Author

TerryLema

Messiah and a Cross (Luke 9)

by TerryLema

Suddenly, in Luke 9, the specter of the cross looms. Jesus asks His disciples who the crowds say he is. They have various responses. Then Jesus makes it personal by asking them a question, the same question He asks each one of us: “But you, who do you say that I am?” [v20]

Peter’s response is that He is the long-awaited King, the Messiah, the Anointed One to come.  Immediately, Jesus turns their thinking in a totally new direction. “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.” [vs 22]

No one ever associated the long-awaited Messiah with suffering, rejection, and death.  It stunned the disciples. It was incomprehensible. Before they can even catch their breath, however, He stuns them again.

“Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it.’” [vs 23 HCSB]

To follow this King did not mean a cushy castle or a slew of servants. To follow this King of kings meant embracing a cross daily and going where He leads. It meant losing life in order to save it for all eternity.

The disciples must have wondered what they had gotten themselves into by following Jesus. When it became real at the betrayal, during the trials and at the cross, all but one abandoned Him, and one went so far as to deny Him three times.

They were lost, grieving, and confused as Jesus was in the tomb those three days, but then, Resurrection changed everything. I think it was at that point that they truly understood what Jesus said to them that day about picking up their cross daily and following Him. Because each one did, and because they did, the world was changed.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Sources of Support (Luke 8)

by TerryLema

In another 23 days I will be spending my final day serving as the pastor of The Way Middleton. It seems my life is turning a corner and I am not sure what is around that corner. (Except to know that my LORD is there so it will be all right.)

Being a woman in ministry since 1985 has had its delights and its challenges. There are many in Christianity that do not think a woman should pastor a church, and they often raise their concerns to me through emails and on social media. Those concerns are frequently voiced in language that can be hurtful. I learned a long time ago to not argue but to remain silent and pray instead.

Luke 8 opens with the news that Jesus was traveling from one town to another with the twelve disciples. He was preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God. As Jesus traveled with the twelve, there were others with Him.

“The Twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary, called Magdalene (seven demons had come out of her); Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others who were supporting them from their possessions.” [8:1-3 HCSB]

We seldom think of those women who were touched by Jesus and subsequently supported Him in His ministry. They supported His ministry in the only way they could in that culture … with their possessions. They provided the means behind the ministry.

All four Gospel writers record that except for the Apostle John, it was women who stood around the cross as Jesus was crucified. It was women who gathered the supplies to anoint His body after the Passover ended, and it was women to whom the glorious message of Resurrection was first announced.

Jesus set women free to be all they could be in Him. He alone, through the power of the Holy Spirit, anoints people, both men and women, to serve Him as He directs. I am so humbled that He would choose to use me, but how can we refuse to serve Him with all our might after having been set free by Him.

Thank you, LORD, for the many years of ministry. I will never be able to repay You for the freedom You have given me.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

People! (Luke 7)

by TerryLema

I love Luke Chapter 7! It is a chapter filled with people and Jesus’ interaction with them. I could spend weeks in Luke Chapter 7. There is the Roman Centurion, the widow of Nain, John the Baptist, and finally the Pharisee and the sinful woman with the alabaster jar who anoints the feet of Jesus.

Each interaction holds deep meaning for us. Each one reveals something beautiful in the heart of Jesus. Which one to choose this morning?

While I am always touched by the bravery of the sinful woman in the Pharisee’s house, I must say I am partial to the Roman Centurion. He was more than a sinner; he was a Gentile … Gentiles were often called dogs by the Jewish leaders, and “dog” in this society was a derogatory term. Even more, he was part of the hated Roman occupation.

There was something about this Gentile Roman Centurion, however, that endeared him to the Jewish elders who came to Jesus.  They informed Jesus that this man was worthy of His attention “because he loves our nation and has built us a synagogue.” [7:5 HCSB]

Jesus does go with the elders but before the entourage reaches the Centurion’s residence, another group of people, friends of the Centurion, stop Him with the news that this Roman Centurion does not feel worthy to have Jesus come to Him. Then they relate a statement of faith that is familiar to all of us.

“Lord, don’t trouble Yourself, since I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. That is why I didn’t even consider myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be cured. For I too am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under my command. I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” [7:6-8 HCSB]

Jesus’ response is to note this Centurion’s faith is greater than any He has even seen in Israel. For me, there are a few words in the Centurion’s statement that we often ignore or fail to appreciate their importance. “For I too am a man placed under authority ….”

 You do not become a person of authority until you learn how to be a person under authority.

Mark 10:45: For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many. [HCSB]

0 comment
FacebookEmail

The Sabbath, the Disciples, the Beatitudes (Luke 6)

by TerryLema

Wow, what a chapter! It begins with Jesus proclaiming that He is Lord of the Sabbath. (The Sabbath means far more than just taking one day off from work to rest. It means a deep rest, a profound peace. When Jesus says He is LORD of the Sabbath, He means He is our deep rest and our eternal peace.)

Then Jesus calls His disciples together and chooses 12 to be His closest. He calls them apostles. For the remainder of the chapter, Luke recounts an abbreviated version of the Sermon on the Mount.  A large portion of that is dedicated to loving our enemies.

“But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you…. For He is gracious to the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.”  [Luke 6:27, 35b-36 HCSB]

Sometimes Christians can be cavalier about “loving our enemies.” We all know what Jesus said. We even think we are doing it. But are we really? Or are we choosing which of “our enemies” to love?

It is easy to love your enemies if you get to choose which ones – because we will usually choose as enemies those who are just a little irritating or annoying. We seldom choose to love those who can do immeasurable harm to us, or those with whom we have major disagreements. (Think political figures we disagree with, or those on the other side of the virus and vaccine debates, or those who hate Christianity and seek to stamp it out.)

But Jesus was specific. We are to do good to those who hate us. We are to bless those who curse us (and those who curse our God). We are to pray for those who abuse us.

We are to be merciful simply because our Father is merciful (and has extended that mercy to His greatest enemies – us!)

0 comment
FacebookEmail

The Sick Need a Doctor (Luke 5)

by TerryLema

Luke 5 is the chapter when Jesus begins to call disciples to Himself. First were Peter and his brother Andrew and the brothers James and John. Midway through the chapter He calls the tax collector, Levi, also called Matthew.

In between the calling of the two sets of fisherman brothers and the outcast tax collector, Jesus heals a leper and a paralytic.

The part of Chapter 5 I like best is when Matthew throws a party at his house for Jesus, the new disciples, Matthew’s tax collector friends and “others who were guests.” [5:29 HCSB]

I do not know if the “others who were guests” included religious leaders but Luke does say that the party irritated the Pharisees and scribes who complained to the disciples about the quality of the company Jesus was keeping.

“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” [5:30 HCSB]

Jesus was the one who replied to the complaints of the Pharisees and Scribes. “The healthy don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” [5:31-32 HCSB]

Only sick people need a doctor. Only sinners need a Savior.

If we are too arrogant to acknowledge our need for a doctor, we may die.

If we are too arrogant to acknowledge our need for a Savior, we will die eternally.

Only those who know their need will be saved.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Temptation and Rejection (Luke 4)

by TerryLema

After Jesus’ baptism (recorded in Luke 3), Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness “for 40 days to be tempted by the Devil.” [Luke 4:2 HCSB]

We know Jesus answered every temptation the Devil aimed against Him with the Word of God. When the Devil realized he was not going to win, he left, but as Luke reminds his readers, “he departed from Him [only] for a time.” [4:13 HCSB]

After Jesus victory over the Devil’s temptation, he returned to the region of Galilee and taught in the synagogues, eventually arriving at his hometown Nazareth. His hometown first spoke well of Him but also noted that He was not much more than Joseph the carpenter’s son. [vs 22]

It does not take very long, however, before his hometown is offended by His comments and turns on Him.  “They got up, drove Him out of town, and brought Him to the edge of the hill that their town was built on, intending to hurl Him over the cliff. But He passed right through the crowd and went on His way.” [4:29-30 HCSB]

Later in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus will inform His disciples that He has come for a specific purpose, and that purpose includes, suffering and rejection.  (“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.” [9:22 HCSB])

Sadly, Jesus’ first rejection comes at the hands of the people in His hometown, people who knew His family, people who knew Him – perhaps even watched Him grow up among them. They are so enraged at His words that they would have killed Him, but it was not yet His time to die and neither was being hurled over a cliff the way He was to die.

There is a cross waiting for Him ahead and an even greater rejection when God will turn His back on His One and Only Son as He becomes the Sacrificial Lamb slain for the sins of the world.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

The “Here After” (Luke 3)

by TerryLema

Someone once said: “The preacher came to call the other day. He said at my age I should be thinking about the hereafter. I told him, ‘Oh, I do all the time. No matter where I am – in the parlor, upstairs, in the kitchen, or down in the basement – I ask myself “What am I here after?”’”

It had been 400 years since the prophet Malachi spoke of a prophet coming in the spirit of Elijah.  “Look, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome Day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.” [4:5-6 HCSB]

In those 400 years God had been silent. It had been a long time since the people of Israel had been prompted to think about the “hereafter.” Then as Luke tells us “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar” (and a bunch of other rulers), “God’s word came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the vicinity of the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” [Luke 3:2-3 HCSB]

God was no longer silent. His word was coming through a fiery prophet, John, the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. John was reminding people of the “hereafter” and their need of repentance for sins. He was, as Isaiah prophesied, a voice crying out in the wilderness, preparing the way for the LORD so that everyone would see the salvation of God. [Isaiah 40]

We know John’s message was incomplete. He acknowledged that he was not the Messiah to come. He conceded that he baptized using water and that the One to come would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. He also probably had no idea that Jesus, the Messiah, would have to die on a cross and be rejected by the religious leaders in order to secure the forgiveness for the repentance he proclaimed.

One thing I always note though, no matter how incomplete John’s understanding of repentance was, as he spoke of repentance he also tied repentance to a change of behavior. The people who flocked to him in the wilderness asked him what they had to do, he told them that a change of behavior was associated with their repentance.

Repentance is so much more than “feeling remorse” for something we have done or failed to do. True repentance that seeks the forgiveness God offers through Christ must always be accompanied by a change of heart and a change of behavior.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Destined (Luke 2)

by TerryLema

The first 20 verses of Luke 2 are probably so familiar to us. We read them in church at Christmas time, as well as to our families on Christmas Eve or Day.  Usually, we don’t go beyond the 20th verse.  After all those first 20 verses are full of mangers and angels and shepherds and songs of glory to God.  They are so glorious Mary “[treasured] up all these things in her heart and [meditated] on them.” [2:19 HCSB]

In the middle of the chapter Jesus’ parents present Him at the temple and Simeon and Anna sing about Him. The end of the chapter tells us about a trip Jesus took with His parents to Jerusalem when He was 12 years old. They head home thinking He’s with them, but instead Jesus remained with the elders in Jerusalem.

I always laugh when I remember Mark Lowry’s comment about that event. He said, “God entrusted them with His Son and they lost Him!”

There is, however, in this chapter of Luke a passage that is bittersweet. It is a prophecy spoken by Simeon at Jesus’ presentation.  “Indeed, this child is destined to cause the fall and rise of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed and a sword will pierce your own soul—that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” [Luke 2:34-35]

As a mother, I can only imagine how those words cut Mary’s soul. This glorious Babe, announced by angels, worshipped by shepherds, regaled as the Messiah by Simeon and Anna, would face opposition and rejection. Mary probably did not understand the scope of that prophecy until she stood at the cross and saw her first child hanging naked, bloody, beaten, and cursed by the mob.

I imagine that in that moment as she watched the soldier pierce His side with a spear that Mary was carried back to that day of presentation in the temple and the words of Simeon became horribly real.

I love reading Luke 2, it is so familiar and comforting, but as we read it this Christmas season, it must always be with an awareness of the cost to God’s Precious Son.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

How Can This Be? – Luke 1

by TerryLema

There are 24 chapters in the Gospel of Luke and a recent custom is to read one chapter each day beginning on December 1. That takes the reader through the Gospel by Christmas Eve. (Read with me this month.)

The chapter begins with a dedication to a man named Theophilus and the assurance that good doctor Luke has investigated everything he is about to write. It recounts two visits by the angel Gabriel, one to Zechariah the father of John the Baptizer and the second to Mary the mother of Jesus.  The chapter also includes the recounting of Mary’s visit to Zechariah’s wife, her cousin Elizabeth, two songs of praise and prophecy and the birth of John.

What I always find intriguing are the two questions, one from Zechariah and the second from Mary. Both sound similar yet Gabriel’s responses to the questions are quite different. (Zechariah is struck mute; Mary gets a clarification.)

“’How can I know this?’ Zechariah asked the angel. ‘For I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.’” [vs 18 HCSB]

“Mary asked the angel, ‘How can this be, since I have not been intimate with a man?’” [vs 34 HCSB]

“How can I know this?” and “How can this be?” sound alike. Each is followed by an account of why these things are impossible from a human perspective – Zechariah and Elizabeth are past childbearing age and Mary is a virgin.

Gabriel’s response to Zechariah, however, declares that his question was spoken out of disbelief and fear – “because you did not believe my words.” — while Mary’s question seems to simply be a clarification of how the things Gabriel told Mary would transpire. She responds in faith, “May it be done to me according to your word.” [vss 20, 38]

I have heard the blanket statement that we are not to “question” God. Blanket statements about our obedience and responses to God are usually a bit short-sighted. There are times when we need to question God “in faith” because we have not heard clearly, or we are unsure of His direction. Those questions are spoken in reverence and respect of Who God Is!

God wants us to hear His voice and He wants us to understand what He is saying to us. When asking with a heart like Mary’s (“May it be done to me according to your word.”), God will make His will and way clear to us.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Humpty Dumpty

by TerryLema

When my children were little, we would recite nursery rhymes.  There were Jack and Jill; Little Boy Blue; Old King Cole; Baa, Baa Black Sheep and more.  I don’t know why but the other day I woke up reciting Humpty Dumpty!

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.”

Ever felt like Humpty Dumpty. You are just sitting there on your wall enjoying the sunshine when suddenly you fall off or get pushed and all you can see is the ground rising up to meet you. Now everything has broken apart. There are pieces of your life scattered across the ground with little hope of being put back where they were.

Well, maybe king’s horses and king’s men didn’t have the power to put Humpty together again … but there is a King of kings that can not only put the pieces of our lives together but can make us brand new … as if we had never fallen!

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.” [2 Corinthians 5:17 HCSB]

In Christ, we are a new creation. We are not just patched back together.  We … are … brand …new … as … if … we … had … never … been … broken!

This is the last day of November. Thanksgiving is behind us. We are entering a wonderful (yet crazy) season. Let us never, however, forget to be thankful for all Christ Jesus has done for us when He was broken on a cross so that we might be made a new creation!

Thank you, Jesus, for Your Amazing Love.

0 comment
FacebookEmail