Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Jan 29 2020 - Luke 13:22-14:6 – Pressing on to Jerusalem

Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. Some Pharisees, thinking perhaps that Jesus would make trouble for them in Jerusalem, tried to turn him back by telling him that Herod was out to kill him. But Jesus will not be dissuaded from his course of action; he is intent on the goal set before him (Luke 13:32). So he tells them, "I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day – for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!"

Jesus is fully aware of all that awaits him in Jerusalem, but he will not turn back. This was why he was sent into the world; this is the work that the Father had sent him to accomplish and he will see it through to the end. He will let nothing deflect him from the path marked out for him.

And Jesus calls us to follow him. This is not the work of a moment; it is to be the preoccupation of a lifetime. We too are to have our eyes fixed upon a goal and to refuse to let anything deflect us from it:

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

It’s easy to grow weary or to lose heart. We take our eyes off Jesus and fix them on others around us. We turn around to see how others are doing and we begin to question how they are running. That’s how a race is lost.

When some asked Jesus, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” he answered them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to” (Luke 13:24). In other words, our primary concern must be with our own Christian life. We need to ensure that we go on following Jesus, following him closely in the path that leads to life.

This is not to say that the Christian life is basically selfish. Not at all. Jesus would not allow himself to be turned aside from Jerusalem because he was determined to endure the cross for us, with all its pain and shame. It is only as we follow him closely and faithfully that we are useful to others and able to lead them in the path of life.

But what of the question “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” Having told us to take care of our own discipleship, Jesus says, “People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last” (13:29-30). There will be a great number there at the last day, gathered from every part of the world all worshiping God and praising the Lord Jesus who gave himself for us.

But there will be surprises on that day. Jesus is doubtless addressing the Jewish leaders when he says some whom they expect to have exalted places at the feast will find themselves at the back of the crowd while some whom they never expected to be there will have prominent places as displays of God’s saving grace. Nevertheless, his words challenge our own prejudices and warn us against passing quick judgments on others.

Lord Jesus, you would not turn aside from the course set out for you by your Father. Enable me to follow you and not turn back. Help me to keep my eyes fixed on you that I may not grow weary and lose heart.

Jan 29 2019 - Genesis 37:1-36 – Joseph sold into slavery

Jacob had a complicated household. He now had twelve sons born to his two wives and their maidservants. Only the youngest two sons, Joseph and his younger brother Benjamin, had been born to his favourite wife, Rachel. Rachel had died giving birth to Benjamin. Jacob's great love for Rachel was reflected in the way he loved these two sons more than all the others. In particular, he showed his love for Joseph in making him a special coat – whether it was 'a coat of many colours' we cannot be sure (the meaning of the original term is unclear).

Joseph is now seventeen and is enjoying his 'most favoured son' status. He seems to enjoy getting his older brothers into trouble by telling father Jacob about anything improper they had got up to. As a result, unsurprisingly, his brothers hated him. And then there are Joseph's dreams that suggested he would lord it over his brothers and even over his father and his step-mother Leah. His father rebuked him for his dreams, but at the same time his father pondered what Joseph had said. His brothers simply hated him all the more.

Joseph is not an attractive character; he is a spoilt and arrogant young man. Nevertheless, God plans to use this man to save his whole family, safeguard the promise made to Abraham and bring blessing to the nations of the world. Again we learn that God uses broken people like us to accomplish his purposes and establish his kingdom.

One day, Joseph was sent by his father Jacob to check up on the brothers who are looking after the flocks some 50 miles north in Shechem. In fact, Joseph has to travel 15 miles further to the outskirts of the city of Dothan to find them – what were they getting up to in the city and why had Jacob felt the need to check up on them?

When they see him coming, the brothers plot to kill the dreamer. But Reuben, the eldest, persuades them to throw Joseph into a nearby pit designed to gather water during the rainy season. He plans to return later and rescue Joseph, perhaps hoping that this experience will have taught him a lesson. But Reuben is not there when the Midianite traders pass by and Judah, another of the older brothers, suggests that they sell Joseph as a slave. So they exchange Joseph for twenty shekels of silver – money to spend in Dothan?

Reuben returns and finds that Joseph is gone and is distraught. He knows that, as the eldest, he will be held responsible for what has happened. Together they hit upon a plan. They took Joseph's coat, tore it and splattered it with blood from a goat to deceive their father into thinking that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. Jacob, the old deceiver, is deceived and will not be comforted by his daughters or by his deceiving sons.

What a sorry mess! And what are we to make of this story? It's all too easy to seek to draw out moral lessons: fathers should not have favourite sons; obnoxious teenagers are heading for trouble; the hankering after the bright lights of the city when far from home will lead you into sin; those who deceive their father will be deceived by their sons... But the Bible narrative does not stop to focus on any of these issues; it is concerned to tell the extraordinary story of how God works out his purposes through human rivalry and wickedness. Joseph is sold into slavery that he might become a servant of the purposes of God.

Almighty God, thank you that you are sovereign over all of history and that you are working out your purposes even through the sinful act of others. Thank you for the cross and for the salvation that streams to us from that ultimate act of human wickedness. Help me to know that your work in me is for your own glory so that I may never boast in anything except the greatness of your saving work in Christ.

Peter Misselbrook