Is Jesus the Expected One? [Luke 6]

 

19Summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, "Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?"20When the men came to Him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, 'Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?'"21At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind.22And He answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.23"Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me."


 

Jesus did not tell them He was the Expected One, but He allowed them to make their own conclusions about Him by pointing to the proof of His actions. He challenged them to figure it out themselves by seeing that all of His did was in concert with what was prophesied concerning the Messiah. He was saying to them, look at the evidence, if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck and acts like a duck, it is probably a duck. People often don't want to think and decide for themselves, but want to be told all of the answers. However, Jesus wanted the people to think. He never wanted people to blindly follow Him, but to follow Him because they saw the truth about Him and therefore, were willing to put their faith in Him.


 

May you exercise your mind as you spend time in His Word and choose by His grace to walk by faith in this awesome Messiah.

 

 

Lord of the Sabbath

Friday, February 27, 2009 [Luke 5]

 5And He was saying to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." 6On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and was teaching; and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. 7The scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him.

 8But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and come forward!" And he got up and came forward. 9And Jesus said to them, "I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?" 10After looking around at them all, He said to him, "Stretch out your hand!" And he did so; and his hand was restored. 11But they themselves were filled with rage, and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.


 12It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.

13And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles:

 

Being a Gentile in 21st century America I am sure I don't understand the full impact that Jesus' healing on the Sabbath had on the Pharisees.  But I see from this passage that it enraged them.  Why was this such a hard thing to see good being done on the Sabbath? Was it that this was a law that was hard for them to keep and so they had made detailed rules to make it possible?  If Jesus then comes along and asks God (He did nothing on His own initiative) about healing the withered hand on this day set apart to honor God and God does it,  where does that leave them with their rules?

 

"The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." He demonstrates what it means to live by grace. He runs to God and lets Him decide whether it is right to do good and save a life on the Sabbath. After leaving the synagogue He spends the whole night on the mountain communing with His Father.

 

May we be willing to live in constant communion with the Father, asking Him instead of just following our man made rules. Lord, cause us to "walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7) and trust You to be Lord of all.

Verna McCrillis, 2/26/2009