Todays readings.. Numbers 1, Psalms 143-144, Luke 11
“WHOEVER IS NOT WITH ME …”
Jesus spoke in parables, stories that were not necessarily factual because their purpose was to drive home some principle about the spiritual meaning of life. In Luke 10 we encounter some one word parables and phrases that are so obviously not literal. He did many miracles in Capernaum and other cities. He challenges, “If the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago …” [v.13]
Capernaum had been the scene of many miracles, but it did not spark a spirit of repentance! They pursued Christ for more mass feeding on loaves and fishes – and the Master lamented, when they found him on the other side of the lake, “you are seeking me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the fill of the loaves.” [John 6 v.26] This attitude leads Jesus to say, “… you Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades” [Luke 10 v.15]
The city experienced seeing heavenly powers which it failed to react to. Its reward for this failure would be by going “down to Hades” That’s “Hell” in the old A V Bible, the grave, in many modern versions. And Capernaum did die – for 1500 years – until archaeologists uncovered its ruins; but it was still a dead city..
In Luke 12 we read how Jesus makes a significant point, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required.” [v.48] The people of Capernaum failed on this important principle, much awareness was provided to them. Can we fail in this way today? The whole world around us has failed, the wonders of creation have never been so evident.
Jesus’ disciples are sent out on a successful preaching and healing mission and when they return Jesus says, “I saw Satan like lightning fall from heaven” [10 v.18]. Obviously this not be understood literally! We have seen the symbolic meaning of heaven! It means that the enemies of Jesus, those seeking his destruction, were “disarmed” by the demonstrations of heaven’s power and lost their position as heaven’s representatives.
We see in Ch. 11 how Jesus ridicules their attempts to deny the heavenly powers of Jesus [v.15-23], he ends by saying, “Whoever is not with me is against me…” We cannot take a neutral position when it comes to our personal relationship with Jesus. We must remember that! Are we against him – or for him – and therefore “with” him?
