It's doubtful that Jesus healed people on the Sabbath just to tweak the noses of the Jewish authorities, but he certainly did not shy away from healing on the Sabbath in their presence. The healing of the man with the shriveled hand is told amidst a series of stories where Jesus confronts the religious leaders. The account in Luke 6:6-11 specifically tells us that Jesus knew that they were watching him to see what he would do and even knew what they were thinking. So when Jesus asks them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" they can't deny that he has them pegged. But there is a second reason they can't answer. Jesus has framed the question differently than they would have. To them, the issue was that Jesus was practicing his profession (healing) on the Sabbath which was forbidden. But Jesus puts his healing in terms of good and evil. They could hardly reply that it was forbidden to do good on the Sabbath. For Reflection: There are often many ways to approach an issue, a question, a problem. Do I seek out the opinions of others on what approach to take? The counsel of someone wiser in the ways of God can be of tremendous benefit.
0 Comments
Because I've never used a wineskin, Jesus' example of the wineskins in Luke 5:37-38 has not been one that spoke to me. The biblical commentators say this story is about flexibility, remaining pliable to God. I do understand about flexibility; my joints and muscles remind me every day that I am not as young and flexible as I used to be. A similar example is in Ezekiel 36:26 in which the Lord says, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." We now know through medical science that hardened arteries and hardened heart muscle will eventually kill a person. Arteries and hearts that are hardened cannot efficiently move blood and oxygen through our bodies. On the other hand, proper food and exercise help keep our arteries and hearts in good physical shape. Repentance and listening to God help to keep our hearts in good spiritual shape. The Lord also says through Ezekial, "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws" (Ezekial 36:25, 27). So the way to a new heart and a new spirit is repentance, forgiveness by God and receiving the Spirit. For Reflection: Jesus was saying to the religious leaders that their hearts were hardened; they were not flexible or adaptable to God's ways. What kind of shape is my heart in? Read Hebrews chapter 3 for further reflection. Let us pray. "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night" (Psalm 63:1, 6). In the last section of Luke 5 and beginning of Luke 6 Jesus is preaching primarily to the Jewish religious leaders. His message was not one that they wanted to hear: that the laws they had added on to God’s laws were too much. Those additional laws placed an undue burden on the people trying to follow God’s laws. There were so many laws that the average person couldn’t even know all of them, much less follow them. These laws were not helps, they were hindrances. It takes a little time for Jesus to get through to the religious leaders, but when they finally understand that Jesus is criticizing them and their rules they turn on Jesus. They close their hearts to Jesus’ teaching and look only for ways to trip him up. For Reflection: Our God is not a god of “gotcha” – constantly looking for ways to trip us up on the technicalities. He is not looking for ways to keep us out of his kingdom but for ways to help us into the kingdom. Let us keep our hearts, our eyes and our ears open to see what God is saying to us. Let us pray. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. . . Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me (Psalm 51:1-2, 10-12). Jesus continues to fulfill his proclamation of Luke 4:18-19 as he eats with tax collectors and others (sinners) at the home of Levi, himself a tax collector. He was preaching the good news to those who thought themselves rich but who in fact were poor. The tax collectors were considered public sinners because they cooperated with the Roman occupiers in collecting taxes and because often they were dishonest and collected more than they had a right to charge. It was the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, to whom Jesus had already preached the good news, who were criticizing Jesus for eating with Levi and his guests. Obviously they hadn't taken the good news to heart. Jesus explains to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:27-31). This statement leaves the pharisees and professors with two options: either they can consider themselves the righteous ones who are not called or they can consider themselves to be sinners who are called. For Reflection: Would I rather be inside eating at the banquet with Jesus and the public sinners or outside asking questions? Let us pray. Jesus, you came to call all people, even me. Help me to overcome my doubts which keep me on the outside, questioning you, so that I may enter through the door and sit down with you. (This theme began on September 25, 2014. Photo: Copyright: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/profile_surasaki'>surasaki / 123RF Stock Photo</a>) Immediately upon his public ministry, Jesus began to perform miracles. Luke gives these accounts in his gospel to show that Jesus is the anointed one of God, the Messiah. Because people had seen him casting out demons and healing people, more and more people gathered to hear him preach. Jesus had already healed Simon's mother-in-law of a high fever, when he sits in Simon's boat to preach to the people on the shore. Following the message, he told Simon to go out into the deeper water to fish. It was not the right time of day to fish and Simon knew it. But he went out anyway because Jesus asked him. They caught so many fish that one boat couldn't handle them all. So James and John bring out their boat to help (Luke 5:1-11). This miraculous catch of fish, mid-morning, convinced Simon(Peter), James and John that Jesus was someone worth listening to. They hadn't asked Jesus to help them with fishing. Although they hadn't caught anything that early morning, and had no doubt missed out on a day's wages, they didn't complain. It seems Jesus arranged that miracle just to impress them. It worked. They began to follow Jesus. For Reflection: Jesus may move in unexpected ways. After all, what does a carpenter know about fishing? Where will I see Jesus working today? If He calls me to do something I've already tried and failed at, will I try one more time? Let us pray. Jesus, you are the master of everything above the earth, on the earth and under the earth. All creation owes its existence to you. Jesus is in the house! As we saw in yesterday's post, in Luke's Gospel, Jesus' standing up and reading from Isaiah in the synagogue is the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. He then goes out to start fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy, as he said he would do. He teaches with authority (Luke 4:31-32, 36); he frees a man possessed by a demon (4:33-35); he heals many people (4:38-41); he preaches the good news to all who would listen (4:42-44). Jesus does not ask us to do anything for which he did not give us an example. And just as he did not do things in his own strength, he does not want us to do things on our own strength. He had the authority of the Father and the power of the Spirit to preach, to free, to heal. He prayed before he began his ministry, he prayed all during his ministry, he continues to intercede for us before the Father (Romans 8:34). For Reflection: If Jesus needed to pray, how much more so do I need to pray? Let us pray. Jesus, you set the example. You laid out the mission. You showed us how to accomplish it - through our prayer, with the authority of the Father, empowered by the Holy Spirit and your own intercession. It is in partnership with you that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). You are the source, the holy one. Jesus proclaimed his marching orders when he stood up in the temple of Nazareth and read from Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18-19). These are the orders given to him by the Father and enabled by the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew why he was sent. He had a mission, a purpose. He also had help. He had his Father's authority behind him and Holy Spirit with him always. He embodied the Trinity. He was never alone in living out and accomplishing his mission. For Reflection: If Jesus needed the Father's authority and the Spirit's anointing, how can we expect to get by without them? Let us pray. Jesus, I see the mission you had and I want to follow your example. I too need the Father's authority and the Spirit's anointing. I want to embody the Trinity to the extent that I can because there are still people who have not heard the good news, who have not been set free, who have not been healed, who do not know of your favor. I need your help to walk in your footsteps and continue your mission of bringing the kingdom of God on earth. Jesus took all of our sins onto himself when he was crucified. Even though we had not been born yet, even though we had not sinned yet, he died for us (1 Peter 2:24). He forgave all of our sins at that time. St. Paul assures us, "He forgave us all our sins" (Colossians 2:13). Further, by his death he cancelled the penalty due to those sins which was our eternal death. Jesus took on himself our sins, our hatred, our cruelty to one another. He also took on what others have done to us - the injustices, the theft, the cursing. He accepts the garbage of the abuser and the hurt of the one who was abused. These assurances from Peter and Paul are past tense. Already done. But we have to appropriate them in our lives. We have to admit our sins to God and accept the forgiveness that Jesus offers. Then we need to let go of the sin, the guilt, the shame, the hurt. We can trust God with it and not hang on to it. "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7). If we hang on to these things, we deny that Jesus was capable then and still is capable now of saving us. He won the victory. For Reflection: Have I truly admitted my sins and accepted forgiveness for them? Am I hanging on to the guilt, the shame or the hurt? Let us pray. Jesus, I realize now that I've been hanging on to the guilt and the hurt. You are more than capable of carrying these, so I give them to you. I don't want them any more. I want to take a victory lap with you. Many of us are dragging around a load of guilt. We think that we are too great a sinner for God to forgive us. Not true. God is bigger than our sin. In fact it is hubris to think that any sin of ours is too big for God to forgive or to believe that he can't take away our guilt. Paul made this very point is his letter to Timothy. Paul considered himself the worst of sinners. He was a "blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man" (1 Timothy 1:13-16; Acts 8:3). Yet God forgave him. Jesus came into the world to save sinners. If Jesus can forgive someone like Paul (who really was a great sinner) and take on all of Paul's sin and guilt, why not ours? For Reflection: Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I am a sinner. Therefore Jesus came into the world to save me. Let us pray. Jesus, I have sinned. I realize that if you can forgive Paul, you can forgive me. I have . . . . I ask you to forgive me. Help me to make amends for what I have done and to not commit these same sins again. |
AliceI started this website and blog on May 1, 2012. I am a Catholic who has been in ministry for many years. I first developed what I would call a close relationship with Jesus in the early 1970s. Ever since then I have been praying with people for healing and other needs. It is because I have seen so many of these prayers answered that I am so bold as to offer to pray for you individually through this website and phone line. Archives
July 2021
Categories
All
|