Saturday

“The eighteen who died…”

Read Luke 13:4.

         “But I didn’t do anything wrong!!” I could hear my older daughter wailing from across the house, barely audible over the sound of the younger one crying. As I came into the living room, I found the older one near the bookshelf, near tears. Beside her was a giant pile of books and a crying baby. As I pieced together what happened, it became clear it was a situation of bad timing. Big sister pulled a book off the shelf. Book happened to be lynchpin that held all other books on the shelf. Books tumbled off shelf in giant heap. Little sister happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and got bonked by a few of the books.

         In addition to being startled by the cascade of books, my daughter felt strongly the injustice of something bad happening to both her and her sister when she didn’t do anything wrong. It’s that age old question of “why do bad things happen to good people?” I have an extremely kind and wonderful friend whose cancer has just returned. Why? There’s an Old Testament pattern of God punishing whole people groups for their sins—war, pestilence, death. But in Luke 13, Jesus reminds his disciples that accidents happen. Bad things happen. It’s not necessarily correlated to individual sin.

         But in both stories, he immediately reminds them that unless they repent, they too will perish. Why do bad things happen to good people? I’m not sure. But I also know that I’m one of the bad people…one of the sinful ones in need of grace and redemption. -AB

Jesus, please forgive my sin. Remind me that I am fallen and broken. And fill me with joy because of your grace. Amen.

Friday

“Unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Read Luke 13:3.

         When I was sixteen or so I went on a mission trip to Mexico. While on this trip, my group attended services at a local church. The experience was like nothing I was familiar with: the people were extremely demonstrative, loud, and charismatic; plus, I had the disadvantage of not speaking Spanish. One particular moment I remember clearly involved a number of women near me sobbing loudly and flinging their bodies onto the floor. The pastor hollered and waved his hands and the women sobbed harder. Our guide leaned over and said, “It’s a time to repent.”

         I’m still not totally sure what took place at that service, but it profoundly impacted the way I view repentance. I see it as including verbal confession of sin, but going much further to include spiritual rebirth and a transformation of word, deed, and action. A continual and repeated turning away from the prior life. James 5:16 tells us to “confess [our] sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” The tie between confession and prayer is powerful.

         Prayer after confession can put the emphasis on life transformation and healing, rather than confession just for its own sake. As I John tells us, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” So confession is important and necessary. But the subsequent and continual renouncing of sinful ways seems to be a key part of repentance. -AB

Lord, we confess our sin: both things done and things left undone. Thank you for forgiving sins; may we lead a life of repentance. Amen.

Thursday

“Leave it alone for one more year…”

Read Luke 13:1-9, particularly verse 8.

         I love having a garden. Granted, it never goes well because the resident deer consider it to be their personal salad bar…but I love having it nonetheless. What I am not particularly, when it comes to gardening, is patient. I love to plant the seeds, water them…and pick the fruits and vegetables they produce. But there always seems to be far too much waiting in between the seed-planting and the actual harvesting. And then there’s the inevitable plant that doesn’t really grow. It might produce a little shoot and then…nothing. Those plants are annoying and a waste of perfectly good garden space.

         When Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree that wasn’t producing anything figgy, the initial question speaks to my impatience. “Cut it down! What should it use up soil?” But the response is more than patient; it is kind, nurturing, and hopeful. “Leave it alone just one more year and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.” This was not just a wait-and-see kind of response; the man cared enough to nurture and develop the tree.

         In the same way, God is patient with us. He longs for us to produce fruit and will walk alongside us to facilitate that process. In the same way that the tree will not produce fruit unless it takes advantage of the fertilizer around it, neither will we bear spiritual fruit unless we absorb the rich truths God provides for our lives. And, as the story ends, we see that there will come a day when it is too late to bear fruit. Let us not see that day. -AB

Holy Spirit, dwell in us and produce much fruit, that we may not be found wanting in the last days. Thank you for your presence. Amen.

Wednesday

“Jesus replied, ‘Do this and you will live.’”

Read: Luke 10:28

One year, not long after Christmas, we took down the decorations and the tree. My father-in-law had gotten my husband a power saw for Christmas and they decided the Christmas tree was the perfect item to initiate the power saw. But it took some assembly. Which required wrenches. And tool boxes. And lots of shiny gadgets which most likely did nothing. I looked at The Men, hard at work over the dozens of tools. I looked at the little 5-foot tree. And I hauled it out front, clipped off the branches with the loppers, sawed it in half with a hand saw, and rolled the full yard debris bin out to the street for pickup. Five minutes, tops.

When The Men discovered what I’d done, they seemed equal parts perturbed that I’d ruined the inaugural Power Saw Extravaganza and sheepish that they’d made a small task a bit more complicated than it needed to be. Likewise, the law expert in this week’s story tries to make Jesus’ statement into more than it needed to be. “Love the Lord your God…and love your neighbor as yourself.” “Do this and you will live.” But he couldn’t just leave it there; he had to push Jesus for more.

         It’s so simple! Love God. Love others. That’s it. Do this and you will live. Obviously it’s not that simple…our pesky human nature ensures that we wrestle daily with both loving God and loving others. But how often do we spend an inordinate amount of energy making things more complicated than they need to be? -AB

Jesus, I want to have the life you have promised for me. Help me to live in love as you lived in love. Amen.

Tuesday

“…an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus…”

Read: Luke 10:25 & 29

In my workplace I am an “expert” in all kinds of boring and technical things that no one really notices or cares about until something goes wrong. On occasion I find myself in a meeting where I’m in over my head, but need to prove my value as an employee, so I wind up trying to demonstrate my vast knowledge of something or other. But, like the expert of the law in this week’s story, I sometimes choose the wrong person to strut my stuff in front of (who knows far more than I do)…and end up looking foolish.

The gospel goes on to say that “he wanted to justify himself” and did so by challenging Jesus to further explain his statements. Jesus very gently showed this man (and all those watching this test) through parable that the wise man of the law was not quite so wise after all. Often God is equally kind and gentle in reminding us of our humble humanity and His stunning (though there ought to sometimes be some banging over the head with this realization).

Knowledge is excellent. Knowledge of the Bible, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit…can enhance our lives, draw us closer to God, and direct us in living as Christ-followers. But how often do we use this knowledge to subtly test God and try to justify ourselves? -AB

Jesus, we have been justified through your death and resurrection. All that we know or do cannot replace the gift you gave us. Give us clarity to see this and humility to accept it. Amen.

Monday

 “But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made…”

Read: Luke10:40-41

The mood of evenings in my house can be strongly influenced by my attitude toward my list of To Do items. Many nights, after a long day at work, I just want things to be done. I’m tired of cleaning up after people and I just want the kids to play (silently) by themselves while I toss the dishes in the dishwasher and brush crumbs off the counters. But the kids are inevitably loud, in the way, and pestering me to play with them. And I am increasingly cranky and, like Martha, I whine about wanting someone to come help me, especially on the occasional night when my husband is gone at a meeting and I'm home alone with the kids.

Some nights I invite the little girls to help with the dishes. The bowls are haphazard, the plates spread out too far, and the littler girl takes the dirty silverware out faster than the bigger one can put it in. But those nights are full of laughter, conversation, and togetherness. And even though it takes longer than if I were to do it myself, I emerge energized, happy, and marveling in the delight of the little lives I’m watching develop.

Preparations? They have to be done. Work? Inevitable. Martha’s downfall wasn’t that she worked hard or wanted things to be done well. Where Martha went astray was by getting distracted by the work she was faced with, to the point that she worried and fretted about too many things. -AB

Lord, reveal to me those things that I worry too much about, and help me to be completely present with those around me to enjoy the fullness of relationship that you demonstrated in your time on earth. Amen.