Luke 7 (click the link)
Each time I start one of these devotionals, I have high hopes of finding one nugget and focusing on that. But alas, I am not a one nugget kind of girl… I am a details girl. They say “the devil is in the details” but I say who are “they,” and why are they messing with my details? I choose to find Jesus in the details, so today, we’ll look at those in the stories of Luke 7.
- Jesus had just taught the famous Sermon on the Mount and walked up the hill to the village of Capernaum. Capernaum is a fishing village that was, at that time, on the coast of the Sea of Galilee (centuries of geological activity has caused Galilee’s waters to recede and it’s now several miles up a gentle slope). One of our last stops on our recent trip to Israel was the village of Capernaum, and it was one of my favorites because the footprint of a small city remains with a visible entrance gate that makes it easy for me to imagine the proceedings described. As Jesus was walking into the city, a centurion sent word of his dying servant in hopes that Jesus would heal the man. Centurions were Roman soldiers, and their presence in a Jewish village was typically despised because they were sent to keep order, to prevent Jewish uprising against Roman rule. They were often cruel authorities, yet this guy had a reputation among the Jews of being kind, having built a synagogue for the townspeople to learn and worship in, and he held this particular servant dear, not mistreating him as masters were prone to do. This Gentile soldier even spared Jesus the awkwardness of requesting that he come to his house (Jews who were concerned for their Jew-ness would never enter a Gentile’s home) and relied on the power of Jesus’ word. As a commander of men, the centurion understood authority, and that Jesus could command the illness to be gone because of His authority over sickness. The ASV says that “Jesus marveled” at the centurion’s faith. Wouldn’t you like to have the kind of faith that Jesus finds marvelous? Without even seeing the sick man, He healed him and sent the messengers back to confirm it was done.
- Next Jesus and His entourage went to the village of Nain. As they were approaching the gate, they were met by a funeral procession carrying a boy’s body outside the village for burial. The boy was the only son of a widow, and therefore, in addition to grief over her loss, she was also facing a life of destitution with no husband or son to provide for her. In a world where a woman depended on a man to champion her, “Jesus’ heart went out to her” and He said to the woman “don’t cry.” Insensitive? No way! Jesus had the power to turn her deep sorrow into unbelievable joy, and He did just that when He spoke the dead body back to life and gave a living, breathing young man back to his mother. And the people who saw said “God has come to help His people.”
- John the Baptizer, sitting in jail… he baptized Jesus himself and saw the dove and heard the voice of God speaking fatherly delight in His one and only Son. John had even gotten the news flash about the centurion’s servant and the widow’s son, but here’s the guy whose whole life’s mission was to prepare the way for the Lord, and all his faithfulness has landed him in a prison cell. Please tell me I haven’t wasted my life on the wrong guy… “are you the Coming One, or should we look for another?” The answer? “At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind.” (I would’ve liked a little more detail on this scene!) John may have preferred a thunderous jailbreak as proof of Jesus’ deity, but the only answer to fit the character of the Coming One was the lame walking, the blind seeing, the deaf hearing and the dead living. Then He affirms John to the people: “This is the one about whom it is written: “‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” Dear John, a bear of a man, wearing scratchy, smelly camel’s skin with hair long and tangled like a wild man, couldn’t get into a palace except thru the dungeon. He was the only prophet who was, himself, prophesied, and every prophet before him said “the Messiah is coming,” but John had the unique privilege of saying “the Messiah is here.” Still, the Kingdom of God didn’t come into effect until Jesus’ death and resurrection, and John would not live to see it. Jesus then closes the day with a strange but vivid analogy between Pharisees and others who refused Jesus’ and John’s message to demanding, dissatisfied children. Brian McLaren says it this way: "If the message is unwelcome, nothing that the messenger can say or do will be right."
- If you were to ask me the ultimate example of worship in the Bible, I would have to say the remainder of Luke 7. Jesus had accepted a dinner invitation at the home of Simon, a Pharisee. We don’t know Simon’s real motive for inviting Jesus to his home, but we read in this passage that he didn’t think enough of Jesus to offer the common courtesies a host would normally give to a guest: washing his feet, a kiss for greeting and oil to anoint his head. If you’ve ever been in the desert, you know you can walk for only a few minutes before you’re dusty up to your knees, tired and sweaty! Reclining at a dinner table (picture leaning over a picnic, head to head, not our modern tables and chairs) would have been a smelly situation and washing and fragrant oils made the event much more pleasant. As they’re eating, a woman with a bad reputation came into the room, and scandal ensues. She knew better… a proper woman wouldn’t approach a man she wasn’t related to, and women weren’t allowed to be in the room while men ate. But she wasn’t a proper woman, and her desperation and fascination and some divine insight told her this Man would receive her kindly, so she poured perfume from an alabaster jar onto his feet and began to wash them. The more she washed, the more she cried, grateful that He was looking at her so lovingly, painfully aware of the spectacle she was making, perhaps remembering specific shameful things she had done. Her tears mingled with the perfume and her hair became the loveliest towel that had ever washed those feet. I have been told that a woman in those days never wore her hair down except in intimate moments with a man, so her loosed hair in such a setting was beyond scandalous. I’ve also heard that an alabaster perfume jar was typically part of a woman’s dowry, to be presented to her husband as a wedding gift. Alabaster, white, represented purity and she was no longer pure. Perfume was valuable and this jar may have been her last hope for a life she had once dreamed of, yet she was wasting it at Jesus’ feet. Why do I say this is the best example of worship in the Bible? A humble woman offered up her past, present and future, knowing He alone was worthy of all she had. Isn’t that what real worship is? She came to Jesus in complete desperation, with the attitude that she was not worthy to even be in His presence. That was a good way for her to come to Jesus, but He didn’t let her stay there. He raised her up, acknowledged her love, forgave her sin, and sent her in peace. Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Of all the miracles in this chapter, this is the most striking. Sickness healed (like the centurion’s servant), or life restored (like the widow’s son) are not permanent, because those bodies one day died again. But when her sins were forgiven, they were forgiven forever. And He does that for us too.
I hope you see how much the real heart of Jesus is shown in the details. I’ll end by sharing a song that we encountered last weekend on the PRF youth trip to Kansas City. It personalizes, for me, the humility with which this unnamed woman came to Jesus to lavish her worship. It’s a 20min video, but don’t panic! Just put it on while you’re getting ready this morning and let it wash over you. Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3ZPNKKhKPU to go to the youtube video.
WHO AM I
I am Leigh Anne Bland and I recently
attended the most fun wedding ever! My sister in law is completely unpredictable,
the life of every party, and her wedding in May was the event of the century
(move over William and Kate!) This picture was taken at the reception, before
dark, when no one had run through the water fountains yet. Those pictures will
not be released.
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