Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Luke 8

It's clear that in His Ministry, Jesus's message was the Good News of the Kingdom of God.  Chapter 8 shows us that the ministry was supported by women and others through their own means - a reminder that it is important to provide support for ministries.

In the parable of the Soils, it is clear that the Word of God (i.e. the seed) most effectively grows in the "noble and good heart" with good soil; in contrast to the wayside, rocky soil, and thorns.  The Word is to be put on a stand to shine, especially in light of the coming Judgment when all is disclosed.  And that those who are of the Kingdom will be "given more" as they are part of the family of God, the King.

With the calming of the storm, Jesus shows his humanity in His need for sleep; but also his powerful deity in His rebuke of the storm.   However, the disciples displayed their lack of faith and their lack of understanding that He is God.

The examples of Christ's ministry in the rest of the chapter also teach us some interesting lessons.   While Jesus once again demonstrated His power and authority by casting out the Legion of demons from the demon-possessed man into the herd of swine; unfortunately, the people of the region let their fears get in the way of allowing Jesus to stay and continue more of His ministry among them.   Sadly, they asked Jesus to leave, whereas they had tolerated the presence of the evil spirits in the demon-possessed man all this time.  This whole story makes me wonder how many times I have allowed my fears to get in the way of Jesus working in my life.

With the healing of the woman with the bleeding issue, we see that she is healed by her faith through just touching the edge of Jesus's cloak.   However, it is interesting that her plan was to just touch His cloak, be healed, and disappear into the crowd.   Yet when Jesus got her to come forward, He not only enabled the crowd and His disciples to become aware of this miracle; but, also gave the woman full healing.   He calls her "daughter", a term that shows caring and closeness; and also encouraged her not to fear and more importantly, that she could go in peace.   With the issue of bleeding, she had probably been declared unclean and would have been excluded from Jewish society; but, here, Jesus gives her complete healing and restores her fully.

To Jairus, as Jesus was going with him to his house, the delay caused by the healing of the woman may have appeared to have been devastating, for during that time his daughter died.  Yet, this demonstrates God's perfect timing, for then Jesus was able to raise his daughter from the dead which was a far more astonishing miracle than if He had just healed her from illness.   Also, the passages shows that Jairus and his wife did not seem to have a great amount of faith, but, this indicates that we only have to have a little faith for great things to happen since we have a great God.

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