Tag Archives: Jesus

Oh, By The Way…

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OH, BY THE WAY…

“One day in one of the villages there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus he fell down before Him in prayer and said, ‘If you want to, you can cleanse me.’ Jesus put out His hand, touched him and said, ‘I want to. Be clean.’ There and then his skin was smooth, the leprosy gone.

“Jesus instructed him, ‘Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed self to the priest, along with the offering ordered by Moses. Your cleansed and obedient life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.’

“But the man couldn’t keep it to himself, and the word got out. Soon a large crowd of people had gathered to listen and be healed of their ailments. As often as possible, Jesus withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer.” Luke 5:12-16 (The Message).

Luke had many stories of healings and miracles to draw from. Why did he choose this one? Of course I don’t know! But there are little hints here and there of Luke’s reason. The scholars tell us that Luke’s theme was “Jesus, the Son of Man.” He adds many touches to his story that illustrate Jesus’ humanity; His dependence on the Holy Spirit; the many references to His prayer life; little snippets like His being asleep on the boat; eating fish after His resurrection, for example, things that humans do.

In this story Jesus met a man covered with “leprosy”. He could have had any skin disease, but whatever it was, he was disfigured and, worst of all, unclean. That meant that he was not allowed human contact. Isolated! Ostracised! Untouchable! Unwanted! Probably walking on the outskirts of the village wailing his mournful plight, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’

Instead of moving away, Jesus walked right up to him. The unnamed man fell at His feet, entreating Him, ‘I’ve heard about you, Jesus. I know you can make this stinking, diseased body of mine clean…if you want to. Now it’s all up to you.’

What would Jesus do? What did this man need? Just a word would transform him but he needed more than a word. He needed a human touch. But how could Jesus touch him? He was a rabbi, a holy man who was not supposed to contaminate Himself with diseased or dead bodies. If He touched him, He would become unclean.

There was one thing about Jesus that was different from every other rabbi of His day. His touch worked the other way, made the unclean clean. He made the sick well, the dead live and set the demonised free. Wherever He went, speaking, touching, embracing, He left whole, well and free people in His wake. And it was what He wanted to do. No hesitation.

But, in spite of Jesus’ warning, the healed man could not keep his mouth shut. Would you? Of course everyone wanted to know what had happened. And of course he told them. Wouldn’t you? And of course that made Jesus even more popular, and everyone wanted Him to touch them too. And He did.

That created a problem for Him. He needed time out. He was human, remember. Why did He need time out? Of course He needed rest; He needed to eat; He needed to “chill” like we all do and oh, by the way, He needed to spend time with His Father and for that He needed solitude.

There was no solitude where there were the ever-present crowds but He knew how to find time and place to be alone — out in the wide-open spaces in the night hours when everyone else was asleep. Without time alone with the Father He had no engine and no rudder for His ship. It was in these times of intimacy alone with God that He drew strength, received direction and shared the Father’s love which energised Him for the gruelling times ahead.

And He said, ‘Learn from me.’

Networking With God

Christian Life, , ,

NETWORKING WITH GOD

He told them: “Take nothing for the journey – no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic…” Luke 9:3

Why did Jesus instruct His disciples not to take extra clothes, provisions or money with them when He sent them out to preach? Was it, since they were on kingdom business, that the King would take responsibility to care for their physical needs – in fulfilment of His promise in Matthew 6:33 – “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well”?

But God always comes to us through human agents. People do the caring and providing using the resources God provides for them through other people, and so on.

Why not carry their own provisions and money instead of relying on their hosts to provide for them? Was it because they could travel faster and more comfortably unencumbered? But, more than that, there is something about sowing into someone else’s ministry that mysteriously connects us with that person so that their anointing is imparted to us. It becomes a partnership, in a sense, where the giver shares in the harvest of the sower.

Is it about connectedness? Since we are reflections of God’s image, we express our oneness with God and with each other by partnering with those who go, by giving and sharing our resources to make their going possible.

If people refuse to connect by not partnering with those who come to them, they become disconnected from the blessing and anointing of the messengers of the good news. They disqualify themselves from receiving the blessing of Jesus, the Rabbi, in whose dust we walk. By shaking the dust of our feet off that household, are we not saying, “You may have refused to receive the message of the Rabbi, but the door is always open, and so I leave you with my Rabbi’s blessing in the hopes that you will recognise and receive its value and open your heart to receive His blessing”?

It was in this spirit of generosity, both giving and receiving, that the disciples went, and in the going, sowed seeds of truth and left the blessing of their Rabbi wherever they went. They created a network of partners who shared as they listened and received as they gave, so that the disciples’ message blanketed the region where they had been, extending and increasing the influence of their Rabbi’s yoke wherever they went. This is the way the gospel not only changes the lives of individuals but, by networking, it also blankets whole geographical areas with the message and power of God’s grace and weakens the hold of demonic powers over regions.

The Magic Storyteller!

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THE MAGIC STORYTELLER

“Once when He was standing on the shore of Lake Genessaret, the crowd was pushing in on Him to better hear the Word of God. He noticed two boats tied up. The fishermen had just left them and were out scrubbing their nets. He climbed into the boat that was Simon’s and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Sitting there, using the boat for a pulpit, He taught the crowd.

“When He finished teaching, He said to Simon, ‘Push out into the deep water and let your nets out for a catch.’ Simon said, ‘Master, we’ve been fishing hard all night and haven’t caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I’ll let out the nets.’ It was no sooner said than done — a huge haul of fish, straining the nets past capacity. They waved to their partners to come and help them. They filled both boats, nearly swamping them with the catch.” Luke 5:1-7 (The Message).

Jesus was still alone. According to Luke, He had not yet chosen any disciples to train as a rabbi would do. He was an itinerant teacher, a very popular one, judging by the crowds He drew, so much so that He had to use a boat as a pulpit to save Himself from being pushed right into the lake!

This was one of those occasions. He was apparently still in the vicinity of Capernaum, a town near the Sea of Galilee or another one of the lakeside towns. The people were enthralled by His message — not anything like the teachings of other rabbis who came and went.

What was He saying? What was so fascinating to them? Was it just what He said or was it the miracles He did that drew them? Probably both, but on this occasion His words were magic to them. Jesus was a master story-teller. He needed to be because His audience was a group of simple village folk. What He was communicating to them wasn’t common-and-garden everyday stuff. He was talking about mysteries too deep for them to understand.

Jesus was always about the kingdom of God. He was introducing them to a way of life that was totally foreign to them, like “turning the other cheek” and “going the second mile” and farmers sowing seed, and shepherds hunting for lost sheep. He told a story for every situation and they were trying to piece it all together. They didn’t want to miss a single story in case their puzzle was incomplete.

 

The kingdom of God is like a diamond. How does one describe a diamond to someone who has never seen one? Like two blind men trying to describe an elephant! It’s like this. No, it’s like that. So many facets! The only way He could get the truth across was by telling many stories. It all makes sense to us now — or does it? But for those people then it was a mystery and they wanted to hear more.

What do you make of the incident of the big catch? Why did Jesus do that? Was He concerned because the fishermen were going home empty after a whole night of fishing? Was He showing them something; telling them something? If you read on, it doesn’t seem to be about lost income because they abandoned their catch to follow Him.

How do we interpret the miracle of the huge catch? Did Jesus see them there and simply redirect the fishermen? Is that possible when He sent them to the deep water away from the shore? I think there is a much simpler explanation than that. Like all nature, the fish obeyed Jesus’ word. Remember the wind and the waves? When He spoke, they all gathered at the right spot to be swept up into the fishermen’s nets.

Why did He do that? Was He just “showing off”? I don’t think so. That was not His way. If His followers were to continue His ministry after He left, they had to be absolutely sure of who He was. That was the crucial question He asked them after they had followed him for a while. “Who do you say that I am?” If nature obeyed Him, so should they.

Everyone, Everywhere

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EVERYONE EVERYWHERE

 “When the sun went down, everyone who had anyone sick with some ailment or other brought them to Him. One by one He placed His hands on them and healed them. Demons left in droves, screaming, ‘Son of God! You’re the Son of God!’ But He shut them up, refusing to let them speak because they knew too much, knew Him to be the Messiah.” Luke 4:40-41 (The Message).

After the initial excitement of this new prophet who said and did out-of-this-world things, they all settled into a routine. They dutifully waited until after sunset, when the Sabbath was over, before they brought their ailing friends and relatives to Him for a touch and a word.

Don’t you love the “one by one” bit? He didn’t run a mass healing campaign. ‘Everyone who is sick, come to the front. Now pray a healing prayer.’ He touched them, one by one. I can imagine that, in those few moments, when He placed His hand on a fevered brow, a diseased limb, or an aching belly, the word that He spoke was a tender expression of love, of kindness and reassurance. God was there and He was showing His people just how big His heart of compassion was for them.

Deep into the night they came, patiently waiting their turn for the Master’s touch, with a bubble of expectant excitement inside. They knew that tonight, when they put their heads down to sleep, they would be free of aches and pains and fever, and they would wake to a brand new day.

“He left the next day for open country. But the crowds went looking for Him and, when they found Him, clung to Him so He couldn’t go on. He told them, ‘don’t you realise that there are yet other villages where I have to tell the Message of God’s kingdom, that this is the work God sent me to do?’ Meanwhile He continued preaching in the meeting places of Galilee.” Luke 4:42-44 (The Message).

A strange way to respond to a successful healing campaign, wasn’t it? At the height of success and popularity, He goes missing! Leaves town! Escapes into the country! Was Jesus suffering from “burn out”? Already? His ministry had only just started and He couldn’t take the pace?

Far from it! He knew that His commission was far bigger than a local Capernaum success campaign. He had a message to deliver and work to do that extended over the entire nation, not just to a little pocket of people in Capernaum. Excited and happy as they were, He had to leave them and move on because others needed His message and His ministry.

So what was He actually doing? If He was not running a healing campaign, what was His purpose? Did He come to tell them that, if they accepted Him as Lord and Saviour, they would go to heaven when they died? Was that the sole purpose for His coming? The way the gospel is presented from many pulpits today, that might be what we think He came to do – to die on the cross so that we can go to heaven! Really!

Jesus was always about God’s kingdom. For too long the Liar and Usurper had held sway over the people and they were living with the result — emotional pain, physical distress, social and political upheaval. That was not God’s way. Jesus came to show and tell the real story about God’s rule. Get back under His rule, follow His way and things will be very different.

There was one major obstacle to becoming a part of His restoration plan — sin — the big barrier between God and man. But Jesus came to deal with that as well so that there would be nothing to stop people from returning to the Father and coming back under His rule — right in the heart of enemy territory.

But everyone needed to know, not just Nazareth — and they didn’t want to know — and Capernaum — and they couldn’t get enough. Everyone, everywhere, so they could choose.

You, too.

 

 

You Can’t Bend The Rules

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YOU CAN’T BEND THE RULES

“For the third test the devil took Him to Jerusalem and put Him on top of the Temple. He said, “If you are God’s Son, jump. It’s written, isn’t it, that “He has placed you in the care of angels to protect you; they will catch you; you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone”?’

“‘Yes,’ said Jesus, ‘and it’s also written, “Don’t you dare tempt the Lord you God.”‘

“That completed the testing. The Devil retreated temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity.” Luke 4:9-13 (The Message).

How stupid could he be? One thing the devil did not realise — he was not showing Jesus up. He was showing himself up! Did he really think that Jesus would fall for this one? After all, who made the rules?

But there is something more subtle in this test than trying to defy gravity. The devil was questioning the very foundation of Jesus’ authority. What God says is a manifestation of who God is. When He speaks, He places Himself under the authority of His own Word because He and His Word are one.

Before Jesus ever stepped out into public ministry, He had to settle this one. He was the “Word made flesh”; the living, breathing, acting embodiment of what God had spoken. “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He also made the universe.” Hebrews 1:1-2 (NIV).

Since it was through Jesus that God spoke the universe into existence, and all the laws by which the universe is held together and functions as a unit, Jesus was in perfect oneness with His own word. Did the devil really think that God would overturn His own word to save a foolish man from trying to defy gravity?

But there is something even deeper than that. By manipulating God’s word for His own ends, would He be trying to impress the many people present in the Temple at that moment that He was their Messiah? Was that the way to earn their allegiance? Jesus knew better than that!

It would not be His death by suicide but His death by sacrifice that would bring about God’s purpose to rescue the world from the clutches of the devil and restore them to their rightful place as sons and daughters in His family.

It was God’s way to work through the normal processes of life, including hatred and rejection, to bring about the salvation of the human race, and not through some death-defying act of stupidity at the instigation of a known liar! What guarantee could the devil give that God would overturn gravity for Jesus?

The question was: Would Jesus manipulate His Father by holding Him to His Word, especially applied out of context, or would He place Himself under that Word, no matter what the outcome for Him?

We already know the answer to that one. “…He was heard because of His reverent submission.” Hebrews 5:7 (NIV); “‘Abba, Father,’ He said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.'” Mark 14:36 (NIV).

The result of the testing was a resounding victory for Jesus and a tail-between-the-legs thrashing for the devil! Jesus was now a tried-and-tested Son, ready to take on His mammoth task because His modus operandi had been established. It was quite simple, really — exactly what was expected of Him — submission and obedience!