New Testament Lesson #19 Luke 18:1–8, 35–43; 19:1–10; John
11:1–54
“Thy Faith Hath Saved Thee”
Introduction
This week’s lesson focuses on one parable and three pivotal events:
Jesus tells of the unjust judge and the persevering widow; He heals a blind man
after his exercise of faith; He befriends Zacchaeus, a Jewish tax collector who
was shunned because of his profession; and He brings Martha and Mary’s brother
Lazarus back from the dead. These events take place in the final weeks of the
Lord’s mission in His mortal body. They seem to epitomize His mission to those
who are in need, both physically and spiritually, and finally to prefigure His
own resurrection, so that His disciples might understand the culmination of His
mission.
Luke 18:1–8
As Br. Lott pointed out last week, Joseph Smith gave us the key to
understand parables, “I have a key by which I understand the scriptures. I
enquire, what was the question which drew out the answer, or caused Jesus to
utter the parable” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 276). The
question might be that in Luke 17:20—“When would the Kingdom of God come?” We
can also look to D&C 101: 79–81 for a modern application. Interestingly,
the widow in ancient Israel had no legal standing—she was reliant on any close
male relative for pretty much everything, so she would not have been able to
bring a law suit on her own. Hence her repeated appeals to the unjust judge on
a personal basis. Verse 7 refers to the “elect.” Question: What does it mean to be “elect”?
Richard G. Scott, “It is a mistake to assume that every prayer we offer
will be answered immediately. Some prayers require considerable effort on our
part. …When we explain a problem and a proposed solution [to our Heavenly
Father], sometimes He answers yes, sometimes no. Often He withholds an answer,
not for lack of concern, but because He loves us—perfectly. He wants us to
apply truths He has given us. For us to grow, we need to trust our ability to
make correct decisions. We need to do what we feel is right. In time, He will
answer. He will not fail us.”[1]
Regarding prayer, Is our wish list different from our prayer list--if
so, should we be bringing them into harmony?
Luke 18:35–43
Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem via Jericho when a blind man seated by
the road, begging, addresses Him. This event is recorded by Mark and Matthew
also (Mark 10:46; Matthew 20:29–30). From Mark, we learn that the blind man’s
name might have been Bartimaeus. On the outskirts of a large city with the
hustle and bustle of people coming and going, not only does the blind man pick
out one person, but he addresses Him as “Son of David” showing that he knew who
“Jesus of Nazareth” really was. Question:
Will we know the Savior when we see Him? How?
Elder Andersen said: “In that day
He will not come ‘wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger,’ but He will
appear ‘in the clouds of heaven, clothed with power and great glory; with all
the holy angels.’ We will hear ‘the voice of the archangel, and … the trump of
God.’ The sun and the moon will be transformed, and ‘stars [will] be hurled
from their places.’ You and I, or those who follow us, ‘the saints … from [every
quarter] of the earth,’ ‘shall be quickened and … caught up to meet him,’ and those who have died in righteousness,
they too will ‘be caught up to meet him in the midst … of heaven.’ Then, a seemingly
impossible experience: ‘All flesh,’ the Lord says, ‘shall see me together.’ How
will it happen? We do not know. But I testify it will happen—exactly as
prophesied. We will kneel in reverence, ‘and the Lord shall utter his voice,
and all the ends of the earth shall hear it.’ ‘It shall be … as the voice of
many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder.’ ‘[Then] the Lord, … the
Savior, shall stand in the midst of his people.’”[2]
The only thing the blind beggar would normally be asking for would be
food or alms, but of the Savior, he asks for something only the Son of God
could give. And, like the widow in the previous parable, he has to persist
since those in the crowd with Jesus sought to silence him. First he begs for
mercy, then, audaciously, and one can imagine his hardly daring to utter the
words. His sight. And the Lord grants it to Him immediately without any
physical demonstration. As a result of which he becomes a follower, a disciple.
The JST is critical here “and all the disciples, when they saw this, gave
praise unto God” (JST 18:43). Jesus was demonstrating specifically to His
disciples His divine power.
Luke 19:1–10—Zacchaeus
Now in Jericho, together with thousands who are on their way to
Jerusalem for the Passover, Jesus will need a place to stay for the night. In
what might have been a poignant reminder of the night He took on mortal flesh,
there would undoubtedly have been no room in the inn for most people but
possibly His notoriety would have gained Him entry wherever He chose. But
today, as throughout His mortal ministry, the Savior chooses to lodge with the
“lost,” a “sinner” (see vss. 7, 10). In contrast to the blind beggar, Zacchaeus
is a chief tax collector which means he was more an administrator and he was
rich. He too was curious to “see” Jesus, but was hampered by his small stature.
Being in a crowd who presumably knew who he was and despised him for his
seeming allegiance to Rome, he was unable to “see,” so he climbed a tree. When
the Savior called him down, telling him that he would dine with him, Zacchaeus
felt it necessary to account for his actions which were in contrast to what one
would expect of a rich tax collector in those times. Question: If we were to stand before the Lord now, how would we account
for our actions? Thinking back to the lesson two weeks ago, what do we need to
change?
Because of his faithfulness and all else that the Savior saw in
Zacchaeus, for him and his household “This day is salvation come to this house,
forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham” (vs. 9). Jesus’s encounter with the
blind beggar and Zacchaeus are the last recorded instances of His interactions
with what might be determined outcasts. From now on, the Gospels record only His
dealings with the Jews and, of course, Rome in the form of Pontius Pilate.
John 11:1–16—Lazarus, my Beloved.
Pressing on to Jerusalem, the Savior now makes His way to Bethany where
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus live. He does this because Lazarus is ill and, before
He set out, the sisters had asked Him to come and heal him. The Savior is still
teaching His disciples of what is to come—about His mission and, more
specifically here, His power over death. When Jesus says that Lazarus is
“sleeping,” meaning that his death is not permanent, any more than Christ’s own
will be, they misunderstand and Jesus must baldly state, “Lazarus is dead” (vs.
14). Extravagantly Thomas declares that
he is willing to die also if it comes to that (vs 16), since going to Jerusalem
at this time is, in the disciples’ minds sounding the death knell for Jesus,
and, by definition, His close followers. Question: Do we sometimes making
extravagant, sweeping declarations about how we will change those things that
need changing? What is more realistic?
17–28
Unlike Jairus’s daughter and the son of the widow of Nain, Lazarus had
been dead “four days” by the time Jesus arrived. Bruce R. McConkie explains, “Decomposition was well under way; death had long since been established
as an absolute certainty. … To the Jews the term of four days had special
significance; it was the popular belief among them that by the fourth day the
spirit had finally and irrevocably departed from the vicinity of the corpse.”[3] Jewish burial practices at the time required
that the body be dressed in fine linen then covered in fragrant herbs. Loved
ones would check on the body in the cave-tomb for the first few days and then
leave it for a year or more for decomposition to fully take place. The bones
were then placed in an ossuary for more compact burial—reminding one of Ezekiel
37.
Interestingly, it is Martha who comes to the Savior, in contrast to our
previous encounter with the sisters (Luke 10). Verses 11–23 are very touching
and show Martha’s testimony and faith in the Savior. First she affirms her
knowledge that He would have been able to heal Lazarus if He were there, but
then the Savior teaches her again about the Resurrection, and not just that
which will take place at the end of days, but about His conquering death, and
Martha believes.
James E. Talmage, “The sorrowing woman’s faith had to be lifted and
centered in the Lord of Life with whom she was speaking. She had before confessed
her conviction that whatever Jesus asked of God would be granted; she had to
learn that unto Jesus had already been committed power over life and death. She
was hopefully expectant of some superhuman interposition by the Lord Jesus in
her behalf, yet she knew not what that might be. Apparently at this time she
had no well-defined thought or even hope that He would call her brother from
the tomb. To the Lord’s question as to whether she believed what He had just
said, she answered with simple frankness; all of it she was not able to
understand; but she believed in the Speaker even while unable to fully
comprehend His words. “Yea, Lord,” she said, “I believe that thou art the
Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.”[4]
29–54
But doubt still creeps in. When Jesus arrives, Mary almost accusingly
says, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” (vs. 32). And
Martha is seemingly appalled that the Savior wants to roll the stone away “Lord,
by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days” (vs. 39). Maybe she
just wanted Lazarus to come forth like the son of the widow of Nain and
Jairus’s daughter. However, there are distinct differences—the amount of time
between Lazarus’s being pronounced dead and Jesus’s arrival; the fact that
Lazarus was already consigned to the tomb; and the implied criticism not only
from the sisters but the assembled Jews, His followers, “Could not this man,
which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not
have died?” (vs. 37).
It is also interesting to note the differences between the resurrection
of Lazarus and that of Jesus. Firstly, Lazarus, as with all of us, did not have
the power to resurrect himself and that power was not given to him. The Savior
has the power and called Lazarus back from death—the path He Himself would walk
under His own power a short time later. Lazarus, having been resurrected,
needed help to get out of the linen bindings, “Loose him, and let him go” (vs. 44).
When the stone was rolled away from Jesus’s tomb, the linen wrappings were
neatly folded—He needed no help.
This monumental miracle inadvertantly caused Caiaphas to utter prophetic
words, the extent of which he could not have realized, “And one of them, named
Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing
at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for
the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of
himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die
for that nation” (vss. 49–51). Not only the nation, but all mankind, who will
eventually know who He is and what He did for us.
Bible videos:
Jesus raises Lazarus from
the dead
The Parable of the Talents
No comments:
Post a Comment