March 27th, 2012
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Limited By Temporality

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Lord, what a gift it is to call You Father! I am Your child and praise You for Your love and care.

Read Luke 20:20-40

[20] Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be honest. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. [21] So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. [22] Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” [23] He saw through their duplicity and said to them, [24] “Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?” [25] “Caesar’s,” they replied. He said to them, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” [26] They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent. [27] Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. [28] “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. [29] Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. [30] The second [31] and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. [32] Finally, the woman died too. [33] Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” [34] Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. [35] But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, [36] and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. [37] But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ [38] He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” [39] Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” [40] And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“He (Christ) is the image of the invisible Godﾅall things were created by him and for himﾅso that in everything he might have the supremacy” (Col. 1:15-18).

Think Further

Politicians and commentators from all sides look at the same social issue and each of them explains it in a different way, as if their way is the truth. Yet we suspect that some politicians have more interest in holding power than arriving at the truth.

This time, there are two groups of people attempting to trap Jesus. These people were concerned about gaining or retaining power, not about truth (20-22). Frequently, people confuse truth with ideology, cultural traditions or, worse, with their own opinions. They have a sense of loss if their ideological positions or their culture is under attack or questioned. In seeking alignment with God we expect to be challenged, so the truth must judge our ideologies and cultural biases. I personally have experienced this awakening process in my own life. While doing Scripture Union ministry in North America, I had to work with many cultures, many ways of doing things and different ideologies. I had to recognize, painfully at times, that my ways were not necessarily closer to the truth than those of other people.

The fundamental questions here are not about taxes or resurrection. The temporal realms of politics, economics, culture, religion and other areas of life can be blinders that block our understanding. Jesus challenges us to bring him to the center of these; as we do this, we become “children of the resurrection” (36). Economics, marriage, culture and ideologies are all attached to the temporal. We are part of a great plan that is beyond time. Being part of this plan includes us among those that God considers “all (that) are alive” (38).

Apply

Ask yourself constantly how your culture and ideology are filtering your understanding of God’s plan for you and this world. How open are you to be challenged?

Closing prayer

Lord Jesus, You are not only the way to God, and the life in God, but You are the truth about God. Challenge me in any way I need.

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