Luke 12:1-12

Luke 12:1-3 - Jesus warns against Hypocrisy

¹ In the meantime crowds gathered in such vast numbers as to be stepping on each other. But first he began to speak to his disciples. “Be cautious about the yeast, that is, the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.

The problems of the Pharisees were potentially the problems facing every Christian community, the issues to which religious people especially were singularly prone.

² There will be nothing covered that will not be uncovered, nor concealed that will not be made known.

³ Rather whatever you said in darkness will be heard in the light, and what you whispered in a closed room will be proclaimed from the rooftops.

Hypocrisy destroys the inner truth of every individual, and of community, leading to crippling inconsistency, arguments and division. Though it can be hidden for some time, it does not remain hidden forever. Its very destructiveness betrays it.

Trust in God – Surrendering Fear

Luke widened his consideration of the implications of the primacy of truth. Christians resident in the non-Christian world surrounding them were to live from their truth.

Luke 12:4-12 - Jesus Calls for Fearless Confession

⁴ “To you, my friends, I say,

Have no fear of those who kill you physically,

but after that can do no more to you.

⁵ Rather, I shall tell you whom to fear.

Fear the one who after you have been killed,

has the capacity to cast you into Gehenna.

Indeed, fear that one.

Jesus called his hearers friends, the only time in the Gospel when he would use the word. Perhaps it indicated a particular empathy on Jesus’ part for those likely to suffer for his sake.

Christian life in the Roman Empire, that equated religious dissent with political opposition, was dangerous. Christians did indeed face the prospect of execution. Luke counselled fearlessness, but a fearlessness that made sense only in the broader vision of life beyond death.

Who has capacity to cast into Gehenna? Strictly speaking, Gehenna is the lived experience, both present and future, of the deliberate rejection of God who is love. Only the free person can deliberately choose that (and some wonder even about the real possibility of that). The loving God who respects human freedom would appear to be constrained to respect even a person’s free decision of rejection.

⁶ Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins?

And not one of them is neglected in the sight of God.

⁷ Why even all the hairs on your head are counted.

Have no fear;

you are of greater value than a host of sparrows.

Luke’s concern was to remind his readers that God was always a God of love, to whom every human person was precious. Was it possible for anyone, having once known God and still believing, freely and knowingly to reject that God? Such rejection might happen from weakness and under pressure, but not from strength. Yet, Jesus had instructed his disciples to pray: do not put us to the test. Was the point of such prayer, not to persuade God, but rather to build up the disciples’ own confidence?

⁸ “I assure, whoever acknowledges me before others,

the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God.

⁹ Whoever denies me before others

will be denied before the angels of God.

¹⁰ Whoever utters a word against the Son of Man

will be forgiven,

but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit

will not be forgiven.

The imagery of the Son of Man and the angels of God was drawn straight from the Book of Daniel, where the scene was that of the final judgment of the world. Jesus seems to have said that God would disown, or deny, all who disown Jesus. But then he said that any word against Jesus, the Son of Man, would be forgiven, only to add that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would not be forgiven. Perhaps Jesus’ next comment throws light on what at first sight seem contradictory statements.

What would constitute blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? The context was that of human law courts and persecution. Jesus maintained that the Holy Spirit would support the accused disciples. Under pressure of torture, some might weaken so much as to speak against Jesus and apparently disown him. However, whatever they might say under duress might not necessarily reflect what they believed. They might not in fact lose faith in Jesus or even their love for him. Their failure could be the failure of Peter - a momentary breakdown in courage that would be later repented and forgiven.

The other possibility would be to lose faith in Jesus, or in the possibility of the Kingdom. It would be a closure to the inspiration of the Spirit, the ever-present source of confidence in God. It would be an inner refusal to trust – a radical denial of Jesus, a loss of faith: the blasphemy against the Spirit. Such seemed to have been the failure of Judas, who freely chose to put himself beyond desire for reconciliation.

¹¹ When they parade you

before synagogues and magistrates and others in authority,

do not worry about how to give answer or what to say.

¹² The Holy Spirit will instruct you what to say

when the time comes.”

The strength to face the world and its evil would come not from inner strength but from the power of God.

Next >> Luke 12:13-21