Luke 19

School has been out four days this week due to illness. So many teachers and students were ill with the flu/respiratory difficulties that the county school system was simply shut down.

Although not wanting his friends to be sick, one of our grandsons remarked that it was a good day because the schools were closed. We talked about that concept and he (being on the cusp of his 11^th birthday) said he didn’t really like school. Being the “older generation,” we responded that school was important for many reasons and that learning continued all through your life.

Learning — in our culture, we tend to think of learning as being confined to a strict educational setting such as a primary school for children.

2011-04-england-031-watchfield-primary-school — Watchfield Primary School in England. This is the school our grandchildren attended while living in England.

Some of us consider institutions of higher learning as the place where real education takes place. While education and learning certainly does occur in colleges and universities, this is not the only place learning can take place.

At the time of Jesus’ ministry, His disciples did not sit in classrooms to hear what Jesus was going to teach. They walked the streets and hills with Him and listened as He talked along the way. They sat on the hillside when Jesus taught the thousands of people following Him. They ate meals with Him and, after spending time in Zacchaeus’ house with Jesus, they heard Zacchaeus respond to Him by saying:

“Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

Luke 19:8 ESV

They had, what we could certainly call, “hands on” learning. Jesus said that He would make them “fishers of men.”

I am not a fisher[wo]man and my Dad was not a fisherman. In fact I only started eating fish, already cleaned, filleted, prepared and cooked, as an adult. So, it was with interest that I visited Gloucester, Massachusetts where fishing is a thriving industry. In 1925, the town erected this moving, and emotionally charged, monument at the harbor to honor those lost at sea.

glouster-mass-mariner-58 — The Gloucester Fisherman’s Memorial, Gloucester, Massachusetts

According to the National Park Service, The Mariner was created to “commemorate Gloucester’s 300th anniversary and to permanently memorialize the thousands of fishermen lost at sea in the first three centuries of Gloucester’s history. In 1879 alone, 249 fishermen and 29 vessels were lost during a terrible storm.”

A plaque on one side of the base reads, “Memorial To The Gloucester Fisherman, August 23, 1923”. A larger panel on the harbor-facing side of the base reads: “They That Go Down To The Sea In Ships 1623-1923”, in bronze letters, citing Psalm 107:23.

Fishing is still a part of Gloucester’s life. For example, we saw fishermen mending their nets, an activity with which the early disciples would have been intimately familiar inasmuch as they too were fishermen. Just watching this activity reminded us of the disciples Jesus called to walk with Him.

fishermen-tending-nets-53 — Fishermen mending nets in Gloucester, Massachusetts

“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

Matthew 4:18-22 ESV

Fishing – it was their business, their trade, and it was what Jesus used to illustrate how He would use them in His kingdom. He would make them “fishers of men.”

They learned Jesus’ teachings, His way of life, His relationship with God, His desires for them to be witnesses to others, and much more.

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Micah 6:8 ESV

Jesus put the learning issue front and center when He said:

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Matthew 11:29 ESV

How do we learn from Jesus today? He is not here to personally instruct us in what He wants us to do or say on a day-to-day basis. So, how do we know what we are to do in His service?

Scripture tells us exactly what He wants from His disciples.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

John 14:15 ESV

We are to keep His commandments, and they are found in Scripture. Matthew 5 begins with the verses we call The Beatitudes – verses that describe the blessings in the kingdom of heaven. This chapter continues with numerous verses that set out a portion of Jesus’ teaching on how we are to live. Verses such as:

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Matthew 5:16 ESV

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”

Matthew 5:21-22 ESV

If you want to know how you are to live as a disciple of Jesus, read His Word, the Holy Bible and you will find your answer. The primary commandment is that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and that we love our neighbor as ourselves. Deuteronomy 6:5 and Luke 10:27. But there are many other commandments that relate to how we are to live and fulfill the primary commandment above.

Learning – we learn in many ways. I pray that you and I would focus our desires to learn that which pleases our Lord and may we actively take steps to learn His commands so that we can obey His words and please him in our life, actions, words and thoughts.

Father, I pray that You would enable me to seek You and learn of Your ways through Your Holy Word. Holy Spirit, I pray that You would enlighten my heart so that I can understand and follow my Lord’s commands always.

George Seurat spent over two years, painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grand Jette.” It is nearly 7 by 10 feet and occupies an entire wall in the Art Institute of Chicago. The painting depicts a lovely landscape with lakeside visitors, including people in 1896 garb, complete with dogs and even a pet monkey in front of a lady in the foreground.

Standing at the entrance to the hall where the painting is hung, you can feel a part of the lovely, sunny afternoon in Paris.

georges_seurat_-_a_sunday_on_la_grande_jatte_-_1884_-_google_art_project

[Copy of picture obtained from Wikimedia: By Georges Seurat – twGyqq52R-lYpA at Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22319969%5D

But stand closer and all you see are yellow, red and blue dots, each carefully positioned to contribute to the painting as a whole. Seurat believed that this form of painting, called divisionism at the time but now known as pointillism, would make the colors more brilliant and powerful than standard brushstrokes. His painting teaches us a valuable lesson in perspective.

Sometimes, you have to back away from a situation to get the full picture.

Jesus understood this. For example, the people were crying “Hosanna” and “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord” while He was riding on the back of the donkey in what is called “His Triumphal Entry”.

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

Luke 19:41-42

Jesus wept because of their unbelief and the coming judgment of which they were completely unaware. He wept because the very people proclaiming allegiance to the King would become the same people who would cry out demanding His crucifixion in just a few days. He wept because the people were clamoring for release from Roman bondage when their real need was release from the bondage of sin, but this need was not even on their radar screen.

He stood afar and looked at the entire scene unfolding before Him, and recognized that the people were clamoring after that which would do no good and that they were ignoring the relief that He could bring which would do eternal good.

But then there are times when you must get into the picture to see what is going on – you must get into the dirt and grime of the situation in order to assist those who are helpless by themselves.

Jesus understood this too. For example, at other times, He participated in the situation itself, getting close to those involved in the conflict. In John 8:3-11 we read of the following encounter:

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst – they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Jesus got into the mix with the scribes and Pharisees. What He wrote in the sand we don’t know, but it was possible that He was listing the sins of those who were the woman’s accusers. I can imagine that the accusers were so convicted when they saw that Jesus knew their sins and had listed them in the writing on the ground that they just wanted to get away from the situation. No longer were they intent on getting this woman for her sin. Rather, they all left the woman alone and unharmed with Jesus.

Then, when He addressed the woman, He, who could have condemned her because He was without sin, extended grace and mercy by letting her go with the command not to sin any more.

He stood close by the woman and saw the entire situation. Sometimes what you see depends on where you stand.

A famous Christmas song is entitled “Do you hear what I hear?”. Here it is as sung on the Nashville A Capella Album Christmas.

The first verse asks “Do you see what I see?”. When I hear that song I hear my Lord saying “Linda, do you see what I see? Do you see the hurting, the lost, the wanderer? Do you see the one needing assistance who I put in your path because she was too timid to ask for help? Do you see what I see? If so, how are you responding; what are you doing to do about it!”

May we seek our perspective from Him who provides help far surpassing our own limited abilities. Seek the Lord and lean on His wisdom rather than your own. Sometimes, you have to back away from a situation to get the full picture, and sometimes you have to get involved to see the real problem.

Either way, I pray that we will stand where Christ places us, and that we will have eyes that see that which He sees so that our hands can do that which He directs, through His power and for His glory alone.

Father, I pray that You will position me so that I see that which You want me to see. May I be close enough to feel the pain and to assist in relieving stress and discomfort, if that is what You call me to do. May I back up so I am far enough away from a situation so that I can see the whole picture, and then have an understanding about how to resolve or alleviate the difficulty, if that is what You call me to do. May I do all that You ask and may I do it to my very best ability, for Your glory and honor.