes, but not if by “teach them a lesson” we mean “give them their comeuppance”.  The essence of these words is more about how God rules this universe and less about anticipating the fate of the proud.  When we look forward to the haughty getting theirs, aren’t we exalting ourselves over them?  Let us proceed with great care.