Ian Chris is one of the pastors at City Discipleship Presbyterian Church, Kuala Lumpur.

The Gospel, Injustice, and the Widow’s Last Two Sen

Once, while Jesus was in Jerusalem, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on” (Luke 21:3-4). “Therefore,” the preacher concludes, “this passage is teaching us that, just like that poor widow, we too should live by faith and give all our money to God!” My heart sinks: that does not sound like Good News at all! I came to church to hear more about what Jesus has done for us; I leave church wondering if I’m giving enough to qualify. Discouraged, I look back at the text. But what’s this, in the verse just before this episode about the poor widow? Jesus says, “They devour widows’ houses…These men will be punished most severely” (Luke 20:47). Who are these widow-devouring men? Ah, here we are, in verse 46: “Beware the teachers of the law.” These guys are in charge of the temple! Jesus is not praising this poor widow for giving away all she had to live on; he is cursing the temple leadership for using their religious authority to devour her last two sen! So if this episode is not about giving away all our money and living by faith…what is it about? I take another look at the text. The protagonist is a widow. I do a quick word-search: “widow”. Ninety-six (96!) scripture references pop up, including this one, “Do not take the cloak of the widow as a pledge” (Deuteronomy 24:17). That confirms it: Jesus is definitely upset. Taking a widow’s last two sen is worse than taking her cloak as a pledge. Which means this episode is actually about injustice to widows, not about giving money to God. Great! — but what are we supposed to do about that? Then I remember that Jesus just told us exactly what to do about this injustice: “Beware the teachers of the law”! Okay. But how? What does “beware” mean in this context? I do another quick word-search: “beware”. Luke has used the word two times before, in 12:1 and in 17:3. I look up the first passage. Jesus tells his disciples, “[Beware] the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1). What are the disciples supposed to do? I look at the verses just before. There, Jesus curses the local religious leaders for using their legalistic faith to crush the poor and make themselves wealthy. Then Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “Beware: do not become like these guys!” I turn to the second passage. Jesus tells his disciples, “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come…So [beware]” (Luke 17:1-3)! What are the disciples supposed to do? Again, I look at the larger context. Just before this, Jesus tells a story about a rich man who has no compassion on a poor man and is punished most severely. Then Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “Beware: don’t cause people to stumble!” Then he says, “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them” (Luke 17:3). Here Jesus commands his disciples to proclaim forgiveness again, and again, and again. A forgiving faith produces compassionate people. A legalistic faith devours compassion: it demands that everyone pay for their own salvation; and those who cannot pay can go straight to hell. I turn back to the story of the poor widow. I am beginning to understand Jesus’ command, “Beware the teachers of the law.” He is saying, “Do not become like these guys! They use their legalistic faith to make poor widows pay and pay and pay for salvation, and they will be punished most severely for it!” So what is this episode actually about? This episode is actually a curse on preachers who tell Christians to live by faith and give up every last penny to God. This episode is Jesus’ warning to every pastor: “Do not use your position of authority to guilt people into giving.” This episode is Jesus’ warning to every disciple: “Have nothing to do with false teachers who use promises of health, wealth, and happiness to wring more money out of God’s people. They will be punished most severely! “Instead, join a church where forgiveness is preached again and again and again and again…” Now that sounds like the kind of Good News I’d want to hear!   Article derived from a sermon entitled “Who Exactly is in Charge Around Here? (Part II) or: Jesus: 6, Government: 0”. The sermon can be listened to at https://www.cdpckl.com/luke/

The Gospel, Injustice and the Widow’s Courage

Once, Jesus told a story about a widow who pesters a corrupt judge until he gives her justice. Jesus did this to show his disciples, “that they should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1). “Therefore,” the preacher concludes, “this parable teaches us that God is like that corrupt judge. If he does not answer, just be like the widow, pray harder, and eventually God will give you what you want!” My heart sinks: that does not sound like Good News at all! I came to church to hear more about what Jesus has done for us; I leave church wondering if I’m praying hard enough to qualify. Discouraged, I look back at the text. But what’s this, right here in verse 7? “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?” Jesus says God answers our prayers quickly, not slowly and reluctantly! What a relief: God is actually the opposite of that corrupt judge! But then…what does this parable actually teach us about God and prayer? I take another look at the text. I realize Jesus uses the word “justice” four times. So justice must be a central concept. Then I notice that the protagonist in the story is a widow. I do a quick word-search: “widow”. Ninety-six (96!) scripture references pop up. When I scan through the references, I find a very strong biblical connection between “widows” and “justice”, like: “[God] defends the cause of the widow” (Deuteronomy 10:18), and “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees…making widows their prey” (Isaiah 10:1-2). The parable begins to make sense: the corrupt judge is actually under God’s curse. The widow knows this. That is why she keeps bothering the judge so boldly and persistently: she understands from God’s Word that God is on her side! She knows that, one way or another, God is going to make sure she gets justice! Reading through the parable again, I realize the corrupt judge figures this out in verse 4: “Even though I don’t fear God or people, I’m gonna give this widow her justice so she won’t eventually come and attack me!” The judge is not afraid of anyone’s judgement. But the widow is so bold and persistent he starts to wonder if she is more powerful than she seems. Perhaps she has a rich relative who has gone away on a long trip, and when that relative gets back and finds out how the judge treated her he will rally all his wealth and power and have that judge removed? So he gives in. The judge can only speculate in earthly terms — but his thinking is spiritually correct. Jesus confirms this in verse 6: “Listen to what the unjust judge says!” Pay attention: the judge is right! This widow is actually far more powerful than she seems! Why? Because God is on her side. To test my interpretation, I look at the larger context. Sure enough, in the moments just before Jesus told this parable, he told his disciples that he would be going away for a long time, that they would suffer while he was gone, but that he would return suddenly and destroy everyone who “tries to keep their life” (Luke 17:33) — especially at the expense of the poor and the helpless. Then, to illustrate his teaching, Jesus tells a parable about a judge who tries to keep his life at the expense of a poor, helpless widow. What is Jesus’ point? He tells us in verse 7: “Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones?…I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.” Then he finishes with, “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” So what is this parable actually about? It is about praying faithfully for Jesus’ return! It is about speaking up boldly and persistently against earthly injustice, knowing that God has promised to give us justice, and quickly. Does this parable mean Jesus guarantees us justice in earthly courts? No. That is earthly thinking. In fact, Jesus tells his disciples they will often be executed by earthly courts (Luke 21:16)! But Jesus has guaranteed us justice in God’s court — and on the Day of his return. Therefore, like the widow, we pray. And we speak up boldly and persistently against earthly injustice, knowing that — even as we suffer the earthly consequences — we are the beloved children of the One who is “coming soon” (Revelation 22:20) to destroy all injustice and make all things new. Now that sounds like the kind of Good News I’d want to hear!   ——— Article derived from a sermon entitled “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (Part I), or: How to Survive the Apocalypse”. The sermon can be listened to at https://www.cdpckl.com/luke/

The Christmas Story You’ve Never Heard

We sit down to read Luke’s Christmas Story and we think we already know it: there’s Joseph and Mary, searching the streets of Bethlehem for a place to have their baby. There’s the mean inn-keeper saying, “no room for you here!” Then there’s the starlight shining on a cozy little stable. Mary gives birth, and lays the Baby Jesus in a nice clean manger with all the nice clean animals looking on. That is a lovely story! — too bad it’s not actually in the bible. There was no desperate search for lodging, no inn, no mean inn-keeper, and no stable. The Greek word often translated “inn” actually means “upper guest room”. And the Greek word for “manger” actually does mean “manger” — except that Jewish families did not keep their mangers in a stable. Of course, at this point someone is going to say, “C’mon man, don’t ruin the spirit of Christmas with all that textual stuff! Besides: a lonely couple, a mean inn-keeper, and a cozy stable just add to the pathos of the story!” Well, yes, they do. They also totally distract us from the Author’s actual point. Those other elements were added later by Christians who misunderstood both text and context. Their misunderstanding turned the Christmas Story into the sentimental account of a lonely couple lost in the winter midnight, allowing preachers everywhere to ask the question, “Have you made room in your heart for the Baby Jesus?” But Luke’s Christmas Story is not actually about loneliness and rejection. It’s about corrupt governments and poor migrant workers. It’s about injustice, and sedition. It’s about the crushing weight of tyranny, and a people’s longing for something more: a country of their very own. Here is Luke’s Christmas story, told with an eye toward both text and context: Joseph grows up in Bethlehem, but the local economy is depressed. However, in Galilee, far to the north, an earthquake has destroyed the city of Sepphoris. Herod the Great wants it rebuilt. Thousands of construction jobs are available! So Joseph migrates. He lives in the small migrant-laborers’ kampung (village) of Nazareth, and walks to work in Sepphoris, about seven kilometers away. He meets a nice local Jewish girl named Mary (according to tradition Mary was born in Sepphoris). He gets engaged. Then Mary turns up pregnant! Just then the corrupt Roman god-emperor decides he wants more money. He commands everyone to balik kampung so they can be counted and taxed more effectively. Joseph the migrant worker has no leave days, no health insurance — and no choice. He quits his job, scrapes together his savings and his fiancee, and walks the distance from Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh. And when he finally arrives home he finds that the “upper guest room” of his parents’ house is already packed full of other relatives, also home for the census; so he and Mary have to sleep on the ground floor, in the kitchen/living room, where the family’s animals are kept at night. A few days, weeks — or perhaps even months! — later Mary goes into labor surrounded by helpful relatives. She lays the baby in the only piece of furniture available: the manger… It may not seem like much: a return to a more authentic understanding of the Christmas narrative. Some might say, “Why bother?” — but I believe the Gospel demands it. The Good News of Christ’s birth is not supposed to be a one-dimensional, simplistic contemplation of an individual’s need to “find room” for Jesus. On the contrary, Luke’s narrative is nuanced, complex, cosmic in scope; it contains the seeds of glory and foreshadowed grief. Here, in Luke’s Christmas Story, Mary wraps Jesus in cloths and places him in a manger; at the end of Luke’s book, Jesus is again wrapped in cloths…and placed in a tomb. Here, the angel says, “Today a Saviour has been born to you!” On the Cross, Jesus says, “Today…you will be with me in Paradise.” Here, Jesus is born on the ground floor because Joseph’s ancestral home is so full of family there is no room for him in the “upper guest room”. In the end, Jesus has begun a new kind of family, and he eats the Passover feast with them in a large “upper guest room” — yes, Luke uses the exact same word. So what’s the point? Just this: I am convinced that if we read the Christmas Story as its Author intended, our comprehension of the Cross can only grow deeper. Ultimately, the Christmas Story is not supposed to make us wonder, “Have I made enough room in my heart for Jesus?” Rather, it sets us up to ask the only question that really matters: “Could there be room in Jesus’ family for me — even me?” ————————————————————————————————————————— Article derived from a sermon entitled “Why the Christmas Story is More Political and Less Christmasy Than You Have Been Led to Believe”. The sermon can be listened to at https://www.cdpckl.com/luke/