#103 Luke 16:16-18 It Is Easier for Heaven and Earth to Disappear

On December 25, 2022 by Amy Burgin

Amy:
Episode #103 Luke 16:16-18

Welcome

Amy:
Welcome to The Christgazing Podcast and Merry Christmas! I’m Amy Burgin. My cohost, Joy Burgin, is out of town for the holiday, but she will be back soon.

Christgazing, kind of like stargazing, is the act of looking steadily and intently at Jesus. This podcast makes room for just that. Amid a world of many words, we slow down here and make space for the God-breathed Words, the best words, the ones that rightly comfort, correct, and lead us. Each week we read a portion of scripture several times and create stillness after each reading so we might also be still and know God more.

We are in a series that takes us through the book of Luke

Pour Out Your Heart to God

Amy:
Before we read today, take time to share your heart with God. We do this each week; we pour out our hearts to God, exposing the deception, division, diversion, and discouragement inside us. We make room for God to exchange these with truth, unity, focus, and encouragement. So give God your thoughts, your hurts, fears, questions, and concerns in this next minute.

[Pause and pour out your heart to God]

What Does This Passage Say About God?

Amy:
I’m going to read the passage two times. As I read, consider the question, what does this passage tell us about God?

Luke 16:16-18 [Jesus said] “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it. 17 It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

18 “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Again?

18 “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Take a minute to be still and consider the question: What does this passage say about God?

[Pause and know]

What Does This Passage Say About People?

Amy:
As I read the passage again, consider the question, What does this passage say about people?

18 “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

Take the next few moments to answer the question: What does this passage tell us about people?

[Pause and know]

Lord, What Would You Have Me Know Or Do Today?

Amy:
As I read for the last time, ask God, “Lord, what would you have me know or do today in response to this passage?” If it helps, put yourself in the narrative.

18 “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

Take the next minute to ask God, “Lord, what would you have me know or do today in response to this passage?”

[Pause and listen]

Blessing

Amy:
Christgazer, the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. And may you turn your face toward Jesus today and know him more.

One Response

Amy:
Sometimes when I ponder a passage, it’s the last verse that sticks in my brain. That’s what happened with today’s verses. The word divorce stood out to me. Divorce is hard and heartbreaking every time, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it.

I felt sad that such a verse fell on the episode that would be published on Christmas Day.

I told Jesus I wanted to skip it, but I felt him look upon me with that knowing look, knowing I couldn’t really skip it and reminding me what I’ve learned.

I’ve learned that every single verse has beauty worth uncovering. Some verses look like bland, gray rocks. But if I take time to pick them up, turn them over in my hand, and keep holding them until I find the sparkles, then, I am truly satisfied, and sparkles are always found. Always, like the sun always rises always.

So this Christmas Eve, as I lay in bed, turning verse 18 over and over in my mind, Longfellow’s poem rang in my head.

A poem written on Christmas Day of 1863.

A poem written against the backdrop of the painful American civil war.

A poem written one month after his son was severely wounded in battle.

A poem written two years after his beloved wife died in an accidental fire.

I think you will recognize his poem as song as I read it now:

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and mild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

And the song takes my wee little brain back to today’s passage, now focusing on verses 16 and 17.

This gorgeous, abundant earth of ours may become barren and disappear, but God’s beautiful way of doing things never will.

We have yet to stop proclaiming this good news, but if we ever do, the rocks themselves will cry out in our place as Jesus said in Luke 19:40.

Closing

Amy:
You can find a transcript of this episode and all our episodes at amyburgin.com. We will be back again next week to go Christgazing together. Until then, don’t forget, when you put your trust in Christ, you are one in whom he dwells and delights, a dearly loved child of God. You are royalty in his strong and unshakeable kingdom. Though trouble abounds, Christ prevails, and so do you.