The Master's teaching

I was planning to continue on through different accounts in the Gospel to show just how Christ set free the oppressed by casting out demons and healing diseases. But I have decided to take a look at some more of the Master's teaching as laid out in the Sermon on the Mount, and I plan to begin as soon as I find time.

He went to the needy

Somehow, my mind refuses to get over Jesus' initial speech in Luke 4. So I will share a few more thoughts on it. Jesus gave two illustrations to make the point that His people would not receive Him. He said that there were many widows in Israel, but Elijah went to a Phoenician widow. He also said that although there were many lepers in Israel, they were not healed by Elisha, but Naaman the Syrian was. Jesus is saying that God doesn’t have to use Jews. He is saying that you who have it all together, do not need my message; but there are others who do.

So why is it that we are content with hoarding the Gospel to ourselves? Why is it that we think we have it all together? Why can’t we reach out to the needy, the hurting, and the outcasts? This truly is the way of the Master

Is the Body being effective?

Somehow I have not been able to leave this idea of Christ’s mission. This passage keeps sticking in my mind. What I am talking about is Jesus’ inaugural declaration and especially the prophecy He said He was fulfilling. Jesus makes this reading in Luke 4:18, 19:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the
gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

How is today’s church fulfilling this? Shouldn’t the “Body of Christ” be carrying on His mission? Isn’t Christ looking for a Bride with common goals? Are we really reaching the poor? Are we setting free those held in bondage? Are we showing Christ’s light to those in darkness? Are we standing with the oppressed? Too often, we get so got up in our little systems, our governments, ideologies, and even theologies that we try to take over the big picture. Instead we need to leave the big picture and plan to God and do the little things that we can for the individuals we come in contact with. This is the true message of the Gospel. The work of the Kingdom is not limited to one nation’s policies; it is for all people everywhere who are willing to make the difference they can.

Jesus, Our Jubilee

Many have discoursed on exactly what “the acceptable year of the Lord” may have meant. Some have drawn a connection between this and the practice of jubilee. I will not attempt to go into the hermeneutics involved in making this connection, but I do think that the idea of jubilee fits with the message of Jesus and wish to spend some time thinking about it.

For an explanation of Jubilee read Leviticus 25. Basically, if observed, it would be one of the strangest practices ever seen in modern civilization. It was a total upsetting of the social structure. It would not allow Israel to develop a society where the rich take advantage of the poor. All land was returned to a previous owner; slaves were freed. They were commanded to blow the trumpet and “proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants.” Now, think. Isn’t that why Jesus came? Didn’t He come to set wrongs right, free the captive and proclaim liberty from the bondage of sin? Of course He did!

Christ’s is a Kingdom of Jubilee. Those who have, share with those who do not have. There is no gap between rich and poor. This radical society, this counter or sub-culture is such an upset of the social structure we see in our materialistic and self-centered society. Yet, does anybody actually see this in the church? Sadly, the bride of Christ has gone the way of Israel (of whom nobody is sure how many times they actually kept jubilee) who in its rush to “be like the nations” has adopted a social hierarchy. The message of the Kingdom that the church must spread is so much more than the church is living. Instead of being a radical minority in this world the church has institutionalized and come to control the power structures. Please, lets start living Christ’s message of Jubilee!

PS. Inspiring thoughts from J. C. Arnold.

The Unaccepted Acceptable Year

Jesus' Inaugural Fiasco

Luke 4:14-30

And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. “But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went His way. (NASB, Lockman Foundation)

Here in Luke 4 Jesus makes His inaugural address. Jesus had been baptized and was already known for a few miracles. Now Jesus walks into a Nazareth synagogue and proclaims His message and the theme of His ministry. However twelve verses after we see Jesus going into the synagogue (vs. 16) we see the people trying to kill Him (vs. 28, 29). Just what did this carpenter-turned-rabbi say that had these Galileans in such a rage? What He said was this: “I come today, in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, to reach out to the poor, set free the captive, heal the sick, and stand up for the oppressed. I am not come for you, who have it all together; I am come for those who are in need.”

The passage Jesus read was from Isaiah 61:1, 2 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,” (NASB, Lockman Foundation)

You will quickly note that Jesus ended with the proclamation of the favorable year of the LORD. He said that it was this prophecy that was being fulfilled, while leaving out the proclamation of the day of God’s vengeance. This is because Jesus didn’t come to show the wrath of God; he came to show us God’s love and favor.

I sometimes wonder if Jesus would get the same reaction from the Christians today that He received from these religious Galileans He grew up knowing. We are so convinced that God is blessing our big businesses and justice system that we fail to consider the individual. We only see the poor in terms numbers. We say we care and then convince ourselves by a sizable donation to charity. But do we really care? Would we be willing to go to the needy in foreign countries and personally show them God’s love in the tradition of the Teacher? Would Christian physicians who are so sure that they healing the sick for Christ be willing to take their abilities to those who cannot pay?

Jesus clearly tells us that He didn’t come for the religious, the rich, the satisfied, the proud, and those who have a comfortable standard of living. He came for the needy, the poor, the defenseless, the meek, the seeking, and the despised. Jesus’ ministry was to the downtrodden and outcast. Yet modern Christianity doesn’t really identify with these people. Western Christians are content in their cushioned offices, heated mansions, and their positions in business, law, and government. Where is the vision of the Master?

Temptation Review

We have seen that Jesus refused to fulfill His aims through economics (bread from stones, political power (kingdoms of this world), and religious popularity (sudden appearing in the temple). So, what course did Jesus take? The venue Christ chose for His kingdom is a rather shocking choice. He chose to build His society from the bottom up rather than by controlling the powers that be. He built His kingdom with those who didn’t fit into man’s power structures. So why is it that we try to “make change for God” through politics and the powerful? Why can’t we lay aside our pride and take our message to the lowly? After all, Jesus did say that the last will be first.

P.S. Yes I am a pacifist, but not the kind that tries to bring world peace by worldly ways.

P.S. #2 For more on this idea check out Kyle Williams.

The Messiah's different approach

Luke 4:9-13

And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You,’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear You up, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time. (NASB, Lockman Foundation)

Satan actually resorted to using the words of Scripture to convince Jesus to sin. He will do the same to us. Satan will subtly try to tell us how we should (mis)apply the things that God has told us. Had Jesus done this He could have had a strong claim to Messiah-hood. Not only would the masses have acclaimed his supernatural abilities, but it would have fit the Zealots picture of a conquering Messiah. Many were waiting for a literal fulfillment of Malachi 3:1-3 where it is prophesied that the anointed one would suddenly appear in the temple. Surely had Jesus done this He would have been hailed as the religio-political freedom fighter come to set Israel’s wrongs right. But that is not why Jesus came. He came to show individuals a way of living that is different-the way of shalom: true peace. Jesus had such firm sense of His mission that He was not distracted by Satan’s attempt to have Him misapply something else that He may have felt was of God. But also note that the devil only left for a time; he wasn’t finished.

Instead of doing something that could quite possibly had gained Him the support of the skeptical Sadducees and Pharisees, He went the lowly way that God had called Him to take. Am I willing to take God's way rather than the way that seems best to me?

The way may not be easy

Luke 4:5-8

And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” (NASB, Lockman Foundation)

The tempter never gives up after only one try. He keeps nagging and persisting. Think of Joseph of whom it was said that he was tempted daily. It is naïve to say that this offer of Satan did not appeal to Jesus. Surely, a way to bring about the Kingdom short of the cross was appealing. Yet, in another sense it was so far from the nature of Jesus that He could not bring Himself to the realization that this was possible. Jesus’ mission was to strike against the prince of this world and to take power from him. Jesus knew that for Him to cut a deal with the enemy would compromise His mission. It wouldn’t have truly have been good if it had compromised to evil. Yet how often do we try to fight wars and call it a “good evil” because it accomplishes something good. That is not the way of our Master. Jesus fully realized that the way a thing is done has as much to do with making the thing good or evil as the accomplishment of the thing itself.

Today, the tempter will try to give us opportunities to cut a deal with him, will we listen? It will not be anything as great as the kingdoms of this world, but it will be smaller things that could lead us down a path we do not want to travel. Let’s take our cue from our Guide and remember to serve God and Him alone.

Voice in the Wilderness

To the people of the covenant it was a dark time indeed. There had been no word from the Lord for four hundred years. Their land had been overrun by empire after empire. The Romans were demanding strict loyalty. The strong people of Galilee and Judea were not accustomed to answering to anyone. In vain they looked for the coming of the Messiah to set right their wrongs, deliver them from their bonds, and restore the glory of Israel. All their hope lay in the national glory of Israel. However, God had a different picture. From the time of Solomon, His people had continuously disregarded His commands and put their trust in a national government rather than their Lord of hosts. They had disregarded and killed His true prophets and pleased themselves with false prophets. They had become so idolatrous that they assumed that anything that Israel did was the will of Yahweh. They were wrong. Yahweh had chosen them to bless all nations, not to build up their own little empire to feel good about themselves. Yahweh had blessed them, but when they left Him in their desire to be more like the other nations He disciplined them as a true Father. But they had never learned their lesson. They still looked for a national Messiah. Israel had felt glorious in the rebellion of the Maccabees because they had won back their independence. But God didn’t want them to be independent; He wanted them to depend on Him. After the rule of Maccabees, Rome had descended on Palestine with a heavy hand. And again Israel was looking for their Messiah, another Judas Maccabeus.

But God wasn’t finished with Israel yet. He had a Son to raise upon this dark world. The words of Isaiah the prophet ring true: “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.” (Isaiah 9:1 NASB) And so it did. Out of the wilderness came another prophet declaring that the Kingdom of God was near and that all most repent. John said that to be children of Abraham wasn’t enough. He proclaimed that their tree of security in the election of God was being cut down for lack of fruit. Only true repentance could continue to guarantee the blessings of God’s election. John instructed those who had to give to those who did not have. He commanded soldiers to do no violence. But John was not the Deliverer, he was only His forerunner. Jesus’ baptism by John was blessed by the Father, and John, once he knew the identity of Jesus, uttered that timeless proclamation of servanthood, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (For the story of John see John 1, 3 and Luke 1, 3.)

Are we today willing to yield to another? How often do we want to just take all the glory? Also, are we willing to accept that God will work in His way, not in the way we expect of Him? This was the problem of many of the devout Jews and as a result they still wait for their Messiah. But Jesus came for all, not just the Israelite.

No Bread from Stones

Luke 4:1-4
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” (NASB, Lockman Foundation)

Isn’t it so true that after we have just had a real and personal experience with God that we face our darkest trials? It happened to Elijah after Mt. Carmel, Jesus after His baptism, and it happens to us today. Jesus knew what was coming and so He prepared by fasting. And when the devil came he struck to the core of Jesus’ power. No doubt, this time in the wilderness had been a real time of searching for Jesus. He was searching for the best route to proclaim His Messiahship. Satan came and offered Him a way, “Feed the crowds and you will be king.” (We see that this did happen later at the feeding of the 5000-see John 6- the people wanted to crown Him king.) Furthermore, Jesus Himself was undoubtedly hungry. But Jesus realized that food itself was not a good enough way to become a leader. He wasn’t willing to become great through offering a economic or political plan to feed the poor. He wanted people to believe because of the word of God. Christ didn’t wanted followers that were only out to meet their needs; He wanted people to follow Him because they truly love Him and are willing to give up everything else, including their desires and longings. Are we today willing to walk the way of our Lord?

Jesus said: He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it. (NASB, Lockman Foundation)

Mary's Rejoicing

Luke 1:46-55

The Magnificat
And Mary said:
“My soul exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name. and His mercy is upon generation after generation Toward those who fear Him. He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things; And sent away the rich empty-handed. He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his descendants forever.” (NASB, Lockman Foundation)


This song of Mary reveals something of the Messianic ministry of Jesus. The words keep switching between words of prophecy and Mary’s personal praise to God. Verse 48 makes a reference to the Abrahamic covenant through which God promised that all generations will be blessed. And indeed that is fulfilled in Jesus. Verses 51-53 show that the Messiah’s coming was to be for the little man, not the rich and powerful. Verses 53-54 shows the Messiah’s concern would be for the hungry and needy, for it was for them that He came. And in verse 55 we once again see that Messiah was the fulfillment of the Abrahamic blessing.

Think about it, what would be your reaction to being chosen to a special calling like Mary. Mary was called to do something great. Prophecy had pointed to this event and her reaction was vital to God’s plan. But think harder, you are called to something similar to Mary’s calling. Mary fulfilled her part and so did her Son. But Jesus commissioned us to be Messiah to the people of our day. God has a plan for each of our lives. Our response makes all the difference to the working of God’s plan. Are we meeting the challenge? Are we standing up for Christ and showing His light and way to the dark generation in which we live?

Who was Jesus?

Jesus was born into a humble home family of Galileans. As a boy He learned the carpenter’s trade. However, He really was a messenger from God. He was God’s message to a dark and dying world. He was a ray of hope among the darkness, a way out of the pain. Jesus spent three years walking around Palestine healing the sick, sticking up for the downtrodden, casting out demons, and uttering the greatest moral teachings this world has ever heard. Jesus was a person with a mission in life. He knew why He was on earth and He was determined to fulfill it in God’s timing. Jesus had a very intimate relationship with His Father. In short, Jesus is the greatest example for us today.

Jesus let His relationship with the Father so fill His life that He did radical things. He was condemned by a religious council for claiming to be God. Now, why did they condemn Him for being who He said he was? It was because a peaceful Rabbi who was willing to suffer didn’t match their picture of God. To them God would come to revenge the nation, not hang out with sinners. They had the Romans try Him for treason and then had Him executed on a Roman cross. However, He didn’t stay under the bondage of the grave; He broke free and returned to commission His followers to spread the gospel of the Kingdom throughout the world.

Really, the title of this post should be “Who Jesus is” because Jesus hasn’t ceased to exist. He resides with the Father, but His Spirit remains on this earth. He is still offering a ray of hope amidst the darkness; He is still the way people move out of the pain, violence, and bloodshed and into the arms of the Father. Jesus is the answer for the world today!

What is the Way of the Master

The way of the Master is the path that all who follow Christ will take. It is an adventure with many dangers and hardships. It is also a journey of real fulfillment. Christ is calling more to walk with Him. Those who take this path will never be the same; they will never be able to fit in with the rest of society again. The ways of the Master will change and shape them into revolutionaries bent for the coming of the Kingdom.

The Way of the Master is…

• The way of peace
• The way of love
• The way of joy
• The way of faith
• The way of life
• The way of truth
• The way of suffering

If you are walking this path or wish to learn from the Master join us in a study of the teachings of the Master. We will soon be accepting essays and we will be doing a study of the life and ministry of Jesus.