Outsiders

By David Ramos

Each Gospel in the New Testament aims to accomplish something unique.

 

Matthew: to show Jesus as the Jewish Messiah and the fulfillment of every promise.

Mark: to get every person swept up into the drama of God's coming kingdom.

John: to convey the scandalous love of a relentless God.

Luke has a different approach. Rather than simply learn about Jesus through his book, Luke wants his readers to develop a skill. A habit. Whereas Matthew, Mark, and John write to get us to see Jesus, Luke writes to get us to see as Jesus sees.

 

The subtle difference is a cosmic shift when played out in reality. Luke's Gospel is less of a textbook to be studied and more of an invitation to be accepted. Therefore, we might say his purpose is the following.

 

Luke: to magnify the minority, as Jesus does.

 

There's a modern analogy which I think parallels what Luke was trying to accomplish all those centuries ago when the world first began to be invaded by the kingdom of God.

 

When I was in grade school, my mom bought a picture for the wall in our basement. It was a repeating pattern of blue and green swirls interrupted by black and orange dots. She hung it right above the couch and then motioned for my brother and me to come stare at it.

 

As we stared into the very odd picture (which did not match anything else of my mom's "style"), mom stared back at us. She was just waiting there, anticipating some reaction. Not wanting to disappoint, I told her "yeah mom, I really like it – all the blue and stuff".

 

"No" she replied, "what do you see in the picture?" I literally had no idea what she was talking about. Hadn't I just stared at the picture for the last minute? What else was there to see?

 

Mom came over, placed her hands on the side of my head to direct my gaze, and told me to look into the picture. "Don't just look at the swirls" she said, "what are the swirls hiding?"

 

So I concentrated and stared as hard as my little brain would allow me to. And then…it happened. The picture shifted in my mind's eye. I started to see the outline of a horse. Just barely at first. But then I got it. I saw the picture beyond the picture.

 

If you've never seen a stereogram (which is the name for this optical illusion), it can be pretty frustrating the first time you try to break through the patterned image. But once you do, once your brain makes the shift between what is out in front and what is underneath, it's almost impossible to go back. You see the hidden image every time. Your brain adjusts to the new pattern. The deeper picture.

 

This is what we find in Luke's Gospel. A stereogram in writing form. On the surface, another perspective of the same Jesus stories. Beneath, an invitation to do everything differently. To see and act and spend and fight and preach and serve in a whole new way.

 

So how does this radical shift take place? Not by explaining to us a what, but rather, by introducing us to a who.

 

Welcome to the story Luke tells, about the people Jesus loves…

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Ramos
• Release date: Jul 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393520177

Book preview

Outsiders

The Story Luke Tells

About The People Jesus Loves

David Ramos

Copyright © 2019 by David Ramos.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please contact the author through the Contact Form on his website: RamosAuthor.com

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

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Table of Contents

Introduction

The Silencing Of Power

The Paralyzed And The Paradox

How To Break The Rules Like Jesus

What The Roman Understood About Power

Good Things For Ordinary People

Exotic Salvation

Demons And The Forgotten New

Our Dirty God

The Way It Was Supposed To Be

The One Thing And The Answer To Everything

Unwelcomed Worship

How To Unlock Miracles

Let Them Come

The Economy Of Salvation

What The Blind Man Saw

Wildfire, Hate, And Money

Abundance And Its Consequences

Surprised By Grace

Conclusion

Everything Else

About The Author

More Books By David Ramos

I Need Your Help!

Introduction

E

ach Gospel in the New Testament aims to accomplish something unique.

Matthew: to show Jesus as the Jewish Messiah and the fulfillment of every promise.

Mark: to get every person swept up into the drama of God’s coming kingdom.

John: to convey the scandalous love of a relentless God.

Luke has a different approach. Rather than simply learn about Jesus through his book, Luke wants his readers to develop a skill. A habit. Whereas Matthew, Mark, and John write to get us to see Jesus, Luke writes to get us to see as Jesus sees.

The subtle difference is a cosmic shift when played out in reality. Luke’s Gospel is less of a textbook to be studied and more of an invitation to be accepted. Therefore, we might say his purpose is the following.

Luke: to magnify the minority, as Jesus does.

○  ○  ○

There’s a modern analogy which I think parallels what Luke was trying to accomplish all those centuries ago when the world first began to be invaded by the kingdom of God.

When I was in grade school, my mom bought a picture for the wall in our basement. It was a repeating pattern of blue and green swirls interrupted by black and orange dots. She hung it right above the couch and then motioned for my brother and me to come stare at it.

As we stared into the very odd picture (which did not match anything else of my mom’s style), mom stared back at us. She was just waiting there, anticipating some reaction. Not wanting to disappoint, I told her yeah mom, I really like it – all the blue and stuff.

No she replied, "what do you see in the picture?" I literally had no idea what she was talking about. Hadn’t I just stared at the picture for the last minute? What else was there to see?

Mom came over, placed her hands on the side of my head to direct my gaze, and told me to look into the picture. Don’t just look at the swirls she said, what are the swirls hiding?

So I concentrated and stared as hard as my little brain would allow me to. And then...it happened. The picture shifted in my mind’s eye. I started to see the outline of a horse. Just barely at first. But then I got it. I saw the picture beyond the picture.

If you’ve never seen a stereogram (which is the name for this optical illusion), it can be pretty frustrating the first time you try to break through the patterned image. But once you do, once your brain makes the shift between what is out in front and what is underneath, it’s almost impossible to go back. You see the hidden image every time. Your brain adjusts to the new pattern. The deeper picture.

This is what we find in Luke’s Gospel. A stereogram in writing form. On the surface, another perspective of the same Jesus stories. Beneath, an invitation to do everything differently. To see and act and spend and fight and preach and serve in a whole new way.

So how does this radical shift take place? Not by explaining to us a what, but rather, by introducing us to a who.

Welcome to the story Luke tells, about the people Jesus loves...

The Silencing Of Power

Outsider: Zechariah and Elizabeth

Passage: Luke 1:5-25, 57-66

O

ur story begins with a man who, unlike most of the characters in this book, has spent the majority of his life as an insider.

Zechariah was born into a prestigious family, rank, and role. He was a priest, an occupation that carried with it not only divine responsibilities but also strong social standing. People knew who Zechariah was. His division was in the top third of all the 24 priestly families. At this point in the story, he had served his community and the people of God for decades. His position as a person of influence and power had been cemented into the minds of those he both served and led.

His wife, Elizabeth, carried with her a slightly different experience. We learn that she was also a descendant of Aaron (Luke 1:5) which meant she also had a social prestige about her. However, there was one glaring problem. A scarlet letter which no matter how much she served, or how perfect her resume, or how prestigious her husband, could never be lived down. Elizabeth was childless.

○  ○  ○

Even at this point, Luke is starting to play a game with his readers. He wants his descriptions of Zechariah and Elizabeth to bring something to mind. Another story about another couple. One tucked away far at the beginning of God’s grand story. Luke wants us to remember Abraham and Sarah.

The parallels appear very simple at first. Both Zechariah and Abraham were men used by God. Both Elizabeth and Sarah were childless. Both couples were very old when something shifted and God broke in. These are the things we can see on the surface.

But if we go one level deeper, if we begin to read between the lines of Luke and get a sense of not only what he was writing, but where he was leading us to, another parallel starts to rise to the surface.

Something new is about to begin.

For Abraham and Sarah, their child represented the promise of a future nation. Isaac, the child they were waiting for, would go on to become the father of Jacob, who would then become the father of the 12 tribes of Israel.

To draw a parallel to this story and to this promise is not something you do lightly. But Luke knew exactly what he was doing. He understood how monumental the shift would be. The message their son would carry. And the path he would lay out for the one who is greater.

What exactly was this new thing Luke wanted us to see?

○  ○  ○

To see as Luke saw we must jump back into the story of Zechariah and the scene laid out for us in Luke 1. The various priestly families served on a rotating schedule and Zechariah's turn had come. There's a beautiful and complex routine the priests would have gone through for this event, but Luke skips over all of it. He wants to get to the interesting, albeit messy, part of the story.

Almost as soon as Zechariah enters the temple, an angel appears. We don’t learn anything about the angel at first. All we know is that Zechariah and Elizabeth, the faithful, prestigious couple, are finally getting a child. A baby boy named John who will do incredible things for God during his lifetime.

Zechariah must be overwhelmed. Not only was he face to face with an angel, but one of his oldest prayers was finally being answered – a prayer he had probably given up praying decades ago. So what does he do next? Something any of us might do. Something that, in a state of pure excitement and shock and terror, might come perfectly naturally.

He asks How can I be sure of this? In today’s language, it might sound like "Are you kidding me? Are you being serious right now? All he wanted was a sign. Proof that he wasn't going crazy, that God would actually keep his promise. And if you remember, Abraham did exactly the same thing In Genesis 15. He asked how can I know" and God provided a complex, irrefutable sign right at that moment.

All we see though are the words. The surface reaction to an extraordinary event. God sees deeper, as does the angel. Zechariah doesn’t believe. A priest who has served God his entire life, who in this moment is standing in one of the holiest places on earth, the temple, hears an extraordinary promise from an angel he can literally see right in front of him, and what does his heart do?

It remains cold. Unmoved. Unbelieving.

It’s hard not to compare Zechariah’s reaction to Mary’s which occurs just a few verses later. An honored priest versus a nobody teenage girl. Again, Luke is stirring the pot. Perking our ears up for what he is trying to show us.

Things are not as they appear. The people we thought would have the most faith, don’t. The foundation is far from cracked, but we are beginning to see its imperfections.

As punishment for his unbelief, the angel Gabriel strikes Zechariah with a curse of silence. You will be silent and not able to speak until the day [John's birth] happens... (Luke 1:20). This is