Tag Archives: speechless

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – REACTIONS TO JESUS

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REACTIONS TO JESUS

“Jesus delivered a man from a demon that had kept him speechless. The demon gone, the man started talking a blue streak, taking the crowd by complete surprise. But some from the crowd were cynical. ‘Black magic,’ they said. ‘Some devil trick He’s pulled from His sleeve.’ Others were sceptical, waiting around for Him to prove Himself with a spectacular miracle.” Luke 11:14-16.

Why was it that people reacted to Jesus’ miracles of mercy by attributing them to demons? Is the human mind so warped that good is so unrecognisable that it must be interpreted as something the devil does? Was this the influence of the religious leaders of His day, that they were perverted enough to refuse to acknowledge the work of God in healing and restoring broken people?

Perhaps experiencing the goodness of God was foreign to them and they could not accept the character of the God Jesus was revealing to them. They kept asking for more ‘signs’ instead of seeing God in the ones Jesus was doing all the time. Because of their unbelief, no amount of signs would convince them that God is good.

What about me? What does it take to make me aware of the goodness of God in the ordinary events of my life? Part of the repentance that must be ongoing in my life is to change my mind about who is in charge of the circumstances of my life. That does not mean that God makes bad things happen. It does mean that God uses every experience, good or bad, to reveal Himself to me and to reshape my reactions and my character to be more like Jesus.

It’s entirely up to me to choose how I will view my everyday experiences – whether I see them as devil-inspired and spend my time rebuking him(!) or whether I recognise the hand of my God working in all things for my good and conforming me to the image of His Son (Romans 8:28,29).

In this process of becoming a disciple, I am learning to think God’s thoughts instead of my own. The Apostle Paul calls it ‘renewing my mind’. I become what I think. If I think that the devil is pushing me around, I will be fearful, sceptical and insecure, but if I know that God is in charge, working everything for my good, I will have peace and security in Him. Stress will be exchanged for rest and unbelief for trust.

Goodness in the world has only one source, the God who is good. Evil in the world is not from God but He uses it to do His work in His children and to reveal His glory against the dark backdrop of sin on the canvas He is painting. 102

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – THE SOLITUDE OF ECSTASY

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THE SOLITUDE OF ECSTASY

“Meanwhile, the congregation waiting for Zachariah was getting restless, wondering what was keeping him so long in the sanctuary. When he came out and couldn’t speak, they knew he had seen a vision. He continued speechless and had to use sign language with the people.

“When the course of his priestly assignment was completed, he went back home.  It was not long before his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. She went off by herself for five months, relishing her pregnancy. ‘So, this is how God acts to remedy my unfortunate condition!’ she said.” Luke 1:21-25.

True to the angel’s prediction, Zachariah was struck dumb from the moment the angel had spoken. The waiting worshippers realised that something out-of-the-ordinary had happened to him behind the curtain of the sanctuary. His unskilled use of sign language left them curious and mystified.

Zachariah completed his duties in the temple and returned home to Elizabeth. One wonders how he explained to Elizabeth what had happened to him in the sanctuary and what the angel had said to him! Perhaps he had to leave the details of the story until after John’s birth. The most important fact was that Elizabeth conceived a child to her amazement and delight. Unlike some of the reactions of elderly mothers-to-be, she saw in this event the grace of God and the removal of the stigma of childlessness.

Not only was the fact that she was at last to have a child precious to her, but also the realisation that God had not forgotten her. All the years of waiting, the cycle of hope and disappointment and the belief that she was not one of God’s favoured daughters, fell away with the slowly dawning reality that she was pregnant; she, barren Elizabeth, was no longer barren.

She went into solitude, not to hide in shame or embarrassment, but to savour and enjoy this new-found realisation that God had a purpose for her too. She wanted to be alone with her God to worship Him and to voice her ceaseless praise to Him without interruption from any other human being, not even her husband, Zachariah.

Was it this season of solitude with God part of the foundation laid for John’s life and destiny? Elizabeth may not have lived to see the outcome of this boy that she was privileged to bring into the world, but she would surely go to her rest knowing that he was safely in the hands of the God who had destined him for greatness.

She worshipped and prayed into her unborn son the great heritage of her people, perhaps using the song-book of the Psalms to instil into him a love for God and His Word that carried him through testing, incarceration and an untimely and violent death.

Jesus classified John as the greatest of the Old Covenant prophets, even though his ministry lasted a paltry six months. It was not the length of his ministry that constituted his greatness but the nature of his calling and the diligence and faithfulness with which he carried it out. His had the honour, as the forerunner of Messiah, to herald the king’s arrival even though Jesus did not come with the pomp and ceremony of an earthly king.

True to His role as the rightful ruler of creation and all mankind, Jesus came in humility and simplicity and John announced His coming as befitted Him. It was not their apparel or their bearing that made them great but the authority of their office, Jesus as the king and John His herald, given to them by the great God Himself.

Elizabeth was the wife of a country priest but she fulfilled her maternal role with dignity and excellence, preparing her son from the moment of his conception to be the greatest prophet who ever lived.

When God Speaks

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WHEN GOD SPEAKS

“When Moses and Elijah had left, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, this is a great moment! Let’s build three memorials: one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He blurted this out without thinking. While he was babbling like this, a light-radiant cloud enveloped them. As they found themselves buried in the cloud, they became deeply aware of God. Then there was a voice out of the cloud: “This is my Son, the Chosen! Listen to Him.” When the sound of the voice died away, they saw Jesus there alone. They were speechless. And they continued speechless…” Luke 9:34 – 36 (The Message)

Babbling…speechless, what a contrast! Peter, James and John saw Jesus. Peter began to babble – empty-headed chatter about erecting three memorials on the mountain. Did he want to commemorate the experience or did he just want to stay there and never go back to the valley again?

Tabernacles…shelters…memorials…did this hark back to the wilderness where God’s presence was with Israel, but confined to a tent into which people were not permitted to enter? Peter had not yet grasped the significance of Jesus’ name, Emmanuel, God with us.

Remember Jacob. He was shocked when he found out, through his dream at Bethel, that God was not confined to a recognised altar or shrine. God was where Jacob was, out in the open sleeping on a stone. He blurted out, “God is in this place and I didn’t know it.” God reassured him, “Jacob, I’ll be with you wherever you go.” Jacob was also babbling, verbalising his ignorance. When God spoke he was locked into the truth…”I’ll be with you.”

Peter’s babbling, likewise, was silenced by the voice of God. From babbling to speechless, silent, struck dumb by the voice of truth. Until God spoke, Peter babbled. When God spoke, there was nothing more to say. God’s presence in the cloud…God’s voice in their ears…everything changed!

Peter never forgot that moment. He was so deeply impacted that, years later, he wrote about it to the people of God to whom he had ministered throughout Asia Minor (2 Peter 1:16-18). If he ever had misconceptions about Jesus’ identity, that moment in God’s presence, those unearthly words from God, forever cleared from His mind the clutter of unbelief, especially after the resurrection when he began to connect the dots and everything was unscrambled in his mind. He never again doubted who Jesus was. He was eyewitness to something that human beings had never seen or heard, God clothed in human flesh, and human flesh clothed in the glory of God.

Jesus warned us, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans for they think that they will be heard for their many words. “ (Matthew 6:7 NIV) How easy it is for human beings to babble until they meet the glorified Jesus. It happened to John on Patmos. It happened to Paul on the Damascus road. Everything will change when we stop babbling and listen to God speak.