Evil and Sin in the Book of Luke

Principles from the Life of Christ

BBL 3913

Reverend Ellis Robertson

January 10, 2013

Introduction to Evil in Luke

After Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan, He was “led out into the wilderness by the spirit” Luke 4:1. He was the confronted by the devil himself, pure evil incarnate, and prince of demons. The devil wanted Jesus to turn to him and worship him, thereby completely destroying His ability to bring salvation to the Israelites, and to the world as a whole. The devil did not know, or at the very least understand, with whom he was dealing. Jesus refuted him at all suggestions of temptation by quoting directly from the Word of God, which He himself had been from the beginning of time. The devil lied to Jesus, telling Him that “all the kingdoms of the world . . . were his to give, if He were to worship him” Luke 4:5-7. Jesus, of course, did not accept the devil’s offer, because He is the true King of all creation.

Very few of us, if any, are directly tempted by the devil. Although we are all tempted, mostly we are tempted by our own sinful nature, not from specific temptations by other entities. Jesus was tempted by complete evil because He was a threat to the devil and his minion’s. Jesus sought to save all of humanity from sin and evil, and “proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come” Luke 4:18-19. This was of tremendous concern to the devil, for he was the source of all evil and sin. He had no desire for mankind to have salvation, and now that the Lord had sent His own Son to accomplish just that, the devil sought to de-throne and corrupt Him immediately.

Jesus’ presence was immediately known by the devil’s entire minion. Although the people did not recognize Jesus for who He was, the demons knew who he was, and knew the threat that he presented to them. Jesus was approaching a man that was possessed by an evil spirit, when the demon that was inside the man began shouting, “Go away! Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God!” But Jesus stopped him before he had revealed who Jesus truly was, because mankind would not have understood, or believed in Him. Mankind could not have comprehended that He was the Lord Himself in physical incarnation, and chose to come to earth as a human, to provide for the salvation of all who will hear.

The Evil of the Pharisees

The Pharisees, the religious leaders of the time that Luke speaks of, believed themselves to be righteous in God’s eyes, the keeper of the Torah, and far above the “sinners” and unrighteous people surrounding them. The term Pharisee actually means “the separated ones”, and that is exactly how they saw themselves. They were much better than ordinary citizens of Israel, and far better than outsiders. They did not associate with sinners or tax collectors, or the lowly Gentiles; as such associations would defile them. They did not place any importance on the condition of one’s heart towards God, but placed all importance on formal religious observance, customs and precepts. This prevented their understanding of the true intent of God’s law; which they were so consumed with enforcing.

They had been convinced that they were greater than those around them. The very idea of sinners and repentance eluded them completely. They were tempted by the evil of the world and had succumbed to it. The Pharisees enjoyed power, privilege, and wealth. Their ideas of

self-grandeur had completely removed any compassion for the suffering of their fellow man, and had infused them with disgust and, for lack of a more descriptive term, hatred for all those below them who did not follow the Mosaic Law to the absolute letter. Of course, they themselves had designed all of the customs, based on Mosaic Law, to prevent anyone from breaking them. They were the only ones that could determine whether a person was truly observing the law.

Jesus: Stumbling Block to the Pharisees

The Pharisees were convinced that their laws were completely correct and the very thought of the Messiah breaking them was incomprehensible to them. Jesus, however, the true author of God’s Law, did not adhere to the customs of the Pharisees. He was a friend to sinners, Gentiles, and tax collectors. At one point, while at a dinner at one of the Pharisee’s homes, an immoral woman (a known prostitute) knelt behind Jesus and had with her a very expensive perfume. She wept and covered His feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, kissing them, and applying the expensive perfume to them. The Pharisee was outraged, ““saying to himself, “If this man was a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!””. Luke 7:36-39. Jesus, knowing the Pharisees thoughts, admonished him with a parable, explaining that the woman may have many sins, but she had shown more kindness and love to Him because of the forgiveness of her sins, than the Pharisee had shown. The Pharisee, I’m certain, was not very pleased with Christ’s comparison. He did not understand what Christ was doing, much less who Christ truly was.

The truth was hidden from the Pharisees; The truth about who Christ was, as well as the truth of the message that he preached. The evil in the world prevented them from understanding, or maybe they were afraid of losing their power and control. Whatever the source of the evil, not only would it prevent them from their own understanding, but it would cause them to seek the destruction of the One that presented the complete Truth.

Sin

When evil was introduced into the world and Eve succumbed to its temptation, and convinced Adam to do the same, sin entered into the human nature. Sin is the act, or thought, or belief that goes against God and His plan and desire for us in this world. It created a separation between God and man that God had not intended. When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, they were in a perfect location, in perfect harmony with nature, and in perfect fellowship with God. His desire was that we remained in that relationship with Him for eternity. However, Satan entered into the Garden and tempted Eve by telling her that the fruit that they had avoided, by God’s admonition, would not harm them, but would open their eyes and they would become like God. This ended our relationship with God, as it was intended to be anyway.

Jesus came to resolve the issues between God and man and change the relationship to that which was once intended. He came to provide the avenue for God to reconcile man to Himself. Throughout the book of Luke, Jesus taught, all that would listen, about sin, repentance, and forgiveness. Not only did He teach God’s forgiveness for sin, but He taught how we should treat sin. Sin is not always committed against God, but can be committed man against man. Jesus taught that when we are sinned against by our brother, or sister, that we should rebuke, or correct the person and let them know what they did against us. If the person repents, then we must forgive them. He taught that, not only should we forgive them once, but if that person sins against us seven times a day and asks for forgiveness, we should forgive them.

Mankind cannot escape its sinful nature. We are unable to not commit sin. Whether in thoughts, or in deeds, our nature is inescapable. We do things to people, or treat people in a manner that is far from what Christ taught. Even if we attempt to remain sinless, we cannot achieve a sinless existence without the help of Christ. We can put on the nature of Christ; however, we cannot escape our sin nature on this earth. The Pharisees tried to present themselves as righteous, but Jesus knew their heart. That was the primary opposition that Jesus had for the Pharisees. They could not receive forgiveness for their sins, because they couldn’t admit their broken condition. If a person believes that he is righteous on his own, how can he ask for, or receive forgiveness?

Causing Others to Sin

As a human, even though we are unable to keep ourselves from sinning, Jesus taught that there are worse things than committing sin ourselves. We will always be tempted by worldly enticements; money, power, fame, physical beauty, Jesus taught “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. So watch yourselves!” Luke 17:1-3. This admonishment is very harsh because Christ was teaching that sin is very serious, not treated lightly as it seems to be in our culture today.

Our culture teaches that sin is not only acceptable, but actually encourages sinful behavior. You cannot turn on the television without seeing temptations on every channel. Temptations for money, power, and sex permeate the commercials that are shown to the public. If you have money you can have; a nicer car, a nicer home, multiple sexual partners, and a “happier” life in general. This creates temptation to seek many other things in life, than a personal relationship with Christ. The media driven culture in which we live, constantly bombards us with the sins of those “in the spotlight”. Although they speak of some in a negative light, it is very obvious that the seriousness of the sin is missed completely, and never condemned publicly.

We ourselves, perhaps, can be guilty of tempting others to sin in many ways. If we were to tempt, or seduce someone into an action that we know is sinful, that is obviously evil. There are many ways, however, that we can tempt others into sinful actions or thoughts without directly encouraging them. What if we know that a person has had an issue with pornography?

Would we leave suggestive catalogs, or pictures within their view? Would we invite them to see a movie that portrayed people involved in sexual activity? What if we know that someone has had a history of alcohol problems that affected their family and their job? Would we offer them alcoholic beverages at our home, or consume them in their presence? What about our children? Do we provide an example that would teach them the right way to live? Do we do things that would encourage them to lie, cheat, or steal? Obviously, most Christian parents or friends would not knowingly tempt, or encourage someone to sin, but what about those things that we leave lying around, that while they do not pose a problem for us, could be a stumbling block for others?

Forgiveness

Evil has been introduced into the world, and with it, mankind entered into a fallen, sinful condition. We sin daily; in our thoughts, our actions, our treatment of others, our lack of relationship with Christ. Jesus’ disciples, when being taught about forgiveness, and Jesus explained that they should forgive even the same sin against them “seven times a day” Luke 17:4, they were sure that forgiveness was impossible for them. They said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith” Luke 17:5. Why did they make that request? As humans, we are unable to forgive in the manner that Christ taught, or at least without his help. This is why He responded to them with the parable of the mustard seed and the mulberry tree: “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea, and it would obey you”” Luke 17:6. The point He was making, was that they have more than enough faith to be able to forgive as He had instructed them. It is through faith that we are able to give, as well as receive forgiveness.

Jesus was sent to bring us salvation, to reconcile us to God, and to forgive us for our sins. He gave us example, after example of forgiving sins of what men saw as very sinful people, and by that example, gave us the smallest of idea of how much greater God’s forgiveness is than we could possibly imagine. We have difficulty forgiving our neighbor for meaningless, small inconveniences, while we are forgiven for every sin that we have, or will commit, no matter how small or large.

Jesus presented Himself on the cross to take away our sin debt, once and for all He would take away the sins of the world. He was the perfect lamb, without blemish, and completely sinless, yet He would take upon His own flesh, the punishment that we all deserve.

Jesus clarified God’s forgiveness for us while He was on the cross. He forgave the Roman soldiers while He was nailed to the cross; bloody, beaten, and in extreme physical pain, saying, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” Luke 23:34. This is a picture of forgiveness that, while we cannot give, we do receive.

References

Manz, Charles C. The Leadership Wisdom of Jesus: Practical Lessons for Today. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2005. Print.