Reading: Luke 20:19-26

Some people try to hide their contemptuous and resistant hearts with The Right Words, like this:

“And they asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly” (21).

There have been times when I have thought along this line: “If you really believe what you just said about my teaching, why do reject it in your living?” Or this one: “Which should I go by — what you tell me about me with words or what you show me with your life?”

On the other hand, I wonder how often I’ve been like such people. Or the priests and scribes of Jesus’ day.

Deliver me from hypocrisy! (And insincerity. And deception. And flattery.)

I want to be a faithful disciple of the Master.

I want to be a faithful doer of God’s Word.

I want to be a faithful follower of God’s leaders.

(And I want to be redemptive toward those who oppose themselves.)

from Luke 20:23

A little bit more from Luke 20: Whose Am I?

Reading: Luke 20:1-18

So the estate owner sent a trusted servant to see how things were going and to collect his dues. What an honor for the servant!

I would like to be such a servant. (Except I balk at the getting beat up part.)

So the master sent another servant, perhaps of greater rank. He got beat up also.

The owner, not one to give up, tried again.

“And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out” (12).

I imagine the third fellow knew the fate of the previous two representatives.

He did his part anyway.

And got the same treatment as the first two.

Would I go on a similar mission?

Have I ever shied away from representing Jesus because I knew how it went for the others?

Peer pressure and problems and persecution can really put a damper on my zeal sometimes.

May He find me a faithful representative anyway!!

from Luke 20:17

A little bit more from Luke 20: Did He Have a Choice?

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