Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How God's Kingdom Conquers | Learning to Follow Jesus | Luke 22.47-53

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. And I'm Keith Simon. Right now, we're learning what it looks like to follow Jesus by working our way through the Gospel of Luke. If you hear any story too many times, it starts to get a little bit stale. It probably explains why some of my favorite books as a kid were parodies of classic fairy tales told by an author named John Cheska. And one of my favorites was a retelling of the three little bits. pigs. Now, unlike the original, the Big Bad Wolf, he's the hero in this version, and he's framed for

Starting point is 00:00:40 his crimes by a bunch of wicked little pigs who want him to get in jail for something he never did. Now, these stories, they're not just interesting to kids. I mean, think about the hit book and musical Wicked. It retells the whole story of the Wizard of Oz sympathetically from the perspective of the witch. As Christians, one of the greatest spiritual risks that we face is letting the story of Jesus gets stale. And so we need to do things to help keep it fresh, to help us see it with new eyes. The fact is that for a lot of us, we've heard or we've read the story of Jesus's betrayal, arrest, trial, and crucifixion so many times that sometimes we just stop listening or really listening. And to today, my goal is to try and help us see the story of Jesus' betrayal and arrest with fresh

Starting point is 00:01:27 eyes. And I want to do that by focusing on a detail that only Luke's gospel includes, a detail that radically challenge his first disciples' assumptions. And I think that little detail, it might challenge our own assumptions if we just let the story speak fresh. Okay, so to understand it, we need to try and enter into the minds of Jesus' disciples. Five days before this story takes place, Jesus enters Jerusalem as a king, a procession of cheering onlookers. They're crying out to him, save us. And of course, when they cried out, save us, they meant save us from our Roman pagan overlords. As Jesus proceeded on his donkey, they could all look up towards the city, where they saw four towers looming even larger than the temple. That would have been the Roman fortress of

Starting point is 00:02:16 Antonia. And it was ever watchful over Jerusalem for rebellion against Caesar. And so they're probably out there, and they're crying, save us, and they're crying all the louder because they see that building and they're hoping that Jesus, this prophetic miracle worker who's announcing the coming of God's kingdom is finally going to topple the fortress and all of Rome along with it. What else could the arrival of God's king and kingdom mean, if not the judgment of Rome? What do you think it was like to be Jesus' closest disciples? They're trailing behind him. Jesus, the man who's being hailed as Israel's prophesied liberator, the man who's going to usher in the age to come. When God's kingdom would be established and Israel would finally reign over all the nations. What do you think they

Starting point is 00:03:03 felt like basking in the aura of his glory? Maybe a sense of pride, joy, honor, or maybe even fear, Rome would not fall easily. Can you imagine how they felt throughout the week? When Jesus began to take on the temple all of a sudden, he's saying that the temple's power brokers, the high priest, and all their proxies, they're corrupt, they're wrong, they need to fall. At that point, maybe they started feeling some confusion. I mean, come on, isn't Rome supposed to be the enemy? But maybe also elation. They're saying, you know what? Yeah, knock those guys down. Because Jesus, you're the true king, not these high priest and lawyers and sadducees. All of them, they just collude with Rome. They'll never set us free. Jesus, only you can. How do you think his disciples felt

Starting point is 00:03:45 when they were celebrating Passover with him? Just hours before his arrest. Of course, they don't know he's about to be arrested. And he renews God's covenant with Israel, except now he's renewing it with them like they are a new Israel. Here's the weird thing. Throughout this whole exciting time of Jesus bringing God's kingdom, he's saying and doing paradoxical things. On the one hand, he's telling the disciples to go out and buy swords, and he's saying that he's getting ready to lead an Exodus right here in Jerusalem

Starting point is 00:04:15 and that they need to prepare for the coming of God's kingdom on earth. But then on the other hand, he keeps predicting his own death. He warns them that many of them, them will die as well. He speaks about laying down his life as a ransom for sins. I mean, these seem like two contradictory options, right? Is Jesus the conquering king or the suffering servant? I have to imagine they thought that one of those things was Jesus' literal plan, and the other one was probably some sort of confusing metaphor. And I don't really doubt which one they thought was metaphorical. They thought that Jesus' death and their own death, that was the metaphorical part, right? The real part was

Starting point is 00:04:55 going out and buying his sword. And we know that because the disciples went out and they did buy swords. I mean, they might have said, look, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. For God's kingdom to come, the pagan oppressors, the Roman sympathizers, they all need to repent or be defeated. But then later that night, they go with Jesus down the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Githemen. And Jesus is in agony. He's in agony about what's about to happen to him. Luke actually depicts him like a Greek wrestler agonizing to bring his enemy into submission, and it's Jesus trying to conquer what his will, his desire to live. He's trying to conquer his desire to not suffer, to not pay for sins.

Starting point is 00:05:37 He's wrestling to obediently give his life to the will of his father. And in the end, he wins. He does obey and trust his father. The disciples, meanwhile, they're either sleeping or beginning to lose their own confidence, because they don't understand what's going on. I mean, what's Jesus doing? Is he losing his resolve to fight? This isn't how the kingdom of God comes with a guy sweating blood because he's so nervous. No, for a kingdom to come, a kingdom must fall. I mean, this is what Daniel said, right? And now, with fresh eyes, when we see all of this happening the way the disciples saw it happening,

Starting point is 00:06:15 we can finally reach the moment of Jesus' betrayal and arrest. Luke 22, 47. When he was still speaking, there came a crowd. And with them the man called Judas, one of the 12, he was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said to him, Judas, would you betray the son of man with a kiss? And when those who were around him saw what would follow, these are the disciples. They said, Lord, should we strike with the sword? They're like, is this it? Is the kingdom of God starting? And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, no more of this. And he touched the ear of the man and he healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and the officers of the temple and elders who had come out

Starting point is 00:07:06 against him, have you come out as against a robber? And here's what's interesting. The word Jesus uses here for robber, that same word could be used to describe an insurrectionist, a revolutionary, a rebel. In fact, 40 years later, the historian Josephus, he calls the rebels in Jerusalem who were fighting against the Romans. He uses this word that Jesus says here. He uses that to describe them. And the disciples hearing this, they're probably thinking, yes, Jesus, that's what you are. You are a revolutionary. You are an insurrectionist. That's what we've all signed up for. Jesus says, have you come out as against a robber, a revolutionary, an insurrectionist with your swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me, but this is your hour

Starting point is 00:07:56 and the power of darkness. So now all of a sudden we're asking the question we asked a while ago. Which one is metaphorical, the conquering king or the suffering servant? Which one of those two is Jesus' literal plan? The disciples, they think they know, right? He's going to be the conquering king, and so they take out their weapons and they fight back against Jesus' arresters. And one guy who's obviously got terrible aim, he swings and only manages to cut off an ear.

Starting point is 00:08:25 What in the world were they thinking? I think they're thinking this. It's finally happening. The kingdom is arriving. The enemies of God's kingdom are going to fall. We're going to bring the kingdom in by force. And then, in just a second, in just a second, their expectations shatter into death because Jesus looks at them and he cries out enough of this. and we can't help but feel that he's speaking to more than just his disciples. He's saying enough of this to humanity, enough of the murder, enough of the killing each other, enough of the war, enough of the domination, oppression, subjection, enough of the so-called liberators, freeing the oppressed only to launch a new tyranny, enough of making peace by spilling

Starting point is 00:09:07 your enemy's blood. Enough of this, Jesus cries out. And he reaches out to the bleeding man, and he heals him. Without a word, Jesus tells his disciples how the kingdom of God will come. Not in the way of human kingdoms. That only continues the cycle of violence. No, God's kingdom comes by forgiveness for enemies. As Jesus allows his arresters to lead him away, his actions speak to a deep truth. God's kingdom doesn't come by the point of the store. God's kingdom comes by turning the other cheek by laying down your life. And as he's convicted and crucified later on, the disciples realize a frightening reality. The conquering king bit that Jesus talked about, that was the metaphor. The suffering servant stuff, that was the literal plan. But how was the conquering king?

Starting point is 00:10:01 How was that metaphorical? Well, it was metaphorical in this way. God conquers the kingdoms of this world, the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of sin, the dark kingdoms behind every human evil and all human oppression. God conquers those powers not by mirroring their own violence. No, God conquers them by taking their worst violence. God conquers them by self-sacrifice, by forgiveness. Jesus conquers the kingdom of darkness by dying under its weight and coming out the other side alive. Do we see that the kingdom comes this way? Or are we like the disciples? Do we think that we're going to bring God's kingdom by being culture warriors who bitterly fight Hollywood or the tide of progressivism? Or do we see ourselves as social justice warriors ready to shred our enemies with our words and our name calling? Or do we

Starting point is 00:10:51 conflate God's kingdom with the United States like this is a new Israel and we're going to defeat evil in the world by military might? Do you see yourself as a warrior and a cause? I want you right now to imagine your enemy bleeding, suffering, permanently demon, And I want you to imagine Jesus saying to you, enough of this, enough of this, and reaching out his hand and touching your enemy and healing him. Today, ask God to help you lay down your sword and take up your cross. Ask him to help you bring his kingdom by radical forgiveness and self-sacrifice. Thanks for listening.

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Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How God's Kingdom Conquers | Learning to Follow Jesus | Luke 22.47-53

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