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Saturday, February 16, 2008 CW Weekly Devotional - "A 'Meddling' Gospel" By laneglaze @ 9:40 AM :: 87 Views :: 0 Comments :: :: Weekly Devotional   A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Luke 18:18, NIV   Note:  I have found that Luke's Gospel is the toughest to preach and teach in the congregations that I have served and know well, churches mostly filled with educated, financially comfortable folks.  After spending Thursday morning in a Bible study wrestling with the demands of the Gospel of Luke, the following satirical letter to the editor came to mind, penned by one of Luke's more famous characters.  Those of us in the study, like the "writer" of this piece, found much of what Luke had to say difficult to swallow, much less to believe.  As a pastor friend of mine likes to say when my preaching moves from the purely "spiritual" to the oft-costly practical, Luke's version of Jesus' life and ministry can only be described as a "meddling" Gospel.  Lord, have mercy on all of us who are rich, including me. CLG To: Editor, Anderson Independent I really don't like the Gospel of Luke.  In fact, I think it is quite dangerous. Yes, I know that scholars have long viewed Luke's Gospel and his second volume of the Acts of the Apostles as a great, two-volume masterpiece, full of inspiring stories transcribed in the most beautiful Greek.  And yes, I understand that Luke went to great lengths to ensure that an "orderly" account was documented and preserved, drawing from the many witnesses, both oral and written, that were circulating during his lifetime.  But the fact of the matter still remains: I really don't like the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Luke. Sure, Luke's birth narrative is so touching with Mary, Elizabeth, the angels and the shepherds.  But subtly, almost sneakily, Luke reveals in Mary's famous song his bias about what this Gospel will entail.  In Mary's praise of God, she notes that while God's mercy "extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation," the same God has also "scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts" and "brought down rulers from their thrones."  And at the same time that Mary's God is lifting up the humble and "filling the hungry with good things,"  he is sending "the rich away empty."  Hey, I'm no dummy - I can see right through Luke's biased plan from the very beginning.  With all this talk of an abundantly gracious and merciful God, Luke is setting the hook for his eventual bait and switch: following God is really all about economics. It is obvious that Luke tries to make this point throughout the Gospel.  Early on he has Jesus' family trying to throw him off a cliff for proclaiming that the Good News is about and for the poor, the broken, the oppressed and the blind.  Come on!  Why would anyone want to kill Jesus, especially his family and closest friends?  A few chapters later Luke irresponsibly amends Matthew's eloquent Beautitudes to make them about the poor and the hungry, and he dares to add four "woes" against people like me who are rich, comfortable, well-fed and upstanding citizens.  Doesn't Luke understand that we're the kinds of people that make the world go round?  Ingrate! And even more egregiously, Luke fabricates fifteen or more parables that are not found in any of the other Gospels, and most of these deal either directly or indirectly with economic issues.  The Good Samaritan, the Rich Fool, the Great Banquet, the Rich Man and Lazarus, the Pharisee and the Tax Collector - just to name a few.  Where does he dream this stuff up?  He obviously doesn't have the first clue about business and finance.  Can you believe that a Gospel written by someone with such naivity and ignorance would be included in the Bible?  If you ask me, this guy sounds like a communist! Now I don't know about you, but I learned a long time ago that cross-disciplinary conversations are always dangerous.  Let's keep religion out of our politics, politics out of our economics, and economics out of our religion.  History has proven over and over again that mixing such things can be toxic, but obviously Dr. Luke does not know any better.  Maybe he isn't the educated physician that scholars claim him to be. So my advice to you today is simply this: stay away from the Gospel of Luke.  If you're not careful, you will be seduced into believing that what we do with our pocketbooks has eternal ramifications!  Trust me, God loves you just the way you are.  So when you hear your preacher talking about issues of money and stewardship from the pulpit, just tune him or her out.  That's what I always do. With the utmost confidence and self-righteousness, Richard Y. "Rich" Ruler Founder and Executive Director, The Coaltion for the Separation of Church and Wallet 1-800-GoL-1818 Rev. C. Lane Glaze Director - Clemson Wesley Foundation Campus Minister - Clemson UMC PO Box 1703 Clemson SC 29633 864-207-9135 (c) or 864-654-5547 (o) www.clemsonwesley.com Feel free to forward this email to a friend.The Clemson Wesley Weekly Devotional is a ministry of the Clemson Wesley Foundation, the United Methodist Church’s ministry to students on the campus of Clemson University. The purpose of this email is to look at issues relevant to the life of Clemson students through the lens of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you would like your name added to this list, email Rev. Lane Glaze at glaze@clemson.edu.

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