IN HIS FOOTSTEPS 9 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem you who stone the prophets

A HARMONISING OF THE GOSPELS
IN ONE CONTINUAL NARRATIVE
First published in March 1993 as 12 individual A5 booklets
These are still available in the original form upon request.
In this ninth study of walking in the footsteps of `the Man Christ Jesus', we are continuing our task of setting out the historical, chronological order of events recorded in the Gospels. In drawing from all four Gospels and harmonising them into chronological order we seek to keep the message contained in them in strict context in order to apply that message to our situation today. We would contend that of all the Scripture writings the Gospels are the ones most easily distorted and misused by Christians and non-Christians alike - with many from each group using them as a kind of `Pick and Mix' selection box to their own particular taste or fancy! The clear message can be seen only by contextual interpretation, and then applied in a positive and vital manner in our lives today as disciples of `the Man Christ Jesus', whose desire above all else was to continue in obedience to His calling to `go and make disciples of all nations . . . ' Before we can go, we have to be sure of why we are going. Before we can make disciples, we have to know the cost of discipleship. Before we can teach, we have to learn `everything I have commanded you'. This contextual interpretation of Scripture is the only basis for providing a solid foundation upon which to build. That solid foundation will then provide an unshakeable and immovable rock of Truth which no pretextual argument can touch. Any attempt to merely draw the principle of truth from Scripture and then apply that principle to a contemporary setting will turn the Scriptures into an `Opinion Box of Principles' - if the `opinion' is relative to contemporary events it becomes an `existential bubble' waiting to bump into another `bubble', with the obvious consequence of one `bubble' either bursting or being pushed away.

The result? We are left with no bedrock certainty of what the Scriptures say! Because our contemporary Western culture has been formed by existential thinking and ideas it is easy to understand why such opinionated pseudo Bible exegesis have become acceptable, whereas contextual exegesis are discarded as legalistic and narrow when they do not fit into our own particular existentialist `bubble. It is with this thought in mind that we can say with Luke:

" I have myself carefully investigated everything from the beginning, (and) it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you . . . . so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. " Luke 1:3-4

We are now entering the last six months of the journey of the Man Christ Jesus. The Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem was behind Him, and He and His disciples had slipped away from the intensity of the hostility of the Jewish leaders into the surrounding Judean countryside. He would return to Jerusalem within three months to attend the Feast of Dedication . . Hanukkah . . the Festival of Lights . . when He would again face hostility before slipping away again into Perea, the Tetrarchy of Herod Antipas, and from there He would begin His final journey to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast. With just six short months left - and still so much to be accomplished, so much to teach the Twelve before the Passover came and the wolves would be released among the sheep - we pick up the narrative from Luke 10: "After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place where He was to go. He told them, `The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field. Go! I am sending you like lambs among the wolves'" (10:13. The disciples had experienced so much since the original Twelve were sent out into the Galilean area - including the collapse of so much that had been painstakingly built up through the work and teaching of their Master! They had drawn back into the region of Tyre and Sidon . . crossed over into the Decapolis . . they had received the revelation that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God . . Peter, James and John had been with Him on Mount Hermon when the Divine glory had burst out of His physical body . . they had experienced the open hostility expressed towards their Master . . now it was time to put into practice all they had learned, and they were sent out `to every town and place where He was about to go'.

Jesus instructed them: "Heal the sick who are there and tell them, `The Kingdom of God is near you'" (10:9). We then read of the results of that mission: "The seventy-two returned with joy and said, `Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name'" (10:17). They had learned well and they were ready to be entrusted with the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, but they received a timely check from their Master - one that we all need to heed! Jesus replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven'" (10:17-20). Oh, the heady excitement of the life in the fulness of the Spirit! But it needs maturity and a continuing revelation of the purposes of God so as not to fall into the trap of pride. "At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, `I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was Your good pleasure'". To the waiting, always watching, leaders of Israel, the Galiean campaign had failed. In Jerusalem the crowds had begun to side with the Pharisees and Jesus was continually withdrawing from them. Therefore the Jews considered that it would not be long before they could put an end to this Messianic Movement - even if it meant the death of the man! But Jesus, still patiently teaching, admonishing and encouraging, began to see the first small shoots of faith. His response? "`I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. All things have been commited to Me by My Father. No-one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no-one knows who the Father is except the Son, and those whom the Son chooses to reveal Him'. Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, `Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it'" (10:22- 24).

During this time Jesus was still continuing to teach His disciples, but was followed eveywhere by the Jews, for we read: "On one occasion an expert in the Law (a Pharisee) stood up to test Jesus. `Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' `What is written in the Law,' He replied. `How do you read it'? He answered, `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself.' `You have answered correctly,' Jesus replied. `Do this and you will live.' But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, `And who is my neighbour?'" (10:25-29). The `expert in the Law' went one step too far in his eagerness to test Jesus and justify himself. The parable he received in response to his question went beyond his narrow Pharisetic notion as to whom his neighbours were, for it incuded even the outcast Samaritans - something the good religious Jews could not cope with! The parable Jesus told is too well known to quote in detail: A man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho became the victim of a robbery and violence and was left for dead. A priest and a Levite passed him by, for they could not touch an unclean object. It wasn't fear that kept them from the half-dead man but concern for their ceremonial cleanliness, their religious purity - and it was left to the Samaitan to show mercy! The lawyer was tripped up by his own trickery when Jesus asked him a question: "`Which of these do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?' The expert in the Law replied, `The one who had mercy on him.' Jesus told him, `Go and do likewise'" (10:36-37). The righteous requirements of Jesus went beyond the Law - they certainly went beyond the narrow interpretations of the Mishnah from which this `expert in the Law' taught. But the Teachers of the Law could not `go and do likewise'. If they did, their position in a carefully built up religious caste system which controlled the lives of the people of Israel would be destroyed, and the yoke of the teachings of the Pharisees would be broken!

"As Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him" (10:38). This story is familiar and carries a reminder that we, like Martha, can become so busy in our good, well-intentioned work that we miss God's best, and there are times when we, like her sister Mary, need only to cease from our labours, sit at the Lord's feet and listen to Him! When He is resting it is of no value to His Kingdom if we continue to work. This is a fine balance, but it can only come through a continually maturing relationship with Him. We learn from the story that Jesus was still in the Judean area - this time at Bethany, near to Jerusalem, at the house of Martha. He would return here again just before His last journey to Jerusalem - and we catch a sense of quiet waiting during this brief time, for Jesus would not move until He clearly saw His Father working. The teaching continued . . the coming of certain Jews, Teachers of the Law, to try to trick Him . . the accusations and the falsehoods about Him continued to be spread . . but here at Bethany there was a quietness, a waiting for the release into His final work - and beyond!

Luke continues the narrative: "One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, `Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples to pray.' He said to them, `When you pray, say, `Father, hallowed be Your name, Your Kingdom come'" (11:1-2). We saw Jesus delivering this same teaching to His disciples much earlier during His Galiean ministry, as recorded in Matthew 6. Here the need was clearly showing itself again, and Jesus provides the same framework of prayer for all disciples for all time - a prayer for the coming Kingdom of God to be revealed, giving glory to the Father. Jesus continues with parables and teaching, encouraging them to be persistent in their prayers. They might not see the Kingdom come as quickly as they wished, but it was entirely consistent with the Father's will that His Kingdom be established - and those disciples were not to know that two thousand years later the cry of the Lord's disciples would still be, `Glorious Father, hallowed, all glorious, is Your name. Your Kingdom come . . .' For those who pray in this way to the Father, the Kingdom is a reality in their hearts and in their lives, and they pray for that same reality to be seen and experienced among all God's people - and the indication and signs are clear that the Kingdom is very near to once again being offered to the nation of Israel! This time they will accept it, and Jesus will come physically to establish the Kingdom of God. Persistent prayer indeed! Just two days in God's understanding . . two thousand years in man's reckoning . . but its coming is certain, and it is very near!

As Jesus continued His work of compassion among the people, we find recorded in Luke's narrative another occasion where He was casting out a demonic dumb spirit. The first occasion had happened when He was working in Galilee (as recorded in Matthew and Mark). This time Luke records the occasion, which happened whilst Jesus was journeying to Jerusalem. We read that the crowds had accepted the teaching of the Pharisees and now copied their scornful rejection of the source of Jesus' authority: "When the demon left, the man who had been dumb spoke, and the crowd was amazed. But some of them said, `By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, He is driving out demons.' Others tested Him by asking for a sign from heaven" (11:14-16). It was ever thus! Few like being left out of a crowd. When people see `which way the wind is blowing' they will invariably go the same way. It requires much personal stamina to stand and watch and make a careful judgement, and be left `out of fellowship' with others - particularly so with today's `instant' culture, a shifting ground of opinions, like quicksilver. But the response Jesus requires remains unchanged - a personal faith in whom He is. And what He wants to work through His people today is as difficult as it ever was, for God's ways are unchanging in a changing brittle world. Jesus was now drawn back into controversy and hostility.

"When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited Him to eat with him; so He went in and reclined at the table" (11:37). Remembering the background to this sect of the Pharisees . . that they would have nothing to do with anyone who was not of their sect . . this invitation was clearly an effort to `wine and dine' Jesus in the hope of getting Him to relax His guard and so be tricked and caught! Do not for one moment imagine that there had been a change of heart among the Pharisees! Even a limited understanding of their religious observances would reveal the extent of compromise they were now prepared to go to in order to trick this hated man Jesus - even to the point of eating with Him! Jesus was quickly picked upon because He did not ceremonially wash before the meal. But He saw through their compromise and hypocrisy: "Then the Lord said to him (the Pharisee), `Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the One who made the outside make the inside also? But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you'" (11:39-41). Jesus then gives a series of six condemnations of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law for their hypocrisy. The conflict has never changed! The confrontation is always a hair's breadth away! It took little to turn the spark into a fire which would soon turn into a conflagration that would not be put out until all the Father's will and purposes were outworked. "Woe to you Pharisees, because you give tithes of your garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. Woe to you Pharisees, you love the pride of place where all can see your self-righteousness. Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it. (These words quickly brought a self- righteous cry of anguish.) `Teacher, when You say these things, you insult us also.' (The Teachers of the Law were now involved too.) `Woe to you, Teachers of the Law, you who burden the people down with your foolish teachings of the Mishnah . . man's opinions that weigh heavily on them. Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, but it was your forefathers, with powers like you, who killed them. By your actions you testify your approval of what your forefathers did - they killed the prophets but you build the tombs! Because of this, God in His wisdom said, `I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute'. Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world . . Woe to you experts in the Law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge (with your traditions and Mishnaic teachings). You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering'" (Paraphrase of 11:42-52).

Their trickery was exposed and condemned outright! We have seen previously that there had been times when Jesus would quietly melt away, not seeking outright confrontation, and there were other times when He seized the initiative and seemingly provoked hostility - but He was always in command of every situation, and each response was different according to the circumstance. "When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law began to oppose Him fiercely and to besiege Him with questions, waiting to catch Him in something He might say" (11:53-54). "Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to His disciples, saying, `Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy'" (12:1). The people were still flocking to hear Him, but the attention of Jesus was towards His disciples. He had seen the sham of the religious party - that with their strict social code of behaviour it was almost unbelieveable that they could not see for themselves the hypocrisy and compromise they had used in order to trick and accuse Him - and they got the verbal lashing they deserved: `Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy'.

The discipleship course would continue: "Do not be afraid of such people, but fear God . . do not be afraid, you are worth more than the sparrows who are noticed when they fall to the ground . . continue to acknowledge the Messiah as Lord and Saviour before men". Again the reason was given for the hardness of heart of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and all that particular generation of the Jewish nation. The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in denying the work of the Holy Spirit in the Messiah of God and calling it the work of Beelzebub, the prince of demons, was an unforgiveable sin of that generation of the nation of Israel. Individuals would come to Jesus with personal faith and belief in Him and would receive mercy, but for the collective nation in that generation it was too late and the judgement had clearly begun to be outworked: "Someone in the crowd said to Him, `Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.' Jesus replied, `Man, who appointed Me a judge or an arbiter between you?' Then He said to them, `Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions'" (12:13-15). Jesus had been rejected as Messiah, therefore He could not act as judge among the people of that particular generation. The time would come, and is yet to come, when He will come as Judge to a generation of the nation of Israel which calls out for His coming and accepts Him as Messiah, but at that particular time all Jesus would say was, "Watch out! Be on your guard!" Jesus then tells them a parable about a rich man who decided to build bigger barns to store his crops in, thinking that when he had stored up enough he would be able to `take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.' But God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you' (12:19-20).

Jesus then continued with a series of parables to His disciples, training and teaching them not to be concerned with tomorrow: "Do not worry . . your Father knows that you need this . . Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return . . You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him. Peter asked, `Lord, are You telling this parable to us, or to everyone?' The Lord answered, `Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time?'" (12:35-41). This is both encouragement and exhortation . . warning for the disciples of Jesus who gathered around Him to listen, and for all those who would follow on . . the wise and faithful manager, entrusted with the good food of the Good News of the Kingdom of God: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from everyone who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (12:42). His warning of what lay ahead then begins to come into focus: "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division" (12:49-51). Following this intensive and dramatic teaching of His disciples after His confrontation with the Pharisees, Jesus at last turns to the crowds with the same words of intense feeling. He senses by the mood of the crowd that they are there for the excitement! They sense, without understanding why, that a drama is reaching its climax, and they want to be there to see it unfold: "He said to the crowd, `When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, `It's going to rain,' and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, `It's going to be hot,' and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?'" There must have been some kind of angry retort at these stinging words, but Jesus was in no mood for compromise or hypocrisy. The crowds had come for excitement, not to hear about the Kingdom of God, and like some intoxicated mob sensing blood they had gathered.

Hold this in your mind as you read, and understand the intensity of the moment which brought such stinging words from the mouth of Jesus: "Now at the time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices" (13:1). There was evidently an historical event where Pilate's soldiers had killed some Galileans as they were attending one of their religious Feasts at Jerusalem, and the crowds were suggesting that these Galileans had paid the price for their sin. `No', said Jesus, `they were no better or worse than you, and unless you repent, you too will all perish.' And as was His custom He continued with a parable which was beyond their ability to understand! Speaking of unfaithful Israel. (a fig-tree in the Master's vineyard) when the Messiah came and found no fruit on the tree - even after three years of teaching and miracles - He said, `Cut it down! Why waste the soil in the garden?' `Sir,' the man said, `leave it alone. I'll try for one more year. (I'll try for a little longer.) If there is still no fruit, then cut it down' (Paraphrase of 13:6-8). Within fourty years this barren tree was indeed cut down as it had produced no fruit as a nation, and the Roman armies of Titus destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Temple!

Even during what seemed to be a waiting period controversey was never far away. Three years of teaching, healing and deliverance seems to have mattered very little, for as we read in Luke's narrative the same prejudice was exhibited whenever the compassion of Jesus was aroused: "On a Sabbath day Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called her forwad and said to her, `Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.' Then He put His hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God" (13:10-13). This brought the predictable response from the Rabbi of the synagogue - that such things should not be allowed on the Sabbath! This response again revealed the hypocrisy of the teaching of the Pharisees. They would allow an animal to be cured, but not `a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years.' The sharp rebuke brought humiliation to the Rabbi, but delight to the crowd, who were `delighted with all the wonderful things He was doing.' Jesus used the opportunity for two parables, revealing the unstoppable power of the Kingdom of Heaven, likening it to a tiny mustard seed and to yeast in the dough. Although after three years little could be seen of the Kingdom of God, what had been planted would continue to grow until one day it would be seen and would embrace all living things! What had been announced would continue and would work through every part of God's creation! The Kingdom of God had indeed arrived, and it would reach it's total fulfillment!

By now it was winter time, around the middle of December, and the Feast of Hanukkah would draw Jesus to Jerusalem once again. Expecting that Jesus would appear for the Feast, the Pharisees were watching for Him in order to confront and provoke Him. John records: "Then came the Feast of Hanukkah at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the Temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade. The Jews gathered around Him, saying, `How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.' Jesus answered, `I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in My Father's name speak for Me, but you do not believe them because you are not My sheep. My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no-one can snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and the Father are one'" (10:22-30). The response of the Jews was the same: They picked up stones to stone Jesus - if they could not provoke Him with words they would try to provoke with actions - but Jesus merely pointed them back to their question and said, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father (confirming your very own teaching). In answer to your question, for which one of them (the miracles) do you stone Me?' (But hearts hardened by prejudice could no longer use logic to answer that question, and their total confusion is shown by their reply.) "We are not stoning You for the miracles, which according to our teaching reveal that You are God, but for Your blasphemy in telling us that the miracles You perform are because You are from God - therefore You are God" (Paraphrase of 10:33). Total confusion!

Jesus then answers them by drawing upon the very Scriptures the Pharisees used as vindication for their role as teachers and expositors of the Law: "Is it not written in your Law, `I have said you are gods? If He called them `gods', to whom the word of God came - and the Scriptures cannot be broken - what about the One whom the Father set apart as His very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse Me of blasphemy because I said, `I am God's Son?' Do not believe Me unless I do what My Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe Me, believe the miracles, that you may learn and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father'" (10:34-38). Here Jesus was referring back to the period of the Judges - who ruled the people of Israel before the monarchical system began with King Saul - leaders raised up by God to judge, that is, to rule on His behalf. Such people as Gideon and Deborah, whom God called `gods' . . rulers or judges . . having the authority of God . . a delegated authority . . doing all the work of gods that God had given them to do. In effect Jesus was saying, `You accept that these people were gods who came to do the work that God gave them to do. Yet by the miracles I perform (which show that I am also sent by God to do His work) you accuse Me of calling Myself God. You are in confusion not only with your own teaching but also with the Scriptures, the knowledge which you take such pride in!' But not even this reasoning would open their eyes to what was happening: "Again they tried to seize Him, but He escaped their grasp" (10:39).

Slipping out of Jerusalem, "Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptising in the early days. Here He stayed and many people came to Him. They said, `Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true.' And in that place many believed in Jesus" (10:40-42). Jesus was once again in the area of Perea in the Tetrarchy of Herod Antipas, and there now remained only three months before His final journey to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover! The Scriptures do not say, but surely the disciples must have thought at such a time as this of all that had happened over the past three years. John had been here . . the crowds coming to the Jordan . . the Father's confirmation of His Messiahship as Jesus came up out of the water of baptism . . the calling of the first disciples . . and now this final walk in the footsteps of the Man Christ Jesus. Luke records the events that had been opened up and prepared by the seventy-two disciples who had been sent out earlier: "Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as He made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked Him, `Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?' Jesus answered them, `Make every effort to enter through the narrow door door - the way I have taught you.' (The was is narrow because it has been clogged up, almost blocked up by the Mishnaic teachings of the Pharisees. Many will try to get in through their own ways and teachings, but they will not get through because they are burdened and choked with their own teachings. And so there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God but you yourselves are thrown out. Others will be there too - Gentiles from the many nations of the east and west, north and south, and they will take their places at the Feast in the Kingdom of God. But for many in Israel who will not let go of the teaching of the Pharisees there will be no place for them at the coming Feast in the Kingdom of God'") Paraphrase of 13:24-30.

Now came some Pharisees, trying to push Him out of Perea and Galilee and back into Judea, the area of the authority of the Sanhedrin, that they might arrest Him: "At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to Him, `Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill You.' He replied, `Go tell that fox, `I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.'' (And foretelling His death, He said), `In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day - for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem'" (13:31-33). (Jesus then experiences great anguish of soul and cries out His great lament for what He sees coming - oh, how He had wished and longed for a response from the nation of Israel!) "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see Me again until you say, `Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord'" (13:34-35). The pressure would not let up. As the crowds gathered, so too would the Pharisees and the Scribes - watching, waiting, looking for any chance slip that might present itself and prevent Jesus from finishing His task!

Luke continues: "One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, He was being carefully watched. (This was no kindly invitation towards a man who had `nowhere to lay His head'. He was being very carefully watched.) There in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the Law, `Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?' But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, He healed him and sent him away" (14:2-4). Jesus used the opportunity of this feast to teach - again by a parable - but the general gathering could not understand His words. Noting how the guests had picked the places of honour at the table, He told them a parable of a wedding feast, urging them not to take the best places for themselves in case other more important guests were invited, and they, being asked to move to a lesser position, would be humiliated. He also urged them to be generous, not to those who could repay their kindness but to those who could not, `and you will be blessed. This was a clear Messianic message to those who had a right to attend the Feast to give way to the Gentiles, who had no right but who would nevertheless be invited to a future Wedding Feast!

"When one of those at the table with Him heard this, he said to Jesus, `Blessed is the man who will eat at the Feast in the Kingdom of God'" (14:15). This was a good pious remark from one who had heard but did not understand the message, but it gave Jesus the opportunity to tell an even more important parable concerning the future Wedding Feast in the Kingdom of God. We know it as the Parable of the Great Banquet, but we must place it in the context of Jesus speaking at a feast attended by the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law who had invited Him there to trap Him! Jesus talked of a Great Banquet and the many invited guests (the nation of Israel). The certain Man (the God of Israel) sent His Servant (His Son Jesus) to bid them come to the Great Banquet in the Kingdom of God. But they began to make excuses (the leaders of the nation, the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Scribes rejected the invitation). So the Owner of the House (of Israel) became angry and sent His Servant into the streets and alleyways to take the message of the Good News to the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame. The Servant faithfully did that task, but there was still room: "So the Man told His Servant, Go out to the roads and the country lanes (go beyond the nation of Israel to the Gentiles and let them know) so that My house will be full'. `I tell you,' said Jesus, `not one of the leaders of this generation of the nation of Israel who were invited will get even a taste of My banquet'".

Jesus, still in Perea in the Tetrarchy of Herod Antipas, continued His travelling: "Large crowds were travelling with Him, and turning to them Jesus told them the cost of being His disciple . . . it wasn't enough to follow Him . . not enough to attend religious meetings . . not enough to make the required sacrifices and attend the prescribed religious Feasts! Being a follower cost very little, but being a disciple demanded everything! He concluded, `He who has ears to hear, let him hear.' (Paraphrase 14:25-35) "Now the tax collectors and the `sinners' were all gathering around to hear Him. But the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law muttered, `This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them'" (15:1-2). The previous parables, told at the feast with the Pharisees, had fallen on deaf ears - not only concerning the invitation extended to the poor, the sick and the lame - they had not heeded the warning He had given about those who had been first as their right, because their traditions and teachings had completely deafened them! They were separated unto God as Pharisees and they could not associate with even unclean Israelites, let alone unclean Gentiles, and as for stories about feasts . . . `For goodness sake let's put aside childish stories. This man welcomes `sinners' and eats with them!' All they received was yet another parable, another story, and they couldn't understand this one either! "A shepherd in charge of a hundred sheep . . and yet he went out looking for one lost sheep? A foolish woman who lost one of her ten pieces of silver . . yet she searched diligently until she found it? A man with two sons . . one of whom wandered away, but finally came home in distress, to be greeted with great rejoicing?

These parables were spoken to the Pharisees against the background of their teaching that rewards were given according to merit - that their good works gained them a place in the Kingdom of God. They couldn't hear or understand the message of the Kingdom of God, of the rejoicing in God's heart over one lost sheep being found and brought back into the sheep-fold! This teaching by parables would continue and must be seen against a backcloth of extreme hostility and scornful rejection. They were spoken in times of great stress, always to the disciples, though with the Pharisees listening but failing to understand that these were directed at themselves. They were so totally opposed to the Man Christ Jesus that they were looking for every opportunity to trap Him and drag Him off for trial. Luke 16 records this: "Jesus told His disciples, `There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions . . '" Although the disciples were listening intently it was really to the listening Pharisees that the parable was pointed: "The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, `You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight. The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the Good News of the Kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it'" (14:16). Jesus was saying, `With your Mishnaic teachings you Pharisees have made the way into the Kingdom of God so difficult that the people are practically having to force their way into it, and yet you stand there sneering at the Good News of God which has been brought to those whom you, by your teachings, have tried to keep out. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear (easier for your teachings to fade away) than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law (which points to My Good News)". Jesus then directed His next message straight towards the Pharisees. It concerned the beggar Lazarus, who on his death went to be with Abraham; and the rich man, who on his death went down to Hades in torment. The story in Luke 16 is familiar enough just to say that it was a pointed story directed at the Pharisees, who, even if someone came back from the dead, would not believe what he said, so hardened had their hearts become. Then turning back to His disciples He continued His teaching concerning personal sins and forgiveness: "The apostles said to the Lord, `Increase our faith'. (Jesus then concluded His teaching parables with a call to personal duty.) "So you, also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, `We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty'" (v10).

John now picks up the narrative, and we find Jesus called out of Perea into Judea, to Bethany near to Jerusalem, through what looked like a personal tragedy. The call came because His friend Lazarus was ill. Martha and Mary sent word to Him begging Him to come quickly and heal him. What then happened in Bethany was to be the first of three signs given in answer to the demands of the Pharisees, after they had accused Jesus of working by the power of Beezebub the prince of demons, and would be a pointer towards the other two signs that would follow in God's timing! "Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped His feet with her hair. So the sister sent word to Jesus, `Lord, the one You love is sick.' Jesus didn't move for two days, and then He suddenly announced to His disciples, `Let us go back to Judea.' `But Rabbi,' they said, `a short while ago the Jews were trying to stone You, and yet You are going back there?' (On telling them that Lazarus had fallen asleep, they again tried to deter Him.) `Lord, if he sleeps, he will surely get better . . ' So then He told them plainly, `Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him'" (11:1-15). This was to be a Messianic act, a sign to the disciples and to the Pharisees . . the sign of Jonah which they had been told they would see!

Jesus had said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it" (11:4). Once again this story is so familiar . . great sadness turning to great joy as His friend is brought back to life. However we are looking for the Messianic message contained within this story. We know that it was intentional that the Pharisees should hear about it and that it was a fulfillment of His word given to them that they would indeed see a sign - the sign of the prophet Jonah: "On His arrival Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. (Was there just a hint of a rebuke in Martha's words to Jesus?) `Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.' Jesus said to her, `Your brother will rise again.' Martha answered, `I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.' Jesus said to her, `I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?' `Yes, Lord,' she told Him, `I believe that You are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world'" (11:17-27). (Mary was next to give just a hint of a rebuke.) "` Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.' When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. `Where have you laid him?' He asked. `Come and see, Lord,' they replied. Jesus wept (angry at death at work in the world). Then the Jews said, `See how He loved him.' But some of them said, `Could not He who opened the eyes of a blind man have kept this man from dying?' Then Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. `Take away the stone,' He said. `But, Lord,' said Martha, the sister of the dead man, `by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there for four days.' Then Jesus said, `Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?' So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, `Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me. But I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent Me.' When He had said this, Jesus called out in a loud voice, `Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, `Take off the grave clothes and let him go'" (11:33-44).

It was for the benefit of the people standing there, and for the glory of God. It was the teaching of the Jews that when a man dies his spirit hovers over his body for three days, after which it goes to Sheol (or Hades). But Jesus waited for four days so that there could be no doubt that this was the sign of Jonah He had promised the Pharisees after they had asked Him for a miraculous sign to confirm His authority. There would be yet another `sign of the prophet Jonah' - and that too would be disbelieved because of their hard hearts. There would also be a third sign - but that will come during the time of the Great Tribulation - and that too will be for the Jewish nation! For those who know their Scriptures it will speak to them of the Resurrection and that Life which their nation has for so long rejected . . `and so all Israel will be saved'! However, there was a response to the first `sign of the prophet Jonah': "Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests (the Sadducees) and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. `What are we accomplishing?' they asked. `Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our Temple and our nation.' Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up.' `You know nothing at all! You do not realise that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.' He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day they plotted to take His life" (11:45-53). There was nothing more to say! The last walk towards Jerusalem and the Passover was now fixed! The drama would unfold! The footsteps of the Man Christ Jesus were now firmly set on that last journey! "Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead He withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where He stayed with His disciples" (11:54). As is so often the case in Scripture, the words are short but shot through with profound meaning. So with these closing words of John:

" Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly . . .
(to be with) His disciples. "

we shall close this study of walking in the footsteps of the Man Christ Jesus and pick up again in another study the last three short months of that walk.

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