(Luke) 30 - Missions-Luke10 — Ed Miller

Again, to our look in the Bible, I remind you of the principle that you know so well, but it never hurts to review, and that is total reliance upon God's Holy Spirit. When we come to the Bible, God has taught us that though academic things are helpful, they're not indispensable.

And the only indispensable thing is coming as a little child before the Lord and then having him teach our spirits. And so he's been faithful, and even though this is our last week until after Labor Day together, let's trust the Lord to clinch it so that we'll have a good time.

I'll ask you please to bow with me as we commit our time unto him. Our Father, we do thank you that we could gather in this place and open your word and trust your Holy Spirit to enlighten our hearts and to instruct us in your heart.

Thank you for the Bible teacher that lives in our hearts, who searches the depths of God and reveals it unto the hungry. And so we wait now and we pray that our gathering this morning would be very edifying, that we lift one another up and encourage one another.

We do pray that you would show yourself and minister to our heart. And so we give our Bible study unto you with thanksgiving and we claim your presence in the all-prevailing name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

Luke 10 and the Judean Ministry of Jesus

I'll ask you please to open to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10 is where we are. Let me just sort of give a little bit of a review. Last week we began our introduction to this second part of Luke. The first part we call the Galilean ministry of Christ.

And that pretty much takes about two years out of the three and a half year ministry of the Lord. And the Galilean ministry of Christ is characterized by action. In other words, in that ministry we call him the friend of all mankind because he's the doer.

It's filled with miracles. He's constantly reaching out to the needy, to the oppressed. Over against what we're looking at now called the Judean ministry covers about the last six months of Jesus' life.

And this is more on teaching rather than doing. There's overlapping, of course, and we'll see some miracles. But in this section, for example, we'll look at 17 parables because this is the teaching section.

And in the Judean ministry we get more and more focused. Now I tried to introduce that last time and call attention to the notable change in spirit between the Galilean and the Judean ministry. In chapter 951, where the Judean ministry begins, we read that our Lord Jesus set his face resolutely, firmly, decidedly toward Jerusalem.

Now we're not talking geography there. It's true Jerusalem is a place, but in the next little while he'll go into Jerusalem three times and out again and back in and out. Now when it says he set his face toward Jerusalem, it means he set his face toward the cross, toward the mission, toward the work that he had.

And I attempted to show you that change in spirit. Now I don't want to communicate the idea that the Judean ministry of Christ is gloomy because it's not. But it is more focused on his mission. And where you were surprised in the Galilean ministry and you never knew what he was going to do.

He would heal this person and that person and surprise people with his action. Now he's focused and when you get off the subject, he brings you back to the subject. The disciples didn't want to hear about the cross and he kept bringing it up.

And he's now firmly set himself. He's determined to go to the cross. In the Galilean ministry, his ministry was rather unpredictable day by day. But now it's very predictable and it's very, very focused.

The last time we looked at chapter 9, 51 to 62, where we saw the beginning of the Judean ministry. In other words, where he was rejected by the Samaritans and then those three men who came and he laid down principles.

What does it mean to really follow him? This morning I would like us to look at chapter 10 as a whole. Now if you just glance at it, you'll say that's awfully big. That's a lot of material to cover and indeed it is.

And I'm sure on the content of this wonderful chapter, we could spend many, many wonderful hours together. But what we're trying to do over and over again is sort of fly over the whole thing. And get a bird's eye view.

And in our survey study of the Gospel of Luke, we have to jump over many details. In order to lay hold of what we consider to be really the heartbeat of God. It would be a shame to know the Bible and miss the Lord.

And that's a possibility. Many times people have studied in such a way that they know the facts. And if you could sit them down and query them, they'd give you all the answers. But they miss the Lord.

And we don't want to do that. So we're going to look in a sort of as in a panorama on this entire chapter. Now let me set it before you as far as the facts are concerned. There are four stories, we'll call them stories, in this chapter.

The first 20 verses have to do with the sending out of the 70. Two by two. Remember earlier we studied when he sent out the 12. Two by two. And they were gone for over a year. But this is a little different because the 70 are being sent out to go before him and prepare the way.

In other words, everywhere they go, Jesus will then follow up. They're sort of setting the program and setting the stage. Good morning. And so the first part is the sending out of the 70. And then chapter 10, 21 to 24, is the second part of this chapter.

And it's the great rejoicing of the Lord Jesus. I call attention to this because only several times in the Bible do we see a passage that says, Jesus rejoiced. Never have we seen a passage that used the particular Greek word that's being used here.

He is exulting. He is thrilled. It says that he rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit. I was told that the actual meaning of the word carries the idea of spinning around with delight. Well, I can't picture Jesus spinning around with delight, but in his spirit he was.

So we need to look at that. And then chapter 10, 25 to 37. You remember when the lawyer came to the Lord and asked what good thing he could do to inherit eternal life. And in the answer to that question, Jesus gave the great parable which we know as the Good Samaritan.

And so that section. And then finally the chapter ends with verse 38 to 42, the story of Mary and Martha in Bethany. Now that's a lot of ground to cover. To talk about the sending out of the 70 and the rejoicing of the Lord and the lawyer coming to him and Mary and Martha in Bethany.

Many stories. But there's not many ideas. And so we're going to home in on the chief ideas. Four stories, four wonderful truths. And so though we'll fly over some of the stories, we're going to pick up these great truths.

Mission as the Central Theme of Luke 10

Let me begin, please, by relating Luke chapter 10 to the Judean ministry of our Lord Jesus. If you could put one word over this entire chapter, all four stories, and summarize the content, I believe the word would be mission.

That's what this is all about, mission. And so we're going to look at chapter 10 and relate each of the stories to the wonderful truth of mission. A glance, if you would, at the first verse. After this, the Lord appointed 70 others, sent them two and two ahead of him to every city and place where he himself was going to come.

And he was saying to them, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest that he might send out laborers into his harvest. I don't think you have to have graduated from a seminary to know he's talking about mission.

And pray the Lord of the harvest. Jesus, in the Judean ministry, has not only set his own heart resolutely to go to the cross, but don't ever forget this great truth that the path of the king is the path of the king's subject.

The path of the king is the path of the king's servant. And he not only sets himself toward the mission and toward the cross and toward the hour and toward the cup, but he also must now inculturate his followers, his disciples, into the truth of what it means to live a sacrificial life and to go to the cross.

And so he's going to the cross, but he's teaching them what it means. If you follow me, you're going to the cross too. And that becomes a great Bible principle. The principle, of course, is redemptive living.

And so he begins to teach them in these last six months, redemptive living. He's going to the cross, missions. You're going to the cross. He ties it in together. And that's why this is so important to understand in the light of the Judean ministry.

Now what he does in this chapter is he sort of takes us under the skin of mission. In other words, if you went to the average missionary conference, you probably wouldn't hear the principles that Jesus lays out in Luke chapter 10.

Because sometimes we like to look at things in a surface way. And even when we deal with problems, we just sort of chop the weeds off at the top. And then there they come back again in some other form.

But Jesus always goes down to the bottom. And he always gets to the heart. And he always is profound and sublime as he deals with these things. Chapter 10 is probably one of the greatest chapters in the New Testament on the truth of mission.

And the way I'm going to look at it is I think he sort of drops several secrets to real missionary enterprise. I'd like you to follow along, please. Sort of glance at those first 20 verses as he sends out the 70.

Now I'm going to bypass the chief principle which we had talked on in another connection when we discussed John the Baptizer. And that is that there's no such thing as a missionary. There are missionary channels.

But there's only one missionary. And his name is Jesus. And so every ministry is based on John the Baptizer. We're forerunners. We go before. We prepare the way. We remove obstacles. But if the Lord doesn't come after and follow up, we have no ministry.

Whatever we do, we can present. We can hold him forth. But then God must come and do the real work. We'll see that in another connection. But these 70 were exactly that. They went first to prepare the way.

And then Jesus came. John said, I baptize with water. One comes after, he'll baptize with the Holy Spirit. And if we just have water, quite honestly, we just get wet. And we miss the great spiritual side of it.

The Sending of the Seventy and Reliance on God

Follow along as we read these verses. Begin at three. Go your ways. I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no shoes. Once you enter, first say, peace be to this house.

And if a man of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. If not, he'll return to you. Stay in that house eating and drinking what they give you. For the laborer is worthy of his hire. Keep moving from house to house.

City you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal those in it who are sick. And say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you. But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, even the dust of your city which clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you.

Yet be sure of this, the kingdom of God has come near. And then drop down please to Luke 10, 16. The one who listens to you listens to me. The one who rejects you rejects me. He who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.

Now I say we're going to look at missions, but I'm really wanting to look at the heart of God in terms of mission. If we were looking topically, in other words if we just said let's study the topic called mission, then we could spend a lot of time on so many principles in these verses.

For example, the importance of praying that God would send forth laborers. You see that's something you could dwell on. Or in verses four to seven, God's promise to provide all the needs of the missionary channel and make them content with whatever's set before that.

Or we could call attention to the passage that tells how to react when you're rejected. How to react when you're received. There's a lot of missionary truths here. They weren't to argue when they were rejected.

They were to leave that to the Lord and move on. And when they were received they were to bring a blessing to that place and so on. There's a section in here that we didn't read but a couple of verses that show that judgment is based on the light that we have received.

In other words, God is fair. And if some society, some people don't have the same privileges, they're not responsible for those privileges. God will only judge us based on the light that we have. And so you see there are many missionary principles here.

I think it's wise that he sent them out two by two or more. It's always wise to have somebody out. Ecclesiastes said if there's two in one fall, the other one's there to pick them up. Especially in the things of God.

There's so many temptations. If you went alone, there'd be the temptation to exaggerate when you came back. Someone would say, how'd it go? Well, like last week. Here, we had, this was amazing. We had between five and six hundred people here.

Now see, that's true. Between five and six hundred. And so that would be the temptation, you see, to come back. But when you got somebody there, you're not going to be tempted. Don't forget our natural hearts.

There would be the temptation to pilfer from the provisions that are made. There'd be the temptation to fall into sin if you're alone. It's good to have. There'd be encouragement when you have another brother or another sister there.

To encourage you and to pray with you. And to supplement your ministry. Nobody has all the answers. And so there's many, many missionary principles. The importance in this chapter from verse three and verse sixteen.

I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves. If they reject you, they reject me. You know, missionaries can get so involved that they think it's their work. And they forget that they're representing the Lord.

There's so much you could share from this on mission. That's not what Luke emphasizes. That's what's so amazing about Luke. He cuts right to the chase and he gets right into the heart of God. Now, Luke mentions those other things, but he doesn't emphasize those things.

Here's what he emphasizes. After they went out two by two and experienced God's miracles and God's provision and rejection and acceptance and all of that. After they experienced that, they came back and their hearts were full.

And they dumped it on Jesus. They had to tell Him. What was it like? Let us tell you. Verse seventeen. The seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. They couldn't get over the success they had on the mission field as missionary channel.

When the seventy returned, they reflected on all that happened. But mostly, they were blown away by the power, the authority, the dominion they were able to exercise over the unclean spirits, over demons.

Even the demons are subject to us in your name. Luke tells us they were rejoicing in the wrong thing. Imagine they come back. It was great. You should have seen it. The power we had. The miracles we saw.

Jesus, let us share. And he said, don't rejoice about that. Look, please, if you would, at verse twenty. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names...

I'll tell you. You read something like that and say, that's a great verse. Somewhere else in a missionary chapter. In a missionary chapter, let's talk about missions and soul winning and how to reach the lost and how to sacrifice.

Let's talk about that. When they come back and rejoice, Jesus said, look, I know all about power over Satan. I was there when he fell like lightning from heaven. I know the power over him and I know what's coming.

I know what's in his future. But don't get so wrapped up, he says, in your mission. In what you're doing. In your success. In your victory. That you forget this basic thing. You know God. Your name is written in heaven.

You belong to him. I'll tell you, some missionary, I've met them. Some missionaries, they need to hear that again. You know, they get so swallowed up in the work. Oh, welcome. I didn't know if a car was blocking someone or something.

We can get so wrapped up in the calling, in the mission, in the work, in the needs of people, that we forget the great privilege. Jesus said, rejoice in this. You belong to me. In other words, if I were to write one sentence for those first 20 verses, I would put this, don't rejoice in what you do.

Rejoice in who you know. And I think that's the point that he's making here. You belong to the Lord. And whatever successes or failures you have in the work of the Lord, doesn't change the bottom line.

You still have the Lord. You still know the Lord. Your name's still written in heaven. And you can get snowed. You can get wiped out with all of the pressures of what's connected with mission. And so Jesus brings them back, and he just says, remember this.

You've seen a lot of things. You've tasted a lot of things. You've seen me provide. You've been rejected. You've been accepted. You've seen wonderful things. I hope you never get beyond this. Jesus loves me.

This I know. You know, you get so swallowed up in theology, we forget that he still loves us. He's still in our heart. That our names are written in heaven. And whatever happens, we have that privilege, that relationship with him.

Revelation, Not Human Ability, Accomplishes Mission

So that's the first thing he does. He says, you want to understand missions, let's focus in the right place. It's not what you do, it's who you know. All right, hold that a moment, please. And glance at verse 21.

At that very time, he rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, said, I praise thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent, and didst reveal them to babes.

Yes, Father, for thus it was well pleasing in thy sight. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son. And anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him.

And turning to the disciples, he said privately, Blessed are your eyes, which see the things you see. I say unto you, many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see and did not see them, to hear the things you hear, and did not hear them.

I call attention to verse 21, that this strong Greek word, Jesus rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit. It's a big deal because it's the only time in the Bible that we ever have a peek at this inner life of Jesus on the joy side.

No place is it recorded that he rejoiced like this. And so you've got to ask the question, what is he so happy about? If he's rejoicing like this, and as I said the original is spinning around with delight.

If he's spinning around with delight, what is this sublime wonder in his heart that's making him rejoice? And it's just this, he's excited about the fact that the truth is hidden from the worldly wise, and it's revealed to babe.

He got so excited, he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit that these things were hidden from the wise and the intelligent and unveiled, manifest to babe. Say, how does that tie into missions? I'll tell you, it ties in in a big way.

Because when you think of missions and ministry, you get this idea, and when I was at Bible school, how they stressed this. Now remember, you're going out with the message. Make it simple, make it bold, make it clear.

Give them the ABC's. A, audible. B, breathe. C, Christ-centered. And they hammered it into us. And we got the idea, I got the idea, that someone's understanding depended on me. That somehow I'd have to communicate the gospel.

So I'd have to use simple illustrations, and I'd have to use the right apt words in right proportions and all that. What the point Jesus is making is this. It's not your job, missionary channel, to communicate the truth.

Again, he takes us back to the bottom. When it's all done, when you've said your little piece, and you gave three points in a poem, and you have your little outline, and you've made all your illustrations, the Lord himself must come to the heart and unveil himself.

That's what thrilled Jesus, and that's what'll thrill missionaries. Boy, that'll take the burden off. If they really believed that it's not their job to ramrod something down somebody's throat. It's not their job to communicate.

It's their job to present it. And then God himself comes, and he unveils it. It's a wonderful, liberating truth. Did you notice verse 22, the power of that verse? Don't forget now, in his revelation of himself to men, God has made Christ central in the Godhead.

And what that means is the only way you'll ever know God is through Jesus, and the only way I'll ever know God is through Jesus. I used to feel so guilty. I felt like, oh, I'm neglecting God the Father.

I'm spending too much time with Jesus. I'm neglecting the Holy Spirit. I keep looking to Jesus. Here's the Bible truth. Every time you take your eyes off Jesus, you neglect God the Father. Every time you take your eyes off Jesus, you neglect the Holy Spirit.

The only way not to neglect the Father and the Spirit is to look to Christ. Because in his revelation of himself to men, he has made Christ central in the Godhead. And do you see what Jesus is saying here?

This is quite a statement. This is no man. He said, nobody knows the Father except the Son. Jesus claimed everything there was to know about God, he knew. Isn't that an amazing statement? And he said, nobody knows the Son except the Father.

He said, the only one that knows me completely is God the Father. And aren't you glad for the end of the verse? And whomsoever the Son wills to reveal him. Boy, I tell you, that's tremendous. Jesus is God.

And he knows everything there is to know. And my only shock at knowing God is that Jesus will reveal himself. And so that's the second truth about mission. It's not what you do, it's who you know. It's not what...

The Good Samaritan and the Nature of Redemptive Character

Without taking time to read all of the verses, it goes from chapter 10, 25 to verse 37. This lawyer came, verse 25. A certain lawyer stood up and put him to the test saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

And to explain his point, the Lord Jesus gave him that great parable of the good Samaritan. Now both ends of that story have often been misunderstood. And I think if we can straighten out the ends, we might get the middle.

The first part has been misunderstood because it looks like Jesus was saying someone can inherit eternal life if he keeps the law. And you know that will contradict other places in the Bible. Verse 28, Jesus said, You've answered correctly.

This do, and you'll live. Life comes from doing. That was the question. Don't forget, the man asked it to test him. And he comes and said, What good thing should I do? Jesus said, Do you want to know what to do?

How do you read the Bible? And the man said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul, and all thy strength, and all thy mind, and love thy neighbor as thyself. Jesus said, That's good.

See, there's the hang up. Did you ever try to do that? That's the point. He said, If you really want eternal life, do that. Have you ever? Don't answer, just think. I already know the answer. But just think.

Have you ever loved the Lord with all of your soul, and all of your strength, and all of your heart? Not only have you ever, have you always loved the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind?

I won't develop this now. In fact, I can't develop it. But it's interesting. Love the Lord with all your mind. You wouldn't think about loving the Lord with your mind. But there's a way to love Him with all of your mind.

And then your neighbor as yourself. The point Jesus was making is, Yeah, you want to go to Heaven by works? Then do that. Except, no hope for ever doing that. But some people have misunderstood, and they think you can do something.

The second part has been misunderstood because they think the point of the good Samaritan is help one another. Help your neighbor. When he's hurt, when he's down, when he's in need, help your neighbor.

That is not the point of the story of the good Samaritan. You know, you read that story, that parable Jesus told, and this man was beaten, and certain ones run right on by, but then the Samaritan comes and helps him when he's stripped and beaten.

Let me try to give you what I think is the heart of this section. Missions. Not what you do, it's who you know. Missions. It's not only who you know, it's how you know. By the revelation of God. Missions.

Now, in verse 25, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? The answer is, be perfect. And that's not possible. Notice verse 29, wishing to justify himself, he said, who is my neighbor? This guy was convicted.

He knew if Jesus were to query him, now have you loved the Lord with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength and all your mind every day? He said, I don't want to deal with that. So, he jumps to the second part, and he says, love your neighbor.

Let's discuss that one. Because he didn't want to get in there in his relationship with the Lord. Let's discuss loving our neighbor. And then he says, who is my neighbor? Now, don't forget the question.

Jesus did not answer his question. That parable. And that's what people think. The parable answers the question. He did not answer the question. He changed the question. The man said, who is my neighbor?

And here's how Jesus answered. Who was neighbor? Not who is my neighbor, but to whom am I a neighbor? And Jesus moves from his question, who is my neighbor? He moves from conduct, to help your brother, to character.

Who are you? Because what you do, comes out of who you are. I love that in John 10. It gives us this great truth. A thief steals, because, can you finish? He's a thief. Because he's a thief. You do what you do, because of who you are.

The sun shines, because it's the sun. Fire burns, because it's fire. The wind blows, because if it didn't blow, it's not wind. Perfume smells, because it's perfume. And so, the nature of the heart, the nature of faith.

Faith works. If it doesn't work, it's my faith. It's the nature of faith, to work. And so this priest, and this Levite, went right on by. The Samaritan stopped to help, and Jesus said, you know why he did that?

He did that, because of who he was. Let's take the whole chapter. It's not what you do, it's who you know. It's not only who you know, it's how you know. God must reveal it. Only God can reveal God. It's not only our, because of who you know, and how you know.

The more I know him, the more he changes me, and then I become neighbor. I ask you to look at the last part, before we wrap it up. Verses 38 to 42. It's not an accident, that this chapter ends, with this wonderful missionary story.

Mary and Martha: Receiving Before Serving

As they were traveling along, he entered a certain village, and a woman named Martha, welcomed him into her home. And she had a sister called Mary, who moreover, was listening to the Lord's word, seated at his feet.

But Martha was distracted, with all her preparation. She came up to him and said, Lord, do you not care? My sister has left me, to do all the serving alone. Tell her to help me. But the Lord answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you're worried and bothered, about so many things.

Only a few things are necessary, really only one. Mary's chosen the good part, which shall never be taken from her. This is a tough story, because our natural heart, wants to rescue Martha. I don't know if you feel that way, but I do.

You know, Jesus was invited to her house, and she sort of had responsibilities there. She wants to prepare for her guests, and she wants to make a nice meal, and so on. And while she's stuck in the kitchen, her sister's there at the feet of Jesus, hearing Bible stories.

And Martha got a little bit frustrated with Mary, and finally vented her frustration, and came to Jesus and said, you know, can you please ask her to help? Drop that in your Bible study. Let her know that there's some responsibility here.

I don't doubt that Martha would have loved, to sit there and have a Bible study too. Sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus, but she had a guest, and she had responsibilities, and she felt like this is her honored guest, and she wants to do the bad.

Now it would be wrong to make the contrast, between Martha and Mary, love. To say Mary loved Jesus, and Martha didn't love Jesus. That's not what the Bible teaches at all. In fact, Martha loved the Lord Jesus every bit, as much as Mary loved Jesus, and it went the other way.

In John chapter 11 verse 5, it says, now Jesus loved Mary and Martha, and Lazarus their brother. It was a real relationship, with this family in Bethany. Love is not the issue. They both loved. They both had faith.

They were both trusting in the Lord. And the point is also, not contrast between work, over against laziness. That's not the point either. It looks like that a little bit to these eyes. Mary's just sort of sitting there, in her devotional spirit.

If you had a choice, you want to help with dishes, or hear Jesus tell a Bible story? What are you going to choose? Martha would have chosen the same thing. That's not a hard choice. It's no fun being stuck in the kitchen.

Left my wife stuck in the kitchen. That's not fun for her. You know, to stuff the turkey, and to stand at the stove, and do the dishes, and set the table, and do all of that kind of thing, while I'm fellowshipping with the brother.

I remember one time, when the babies were young, one of our, it didn't work, but one of our children woke up, and I could just hear Lillian moaning, like, oh, not again. And she saw that I was awake, and she just looked sympathetically at me.

And I said, the man of God needs his rest. That didn't work. Anyway, you can understand Martha here. Jesus never praised anyone for being lazy. And Jesus never rebuked anyone for being industrious. The issue here is not that she was a worker, and that Mary was lazy.

Let me bring it into the whole chapter. Missions is not what you do, it's who you know. It's not only who you know, it's how you know who you know. It's not only knowing who you know, how you know him, by God's life.

But it's who you become, because of who you know, how you know him. You following all that? All right. The difference between Mary and Martha is the direction of their spirit. This is a reversal of human nature.

It goes against everything. When man fell into sin, of everything that turned upside down, this was the most... This is the thing that man... God created man to be a receiver. When God made man, he was a receiver, and God dumped him.

When man fell into sin, somehow it got into his mind that he is now a giver. And he had to give, and he had to do, and man became a doer and a giver. And one of the great works of the gospel is to bring back man back to the place again where he understands this truth, that God created him to be a receiver.

Martha, in this chapter, bless her heart, was a giver. Now later on, in chapter 12 of John, it says she's preparing again. But this time, she did it with the right spirit. There's nothing wrong with what Martha did.

He had no quarrel with what she did. But it was this spirit in her heart, Mary is a receiver, and Martha is a giver. To Martha, Jesus is the honored guest. Anything wrong with that? To Mary, Jesus was the host.

This is the same principle that he taught in the foot washing. Peter said, never will you wash my feet. It's not right. You're God. I wash your feet. I serve you. I minister to you. Jesus said, if you don't let me wash your feet, you'll have no part with me.

You'll have no intimate fellowship. It's a humbling thing to see God himself with the slave apron. It just doesn't seem right. Why should he serve me? Why should he wash my feet? Why should he minister to me?