Request 279 Luke 11 Stirred Up

Luke 6:1-16

Cast and drama.
Luke, Zephaniah, Mrs. Zephaniah (Joanna), Jesus, Pharisee

Mrs. Zephaniah: May I help you?

Luke: Oh, I’m sorry. I was expecting to find my friend Zephaniah. He had been sharing accounts with me of Jesus’s early ministry.

Mrs. Zephaniah: Oh, don’t worry, he should be around back, by the fig tree. you must be Dr. Luke. Remember, we met the other day

Luke: That’s right.

Mrs. Zephaniah: that must have been some conversation you gentlemen had last night. Even after my husband came to bed, your visit and Jesus was all he could talk about.

Luke: I hope he didn’t keep you up too late. it’s all my fault. Time just seemed to get away from us.

Mrs. Zephaniah: I’m used to it. Once you get Tiberias and Zephaniah wound up talking about Jesus, they just don’t know when to quit.

Luke: Should I Come back later then? After he gets some time to rest.

Mrs. Zephaniah: oh no. he’s already been up, and to the lake. Just go around back, you can find him sitting under the fig tree.

Luke: thank you, but I don’t want to intrude on him.

Mrs. Zephaniah: Just go. The more he talks about Jesus, the more it lifts his spirits and keeps him in a good mood.

Luke: Thanks, I’ll find him then. Grace and peace to you.

Mrs. Zephaniah: Huh? Oh yes, grace and peace Dr. Luke.

Zephaniah: Luke! Good morning! Have you returned to hear more about the ministry of the Master?

Luke: Yes, if you don’t mind. I mean, I don’t want to stir anything up.

Zephaniah: funny you should use those words, “not wanting to stir things up.” Jesus had a way of doing just that when it came to religious traditions.
(Fading out)

Luke: On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grain fields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said,

Pharisee: “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”

Luke: And Jesus answered them,

Jesus: “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?”

Luke: And he said to them,

Jesus: “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

[sound: transition]

Luke: I have a question. Can you tell me more about why there was a problem with eating grain in the field?

Zephaniah: Certainly. In our Hebrew tradition, there was no trouble with eating grain directly in the field. In harvest season, even following behind the reapers is permitted.

Luke: Let me guess. It was prohibited to do on the sabbath.

Zephaniah: yes, and no. Specifically, gleaning is permitted, just as long as there is no use of a sickle to cut down the stalks of grain.

Luke: So, it was really OK for the followers of Jesus to eat?

Zephaniah: it is permitted to pick up the stalks of grain. But before you can eat, the grain must be removed from the husk.

Luke: Right, so that’s why they rubbed the heads of grain in their hands.

Zephaniah: And rubbing means threshing, work., sin on the sabbath according to rabbinical teaching

Luke: So, if you’re hungry, you can pick up food, but you can’t eat it.

Zephaniah: That’s the understanding of our religious leaders. But did you notice how Jesus used their own scripture against them to demonstrate how doing good on the sabbath is also permitted, and just as important.

Luke: When he compared what he did to David and his eating the shewbread in the temple.

Zephaniah: He also used the claim that the son of man is the lord of the sabbath.

Luke: I noticed that. What does it mean?

Zephaniah: Son of man was how Jesus usually referred to himself. In general, it meant the Master was a man, like all the rest of us. But with Jesus, it also pointed to his higher, divine authority.

Luke: I’m not sure I understand.

Zephaniah: Let me see if this will help. On another Sabbath here in Capernaum, the scribes and Pharisees were looking for other reasons to trap him.
(fading out)

[sound: writing]

Luke: On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath so that they might find a reason to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand,

Jesus: “Come and stand here.”

Luke: And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them,

Jesus: “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?”

Luke: And after looking around at them all he said to him,

Jesus: “Stretch out your hand.”

Luke: And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

[sound: transition]

Luke: The scribes silently watched to see what would happen.

Zephaniah: Right, because they knew this man would be in the temple to hear Jesus.

Luke: But the man didn’t ask. He didn’t express faith that he might be healed.

Zephaniah: Jesus knew their thoughts, and that they were evil. You see, the withered hand was not a critical or life-threatening illness.

Luke: I know it, but when good can be done but is withheld, it’s the same as doing evil.

Zephaniah: And that’s what had the religious leaders fill with fury over their failed plan to trip up Jesus.

Luke: with Jesus causing trouble with religious leaders, how did that affect his ministry? I know many came to him to be healed. He must have had hundreds of disciples.

Zephaniah: You’re right, there were many of us who followed the master in the early days. Crowds by the thousand came to him. Many of us were students who spent time, closely learning from him.

Luke: And I guess the multitude of his followers just took off from there.

Zephaniah: No, actually the number of close disciples reduced from 72 to 12. Jesus spent a night in prayer when an important transition took place
(fading out)

[sound: writing]

Zephaniah: In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when the day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

[sound: transition]

[sound: woman scream, things falling, and running feet]

Zephaniah: Joanna! Are you all right! What happened?

Joanna (in pain and maybe embarrassment): I’ll be fine dear. I – I managed to cut myself. Hurry and fetch a doctor though.

Luke: Is this fast enough? I’m a doctor.

Zephaniah: Oh, heavens yes.

Joanna: Oh yes, that’s right. I forgot you were here.

Luke: Let me see, where did you get cut?

Zephaniah: Joanna dear, what have I told you about cutting things with your eyesight, as bad as it is.

Joanna: it’s right here Dr. Luke. (now directed at her husband) And what have I told you about having my knives sharpened?

Luke: Ah, I think I can have this fixed up in no time.

Zephaniah: The cut?

Luke: No, I need you to bring me some hot water and clean cloths for that. But I think it may fix your other problem if you each apologize to one another in love.

Zephaniah:
What? Oh yes. I’m sorry dear, you know how much I worry about you. I’ll send out today to have those knives sharpened for you.

Joanna: No no, I should be apologizing to you. I could have taken more care in what I was doing.

Luke: There there, now for this other little problem. Let me wash off your hand and tend to this little cut…
(fading out)

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