Reflective Bible Study

Have you ever been confused by something someone has said? Has someone ever seemed to contradict themselves within a few short statements? Have you felt that God, or maybe even Jesus, has done this?

In my reading and my study of this passage on prayer, I see an interesting potential contradiction within this verse on prayer and persistence.

Our passage opens up with Luke’s version of Jesus’ model prayer, and immediately it moves into Jesus teaching about how to be persistent with our requests. This teaching seems to indicate that sometimes our persistence can change God’s mind and turn a “no” into a “yes” – however mixed in with this teaching is the idea that God is the perfect Father and He will never give us something that will hurt us.

If you put these ideas together, one might conclude that God is a loving God, but perhaps He is stubborn, set in His way, or maybe even deaf since we must repeatedly persist in our requests for them to be “heard” or paid attention to. However a stubborn or deaf father is not a model or “perfect” father and if God is our perfect Father, making us repeat a request doesn’t seem all that loving.

Is this a “test” that God gives us to see how devoted we are? I would hope not, because while I’d fail miserably, it paints God as a demanding deity who requires us to perform – and if that were the case, there would be little reason for Jesus to have paid the price of our sins.

Perhaps, what is going on in this passage has more to do with the request than it does the requester. If we look closely at what we have been promised, Jesus is talking about God giving the Holy Spirit, and that is His perfect Fatherly gift.

It’s possible that our persistently asking for “a snake” or “a scorpion” will be granted – even though God knows it will cause us harm, but instead, what God really wants to give us is the best gift He can: The Holy Spirit living in us.

It is also possible that God knows the best timing for granting our request, and that right now might not be the best time for us to receive this. At least for me, it might mean that a part of my character needs to develop more, or part of my life needs to become stronger for God’s gift to truly be a blessing in my life.

What is true in these times is that when God says “not yet”, and when we persist in our request, our character and trust in God is being formed – even though we might not see or feel it in the moment.

God really does want to give us the best gift He can, though the best gift in His mind might be different than the gift we are requesting. Persistence may be able to change God’s mind, but it doesn’t change God’s love for you and me, and it doesn’t stop God from waiting until we are ready to receive the gifts we want and need.

Tucked away in one of Jesus’ most famous sermons, we have an incredible picture of God’s character, and what it means to be like Jesus. Jesus came to show us what God the Father is like and He called us be become His disciples, which is another way of saying to model our lives after His. So with these ideas put together, as we are modeling Jesus, we are actually also modeling God the Father as well.

But what does it mean to be like God or like Jesus?

In our passage, we have a key characteristic that separates Christ-like people from the non-Christ-like ones. Jesus opens this portion of His sermon by framing everyone and comparing it to His ideal: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemies.’ But I say to you, love your enemies. Pray for those who hurt you. If you do this, you will be true children of your Father in heaven.” (v. 43-45a)

It is easy to love and like those who are our friends, but it is much more difficult to love and pray for those who hurt us. But while this seems way too challenging for us, Jesus continues by giving us a clear example from God’s perspective: “He causes the sun to rise on good people and on evil people, and he sends rain to those who do right and to those who do wrong.” (v. 45b)

God is unbelievably fair. He gives opportunity to those who follow Him and to those who reject Him. He has given life and breath to everyone alive today, and it is easy to look out into the world and see people who are His enemies. It would be very easy for God to take His gift back from those who have clearly chosen to reject Him.

Jesus then shares why God has chosen to love everyone:  “If you love only the people who love you, you will get no reward. Even the tax collectors do that. And if you are nice only to your friends, you are no better than other people. Even those who don’t know God are nice to their friends.” (v. 46-47)

God is modeling true love for us. God’s love is a love that seeks to win hearts over to Him. If we only love those who love us back, nothing will ever change. The world will turn into being a big series of cliques with all sides pointed inwards towards each other, and shunning all those who are outside of their respective circles.

God’s love extends beyond the clique to all races and cliques of humans and every species of animals living on our blue and green planet. He calls us to be like Him and to love those in other cliques. Loving those who are unlike us is the best way we can be an example of God and an example of Jesus in the world today.

When reading about the Roman officer who asks for Jesus to heal his servant, I am continually amazed by his second message, the response he gives when Jesus starts moving towards his home. When realizing that Jesus was going to help him, perhaps he felt very self-conscious, or perhaps very unworthy.

While his initial request is for Jesus to come and help in Luke’s gospel, perhaps the message is a little more like what we read in Matthew’s gospel where we have his words specifically: “Sir, my servant is sick in bed at home, unable to move and suffering terribly.” (Matthew 8:6)

Perhaps the understanding of the elders this Roman officer sent were of the understanding that Jesus needed to be there personally, or perhaps, as we read Jesus’ response in Matthew’s gospel, “I will go and make him well.” (Matthew 8:7)

However, whether the events happened more like Matthew’s version or more like Luke’s version, the Roman officer’s response to Jesus when He agrees to come and help is amazing. “Sir, don’t trouble yourself. I do not deserve to have you come into my house, neither do I consider myself worthy to come to you in person. Just give the order, and my servant will get well. I, too, am a man placed under the authority of superior officers, and I have soldiers under me. I order this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; I order that one, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and I order my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” (v. 6b-8)

What amazes me about Luke’s gospel is that this Roman officer wants to avoid any appearance of forcing or intimidating Jesus into helping him. While we know looking back on this event that Jesus would not have helped if there was that sort of attitude present, from reading the officer’s response, I see him trying to get as far away from even giving that appearance to those present in the crowd at that time.

Perhaps, according to Luke, if the officer had come in person and if Jesus had went with him to have Jesus personally heal his servant, this may have given the impression that the officer was forcing Jesus to help, rather than Jesus simply helping from His own free will.

It is from this officer’s messengers that we get the most amazing example of faith in the gospels –according to Jesus – and it is where we truly begin to see this Roman officer’s character. This officer was different from the stereotype. He followed orders, but he also cared about those under him. This officer was more interested in making friends than exerting force – and because of this, this Roman officer gives us an incredible example of faith that even surprises Jesus.

This Roman officer shows us we can live apart from the stereotypes of culture, and that when we live humbly and dependant on Jesus, we too can display an extraordinary level of faith!

Have you ever experienced a delay at some point in your life? Perhaps a flight was delayed, you were running late for a meeting or special event, or perhaps a traffic jam has eaten up more of your day than you’d like to admit.

When delays happen in our own lives, it is often easy to understand the cause and/or culprit for the delay, but what about when God is delayed? How could an all-powerful, all-knowing, and always-present God be delayed?

This question leads us into the big idea that we’ll focus on in this passage. We’ve touched on other ideas within this passage already, but in this entry, we will turn our attention to an idea that is hidden just under the surface of the text – and it has to do with the time where the master was gone.

Does this passage say, or give us any clues to how long of a time span took place between the parts of verse 15 where the man becomes king and then returns? Yes and no.

The verses don’t tell us anything specific about the length of time the master/king was gone, but it does lead us to believe that it was at least three months worth of time (since they were given three months worth of pay in advance), but that it could have been longer, since the most resourceful servant has multiplied this advance by ten times – in addition to having used at least some of it as living expenses.

However, what is more interesting than the length of time is what doesn’t happen. It seems that while the master is gone – he truly is gone and there is no communication between the master and servants between the time he has left and the time he returned. If there were delays, it probably strengthened the thought in the master/king’s enemies that he never was made king. In their minds, the longer something is out of sight, the less significant it is.

If this master-made-king represents Jesus, then we have an interesting parallel in today’s world. There has been very little credible direct communication from God since the time when Jesus left and was crowned king. It would seem that the longer His return is “delayed”, the more “out of sight, out of mind” takes hold and the more the world places less and less significance on Him. In a culture where focus shifts between headlines and popular trends, looking to past promises of God returning as a king is seen as ridiculous.

Since Jesus’ return to heaven, this “out of sight, out of mind” attitude has resulted in most people accepting the idea that God doesn’t exist. It took several hundred years following Jesus’ death and resurrection for this to happen, but it was just a matter of time before one of these thoughts to take hold.

When God is not clearly present, people are left drifting between conflicting beliefs and shallow trends. The longer Jesus’ return is delayed, the less the world will pay attention, and the easier it will be for us to forget His promise. The longer the delay, the easier it is for us to fall out of touch with Him.

However, we should remember that as we have been delayed, our delays have had their end. Eventually we have arrived, and the same is true with the master/king’s return. It may have been delayed, but a delay does not mean a cancelled trip. Jesus will return, and while His return has been delayed (for whatever reason), it is just a matter of time before He returns as King.