The Kingdom and Commentaries

On Sunday I was thinking about the kingdom of God and my part in it. The thought that I believe the Lord reminded me about was from (I think) Henry Blackaby who encourages people not to sit and ask the Lord for a long, long time what His will is for them, but while waiting and praying, to look and see what God is already doing and join Him in that work.

So our new class of Alpha is starting soon and I signed up. It's been a while since I've served God through Alpha, and never for the entire ten weeks. My flesh has always won out. This time I said, "Okay, Lord, Tuesdays are gonna be really, really long, but I trust the payoff for Your kingdom to be well worth the effort." I kept thinking of the people who have given testimony to how coming to Alpha to find out about God, the Bible, what life means (and doesn't mean), and what it means to be in a relationship wtih Jesus. Their lives have been changed. What better way can a person use the time God has given him or her than to glorify Him?

I also want to keep studying this whole kingdom topic while putting what I understand into practice. So in the past few days my pastor has referred me to what he has found to be the best commentary on the kingdom of God. I haven't read it but intend to soon. Why don't I just launch right into a commentary? Because I know my weakness would be to rely on what a human says about something before asking the Holy Spirit any questions. I grow faster spiritually when I really think about a topic and ask questions of God before going to other sources. When I get stuck, or if I suspect I am wrong, or if someone challenges my thinking too hard, I will go to the experts. I am not opposed in the least to seeking the scholar's opinions.

Having said that, today I read Luke 13. In verse 18 Jesus asks, "What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden and it grew and became a tree and the birds of the air made nests in its branches. To what shall I compare it? It
is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened."

Jesus was speaking to a mixed crowd of men and women. I can't tell from the context if He is still in the synagogue or if Luke has moved on in his storytelling without telling us the new setting. (Verses 10-17 start with "Now he was teaching in one of the syngagogues...." In my version there is a break with a new heading titled "Teh Mustard Seed and the Leaven" Then verse 18 starts, 'He said therefore, "What is the kingdom of God like?"

Usually when the text says "therefore" it's a good idea to see what it is there for.(Christian expositor's cliche, but it works for me.)

Since I don't think men and women were allowed in the same part of the synagogue at the same time, I am thinking this account may be set out on a hillside or somewhere socially acceptable for the Jewish crowd to mingle. (If I have any Jewish scholars in my readership--I hear my mom tried to comment but it didn't wor--or if there are Gentile history buffs among you, please comment on this point. I am curious, but still afraid to check the commentaries lest I get sidetracked.)

Thus ends my blog time for now. I am strictly disciplining myself to three 20-minute blog time three times a day. Besides, you are busy yourself and don't need to read on and on. However, I have more to say about how my title relates to this passage. I would encourage you to read Luke 13:10-20 and then ask God questions about it. What better conversation could you hold than with the Creator of the Universe and the Author of this passage?



Photo by Sarah Z, my wonderful daughter, who blogs at www.77thpsalm.blogspot.com