In the synoptic gospels – Mark, Matthew and Luke – the event we call the Transfiguration is a singular turning point. Right after the Transfiguration Luke says, “As the time approached when Jesus was to be taken up into heaven, he determined to go to Jerusalem” (9:51) Mark and Matthew say much the same thing. In Luke almost two-thirds of gospel, two-thirds of the text, remain after Jesus meets with Moses and Elijah on the mountaintop but in the chronology of the gospel Jesus is relatively close to his arrest and crucifixion. So there is an urgency to everything that happens afterward. Everything that Jesus says and does is said and done in the shadow of the cross.
In the post-Transfiguration stories there are a lot of what we call controversy narratives – stories of Jesus being confronted, challenged by religious authorities who are looking for a way to trap him. You’ll also see that Jesus is met by a huge groundswell of support from the masses, the “crowds.” At least part of the reason the crowds are getting larger is because Jesus has sent out an advance team. Luke tells us he sent out seventy-two people in pairs – thirty-six teams – to every town and place where he himself intended to go. (10:1)
This week I’m preaching on Luke 12:13-31, a passage that begins with Jesus being asked by “someone in the crowd” to settle and inheritance dispute. But rather than tell the brothers how to divvy up the property, Jesus uses the opportunity to tell a parable about the futility of “hoarding things.” Then, in light of that parable, he issues a warning about worry. I find it remarkable that he could speak with such winsome wonder knowing what awaits him in Jerusalem. But I’m also wrestling with how best to affirm Jesus. Because isn’t there a lot to worry about? And I don’t mean the distorted fear-mongering that is so much a part of the current national dialogue. I mean the very real worry that is faced by real people all the time. Sometimes I read these verses and think, well, that’s easy for you to say.
And it’s probably accurate that the crowds to which Jesus was speaking were quite literally worried about what they would eat and what they would wear. The survival worries of oppressed peasants in and occupied land.
So that’s what I’m working on for Sunday. How do we interpret or take seriously Jesus’s warning about worry when there may be legitimate cause for it?
In other news, we’ve got some fresh announcements below and so I encourage you check out some of our upcoming events, including a Nashville Sounds baseball game and our annual church picnic.