There was a time when I didn’t think very much of Paul. It was as a teenager reading his instructions to Timothy here in Chapter 2. I had faith, though, that God was speaking through this man, and SURELY there was something here that I just wasn’t understanding correctly. It wouldn’t be the first or last time that I had to look at a scripture passage and throw up my hands, admitting that I just didn’t have an answer.
I’ve gone back and forth, looking at explanations and trying to get insight on what exactly was happening at this church. I got the impression that the women there were not behaving the way they should be. Admittedly, some scholars use Chapter 2 as absolute reasoning for why women should not be leaders in the church. Obviously, this doesn’t sit well with me, being a female church leader. Many say that it’s specifically addressing a problem within that church, where women were using wealth, fashion, and beauty to loudly and boldly repeat false teachings that they didn’t fully understand, and it was turning others away. Also, some translations point not to Paul refusing to give women authority over men, but rather specifically not giving them authority over their husbands. I heartily agree here, as that would cause disharmony within a balanced marriage that is seeking to honor Christ.
Looking into the whole of scripture, we actually do see female leaders throughout the Old and New Testaments. Those female leaders had wisdom, were full of grace and mercy, and were servant leaders as we are all called to be. They strove toward truth and righteousness, and they were held up for those qualities. We see many of those qualities listed here in the first chapters of Timothy, giving us a wonderful outline of what a good leader looks like.
We are to worship and pray together without anger. We are to focus more on our actions than our appearances. We are to be faithful to our spouses and full of self-control, managing our lives, money, and families in a way that honors God. We are all to be worthy of respect.
That’s a lot to place on an imperfect human being. We hear about scandals with our leaders all the time. They make for sensational news. But this is not what we want to see in anyone, especially in our church leaders who are to be leading others to Christ.
Stepping up as a leader in our church means greater accountability. James 3:1 warns us about this: “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”
How many people have turned away from Christ because of the actions of those in his church? Too many.
Reflection Questions:
Are you a sort of leader in your church? Even if you don’t have a named role, are there those who would follow your example? Have you ever thought deeply about what kind of responsibility that is? People are looking to you and your example when you proclaim yourself to be a Christ follower. Are you following his example in your words and actions?
Go through Paul’s list of qualifications of a good leader. Where do you hold up to the standard, and where could you use improvement? How could you do better to be a good example for others, someone others would respect and want to follow.
Prayer:
My prayer is that we all take to heart the fact that we are representing Christ when we call ourselves Christians. Pray that God opens your eyes to where you can be a better example to others and that you lead those around you closer to a relationship with him.
Let’s talk about distractions. One of my greatest frustrations and fears while driving is distracted drivers. I feel a bit ridiculous when I say things like, “It didn’t used to be like this,” with the unsaid “back in my day” hanging uncomfortably in the air. But it’s true. I started driving before cell phones, screens in cars, and most other technology that might take my attention from the road. But now I can’t go anywhere without being cut off or having to swerve my car out of the way of someone crossing that center line. I notice it even more now that I’m teaching my daughter to drive. It’s terrifying.
Speaking of teenage daughters, it seems every time I give them a task and come back later to see it is not done, the response is always, “I got distracted.” I’m just as guilty. We all are. We are a distracted society.
I had to read through these two chapters a few times, trying to decide where I wanted to focus this devotion. What was God trying to tell me here? But I saw a common theme that I’ve never noticed before, and it was distractions.
Paul talks first about being too focused on our own past and on ourselves. We get so wrapped up in everything we’ve done and said that we lose sight of the fact that none of that matters. Pride or shame sets in. Paul lists why he had every reason to be proud of who he was and where he came from, but that it all meant nothing. We get distracted by ourselves and are no longer focused on a relationship with the only one who can actually save us. Paul tells us in 3:13, “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.” Don’t get distracted by the past or yourself but push on toward Christ.
Next, we are distracted by worldly people and their ways. He says in 3:17, “keep your eyes on those who live as we do.” Stop trying to be like those of the world and surround yourselves instead with Christ-like examples. Stop trying to impress those that don’t matter with what you wear, what you do, and what you say. Reserve your attention and your actions for Christ and his message.
And, finally, my personal favorite distraction – anxiety. Whether you worry about everything, or overthink, or are overly concerned with what others think or do – all distractions. Paul tells us what to focus on instead: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
Reflection Questions:
What is distracting you from a real relationship with Christ? What attitude within yourself should you change? What habits should you destroy and with what should you replace them?
What are some true, noble, pure, and praiseworthy things you should be focused on and how can you shift your attention toward them more often?
Prayer:
My prayer for you today is that you are able to pick out distractions in your life and burn them away. I pray that you have a closer relationship with Christ and that it outshines everything else. Like Paul said, “…press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Press on and focus on Jesus.
Prior to the New Covenant, the Jews were like slaves to the law, in the sense that children are slaves to their parents’ rules until the time has come to set them free to do what they’ve learned is right without their parents’ involvement. This is what Paul is trying to reiterate regarding the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ/law of liberty to the Galatians.
When Jesus ratified a new covenant with them (and us), the Jews were set free from the Law of Moses in the same manner that a child is set free from her parents’ rules/laws once she becomes an adult. Because Jesus came, the Jews are now free to walk by faith like Abraham did, without a law to teach him what to do, but with God’s wisdom about what to do, having already learned what is good from their “childhood.”
To make this point clearer, think of the things you still do as an adult because your parents taught you well when you were a child, like holding the door for the person behind you, or waiting patiently for your turn while in line, etc. They’re not things that you’re doing because you’re still under your parents’ rules and will receive consequences from them if you don’t (or do). They’re things you’re doing because they’re ingrained in you to do from their discipline of you, and because you’ve learned that they are good practices to help you live well (to keep yourself and others from harm and to do good to others).
If you engage in the good things your parents taught you once a “free to do as you please” adult, you will probably do well in life. If not, you will understand that you’re not really free, you’re just not under your parents’ authority anymore. They’re not going to be the ones providing you with consequences for your actions because you’re not under their yoke. You’re under a free society’s yoke – one that obviously still expects you to do what’s right so that you won’t harm yourself or others.
And there will be some behaviors that you’re no longer expected to engage in in your free society, such as not talking to strangers. Though your parents may have taught you to heed this rule when you were under their yoke to keep you from harm, it no longer applies in your free society. The opposite is actually expected for love and respect’s sake.
If they (and we) now identify in Christ, they are free from the Laws of Moses (free from their “parent” Moses’s rules), its consequences, and its authority. They are adults, free to serve God without specific laws about how they must live, beyond what their new authority Jesus says to do, which is to love as Jesus loved, giving the world the royal treatment (love your neighbor as yourself).
What’s ingrained in a Christ follower is the Holy Spirit, not the laws from the Law of Moses. It is the Spirit that writes the law (of Christ) on our heart, urging us to do what pleases God. If we (both Jew and Gentile) listen to the urging of the Spirit, we are walking by the Spirit and pleasing God. If not, we’re walking by the flesh and pleasing ourselves (sinning/choosing our own will).
We will reap what our behavior sows in the end, either to the flesh, which leads to death, or to the Spirit, which leads to life. Jesus, our authority under the New Covenant, will be our judge.
So, how have you been doing in loving God and loving people?
If you don’t know how to love like Jesus, ask God for his wisdom about how to love your neighbor (and God), or what actions you should take to love them. His desire is to give you his wisdom about what to do when you ask.
First Corinthians 1:30 says that Jesus has become wisdom for us, so look to him for wisdom; look at his words to help you to know what God’s will is. Look at the people that Jesus entrusted God’s word with, like Paul. At the end of almost all of his letters, he gives those he’s writing to some practical application in how to love like Jesus. James gave us a lot too!
The more we follow the urging of the spirit to do God’s will, the more we become like Christ and will do God’s will. Becoming this type of person takes time, molding, and shaping. There will be times when we miss the mark and wander off the path. Isn’t it a blessing though to be under the law of liberty, free to make mistakes without the consequences from the Law of Moses when we do? What a burden that would be! Thank God that we won’t receive the consequences from the Law of Moses when we miss the mark on our race.
Under the New Covenant, God urges us to restore one who’s wandered off, gently, as consequence. We must help each other stay on the path of righteousness and bear each other’s burdens, like Paul is with the Galatians in his letter. This is how you fulfill the law of Christ/the law of liberty.
So, should we follow the Law of Moses to be sure we are living well? No. We should read and understand all scripture, as it is all God breathed, “profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate” (2 Tim. 3:16-17), but we should apply what we read and do in light of the New Covenant we are under with our new high priest and mediator Jesus. It is a better way to live, with a lighter yoke. Jesus teaches us how to do this (seek God’s wisdom through him).
For example, before Jesus was crucified, he shared in the Passover meal with his disciples. The Passover was a meal shared to remember what Yahweh God had done for the Jews, leading them out of slavery from the Egyptians, to serving him. But at the last supper Jesus has with them, he tells them to remember something new when they have Passover. He says to remember him, remembering what he did for them in shedding his blood and breaking his body.
Gentiles don’t celebrate Passover, because it doesn’t apply to them. But many Christians do share a meal together once a year that they call communion, remembering Jesus’s shed blood and his broken body for us. God didn’t give Gentiles a law telling them they must celebrate Communion under the New Covenant, but his son told his disciples to remember him. We must remember what Christ did for us too.
Communion is a good practice to help us remember, but it is not a law we must abide by to be in Christ (identified as a Christ follower). What we must abide by is what Jesus said, which is to remember what he did for us.
It is easy to forget what Jesus did for us when we don’t engage in practices that help us remember. However, if a Gentile chooses not to remember Jesus’s blood and body every year, he is not condemned to not enter the kingdom of God. But each year he forgets about Jesus’s sacrifice, the more off track he may get, which can put him in jeopardy of not entering the kingdom of God at the end of his race.
And Jewish Christians no longer need to celebrate Passover/Seder. But it is okay if they do, so long as they’re not doing it to separate themselves from Gentiles as righteous. But when they do, it would be good practice to primarily remember what Jesus did for them, which is much better than what Moses did for them. If they don’t, they are not condemned to not enter the kingdom of God in the end, but the more they forget about Jesus’s sacrifice for them, the more off track they may get, which can put them in jeopardy of not entering the kingdom at the end of their race.
The Galatians (and we) should understand that teaching anyone, even a Jew, to follow the Law of Moses for the purpose of being identified as righteous, is wrong. It is a false gospel. Doing what Christ says to do is the true gospel, and it identifies you as a child of God in Christ. Faith in Jesus, with the faith of Abraham/of Jesus, identifies you as a true child of God.
Paul emphasizes his point with an analogy of two women from the Old Testament. Hagar was a slave, Sarah was free. The enslaved woman will have no part of the inheritance of the free woman, so the Galatians need to get this right. Lives are at stake.
When Paul first preached the Gospel to the Galatians, they were fulfilling the Law of Christ because of their great love for Paul, not only listening to him and receiving his teachings, but also taking great care of him while he was sick. They treated him like he was a messenger from God, like Jesus himself. Paul said if it were possible, they would have torn out their eyes to give them to Paul if he needed them. That is loving like Jesus. It’s sacrificial love. It is giving their neighbor Paul the royal treatment.
There is no law about what exactly we must do to love like Jesus the way the Galatians did at first. But we know that to love like Jesus when we see a brother sick and in need means doing something to help that brother. Think on the wisdom we received from James to understand (James 2:15-17). Your faith is worthless if you don’t give a brother what he needs, and it makes you a sinner.
Again, 1 John 3:16 tells us what loving like Jesus is, and that we should follow suit. This is how we know what love is, Jesus the Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay our lives down for our brothers and sisters. What this verse is saying is that love is sacrifice. We are to sacrifice our lives to love someone else, in all of our doings under our new authority.
For Jesus, it looked like living a sinless life and dying on the cross to save us. For the Galatians when they first met Paul, it was to take care of him in his ill state. Paul is now loving them by urging them to remember their first love (acts of love towards him when he had a need) in the rest of their doings.
There are many things that we can do to love like Jesus. We are going to need to seek God’s wisdom to know the specifics and be led by the spirit in our various circumstances, but we can all heed this bit of wisdom at the end of Paul’s letter to the Galatians to remain on the path of righteousness under the New Covenant through Christ:
Instead of allowing someone to enslave you with their false teaching, a good practice is to serve one another through love, like the Galatians did at Paul’s first preaching. This is the freedom they have in Christ, to do good until Paul without a law that tells them so.
We are called to freedom, but we should not turn our freedom into an opportunity to sin just because there’s no law under the New Covenant. Remember, there’s wisdom! The whole Law (of Moses) is fulfilled in one word, the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Under the new Covenant, this is also wisdom from God. But if you bite and devour one another, you may just be consumed by one another. You won’t be entering the kingdom of God if you’re doing this because you’re not loving your brother like Jesus taught. Instead, walk by the Spirit so that you won’t carry out the desires of the flesh.
The desires of the flesh (not God’s will) are whatever is opposed to the desires of the Spirit of God (God’s will). The spirit he put inside you urges you to do his will, while the flesh urges you to do your own will, or what you think is good for you to do.
If you want to know if you’re walking by the spirit or walking by the flesh, Galatians 5:19-21 gives you a pretty clear list of things that people do when they’re walking by the flesh. These are things that are going to harm yourself or others and if practiced (meaning ongoing without repentance), they’re going to make you forfeit your entrance into the kingdom of God.
Instead, walk by the Spirit’s urging about what you should do, and the fruit of the Spirit will follow. They are things that are produced by people who love like Jesus. If you want to know if you’re a disciple of Jesus, they’re great identifiers: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). If these characteristics are yours, you’re not under a law (you can call it the law of liberty if you really want to be under a law). You’re in Jesus’s free society (free to love like Jesus based on the needs of those you’re serving, based on God’s wisdom about it, not by a law outlining specifics you must do to be righteous).
If you are a Christian, you crucified the flesh with its passions and desires when you entered the New Covenant. I think this means that since becoming a Christian, you have decided to live by the urging of the Spirit inside you, as opposed to your former ways following the desires of your flesh, just like Paul proclaimed of himself. But if one of you practices one of those things from the flesh list, then your brother who is spiritual should restore you gently. Be sure the restorer is spiritual though, being sure the one restoring the brother sinning doesn’t have a log in his own eye to clean out first, lest he also be tempted. And bear one another’s burdens. I love how Paul basically reiterated how to fulfill the law of Christ in this situation using the same wisdom that Jesus used when teaching his disciples how to live from the from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).
Some more wisdom to stay on track to the Kingdom of God include sharing good things with the one who teaches you the word. If the one teaching you God’s word took time away from doing other things to support their family, then in return you should support your teacher.
Remember, God is not mocked. Whatever a person sows, he will also reap, whether to the flesh (ongoing sin/your own will) which leads to destruction or to the Spirit (God’s will), which leads to eternal life. The one preaching the false gospel will reap what he sows.
Don’t grow weary in doing good. This can be a hard one with all of life’s ups and downs. I remember when I knew I was growing weary, so I cried out to God to help me keep going. He simply reiterated it back to me through the prophetic word of a dear sister in Christ, and then told me what to prioritize.
In due time, if we don’t become weary, we will reap good things. While we have opportunity, let’s do good to all people, especially those who are of the household of the faith. Amen!
I find it hilarious that Paul says, “See what large letters I have written to you with my own hand!” It sounds like he’s saying that he’s using Caps Lock to shout out to the Galatians this point: All who want to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. In other words, they’re not trying to teach you their false gospel to help you, they’re teaching it to try to help themselves.
Wouldn’t we all like to be able to say this after trying to reprove a fellow Christian, “I boast in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Circumcision and uncircumcision is nothing. What’s something is a new creation in Christ.” If you think and behave in a way knowing this, then peace and mercy to you who are now the Israel of God.
Reflection Questions
1. Have you witnessed the cry, “Abba! Father!” since receiving the Spirit of God’s son into your heart?
2. How did the son who was born according to the flesh persecute the one who was born according to the Spirit (Gal. 5 29)?
3. Gal. 5:1 says, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. What do you think “freedom” means in this verse? Freedom from what and to what? (I think it means a little more to a Jew than to a Gentile).
Saul was hell-bent on getting rid of those pesky “little Christs” by any means necessary. But as he marched to Damascus to arrest any he could find, Saul was literally blindsided by Jesus. Ananias, aware that Saul was in the area to persecute The Way but willing to obey God’s call to reach out to Saul anyway, bravely befriended blind Saul, which ironically helped Saul to see more clearly than he ever had before. Just as Jesus spent three days physically dead and then was resurrected, Saul’s three days of visual darkness prepared him to be resurrected to a new kind of life as a bold follower of Jesus, one of the most prolific missionaries the world has ever known. Saul realized that though he followed the law and had an impressive resume, he was actually the worst of all sinners. It was this outpouring of God’s amazing grace that created such dramatic change.
I always assumed that Saul’s name was changed to Paul to represent this big change in his life, much like Abram to Abraham, but in reality the two names were just different versions of the same name: Saul (or “Sha’ul”) was a Hebrew name, and Paul was the equivalent name in Roman circles. As a Jewish Roman citizen, he would have been called both names. The fact that the New Testament increasingly refers to him as Paul probably indicates his growing involvement in the Gentile world.
Speaking of Gentiles… God gave Peter quite an obscure vision (Acts 10:9-16) which left him befuddled. Finally, in verse 28, he seemed to figure out the meaning: “God has shown me not to call any person common or unclean.” Jews had sometimes viewed Gentiles as unclean, but now Peter had confirmation from God that the hope of Jesus is for Gentiles too.
Some Jewish people still thought that Jesus had come only for their race, their “clean” kind. This might sound silly, but some today still try to discriminate against those who can go to a church or be saved based on how “clean” their lives are. We too can be prone to unconsciously judge people’s faith by the unnatural color of their hair, the number of tattoos or piercings, clothing choices, marital status, past mistakes, etc. It’s important to remember that “man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (I Samuel 16:7). I suspect that some churches wouldn’t recognize or welcome even Jesus himself if he came through their doors.
God had created Saul with such passion, and God knew if he could just channel that passion for saving Christians instead of killing them, the wonderful Gospel could spread. What a testimony! God brings Saul to my mind every time my finite, sinful, human, faith-lacking brain tries to label someone as unredeemable.
What if we took the time to hear the stories of people who look different from us, to listen to stories of how Jesus has changed their lives, to experience their excitement as they learn things about Jesus that we take for granted because we’ve heard it so many times? Jesus came for all of us. We all are in need of the saving grace of Jesus.
I love to hear 180 stories – people who were completely changed, “flipped turned upside down” – because of Jesus. Some of us were raised in Christian homes and grew up in church and don’t have a dramatic testimony, but that doesn’t make our faith any less valid! We as humans can tend to think that someone is too far gone, but God… God can change the unchangeable, love the unloveable, save the unsaveable – and all of those would be all of us, if not for His mercy.
Reflections:
Listen to this song and consider how we might overlook Jesus if he were here with us today.
Have you had a spiritual epiphany or eureka moment? It’s probably not quite as dramatic as that of Saul, but still very important. Write it down and share it with someone to show how your life has been changed by God!
These ominous lines commence the first stave of Charles Dicken’s classic novella, A Christmas Carol, which my children and I read together for the first time last year. Such chilling inaugural language sets the tone for the serious nature of the story. The tale delves deep into the meaning of life and Ebeneezer Scrooge’s radical transformation before concluding the final stave with these hopeful words: “And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, everyone!”
As I read Acts 8, I was struck by the similarity between the forbidding opening phrases of A Christmas Carol and this sinister introduction to Saul:
“And Saul gave approval to his murder” (8:1).
Saul, a devout pharisee who kept every letter of the law and then some, was complicit in the death of the first martyr. But he didn’t stop there: Saul made it his mission to destroy the church by going house to house, imprisoning people who followed the ways of this Jesus guy. Saul thought he was working passionately for God by persecuting the followers of this heretic Jesus who claimed to be the Messiah.
I always wonder how such heinous acts can be justified in the name of God. Did pride take over his heart? Was Saul so wallowing in his prideful Pharisee ways that he could not understand the grace and love that Jesus had shown and that his people were demonstrating? Was he blind to the prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus? (Spoiler: In Acts 26, Saul gives some insight into his thoughts during that time, but ultimately he realizes that he was for sure NOT doing the work of God by persecuting his church.)
This is a good reminder that just because we claim to follow God doesn’t mean that everything we feel so strongly about is correct or God’s way. We can be sincere and still be sincerely wrong. Since it can be difficult to distinguish God’s voice from the myriad of opinions we hear constantly, it is important to be regularly grounded in the Word and prayer, truly seeking God’s desires more than our own preconceived notions or cultural norms.
Just like with Scrooge’s interactions with the three spirits, all it took was one encounter with Jesus to turn everything on its head, transforming Saul’s heart and ultimately leaving us with many hopeful words in the New Testament. But you’ll just have to come back here tomorrow to read more of that story!
Reflections:
Think about your life before vs. after you decided to fully live for God. What would be the opening line to your “before” chapter?
What do you want the closing line of your chapter of life to be (like your epitaph)? Write it out as a guide and inspiration to keep you focused on what truly matters.
Here’s where you respond aloud: “He is risen INDEED!”
PS It’s fine to say that phrase throughout the year, not only on a specific Sunday when we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. This is the best news in all of history! Sure, every religion’s leader has died or will one day die. But Jesus? He died and was raised back to life eternal! Now THAT is the real deal and something to celebrate!
I could end right here on such good news! … But I have a few more verses I want to point out.
* Matthew 28:6 – “He is not here, because he has been raised – just like he said!”
I used to read this verse in an excited tone, but now I imagine it in a slightly-annoyed, “per my previous email” tone. Have you ever had to mitigate the frustrations of people who are upset with you for something that was clearly stated, but you still have to remain professional? Like when you very clearly texted that you needed to cancel a meeting because you would be out of town – and the person acknowledged that they received the information – but they still checked in at the assumed meeting time annoyed that you were not present for the meeting, and everything in you wanted to just use the pointer finger emoji so they would refer to the previous text about your planned absence, but instead you assumed the blame and simply apologized that you’re still traveling and promised you’ll see them next week? Ok, maybe that was a too-specific run-on example, but that is how my human nature envisions the attitude of the angel in this situation. So it’s a good thing I’m not the translator for this text, because I would probably write this verse as, “GUYS! He is not here, because God raised him back to life, just like he said a gazillion times! Weren’t you paying attention?”
Everything happened just as Jesus said it wouldand as numerous prophecies had stated – his death, burial, and resurrection – and yet people still were surprised when he showed up alive. Maybe it was because they were too close to the situation and still felt the trauma of seeing their best friend and leader brutally murdered. Maybe it didn’t play out the way they had envisioned or hoped. Maybe they questioned whether or not they’d heard correctly. For some reason or another, maybe they really weren’t expecting the tomb to be empty.
* Matthew 28:20 – “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations… and surely I will be with you always…”
This eternal hope is for ALL nations, everyone!
Most likely, the Jewish people would have assumed the Messiah to be only for them, or at least not for the whole world. But Jesus came to bring life to all people who would choose to follow him, not just the descendants of Israel. In this passage, called The Great Commission, Jesus gives the charge to carry on his mission for all time to the ends of the earth. I believe that the “go and make disciples” command still applies to us too. We can make disciples right where we are: in our own jobs, school, communities, homes, and cities.
I’ve always found great comfort in his promise to be with us always. Sometimes, this world seems so hopeless, but we have assurance that we are never truly alone! Praise God that Gentiles are welcome in the Kingdom, too!
Reflections:
How do you think you would have reacted if you had found the tomb empty?
In what ways might God be calling you to actively make disciples? Pray that He would send people into your life to disciple – and you would faithfully disciple them.
Perhaps the saddest words in English literature are found in the poem, “Maud Muller,” by John Greenlear Whittier. The poem recounts the story of a farm maid, Maud Muller, who is raking hay in a meadow. A town judge on horseback passes by, and they exchange pleasant greetings. He asks for a drink of water from the bubbling spring, and she fills her cup and offers it to him.
After the encounter, as the years go by, she considers what life might have been like as the wife of a judge, possessing wealth and servants. He, in turn, considers what life might have been like without the stress of his position, but instead married to the maiden, enjoying a simple rural life.
Near the poem’s end, Whittier penned these lines.
“For all sad words of tongues and pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’”
All of us, whether young or old, can look back at our lives and have regrets. Words we might have said, places we might have gone, decisions we might have made.
In our Bible reading today, we find a deeply sad and somber passage contained in one short phrase.
“For they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.” John 12:43
It was the week of the Feast of the Passover, and Jesus’ ultimate betrayal and crucifixion. A great multitude had greeted Jesus with “Hosanna” and palm branches when he entered Jerusalem. After the joyous welcome, Jesus had once again explained the coming events of his life to the large crowd gathered around him.
“And Jesus answered them, saying, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.Now my soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.’” (John 12:23-27)
Then Jesus continues in verses 32-33, “‘And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.’ But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.”
The crowd questions Jesus in verse 34. “We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” Amazingly, they ask ‘Who is the Son of Man’ as Jesus stands before them!
Jesus responds by saying that he—the light—will only be with them a short while longer. The people need to believe in the light—believe in him—while he is still with them. (vs. 35-36) What more can he say?
Jesus performed signs and miracles before the multitude. He taught them, cared for them, and was compassionate towards them. But they did not believe, fully believe.
Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled. (Isaiah 6:9,10) Blinded eyes and hardened hearts don’t lead to conversion. (John 12:39, 40)
And then we come to verses 42-43, an explanation for their hardened hearts.
“Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue.”
Remarkably, there WERE many who believed in him, even rulers. They understood Jesus’ words, his plea: “While you have the light, believe in the light.” But they would not acknowledge him. Their positions in the synagogues were at risk. Their status was threatened. They could not take a chance, could not jeopardize their standing. It was not to be.
“For they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”
Each morning when you wake up, whose approval are you seeking? As you go throughout your day, making small and big decisions, whose blessing do you pursue? At the end of your day, what or who carried you through?
Let us resolve together that each of our waking hours, each of our thoughts or actions, be grounded in the approval of God.
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23)
Reflection Questions
What does it mean to you to seek the approval of God?
What do you think, when you hear the name Zacchaeus? Short man, tax -gather, tree-climber. All correct. But there’s more to think and learn about this man, as we consider his conversion in Luke 19:1-10.
The Bible tells us that Zacchaeus was rich. This reality seemed to be common among tax-gathers in Jesus’ day, mainly because they consistently cheated people as they collected taxes. Tax collectors were not only scorned by the Jewish people, but they were often shunned by them as well.
Would you want to socialize with someone who claimed you owed more money to the government than you actually did, and kept your “stolen” funds for himself? Of course not!
We can only imagine that Zacchaeus, despite his riches, felt the sting of rejection. Besides his poor reputation as a “thief” to the masses, the Bible tells us he was short in stature. His presence may not have been authoritative. He was small in height, and a “small” man in his business dealings.
But Zacchaeus was also curious. The Bible says, “he was trying to see who Jesus was.”
A multitude was passing through Jericho, following this stranger. “Who was he?” Zacchaeus wondered.
Running ahead, he climbed up a sycamore tree for a better view. And to his utter disbelief, Jesus looked up into the tree and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”
Zacchaeus’ world was turned upside down, and instantly changed. Hurriedly, he descended from the tree and welcomed Jesus into his home. Onlookers reacted with disapproval, grumbling that Jesus “has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
But Zacchaeus’ transformation was real. In response to the crowd’s condemning remarks, he stopped in his tracks and declared, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”
No longer was he a short, scorned tax-gather of Jericho. Zacchaeus was a fresh follower of the Son of Man.
“Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’” (Luke 19:9,10)
In Sunday’s reading, the rich young ruler could not commit his entire life to following Jesus. (Matt. 19:16-30) How could he give up his lifestyle, his riches? Sadly, he turned away from Jesus to go back to his opulent life.
In contrast, Zacchaeus eagerly declared his charitable intentions to the listening crowd, with no prompting from Jesus. His heart was forever changed.
What is it concerning the account of Zacchaeus that touches us so deeply? Perhaps, it is that he never expected to be discovered in the sycamore tree that day. He just wanted to see what all the commotion was about on the streets of Jericho. Never could he have predicted that the man he was trying to see, would see HIM, would TRULY SEE HIM. Zacchaeus, once a cheating tax collector, was now a follower of Jesus.
So many people in our world, in our daily personal world, need to be “seen” by us. They are discouraged and depressed, hurting and hopeless. They need a friend. Jesus is waiting to be their friend. He just needs an introduction. Will you be the one to make it for him?
Reflection Questions
Have you ever felt “invisible” in your life or relationships? Why?
Why do you think Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus? Did he feel, even with his riches, something was missing in his life?
Think about someone who needs to be “seen” by Jesus this week. What can you do?
When I taught a primary Sunday School class many years ago, there were three eager learners in the class: a brother and sister, and another young boy who was their cousin. The brother and sister were blond and blue-eyed, a sharp contrast to their cousin’s thick dark hair and brown eyes, but each one was bright and engaging, and so fun to teach. They were also quite competitive.
“Who’s going to pass out the crayons?” I asked. “I will,” declared one student, only to be challenged by another voice chiming in, “No, I will!” Inevitably, the remaining student would declare, “I want to do it! It’s my turn!”
For several weeks, this vocal battle ensued each time a new task presented itself during our classtime. We tried to keep track of “turns,” but it still didn’t seem to quiet the noise, or the challenge of, “No, it’s my turn! He did it last week.” Our precious learning time was being shortened by these weekly squabbles.
I needed a solution and Scripture provided the answer. Matt. 19:30 says, “But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.” Mark 10:19 repeats the same sentence.
In Matt. 19:16-30 and Mark 10:17-31 we find the story of Jesus’ encounter with the rich, young ruler.
One day, as Jesus was walking along the road, a rich young man came up to him. “Teacher,” the man said, “what good thing should I do to have eternal life?”
Jesus answered, “You know the commandments.” Jesus then began to list several of them.
“I have obeyed all the commandments since I was young,” the rich young man replied.
Jesus looked at the young man and loved him. Then, he said to him, “You lack only one thing. Sell all you have and give the money to the poor so that you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard those words, he turned and walked away because he had many possessions.
As the rich young man sadly departed, Jesus declared to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God.” Jesus’ words amazed the disciples. Then he repeated again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Jesus’ statement astonished the disciples. We can imagine them with eyes wide open, jaws dropped, and simply speechless for a few moments. Finally, they asked, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus responded, “with men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
The rich young ruler had followed the law. Yet Jesus wanted him to sell everything he owned. Jesus saw what the disciples could not see—the young ruler’s heart. His status, his possessions, were more important than following the example of Jesus, who came to serve mankind and ultimately sacrifice his life for all.
Peter, still trying to understand the meaning of his teacher’s words, exclaimed, “Behold we have left everything and followed you.”
Jesus’ loving response brought assurance.
The disciples’ present sacrifices would be rewarded in the age to come. They had left family and livelihood to follow their beloved Master and assist him in his ministry. To others, they appeared as common laborers, poor and at the bottom of society. But in the coming kingdom, their status would be undisputed.
Paul says it well in I Timothy 4:7-8. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;in the future there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
When I shared this story with my students, a change happened. As we began our class the next Sunday, I asked, “Who’s going to pass out the crayons?”
I received these responses. “You go ahead and do it;” “No, you can go first;” “I want to be last!” Attitudes had changed!
All three children now wanted to be LAST each and every time!
“But many who are first, will be last; and the last first.”
Reflection Questions
Why is it hard for wealthy people to follow Jesus?
What “riches” do you have in your life that make it difficult to live for Jesus?
How can you be “last” as you interact with others this week?
Luke 12–13 contains a series of teachings and parables from Jesus that invite us to reflect deeply on our priorities, our readiness for God’s kingdom, and the call to genuine repentance.
Living with Kingdom Readiness
Jesus’ words in Luke 12:35-40 call his followers to be dressed and ready for service and to “keep your lamps burning.” He uses the image of servants waiting for their master’s return, emphasizing the need for constant readiness. Through the analogy, Jesus emphasizes that life is not just about mundane daily routines, but first and foremost, it is about living in anticipation of God’s purposes and Christ’s return.
This urgency is underscored in Luke 12:54-56, where Jesus rebukes the crowds for being able to interpret the weather but failing to “interpret this [present] time.” Jesus’ ministry marked a pivotal moment in God’s plan, and people were called to recognize the significance of what God was doing through him. The call is to spiritual alertness—to see beyond the surface of daily events and discern God’s activity in our world, especially in and through Jesus the Messiah.
Reflect: Are you living with a sense of spiritual urgency? What might it look like for you to “keep your lamp burning” in your current season of life? How can you cultivate a heart that is attentive to God’s work happening around you?
Unless You Repent…
Luke 13 opens with a sobering reminder of the necessity of repentance: “Unless you repent, you will all perish as well” (Luke 13:3, 5). Jesus refers to recent disasters—the Galileans killed by Pilate and those who died when the tower in Siloam fell—not to explain the tragedies, but to call everyone to carefully examine their own lives.
Jesus’ call to repentance is not meant to instill fear, but to bring attention to the opportunity for repentance. God’s patience gives us time to turn to Him, as illustrated by the parable of the barren fig tree (Luke 13:6-9). The owner seeks fruit, but the gardener pleads for more time to nurture the tree. In the same way, God graciously gives us opportunities to bear fruit in our lives, but there is a time when judgment will happen and the tree that does not bear fruit will be “cut down” (Luke 13:9).
Reflect: Where do you sense God inviting you to repentance and growth? Are there areas in your life that need to be surrendered or renewed? How can you respond to God’s patience and grace today?
Choosing Jesus
One of the more challenging statements of Jesus in this section is, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace on the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division” (Luke 12:51). Jesus explains that following him may even divide families, as people must decide whether to trust in him and align their lives with him, or not.
Division is not Jesus’ desire, and neither is conflict. But rather, it is a recognition that the truth of his message demands a response. The good news confronts every person with a choice: will I follow Jesus, even if it costs me personal relationships or people’s approval? The emphasis is not about the outcome of disagreement between people, but to remain a faithful believer and disciple, even when it is difficult and requires significant sacrifice.
Reflect: Are there relationships or situations where following Jesus has brought tension or misunderstanding? How can you remain faithful and loving, even when it is costly to you? What helps you choose Jesus above all else?
Encouragement
Throughout Luke 12-13, Jesus challenges us to live with spiritual urgency, to embrace repentance, and to follow him wholeheartedly—even when it leads to making hard choices.
Take time today to ask God to open your eyes to His work, to soften your heart toward repentance, and to give you courage to follow Jesus wherever he leads and to endure whatever it takes. As you do, may you experience the fruit that comes from a life marked by readiness, transformation, and hope in God’s kingdom.
Seek Grow Love 