The Gospel of Luke 9:52-53 When God Says...I Say, AMEN!

When God Says …

“and sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:52-53 KJV).

The context of these passages tells us that the Lord Jesus "resolutely set out for Jerusalem," signifying His commitment to fulfilling His mission, which included His eventual suffering and death in the hands of the religious priests in Jerusalem. This journey takes Him on short-cut way from Galilee through Samaria., Most religious Jews avoid this way, opting for a longer way. Historically, there was deep hostility and prejudice between the Jews and the Samaritans, partly due to the Samaritans having an alternate worship site on Mount Gerizim. As He sent His messengers ahead to prepare for Him, the Samaritan villagers learned that the Lord was heading to Jerusalem - a grievous insult in their culture. They refused Him hospitality.

The story of Samaria started when it was established out of Israel's persistent idolatry and rebellion against God. So, God ordained the nation of Assyria to destroy and conquer them. Assyria did not keep the conquered people together as a way of preventing them from unifying and revolting. They scattered them throughout their empire, leaving only a few remnants in their homeland. Then people of other conquered nations were moved in (2 Kings 17). The "Samaritans" were descendants of the Jewish remnants who intermarried with Gentile immigrants. Their religion is a hodgepodge of Judaism and foreign pagan idolatry.

By the time of the Lord's earthly ministry, things were even more mixed up. Four hundred years before, around the time of the prophet Malachi, a group of priests left Jerusalem and established a new religious worship center near Shechem and Mount Gerizim in Samaria. They created their own religious branch or denomination of Judaism, about which history remembers little. Among the few details retained is that they believed Mt Gerizim in Samaria, not Jerusalem, was God's preferred place of worship. Hence, this deeply engrained division and hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans.

This kind of religious denominational system and religion as a whole, is the wall the Lord Jesus came to eradicate. But, sadly it is perpetuated by present day worldly oriented people to deceive many. This is therefore a reminder for all who now see and receive the message of Grace and Truth in Christ Jesus (John 1:14), that we are to get off the grip of religion and come to Christ Jesus in a personal relationship with Him by faith, not by pagan-based religious rigmaroles and rituals.

Religion is not of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who sent the Messiah - our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus did not come so people can use His name to set up religion/s, religious enterprises and institutions. He came to release us from the Old Covenant of the Law (Galatians 3:13) and bring us back to Himself in the New Covenant of Grace (John 1:16). It is written: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-19 ESV).

And I say, AMEN!

Daily reflections by:
F. A. Frias
PFC Ministries

When God says... I say, AMEN! is a provocative reflection of the Lord's holy Word. It intends to challenge every seeker of truth to dig deep into the core of the Word of Life to point every being to Christ Jesus - the author and finisher of our faith, and to draw revelations for change, for nourishment and for strength of every soul.

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