Psalm 131:1 A song of ascents. Of David. My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. 2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. 3 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.

When is the last time you experienced a sense of total rest and contentment?  An overall sense of well-being?  Of Shalom, Simple Shalom?

Shalom.  This might be a good title for the discipleship lesson of this twelfth Song of Ascents. 

We’ve been climbing higher to the temple and the closer we get to the presence of God, the more it ought to cause us to see His greatness and power.  And how little control we have over anything.

Shalom is this wonderful place of peace and rest and contentment and well-being.  We don’t need to get totally wrapped up in religious or political controversies or with mysteries we cannot possibly understand.  

We’re just experiencing total peace, stillness, rest, and silence in the eye of any storm.  It is here, in the presence of God, that our hope is anchored.

Shalom.  That’s what the atheists couldn’t possibly know.   I recently watched a brief news segment showing a “Reason Rally” (a Washington DC gathering of atheists who were out protesting).  The rally’s basic message was, “Pay attention to us.  We’re significant.  We’re here, we vote, and we matter.”  The participants seemed out to prove–once and for all–how smart and scientific they all are, rooted in some sense of intellectual superiority.  But in fact, they were just a largely ignored group of people—demonstrating the observable fact that they were full of themselves, intent upon proving themselves to be godless and smarter than the average bear, and concerning themselves with great matters and things too wonderful for them to ever know.  Not a dot of humility or shalom among the group.

Far from Christians being anti-intellectual, we can find rest in knowing that when our hope is in the Lord, we don’t have to…be a god…in order to be right with God. 

No wrangling.  No squirming.  No wrestling.  No earning.  No striving.  No churning. 

Humility and shalom are the result of acknowledging the presence of God, putting our “hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.”

For further thought:

1. What has you churning these days?
2. What part of your life is causing you worry, loss of sleep, or anxiety?
3. Meditate on 1 Peter 5: 6-7  “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.   Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

The collocation fall guy has been much in the news lately. Accordingly, a few weeks ago I reported the most common meaning of the slang phrase — “scapegoat” — but then cast a line into the mainstream of native users of the American language with this fishhook on it: “What was the original fall? … In other words, who was the original guy?”  (William Safire ,2007 )

I was thinking about a person being a fall guy and if I were to respond to Safire, my answer would be Jesus was the original fall guy, dealing with the original fall…the fall of man…and being the only true scapegoat killed to legitimately take the blame for others.

Justice Gets Done with Full Redemption.

John 11:45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

Some of the people told the Pharisees what Jesus was doing…as if healing and miracles were criminal acts because they prompted faith in Jesus as Messiah.

John 11:47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”  Oh, I see.  We’re worried about the Romans as our authority.  Where’s God and His Messiah in all of this?  Maybe “What are we accomplishing?” is asking the wrong question.

John 11:49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” 51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.   53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

The concept of a scapegoat goes back all the way to Leviticus 16:7-22 Then [Aaron] is to take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He is to cast lots for the two goats– one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat.  Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the LORD and sacrifice it for a sin offering.  But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat…[Aaron] is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites– all their sins– and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task.  The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place; and the man shall release it in the desert.

Safire considered the views of a Miriam-Webster editor and then wrote,

“Knowing the source helps in defining standard words, but slang often double-crosses its sources. Thus we have these three senses of fall guy branching out: 1) an innocent scapegoat, whipping boy or patsy, meekly absorbing the blame; 2) a dupe, pushover, sucker easily victimized; 3) a confederate taking the rap for others out of fear or in expectation of reward…About that rap: from Standard English “a sharp blow with a stick,” it was taken up by slang in to beat the rap, “to escape punishment”; a bum rap, “unfair punishment”; and to take the rap — as the fall guy, in whatever sense you choose.”

Kind of ironic, isn’t it?  Jesus was an innocent scapegoat, considered by the Pharisees as a dupe and criminal to be executed—but on Jesus’ head, every sin was laid.  Jesus went to His death in a solitary place.  He took the rap so that we could beat the rap by His receiving a bum rap from us as God’s original fall guy because we needed…an eternal Savior and His forgiveness…more than just an annual ritual of a temporary scapegoat.

Psalm 130:1 A song of ascents. Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD; 2 O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. 5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. 7 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

The Songs of Ascents have been our pilgrim songs as we make our way Up to Jerusalem.  Climbing steadily higher, we’ve encountered discipleship lessons such as Expect Opposition, Seek God’s Presence and Know His Peace, God’s Way of Escape is rarely the easy road, but at the end, there will be a Harvest of Joy and Justice Gets Done.  Today in the eleventh Song of Ascents, we learn of His Full Redemption.

My husband and I joke that I’m a “big picture person” and he’s a detail person.  I start projects and he finishes them.  I buy the supplies, initiate the project, and even envision and communicate what it looks like when it’s done!  He catches the vision, sees me struggling to pull it off, and often actually finishes the task at hand. 

I’m so grateful that God finishes what He starts!  He sees the problem clearly, planned a solution ahead of time, and faithfully brings it to pass.  Such is the case with Full Redemption.

God knew that we have a sin problem and without Him doing something about it, we could not stand.  He planned forgiveness and has brought it to pass.  He Himself redeems Israel (and all of His faithful people) from their sins.  His love is unfailing and He brings about Full Redemption.

Unlike my husband who waits and waits for me to finish a project, never knowing whether I’ll get it done, the psalmist waits, in eager expectation, like a watchman waits for the morning knowing his hope is sure.  That’s because the psalmist’s hope is in the LORD. 

When Jesus said “It is finished” (John 19:30), He meant it.  Sins are forgiven.  There is a Harvest of Joy and yet, Justice Gets Done!  Jesus did it all.  In Him, there is Full Redemption.

For further thought:

1. Have you ever thought about how much grace has been extended to forgive you FULLY?
2. How important was it that Jesus came to redeem Israel from all their sins?  Read Luke 24:13-27:  “Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.  They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.   As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them;   but they were kept from recognizing him.  He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”   “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.   The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him;  but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.  In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning   but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.  Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”  He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”

Mark 10:32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” 

Justice Gets Done!  But it’s not always the way we expect. 

We’re putting the Lukan travel narrative on pause briefly as we continue following Jesus’ march of victory all the way “Up to Jerusalem.”  Each of the Gospel writers has a particular style, emphasis, and arrangement of material.   The Gospel according to Luke has been emphasizing the humanity of Jesus—it has a profoundly human touch.  It was also a Gospel written for the Greek (Gentile) world showing the physician Luke’s particular love for the arts (poetry and song), his heart for women and outsiders, and his knowledge of medicine.  All of this highlights the unique and perfect humanity of the Son of God, Son of Man, Jesus Christ.

But if Luke’s Gospel was all we had, there would be emphases we wouldn’t see.  There would be stories of Jesus we wouldn’t have.  We’d miss the rich and deep perspective that the other Gospels give us when we see them in light of each other. So today we’ll visit the Gospel of Mark whose perspective highlights the servanthood of Jesus.  In Mark 10:45 we read,

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

 In Mark 10:32-34,  Jesus–Son of Man, Son of God–reveals how true Justice Gets Done!  It gets done through the Cross. 

The high cost of following ought to have been in plain view, yet the disciples were astonished.  Apparently only the crowd of people was afraid.  The disciples were a little slow on this point because Jesus had already told them as much in Mark 8:31, 9:9-10, 9:30-32.  And even after Jesus says it here, He’ll have to repeat it a few more times (Mark 14:21, 41).

As followers of Jesus Christ, we ought to have a more sobering view of how Justice Gets Done!  Justice for All seems like something we would want.  But apart from Jesus, Justice for All means that you and I would be cast down as sinners, each and every one of us, because God is the perfect standard.  Astonished is hardly an appropriate reaction to understanding what it means when we want Justice for All.  John 3:16-17 reads,

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

At the highest possible cost, the precious blood of Jesus, Justice Gets Done!

Psalm 129:1 A song of ascents. They have greatly oppressed me from my youth– let Israel say– 2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me. 3 Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long. 4 But the LORD is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked. 5 May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame. 6 May they be like grass on the roof, which withers before it can grow; 7 with it the reaper cannot fill his hands, nor the one who gathers fill his arms. 8 May those who pass by not say, “The blessing of the LORD be upon you; we bless you in the name of the LORD.” (NIV)

We’ve been marching “Up to Jerusalem” with Jesus in Luke’s Gospel and singing the pilgrim songs called the Songs of Ascents. 

Today we come to the tenth Song of Ascents, and it’s kind of disturbing in a way.  It’s not uplifting or sentimental, but raw with a desire for vindication. 

Have you ever been making good progress feeling all spiritual and then you remember someone who hurt you, or some situation that was just plain wrong? 

This is kind of like today’s pilgrim song.  Expect Opposition, Seek God’s Presence and Know His Peace, God is the One from Whom All Blessings Flow, the Blessed Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  It seems like such good progress!  And then, the enemy interjects a thought of someone mean, a situation that was bad, or the opposition rises to be faced again.

What do you do when this happens?  You can do what the psalmist does.  Gaze Beyond the Hills to the presence of God in His temple and know that, just like this psalm expresses in hope, Justice Gets Done.  Maybe not today, but eventually.  Eyes ahead.  Center your thoughts.  Focus your gaze on God.  Keep walking to the temple.  Press on!

So while there have been troubles, oppression, backstabbers and wicked people trying to trip you up, “May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame.”  Let them not be blessed and may they wither. 

If you stop to think about how many centuries the Jewish people have been persecuted and opposed, hated and expelled, pursued and murdered, the survival of the Jewish people throughout a long suffering is nothing short of miraculous.  Evidence of God’s protection.  Jews and Christians alike face opposition and there is something very honest about admitting—as the imprecatory portion of this psalm does—that we want assurance:  Justice Gets Done!

We want to know that God’s enemies will have their plans foiled.  We want to know that while they pursue evil, they will not be blessed for it, and that eventually they will be judged.  We want to know that God and His faithful people will be vindicated in the end.   Justice Gets Done!

For further thought:

• Are you ever uncomfortable with the Bible’s writers honest wrestling with unjust suffering and calling upon God to judge?
• How do you reconcile this with Jesus’ call for us to pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:44-45)?

Luke 18:35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” 38 He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. 42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

Lord, I want to see, he says. 

Ironically, even as a blind man, he saw more clearly than those around him whose sight was ostensibly 20/20. 

The crowd of people walking with Jesus only said “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”  The blind man saw deeper, presumably having heard that this is no mere man from Nazareth.  He sees Jesus as the Son of David–a Messianic term.

When he calls out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” he’s confessing that Jesus has the power to heal his blindness.  The blind man sees.  The seeing crowd is still blind.  The crowd rebuked the blind man and tried to silence him.  The more they rebuked, the more persistent the blind man became, seeing that encountering Jesus could make a profound impact on his life because of who Jesus is:  Jesus, the Messiah, Son of David, Son of God.

The crowd wants him quiet, but the man shouted all the more.  Far from disrespectful, it’s a bold and confident proclamation that God’s promised Messiah is in his midst.  He sees spiritually: Cry Out, Have Mercy!    Jesus stops and…orders, commands…that the man be brought near.  Jesus doesn’t run from people in dire straits.  He draws them near. 

In response to the man’s cry for mercy,  Jesus asks  “What do you want me to do for you?”      The blind man responds, “Lord, I want to see.” 

1. In stating this, the blind man demonstrates his knowledge that Jesus, the Son of David heals people.
2. He wants Jesus to use that same power on his behalf so that he can see. 
3. But Jesus does more than give him use of his two eyes.  He affirms the man’s faith showing that he’d had spiritual sight all along.
4. In Jesus’ drawing out a public declaration of what he obviously wanted, Jesus pronounced in the presence of the crowd that his faith has healed him.
5. The man sees and instantly follows Jesus, giving glory to God.  This is the Blessed Fear.  Praise God  from Whom All Blessings Flow.

Scripture says, “When all the people saw it, they also praised God.” I wonder if that’s the moment when the rest of the people began Seeing Spiritually.

Luke 18:9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men– robbers, evildoers, adulterers– or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

We’re climbing higher on Step 9 out of 15 in our Songs of Ascents, exploring The Blessed Fear which is fear of the Lord.  The pilgrims sang, “Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways.” 

Remembering God is the One from Whom All Blessings Flow, a man could easily find many things for which to give thanks. 

“That I am not like other men” wouldn’t be one of them.

Some people can be so horizontally competitive in comparing righteousness and blessing, so proud in their self-assessment, that they can become nothing short of Vertically Challenged in relation to The Blessed Fear. 

The Pharisee in today’s parable was just that kind of guy.  Thoroughly pompous and self-aggrandizing, he stood up and prayed…about himself.   The tax collector, on the other hand, realized that the standard was not the Pharisee or any other man.  The standard was the One from Whom All Blessings Flow. 

Understanding the majesty of the One whose presence was in the temple, he couldn’t even look up.  All he could do was Cry Out, Have Mercy!  He knew he was a sinner.

Our being justified before God is God’s prerogative.   Whatever God says is what counts, not where we think we stand in relation to others.  With God as our standard, we need to have a holy, reverent, and Blessed Fear.  With God’s perfect standard in view, the tax collector knew he was a sinner, but the Pharisee was still busy surveying the religious landscape.  So proud of what a great and religious guy he was compared to everyone else, he never even noticed that he was seen by God as just like every other man: a sinner. 

It is possible to be so Horizontally Proud that one becomes Vertically Challenged indeed.

For further thought:

1. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you any ways in which you’ve considered your standard to be your neighbor, or brother or sister in Christ.
2. Read this and ponder God’s majesty today:  1 Chronicles 29: 10 David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, “Praise be to you, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. 11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. 12 Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. 13 Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.”

Psalm 128:1 A song of ascents. Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways. 2 You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. 3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table. 4 Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD. 5 May the LORD bless you from Zion all the days of your life; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem, 6 and may you live to see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel. (NIV)

Fear of the Lord is really misunderstood by some in our culture.  They picture an angry parent taking a belt to the behind of an unruly child to “put the fear of God into him.”  Actually, that’s not fear of God.  Fear of the parent or fear of the belt, maybe.  But not fear of God.

Fear in general isn’t considered something people like, except perhaps those with “Fear This” decals on their cars.  But, I’ve never seen one with an ichthus (Jesus fish symbol) as Fear of the Lord. 

Jesus and fear don’t really seem to go together in the minds of most people.  That’s because they misunderstand fear…and they underestimate Jesus as Lord.

“Blessed are all who fear the LORD” is what our passage says.  This Blessed Fear might be the title of the discipleship lesson of our ninth Song of Ascents.  This fear is a good fear, connected with both wisdom and prosperity. 

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Scripture speaks of this often, perhaps nowhere more eloquently than in the book of Job:

 Where then does wisdom come from?     Where does understanding dwell?    …        God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells,  for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.   When he established the force of the wind and measured out the waters,  when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm,  then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;  he confirmed it and tested it.  And he said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord– that is wisdom,  and to shun evil is understanding.'” (Job 28:20-28)

So for pilgrims walking in repentance, thanksgiving, and praise Up to Jerusalem, Psalm 128 would be a good reminder to fear the Lord, having an appropriate reverence for the majesty of God whose presence they are preparing to enter.  They consider wisdom, blessing, and honor which have been evidence of God’s favor upon their lives.  They have been living in the protection of wisdom and fear of the Lord. 

This is the Blessed Fear.

For further thought:

1. With what have you associated fear of the Lord?
2. What do you think when you read this passage? Luke 12:4-5:  “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.  But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.”
3. How might this passage inform your reverence for Jesus? Revelation 19:11-16, “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.  His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.  He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.  The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.  Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. ‘He will rule them with an iron scepter.’ He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.  On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Luke 17:11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him– and he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

The Songs of Ascents were the pilgrim songs for those traveling Up to Jerusalem.  Jesus was traveling along the border between Samaria and Galilee where normally He could Expect Opposition.

Typically Jews and Samaritans would have kept separate, but common adversity creates strange fellowship.  Outside of the village, ten men with leprosy all Cry Out, “Have Mercy!” 

Jesus hears their cry, sees them, and tells them to “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”  This would have meant something slightly different to the Jews and to the Samaritans.  For the Jews, showing themselves to the priests would mean they had been cleansed, so they anticipated healing and went. 

The Jews present would have viewed the Samaritan as doubly unworthy, first because he was a Samaritan, and second because he had leprosy.  Leprosy could be cured, one’s ethnicity couldn’t be. 

To which priest would (or could) the Samaritan go, given that he’d still be considered unclean even if he’d been physically healed?  It would have been a logical conundrum: do you go to a Jewish priest as their law required, knowing you might be rejected?  Or do you show yourself to a Samaritan priest?  Does that count, after all, Jesus—a Jew—said priests (plural)? 

One thing became clear:   Jesus made him clean.

 So he returns,  praising God!

Either way, his perspective showed he knew the right answer.  Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow!  The other nine were content following religious procedures.  This Samaritan—blessed with leprosy in order to be physically healed by Jesus—receives a further and more significant blessing: saving faith and eternal spiritual healing.  “Your faith has made you well,” Jesus says. 

For further thought:

1. Jesus reached out to those on the fringes.  Are there people with whom you hesitate to share the Gospel, perhaps out of cultural differences?
2. In what ways was the Samaritan in our story blessed far more than the other nine lepers?
3. In Hebrews 4:14 it reads, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.”  Is there a way in which the Samaritan came before a priest to be pronounced clean?

Luke 16:19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table….22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.

Our journey’s discipleship lesson from Psalm 127 (the eighth Song of Ascents) is that God is the One from Whom All Blessings Flow.  We live in a culture where people don’t quite get that.  Or maybe we don’t want to get it because it would require us to make choices differently.  The danger with ignoring this discipleship lesson is that we can overlook the plight of those who haven’t been similarly blessed.  Such is the lesson from the Rich Man spoken of in today’s passage.

The irony of this story is that whether God has blessed us with riches … or with afflictions, the humble spirit will recognize that—in a strange sense—both are blessings from God. 

The Beatitudes from Matthew 5:3-12 contain plentiful references to the strange blessing of humble suffering and no acknowledgement of the kind of finery enjoyed by the Rich Man.  Lazarus was the one truly blessed, laid at the gate of the Rich Man, to be an opportunity for the Rich Man to discover the blessing of serving more than just himself.

It’s been a long road for me to see the suffering in my life as blessing.  Suffering is a peculiar mustard seed of blessing.  It can become strong faith and eternal joy—invisible blessings revealed in the end.  Did I want the tiny seed of cancer?  No.  But planted in hope, it has become a ministry to people at a hospital.  A tiny seed of my stillborn daughter, planted in the hands of God has become theological training and an Internet ministry of comfort to others.

But when riches come our way and we think somehow that we get the glory, God can easily show us that we can’t take it with us.  Such is the lesson from the Rich Man.

There are no do-overs once we die.  Such is the lesson from the Rich Man who wanted to be in heaven.  Luke 16:25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.”

The Rich Man’s problem was not that he was rich!  His problem was that he was living the lyrics of a Glenn Frey song, he had a “Frail grasp on the big picture, light fading, and the fog is getting thicker.”  The more we focus on ourselves as both the source and the ultimate consumer of riches, the light fades; the fog gets thicker; and we have a frail grasp on the big picture that God is the One from Whom All Blessings Flow.  Such is the Lesson from the Rich Man.