Today's Reading: Luke 6: 39-49
**For a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link: Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf.
Please click this link to read Luke 6: 39-49
Bible Study
Today's passage is on a practical side for the message of the last two days. The world has turned God's standard upside-down that no one or very few people can do what Jesus says to have it right-way-up and not upside-down.
It is a call for you to really take action to do what Jesus says and as in today's passage it is to stop being judges. We as human beings have a habit to complain, to criticize and to judge. We like to say, "Why you don't do this? why you don't do that?" "Why you do this? Why you do that?" "Do you know you always do this, I am fed up with you?" Those are only minor complains and judgement. There are more serious one like, "You are the worst man I ever know, I don't want to see you again!" Lots of relationships and marriages are being destroyed because of those judgements.
There are even deeper level to Jesus' saying today. N.T. Wright gives us a very good explanation:
The sequence begins with the riddle about the blind leading the blind. Beware, Jesus is saying, of other teachings which look as though they're offering guidance but will in fact put you all in the ditch. The next saying seems to be a comment on this point: students can't advance beyond their teachers. There's no point studying with the Pharisees; all you'll be at the end of the day is another Pharisee. Jesus is challenging his hearers to break out of the molds they are being offered, and to come to the startling new way he is pioneering.
The next riddle, about the speck of dust in the other person's eye and the plank in one's own is also a warning against a certain type of teaching. As with the blind in the previous saying, the question is: can you see clearly enough to lead, let alone criticize, someone else? What people criticize in others is frequently, though not always, what they are subconsciously aware of (or afraid of) in themselves. The speck and the plank are a classic case of what psychologists call 'projection'. The person knows there's something seriously wrong with his or her own eye, so tries to avoid the problem by telling someone else there's a tiny problem with theirs.
How did the rival teachers in Jesus' day fit this model? Perhaps because, with so many of their rules and regulations, they were trying to fine-tune obedience to the law down to the last possible detail, while missing the law's major point. They were trying to make Israel holier and holier as a way of separating their nation from other nations; but the point of the law and the prophets was to make Israel the light to the nations. They were hunting for specks in each other's eyes with magnifying glasses, but couldn't see that there was a plank - a single massive disobedience - in their own.
But of course Jesus' picture continues to be relevant to new situations long after his own day. There must be many churches where a huge fuss is made about small details, while the main point of the gospel, and of radical Christian witness in the world, is missed altogether.
So, are you making small matters a big deal to others and you own church? How well can you practice what Jesus calls you to do?
It is a call for you to really take action to do what Jesus says and as in today's passage it is to stop being judges. We as human beings have a habit to complain, to criticize and to judge. We like to say, "Why you don't do this? why you don't do that?" "Why you do this? Why you do that?" "Do you know you always do this, I am fed up with you?" Those are only minor complains and judgement. There are more serious one like, "You are the worst man I ever know, I don't want to see you again!" Lots of relationships and marriages are being destroyed because of those judgements.
There are even deeper level to Jesus' saying today. N.T. Wright gives us a very good explanation:
The sequence begins with the riddle about the blind leading the blind. Beware, Jesus is saying, of other teachings which look as though they're offering guidance but will in fact put you all in the ditch. The next saying seems to be a comment on this point: students can't advance beyond their teachers. There's no point studying with the Pharisees; all you'll be at the end of the day is another Pharisee. Jesus is challenging his hearers to break out of the molds they are being offered, and to come to the startling new way he is pioneering.
The next riddle, about the speck of dust in the other person's eye and the plank in one's own is also a warning against a certain type of teaching. As with the blind in the previous saying, the question is: can you see clearly enough to lead, let alone criticize, someone else? What people criticize in others is frequently, though not always, what they are subconsciously aware of (or afraid of) in themselves. The speck and the plank are a classic case of what psychologists call 'projection'. The person knows there's something seriously wrong with his or her own eye, so tries to avoid the problem by telling someone else there's a tiny problem with theirs.
How did the rival teachers in Jesus' day fit this model? Perhaps because, with so many of their rules and regulations, they were trying to fine-tune obedience to the law down to the last possible detail, while missing the law's major point. They were trying to make Israel holier and holier as a way of separating their nation from other nations; but the point of the law and the prophets was to make Israel the light to the nations. They were hunting for specks in each other's eyes with magnifying glasses, but couldn't see that there was a plank - a single massive disobedience - in their own.
But of course Jesus' picture continues to be relevant to new situations long after his own day. There must be many churches where a huge fuss is made about small details, while the main point of the gospel, and of radical Christian witness in the world, is missed altogether.
So, are you making small matters a big deal to others and you own church? How well can you practice what Jesus calls you to do?
Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"
Spiritual Journal
What I heard from Jesus today is: You need to do it!
What I received today from Jesus is a reminder to all of us that knowing and saying is not enough, we need to do it. You need to know that the past three days we are listening to Jesus' preaching to his new team, the twelve apostles. His message is to turn everything upside-down and in fact it is the world turning God's standard upside-down. Jesus just put it right-way-up!
I don't know what have you heard the past three days from my podcast or this blog. But, let me tell you. I cried for a long, long time yesterday night when I was writing my blog and recording my podcast. Because Jesus called me to make a list of those people who hurt me and that I can't pray for. At first I thought there are a few names, but then it was horrible, I have quite a long list! And I am a priest, a bishop! It is so releasing when I started to pray for all those people and I will keep on praying for them even they don't know.
I guess you know lots of things from Jesus, but that's not enough, you need to do it! Until you do it, the foundation of your house will be firmer and firmer. And when storm comes, you won't be crashed to pieces!
I don't know what have you heard the past three days from my podcast or this blog. But, let me tell you. I cried for a long, long time yesterday night when I was writing my blog and recording my podcast. Because Jesus called me to make a list of those people who hurt me and that I can't pray for. At first I thought there are a few names, but then it was horrible, I have quite a long list! And I am a priest, a bishop! It is so releasing when I started to pray for all those people and I will keep on praying for them even they don't know.
I guess you know lots of things from Jesus, but that's not enough, you need to do it! Until you do it, the foundation of your house will be firmer and firmer. And when storm comes, you won't be crashed to pieces!
Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us not just to listen to you but to do what you tell us to do. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
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Create in Me A Clean heart
Chinese praise song - 我的心你要稱頌耶和華 Praise the Lord, O My Soul
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