Looking for Ways to Catch Jesus

Prayer Practice:

Breath Prayer – Take 2-3 minutes today to pray a simple breath prayer. Get somewhere quiet and relaxing. Breathe in deeply, and then breathe out fully. As you breathe in, ask God to fill you with His presence, grace, love, peace, etc. Consider using the list of spiritual fruit in Galatians 5:22-23. As you breathe out, offer to God the things you need Him to take from you – sin, doubt, shame, anxiety, fear, etc. Pray this way for just a few minutes, trusting God to work, and then begin reading today’s Scripture.

Daily Reading: Luke 20:20-47

Devotional /Reflection

The Debate Is Over'

by Pastor Jeff Morlock

My wife says I enjoy arguing. Guilty as charged, though I prefer the word “debating”. In this passage Luke introduces a series of debates that happen in the Jerusalem Temple, where religious leaders set rhetorical traps for Jesus, hoping to trick him into saying something unpopular or blasphemous so that they can have him arrested.

Trap #1 involves the question of paying taxes to Rome. When Jesus concludes that both Caesar and God should be given that which belongs to them (and bears their respective images) the debate is over. For though tarnished by sin, all human beings bear the image of God. Are you giving your whole self to the Creator, or are their parts of your life that you’re withholding? What aspects of your life are you conceding to the wrong source of authority?

Trap #2 involves the Sadducees, an elite group of priests. While Sadducees don’t believe in the resurrection, they pose a question about it anyway, worded in such a way to imply its absurdity. One woman with seven husbands… what will their relationships with one another be after being raised? This trap is predicated on a single flawed premise: that life in the kingdom of heaven will be just like it is here and now. Jesus reminds them how the Law of Moses proclaims God as “I am”, who is also the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the God. He is the God, not of dead patriarchs, but of those who have been brought from death to life. Again, the debate is over before it starts. If you’re keeping score, that’s Jesus – 2, religious leaders – 0. He evades their traps, answers their questions with authority, and causes them to grow strangely silent.

And now it’s time for Jesus to pose a question (v. 41). By quoting Psalm 110, he makes it clear that these leaders not only have a problem with his claim to both divinity and humanity; they also have a problem with the Hebrew Scriptures, where King David describes the Messiah as simultaneously God and man.

This brings the central issue clearly into focus: Jesus is this long-awaited Messiah! As those who bear His Image, who have his promise of resurrection - how then shall we live? Like the righteous rather than the religious, for starters (vs. 45-47). Do people recognize who you belong to? What might it mean this week to live as one who is being brought from death to life? What idea, habit, or allegiance needs to die in you so that you can fully live this resurrected life in Christ?

Prayer:
Jesus, you are the Way home for all who are lost, for you came to dwell with your people and open the gates of heaven to all who will believe. You are Truth, for you confound the wisdom of the wise and silence your enemies. You are the Life that is truly Life, for you rose again to conquer sin, death, and the evil one, who comes only to steal, kill and destroy. As we move toward the promise of Easter, keep us close to you and help us die to anything that would hinder our risen life in you. Amen.