Image: "House on a Hill", 2020, Admissions Office, McDaniel College, Westminster, Md
Luke 11:9–10 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Luke 11:13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Luke 11:30 For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.
Luke 12:4–5 “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has the power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!
Luke 12:20–21 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ 21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Luke 12:33–34 Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Luke 12:51 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.
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As you drive north on Main Street in the beautiful old town of Westminster, Md, you are confronted with a fork in the road at the top of the hill. Main Street veers to the right but there's a hard left and then a hard right to continue north on Uniontown Road. But there at that intersection, staring in your face and impossible to miss, is the McDaniel College Admissions building. Your car is on a slight incline at the intersection and across from you, the hill continues with a walkway leading your eyes up through the several sets of steps to the quaint old building itself. It's not really a beautiful building. Its architecture is from another century and it could have been just an old farm-house in another life. But its location makes it a commanding presence and impossible to miss.
In these chapters, we see the commanding Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is figuratively standing on a hill, above all those gathered around him, friends and foes alike. We hear an adoring woman cry out: "Blessed is the womb and bore you..." and His reply: "More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it." (11:28) This is not a casual conversation. The closest image I can think of is a rock star performing on a stage with thousands of young girls shouting for his attention. But Jesus is not "performing." Jesus is not "playing to the crowd." In these verses, He teaches some pretty tough lessons about the Kingdom of God and the current times. His words inflamed some with joy, others with anger and hatred. But like that house on a hill, He could not be ignored and a decision about which way to go had to be made.
On the one hand, He calls His followers' attention to the goodness of their Heavenly Father. He will not ignore the earnest petitions of those who sincerely cry out to Him. If an earthly father who cared for his child would certainly not despise his cry for food, how much more will the most blessed, most loving Father, hear us and give us what we desperately need? Those poor people who gathered around him, many knowing the pangs of hunger all too personally, must have been comforted beyond degree.
But for those well-fed hypocrites, those who never lacked for clothing or food on the table, they heard different types of teachings. They were told that the Son of Man, obviously Jesus Himself, was a sign like Jonah to the Ninevites. But, in sharp contrast, unlike the Ninevites, the current generation would not hear and repent and therefore the warning of impending judgment would not sink in. The Ninevites, hated people that they were, would rise up and judge "this generation!" I wonder what those scholars told their wives when they sat down for dinner that night?
He warned those standing around who were relatively rich that they should not put their trust in riches, because God could require their souls from them in an instant, as He did with the man in the parable. He turned to those oppressed people there, the ones who had faced the sharp words and brutal treatment of the Roman government and perhaps even their own Jewish leaders, the ones who had reason to walk in fear, and He said: "do not be afraid of those who kill the body... fear Him who, after He has killed, has the power to cast into Hell." (12:4-5) This was two-edged teaching. On the one hand, it reminded those who were at risk of being killed, that even in the face of physical death, there was a greater power to be faced. If their "fear" of earthly powers shaped their lives here and now, how much more should they be concerned about their spiritual lives. It also spoke immediately and directly to those who might be oppressors and reminded them that there is a very real Hell that they needed to fear.
The most startling words Jesus spoke (12:49ff) were about Himself. He said He didn't come to give peace on earth... but "division". He came to bring controversy, not out of evil intent, but rather necessity. As that house stood at an intersection, forcing everyone to choose to go right or go left, so Jesus stands at the crossroad of every person's life. Some will go one way and some the other but, necessarily, they will "divide."
There is much more in these chapters than this brief survey but everything contributes to the same image. Jesus is there, He cannot be ignored or missed, and His very Presence requires of us a decision: which way will we go?
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