LUKE: YEAR OF OUR LORD (WEEK 44) - WHO DIED AND PUT YOU IN CHARGE?

 I have become increasingly fascinated by the response to Jesus by the religious leaders of his day. We speak often (and most times disparagingly) of the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Scribes and the Teachers of the law that opposed Jesus at just about every step of His ministry life.

And why I’m fascinated, I think, is two-fold. First of all, I’m fascinated because these were the men who had devoted their lives to the study of the Law and the Prophets, they were supposed to be the so-called experts in correct theology. These were the “shepherds” that God had designed to lead his people into a right relationship with Himself.

And yet, they get it so wrong. They are the ones who missed the visitation of their Messiah, the Immanuel, God in the flesh dwelling among them. And I wonder because I can’t believe that they just woke up one day and thought, “Hey - I’m gonna start thinking wrongly about God, and I’m gonna be a jerk about it!” I get this sense that, like many others who live in error, they probably started out well; it would seem reasonable that they are religious leaders of God’s people because they knew the importance of leading God’s people. And yet, somewhere along the way something happened that knocked them off kilter. And they end up opposed to what God was doing right in their midst.

Secondly, this fascinates me because I am a present-day religious leader, you could say. At one point of my life I felt a call from the Lord to be in full-time ministry, and have devoted over 30 years of my life to that call. I love studying the Scriptures, I enjoy helping people grow deeper in their relationship with God, I take the call to spiritual leadership very seriously and hold my calling as very sacred.

But I have to be careful — because obviously there have been so many others who started down the same path I did who, like the religious leaders of Jesus’ time, did indeed get it wrong. Who’s to say that the same can’t happen to me? Who’s to say that the same can’t happen to YOU?

So what happened to the religious leaders of Jesus’ time? What MIGHT be something that happens to you or me that could lead us to some very wrong conclusions and decisions about our own lives?