Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words. Luke 19:47-48
Things certainly are different in our day! Today we ignore, rather than “hang on to,” His words. The difference between the response in the time of Jesus and our own is not a matter of the delivery because the Holy Spirit has breathed life into the words of Scripture just as the breath of Jesus carried them through His lips. It is also not because men are innately different today than in that day. I would suggest that the reason we don’t hang on Jesus’ words because we don’t have the motivation that they had in the time of Jesus.
The people of Jesus’ day were looking for a Messiah, a deliverer. They were oppressed by an authoritarian political regime that didn’t care about their Jewish laws and practices. Rather than being the head, they were the tail (see Deut. 28:13-14) because they had not paid attention to the Lord’s commands. His judgment upon them had led to their subservient position.
People in America today – even Christians – are not looking for a Messiah, at least not a Messiah like Jesus. We are too comfortable in our position on top of the world. When our bank accounts run dry, when our health gives out, when our families decide to blow us off, then we’ll hang on Jesus’ words. But probably not before, unless we have been trained well (and sometimes, not even then!).
I’m glad that the Church can be there when life happens for people in our world, but the truth is that the fix is not an easy one. It’s always simpler to get into trouble than to get out of it, because the source of that trouble is always sin. Sometimes it’s the original sin that plagues all mankind on this side of heaven, sometimes it is a specific sin that has led to our circumstances. But either way, the remedy is Jesus – His death for us or His words to us.
I am very thankful for the easy life God has blessed us with in America with our many freedoms and creature comforts and I recognize their Source, but I fear that unless we wake up and hang on his words again like our Founding Fathers did, we’ll repeat the cycle that plagued the Jewish people.
Luke 4:22 All spoke well of Him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from His lips. Though His words were gracious, marvelous and lovely Words the people insisted that they could not be from Him. How quick we are to judge the Word’s of the Lord Jesus. It is fine when they fit in our circle of comfort but the minute they challenge us we try to throw Him off the cliff even as they did in vs 29 “in order to throw Him down the cliff. His gracious words had been spoken to the people He came to help vs 18 the poor, the prisoner the blind the oppressed.You do not physically have to be in prison to be imprisoned. You do not have to be broke to be poor. Nor sightless to be blind. But you must know who you are in relationship to your God. Hang on these Words.
This blog is great. How did you come up with the idea
Thanks for your inspiration It is so nice to see positive words about the Word of God on the Internet. Looking forward to more of your postings. You must be a very good Pastor to your church, they are very fortunate to have you.