Christian Reflection and Prayer

Scripture:

Read Luke 20:45-47.
TEXT: And in the hearing of all the people He said
to His disciples, "Beware of the scribes...."
(see Luke 20:45-46).

Jesus has faced every question, challenge and riddle
from His enemies, and has come out shining, while
they have been completely humiliated. We might
expect gentle Jesus to turn down the heat on His
enemies now. But no, turning to His disciples He
speaks loud enough for everyone to hear. And that
includes the great crowd of Jews filling the temple
courts as well as the scribes standing nearby. They
certainly weren't pleased to hear Him say, "Beware
of the scribes."

The scribes started as simple copyists, laboriously
copying the Old Testament scrolls into new ones.
They had come to be seen as Bible experts, but in
their busyness had completely missed Scripture's
central message of salvation from sin, death and hell
through the coming Messiah. The people looked at
them as experts, and the Pharisees based their living
on the traditions and interpretations of these scribes.

Jesus exposes them, warning His disciples to avoid
their false teachings. He points out how they love to
be recognized and honored in the marketplaces,
sitting in the front seats of the synagogues and at
the choicest seats at meals.

They greedily devour widows' houses and cover up
their robbery with long, elaborate prayers to deceive
and impress the unknowing masses. On the Day of
Judgment, they will face steep punishment for the
way they misused God's Word for their own selfish
benefit.

Publicly embarrassed and put to shame, yet unable
to find any way to turn the crowds against Jesus,
the scribes rage within, looking for an opportunity to
take their revenge. That opportunity will come sooner
than any of them expect.

THE PRAYER:

Lord Jesus, I easily fall into the same sins as those
scribes, possessing my own pride, selfishness and
arrogance. Forgive me and teach me to live in truth
and humility. I pray in Jesus' Name. Amen.

(Lutheran Hour Ministries)

Scripture:

Read Luke 20:41-44.
TEXT: "David calls Him Lord, so how is He
his Son?" (Luke 20:44).

Jesus has completely silenced His enemies,
easily evading their traps. Now it's His turn to
ask the questions and show the priests and
scribes-those who are considered experts in
the Old Testament-how little they truly
understand of God's Word.

The scribes readily accept that the Messiah
is David's Son, a human. For them the hard
leap is the transition from thinking of the
Messiah as a mere man to believing He is
God's Son. But Jesus starts on the other
side. First establishing from Psalm 110:1
that the Christ is David's Lord, Jesus asks
how God's almighty Son can possibly be
human?

Jesus is revealing the very heart of the Old
Testament, which the scribes had missed
despite all their careful study. The promised
Savior is the Son of God, begotten of His
Heavenly Father from eternity, before all
creation. But here in time God's Son
became human by the miraculous power of
the Holy Spirit, when He was conceived of
the Virgin Mary. This should sound familiar.
Jesus is talking about the mystery of
Christmas!

But that Baby lying in the manger was not
just Mary's human child; He was God's own
eternal Son, who had become human. That
is the reason the angels proclaimed His birth,
and the reason the wise men bowed down to
worship Him. Being human He could submit
Himself to God's Law and earn our home in
heaven by His perfect obedience. And since
He is human He could take our sins upon
Himself and suffer and die. Since the Christ
is also God's Son, His suffering and death
will suffice for all humans of all time.

THE PRAYER:

Lord Jesus, we thank You for humbling
Yourself to leave Your glorious throne, for
becoming human, and for saving us from
our sins. Amen.

(Lutheran Hour Ministries(

Scripture:

Read Luke 20:27-40.
TEXT: There came to Him some Sadducees, those
who deny that there is a
resurrection (Luke 20:27).

The scribes and Pharisees make up part of the Jewish
high court; another group is the priests who are
Sadducees. They only accept Moses' writings from the
Old Testament and reject the resurrection, angels and
heaven. But that won't stop them from posing a
resurrection riddle to make Jesus look foolish.

They refer to a Mosaic law that preserved the line of an
Israelite man who died childless. If the man's brother
married the widow, the first son born could be
considered the dead man's son. In their riddle a man
died childless, each of his six brothers married the
widow in turn, but each died childless. So whose wife
will she be in the resurrection?

It seems a no-win question for Jesus. She couldn't be
the wife of all seven. But if God chooses one of the
brothers to be her husband He would be wronging the
others. Jesus easily smashes their house of cards.
God's gift of marriage holds only for this earthly period
of time-not at the resurrection.

Now Jesus turns to their rejection of the resurrection.
He even refers to Moses, the only authority they will
accept from the Old Testament. When speaking to
Moses out of the burning bush, God said, "I am the
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" (see Exodus 3:6).
If there was no life after death God would have had to
say "I was their God," not "I am their God." God's
"I AM" proves the human soul survives physical death
and implies the resurrection when Christ returns.

Jesus has corrected the Sadducees so well even the
hostile scribes commend Him.

THE PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, we are often so slow to believe things we
cannot see. Remove my doubts and unbelief and give
me firm confidence in the resurrection and eternal life
You have promised to all believers. I pray in Jesus'
Name. Amen.

(Lutheran Hour Ministries)