WEDNESDAY 3.29.23: Challenging Human Expectations – Luke 18:9-34
“We are going up to Jerusalem,” Jesus said in 18:31, and he was nearly there. His culture didn’t value tax collectors or children. Jesus said those “nobodies” were more apt to receive God’s favor than an arrogant Pharisee or a ruler who loved his wealth more than God. “Then who can be saved?” his startled hearers asked. Anyone, Jesus implied. “What is impossible for humans is possible for God.”
Reflection
• When the young ruler whose riches “owned” him turned away, Jesus said it was very hard for the wealthy to enter God’s kingdom. Yet most people in Jesus’ day equated wealth with God’s favor, so they asked, “Then who can be saved?” Do you trust that whether you are a “somebody” or a “nobody,” your salvation is “possible for God”? How does that shape the way you live each day?
• Luke 18:34 said after three years the disciples still didn’t “get” what Jesus meant about dying and rising. Yet there were other moments when meeting Jesus seemed to reorient a person’s values or thinking quickly and radically. Has God ever changed any part of your life quickly or dramatically? In what areas are you still patiently struggling to grow, even with God’s help?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, preserve me from trusting in my own righteousness or in my bank and retirement accounts. Be the center and source of my life, now and forever. Amen.