Skip to main content

236. Woe To The Exclusive

Isaiah 5:21, Matthew 23:13-14, Luke 11:52
Key Verse:  "Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering."
Luke 11:52

The first thought that comes to mind for me here is the game of keep away, or the common taunt of children, "Nyah, Nyah, You can't catch me!" There is a whole sense of exclusivity here that Jesus finds distasteful, especially as it relates to welcoming those who desire to enter His Kingdom.

The religious leadership displays a sense of arrogance. "We are God's chosen people! Yes, our God is the only way to heaven, but you are not chosen, sorry!" They thought that they had the corner on the market of God's favor through Jewish heritage and through the knowledge of His law, which, of course, they worked at keeping better than anyone else could; especially a pagan!

Jesus is saying here, "Woe to you for teasing others in this way. Worst of all, how you are representing God isn't even true! You let people know that there is a way, but then, you don't let them join you on the journey."

Matthew has it, "You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." (Matt. 23:14) This is a serious danger of getting caught up in religion. It's easy to become entangled in the rules and outward appearances and miss the relationship with God altogether.

This meant that they would reject completely what Jesus really came to do, which was to die for the sins of the world so that Man's barriers would no longer exist. Because of Jesus there would no longer be "Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28) He came to abolish their exclusive claim to Heaven and their exclusive claim to knowledge of God.

Praise the Lord that He did. Woe to anyone who makes heaven harder than faith in Jesus Christ, His death on the cross for our sins and His resurrection to new life for all who believe. "In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a Holy temple in the Lord. And in Him, you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit." (Ephesians 2:21-22) In Christ, we are the new temple. We are the new thing. The boundaries are gone. We are alive as one in Him.

Hymn: "Where Charity and Love Prevail" 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...
Post a Comment
Read more

These Boots are Made for Walking

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-15 These Boots are Made for Walking. Of course, I picked that title because it has a reference to popular culture, and it connects with our text today about “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” I was tempted to play the video of that song, but it’s really not amenable to worship. If you remember that old song, it was quite confrontational. The singer had a righteous complaint against a boyfriend or spouse who was cheating on her. She’s not going to put up with that, and the song goes on to say, “One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you!” And that “take a stand” bravado made her a hero! It was a #1 hit in 1966. I mention it because it has one interesting parallel and one major contrast with the message of grace and forgiveness. That parallel is this. God has a righteous complaint against the entire human race for cheating Him out of the loving relationship He desires with us. As the God who created us, he h...
Post a Comment
Read more

186. Ten Healed, Or One?

Luke 17:11-19 Key Verse: Then He said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." Luke 17:19 At last, Jesus has left the crowd behind and again is continuing His journey toward Jerusalem. His path takes Him and His disciples along the border of Judea and Samaria, between the pure Jews, and the hated half breeds of the day. On His way, Jesus encounters an interesting group of people. We only learn the nationality of one of them and, though we don't know the nationality of the others, because Jesus sends them to the priests in Jerusalem we can probably assume that at least some of them are Jews. Isn't it interesting that through leprosy, a disease that causes much suffering, the dividing wall of hatred has come down for the sake of companionship? We encountered one leper earlier on our Journey. Lepers were the dreaded untouchables of the day. Their disease cut them off from all they loved. It was a very lonely life. No wonder these people had ...
Post a Comment
Read more