Memorize: Choosing the twelve disciples
Key Verses: 1, 5, 10, 13, 27, 35, 41, 45, 49Doing work, either harvesting grain or healing someone, was not acceptable to pious Jews in Jesus’ day. But for Jesus, the fulfillment of the Law was about to happen. When Jesus rose from the dead, the need for all the old rituals would vanish. This made the religious leaders furious. Their whole existence, their place in society, their self-definition was about to be thrown out as obsolete.
Jesus prepares for the next phase of His ministry by choosing twelve men to a special task: being His devoted students. And right after He does that He holds a large gathering of people from all over that region. He stands in a large flat place and speaks to the crowd. He tells of blessings and woes that come. What is funny is that the blessings don’t sound so blessed. I mean, how much fun is it to have people hate and insult you? But Jesus says these are blessings. And woe to the rich and comforted, well fed and laughing, because in Jesus way of thinking, these are not good things.
Jesus’ kingdom is opposite of the earthly values that thrive in this world dominated and infected by sin. That is why it is so hard to love your enemies. We want to do just the opposite, don’t we! Jesus calls us to be different, to go against these natural instincts. We are to mirror God’s mercy in our lives.
If we don’t mirror God’s character in our lives we act in very strange ways, ways that are obvious to other people, but to which we are oblivious. It is as obvious as having a twelve foot long 4×8 sticking out of our eye. There is no way to ignore it, but ignore it we do.
The stuff on the inside will come out. If we are rotten on the inside, it will come out in our actions. If we are bitter, angry, resentful, jealous… or whatever else on the inside, it will come out. People will see it, because it will be obvious like the 4×8 sticking out of our eye. The good things will come out as well. Kindness, compassion, love, patience, forbearance…. Whatever is in there will come out. So clean up the inside. Whatever character is on the inside will manifest itself in fruit that is consistent with the character.
The foundation is what counts in a storm. Two identical houses, one without a foundation, are hit by the storm. Only the house with the foundation remains after the storm has passed. Storms are going to come into our lives that will test our foundation. Are we anchored to something solid enough to hold us in those storms?
REVIEW: Acts
The Arnold Journey 