Luke 14:25-33

A young man wakes up in the morning and hears the birds singing. He realizes how fortunate he is. Recently, he has been reading about Jesus’ call to his discipleship in the gospel of Luke, which is today’s Gospel reading, that reads: “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

What does this mean for me? He was reflecting.

This young university student decided that morning that he would take Jesus’ words seriously and personally. He had lived a privileged life. God had given him many gifts. What should be his response to those words from Jesus?

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God, I’m not ok. That’s really not how it’s supposed to be is it?

We are promised so much – if we only have faith, if we only pray, if we only follow Christ’s teachings and his example then we will be blessed. For after all if we are truly god’s people why would he let any harm to come to us?

But you know life is not like that and it’s never been like that – ever. As Jesus said in Matthew 5: 45 “God makes the sun rise on both good and bad people. And sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong”.

Many Christians struggle with this.  If God is a loving God, Christ is our Saviour and the Holy Spirit is our guide and encourager then all we have to do is believe and life will work out well.  Have faith and God will bless you, even in material goods. Pray and your prayer will be answered. Proclaim the gospel and you will be rewarded.

To many Christians this underpins their faith and their expectation is for a life of blessings and joy and hope and fulfillment. But what if it isn’t?

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Luke 13:10-17

Korea has experienced a lot of political turmoil for the past several months. It all began with the previous president unexpectedly declaring martial law last December, but at 12 pm that night, the Korean parliament quickly met and withdrew it. That night, thousands of people cheered outside the parliament building. Eventually, that president was impeached and is now in prison, likely for life.

In June this year, a new president, Lee Jae Myung, was elected. During his inauguration, he did something very unusual in front of the huge crowd. After his speech, he turned to a member of the Democratic Party, called her name out loudly, walked close to her, and gave her a big hug. He did this because she has a lifelong disability. She is blind and was his colleague during his parliamentary membership before the presidential election.

After that, his very first official act as president was to visit the cleaning staff at the parliament house. He shook hands and took a photo with every single one of them.

I believe Korea will be a very different nation because of his servant leadership, especially for those struggling financially and socially.

With this story and the Korean President’s actions following his inauguration, I’d like us to reflect on today’s gospel reading. In all four Gospels, many of the people who came to Jesus for help were those struggling with illnesses and disabilities.

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Luke 12:49-56

“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and I wish it was already burning.” (Luke 12:49). This is how today’s gospel reading began. It is, undoubtedly, one of the most upsetting and harsh comments made my Jesus in the whole Bible.

It sounds like he’s about to bring hell on earth. These are not things we normally associate with the images of Christ, such as the wonderful counsellor, the Lamb of God or the good shepherd, or even the Prince of peace.

Then, Jesus continues with an equally shocking declaration. He said, “Do you think that I came to bring peace to the world? No, not peace, but division. From now on a family of five will be divided, three against two and two against three. Parents will be against their children, and children against their parents.”  It gets even worse and more confusing.

It was a huge crowd. The day was a big success. There were so many people gathered to see and hear Jesus in today’s story. Everyone there was excited at the things happening in front of their eyes.  Then, all of a sudden, Jesus came out with the fire and brimstone statement.

This sounds way out of place for Jesus.  Why would Jesus call himself a divider? Why did he say he had come to bring division, not peace?

To understand this, we need to look at the historical context of the first century in Palestine.

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Luke 12:13-21

A man and his wife were in Africa watching a herd of wildebeest run across the plains. The animals were all running in the same direction, but suddenly, they stopped. The wildebeest looked confused, as if they didn’t know where they were or why they were running.

Their local guide explained that wildebeest aren’t very smart animals. They often run away from danger, but they quickly forget why they’re running. Lions know this, so they just follow the running wildebeest and wait for them to stop. When the wildebeest stop, forgetting why they were running, they become an easy dinner for lions. The animals’ memory is extremely short that they’ll sometimes walk right up to a sleeping lion, forgetting that the lion is a ‘lion’, and giving the lion breakfast in bed. (D Cox. “Seize the Day: Seven Steps to Achieving the Extraordinary in an Ordinary World, 2022)

Sometimes, we are like them. We run through our busy lives, trying to get ahead and assuming things will be better if we just keep doing that. We’re so focused on the race in this world, that we often forget why we’re running and who we really are in this life as a believer.

In Luke’s Gospel, a man asks Jesus to help resolve a financial dispute with his brother. Instead of getting involved in the argument, Jesus tells a powerful story, often called “the parable of the rich man.” This story, however, can be seen as “the parable of a successful person” because its message is still very relevant today.

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