Tag Archives: Jesus

¹² One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. ¹³ At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their names:

¹⁴ Simon (whom he named Peter),
Andrew (Peter’s brother),
James,
John,
Philip,
Bartholomew,
¹⁵ Matthew,
Thomas,
James (son of Alphaeus),
Simon (who was called the zealot),
¹⁶ Judas (son of James),
Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).

¹⁷ When they came down from the mountain, the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸ They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those troubled by evil spirits were healed. ¹⁹ Everyone tried to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone.

²⁰ Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said,

“God blesses you who are poor,
    for the Kingdom of God is yours.
²¹ God blesses you who are hungry now,
    for you will be satisfied.
God blesses you who weep now,
    for in due time you will laugh.

²² What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. ²³ When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.

²⁴ “What sorrow awaits you who are rich,
    for you have your only happiness now.
²⁵ What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now,
    for a time of awful hunger awaits you.
What sorrow awaits you who laugh now,
    for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow.
²⁶ What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds,
    for their ancestors also praised false prophets.

²⁷ “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸ Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. ³⁰ Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. ³¹ Do to others as you would like them to do to you.

³² “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! ³³ And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! ³⁴ And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.

³⁵ “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. ³⁶ You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.

³⁷ “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

³⁹ Then Jesus gave the following illustration: “Can one blind person lead another? Won’t they both fall into a ditch? ⁴⁰ Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher.

⁴¹ “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? ⁴² How can you think of saying, ‘Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

⁴³ “A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. ⁴⁴ A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. ⁴⁵ A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.

⁴⁶ “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? ⁴⁷ I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. ⁴⁸ It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. ⁴⁹ But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

Luke 6:12-49

Dear God, to set the context, the “soon afterward” referred to in verse 12 is the stuff about Jesus being in conflict with the Pharisees about the Sabbath. So he goes away to pray all night. This is one of those times that I suspect he might have visited with you, Moses, and Elijah. But he knew he had some important decisions to make. I’m sure as he was going through the “hiring” process of picking the 12 and offering them the job he was going over the strengths and weaknesses of each of them. Peter: bold but can be impetuous and foolish. John: A bit of a hot-head and immature, but sincere. Thomas: Passionate but overwhelmed and confused. Judas: Well, we probably wouldn’t normally pick him, but we will need him later.

Then Jesus puts the 12 in front of everyone and starts his stump speech. Luke kind of gives us the condensed version of the Sermon on the Mount here, and the closer I get to you the more I lean into this sermon as the foundation upon which I need to build all of my perceptions and attitudes towards life. Don’t be afraid if I find myself suffering in some way. It will end one day one way or another. Love others, especially my enemies. Have mercy. Give selflessly and generously.

And to some extent I do these things, although maybe not as much as I should. So help me today. Help me to love those who have really hurt me. Help me to offer forgiveness and mercy to them. Help me to be what you need me to be for those who need me, regardless of what it costs me. Be glorified in my life.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

³⁸ After leaving the synagogue that day, Jesus went to Simon’s home, where he found Simon’s mother-in-law very sick with a high fever. “Please heal her,” everyone begged. ³⁹ Standing at her bedside, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. And she got up at once and prepared a meal for them.

⁴⁰ As the sun went down that evening, people throughout the village brought sick family members to Jesus. No matter what their diseases were, the touch of his hand healed every one. ⁴¹ Many were possessed by demons; and the demons came out at his command, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But because they knew he was the Messiah, he rebuked them and refused to let them speak.

⁴² Early the next morning Jesus went out to an isolated place. The crowds searched everywhere for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave them. ⁴³ But he replied, “I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other towns, too, because that is why I was sent.” ⁴⁴ So he continued to travel around, preaching in synagogues throughout Judea.

Luke 4:38-44

Dear God, after my experience teaching on Saul and David, and then looking at the maps when it came to the seven letters to the churches in Revelation, I am becoming more interested in place. In this case, I am becoming more interested in Capernaum. And I’m also interested in the context of this story of Simon’s (Peter’s) mother-in-law in relation to when Simon was called as a disciple. I probably should have realized this by now, but I never noticed that this story happens before Jesus calls Simon to become Peter. So Simon has Jesus in his house, witnesses not only his mother-in-law’s healing, but also several other healings, and then will later have the fishing experience where there are so many fish the nets tear. So this is a prelude to that.

I wonder what Simon was thinking as this new prophet was in his house and healing all sorts of people. It must have been quite a spectacle. How did it set him up for the experience on the boat and Jesus calling him to follow?

The first thing I thought of this morning was a recent conversation I had with someone about something that is plaguing them. When I saw the description of everyone begging Jesus to heal Peter’s mother-in-law I wondered if I shouldn’t be begging you for the healing of several people I know. And these aren’t just physical ailments. Some are, but the ones that really distress me are the emotional ones. Hurts from the past that are unhealed. Secrets. Nightmares. The truth is, I don’t really know how to pray for this. I don’t have the words to say. But I know these situations need you. I know they need healing. I know they need the Holy Spirit to be praying, ministering, and helping.

Father, I beg you to help the people on my heart right now. Holy Spirit, I beg you to pray to the Father for them. Groan. Moan. Communicate the depths of my heart. Be with them. Break through the darkness. Tear back the lies. Shine light on the secret places so they might be freed. Oh, God, love them. Heal them, please, Jesus. Jesus, please heal them.

I pray this in that same Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

³¹ Then Jesus went to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and taught there in the synagogue every Sabbath day. ³² There, too, the people were amazed at his teaching, for he spoke with authority.

³³ Once when he was in the synagogue, a man possessed by a demon—an evil spirit—cried out, shouting, ³⁴ “Go away! Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

³⁵ But Jesus reprimanded him. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. At that, the demon threw the man to the floor as the crowd watched; then it came out of him without hurting him further.

³⁶ Amazed, the people exclaimed, “What authority and power this man’s words possess! Even evil spirits obey him, and they flee at his command!” ³⁷ The news about Jesus spread through every village in the entire region.

Luke 4:31-37

Dear God, to what extent am I supposed to pray like this? To what extent am I supposed to recognize demons and cast them out? Is my prayer life failing you in this way? Am I failing those around me in this way?

I looked at the map this morning to see where Nazareth and Capernaum were in relation to each other and to Jerusalem. Capernaum was on the Sea of Galilea while Nazareth is southwest of there and inland. Then Jerusalem was much father to the south. So the people in Nazareth tried to kill Jesus and his next move was to go to Capernaum. I wonder why. What took him that direction? Was it because it was farther from Jerusalem and he wanted to teach while letting some of the controversy die down a little? These are all wild suppositions. I don’t have the slightest clue. But it’s an interesting thing to note.

But back to demon possession, rebuking, and casting out, this seems like a big deal that I pretty much overlook in present day. I probably need to recognize it more. I probably need to look for it more. And maybe I should start in my own life and the lives of those closest to me. Am I or my loved ones being messed with in the demonic realm, and am I overlooking that in my prayers?

Father, I beg your protection right now. I beg it for myself, wife wife, my children, my siblings, my nieces and nephews, and my parents. For my coworkers. Over my home and the building I work in. Be with me. Be with us. Protect us. Guard us. Heal us. Redeem us to yourself. Whatever lies are keeping us trapped, let them be released. Oh, Father, be merciful, powerful, and healing. Cast out any demons involved in our lives through the power of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. Free us, please. Holy Spirit, pray for us. Guide us. Teach us. Love us.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

¹⁴ Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about him spread quickly through the whole region. ¹⁵ He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

¹⁶ When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. ¹⁷ The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
    that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
¹⁹     and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

²⁰ He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. ²¹ Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

²² Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

²³ Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’ ²⁴ But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.

²⁵ “Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. ²⁶ Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. ²⁷ And many in Israel had leprosy in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.”

²⁸ When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. ²⁹ Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, ³⁰ but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.

Luke 4:14-30

Dear God, they went from pride in Jesus to fury in one moment. And why? All because he said your glory was being extended to the Gentiles. It was only a year or two ago I heard someone teach on this. I had never noticed it before. I thought they were offended at his insolence. “How dare this boy from our hometown think he’s better than us?!?” But that wasn’t it. They were mad because he invoked the idea that he was there for Gentiles too. The captives released? Gentiles too. Blind see? Gentiles too. Good news for the poor? Gentiles too. And here’s the biggie. The Lord’s favor? Your favor? Gentiles too.

As humans, we are simply too focused on our own good and survival. Our own advancement. If Jesus were to walk into a Russian church today and say he was there for the Ukrainians too, they would be furious. If we walked into a Ukrainian church and said he was there for the Russians, they would be furious. And I could go down the list. An Iranian mosque and say he was there for Americans too. An American church and say he was there for the captive, blind, poor South and Central Americans too. In every case, we would be mad he wasn’t there for us. And we certainly wouldn’t be inclined to help him help them. Those are the other people on the other side of the proverbial fence. We need to take care of our yard first. And we expect your loyalty to be with us.

It makes me think of the older son in the Prodigal Son parable. Of course, the father in that parable represents you. And you have your rebellious child you love, Israel. But is that child only Israel? Is maybe the younger child the Gentiles coming home to you while the older child, Israel, says, “No way!” I’m not sure if I’ve ever considered the rebellious child who left to be Gentiles before, but I need to go back and look at the beginning of that parable now:

The setup for the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:12) actually starts before two other similar parables at the beginning of the chapter:

15 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. ² This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

So the intimation here is that Jesus is referring to sinful Israelites, but I would say Gentiles can certainly be part of the mix.

Father, you are not mine and mine alone. And I don’t demand that you do anything for my life here. Sure, I will gladly accept what you’re willing to provide me. I’ll gladly accept any answers to my prayers for people I care about. But I don’t demand it. I am your child. You are my father. You know so much more about this world and what is your best for me and all of us than I do. I am just here to learn to love you and others better. And I cannot love them well if I am jealous of your love for them at the same time. So I offer my worship to you. I offer my love and time to others. Help me to know how to live a life that draws others closer to you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

⁷ When Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table, he gave them this advice: ⁸ “When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the seat of honor. What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited? ⁹ The host will come and say, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then you will be embarrassed, and you will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table!

¹⁰ “Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests. ¹¹ For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

¹² Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. ¹³ Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴ Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”

Luke 14:7-14

Dear God, why do we need to be honored in front of others? What itch is that scratching? Is it insecurity? Is it the desperate need to know that our lives mattered? Typing this made me think of the passage in Matthew 16 about Jesus saying we need to lose our life to find it. He was referring to death and his own crucifixion (this is right after he rebuked Peter and told him to get behind him), but the lesson is consistent for this story. The day…no, the moment I start looking out for myself first is the point where I start to diverge from you. Not that you don’t want me to have good things. I don’t need to live an austere life to be submitted to you. But it is better for me to take less, offer someone else more, and then let you offer me something greater than I took for myself. The layers of these lessons from you are so consistent and so deep.

And it makes me think of the stuff I prayed yesterday about idols. When I worship an idol I understand there is a value exchange. I give up something so I can get something. And the idol is also offering me something so it can get something. The idol doesn’t want me. It tolerates me so it can get my affection and build up its ego. Of course, I’m speaking of traditional idols, but the modern idols we have in America fit this description as well. If I make the economy, my health, my job, or even the U.S. military my source of peace and safety then those things will always need fed. All of my decisions will be to maximize any of those things. I will start to idolize my physical health above all else. I will make decisions or support decisions that will make the economy work better for myself regardless of what harm that change might cause for my neighbor. I will say, “Take my money and build the best military you can to keep me safe, but don’t use any money to serve others who are suffering.” And those idols, as inanimate as any little statue, will take my money or attention and feed on it. They will just keep taking and taking and taking. And one day they will fail me. They have to. The economy will hit a recession or downturn. Something will happen to my body and it will get sick and die. And the Chinese, Russians, or, more likely, some terrorist (foreign or domestic) will still threaten me.

Father, only you are the same yesterday, today, and forever. And only you just loves me and wants relationship with me. Yes, you want me love, but it’s only because you love me so much. And you want me to love others because you know it’s what’s healthiest for me. So help me to be mindful of my selfishness. Help me to know when and where to sacrifice so that you might be glorified. And while I’m here, let me pray for my wife. She’s about to do a beautiful act of service this morning, but it might also expose her to some pain. Protect her from that pain. Protect her heart, mind, body, and soul. Please, Holy Spirit, walk with her. She will be loving on some people in pain. Give her your words to speak to them. Give her your insights into what they are saying and help her simply enjoy being your presence for them. And if there is anything you need to teach her or me through this, give us ears to hear. Give us eyes to see. Give us knowledge to know. And give us courage to change.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen