There are four main sections of Luke Chapter 7.
The first section tells us the story of a centurion soldier whose beloved servant was very ill. The centurion sent word to Jesus about the servant and his wish that Jesus would heal him. The messengers found Jesus and begged him to heal this servant. Because... "This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." Jesus agreed and started towards the house, when another group of messengers met them on the road with a message from the centurion "I do not deserve to have you under my roof...just say the word and my servant will be healed."
Jesus was very amazed that someone from outside of Israel would have this kind of faith. He had not seen this type of faith from the locals. And in fact, Jesus turned to the locals in the crowd and took them to task for not having more faith. I'd sure hate to be on the receiving end of that lecture. Oh - yeah - that servant? By the time the messengers returned to the centurion's house, he was healed.
The second section has Jesus raising a widow's son from the dead. An impressive event, even for today. What makes this miracle so poignant, is the fact that the son was very likely the only thing keeping the widow from a life of poverty.
The third section is perhaps my favorite. It says that even John the Baptist had doubts and questions about Jesus and his ministry. He was wondering, "Are you really the one we have been waiting for?" There are days when I have questions about my walk of faith, and the life that Jesus has for in store for me. Am I really on the right path? Is this what you told me to do, or did I just think you said that? Knowing that a great man like John had the same types of questions, helps me through my time of questions.
Last but not least in the anointing of Jesus by the woman with the alabaster box of perfume. Jesus was invited to the house of a Pharisee for dinner. Pretty hoity toity as my dad would say. Perhaps a lot like dinner with the Governor today. Things were going well, until a "sinful woman" came in and started anointing Jesus' feet with her tears and probably her most prized possession - perfume. Remember, this was way before Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Macy's and the like. And....let's just saying that bathing was more of an ordeal and most often not done with the hot sudsy water that we are used to today. Perfume was a huge thing to have - the aroma of a freshly perfumed person would turn heads on the street.
Mr. Pharisee dinner host, was not impressed and in fact kind of yelled at Jesus for allowing her to do this - to him - in his house! How dare he!?!? I picture Jesus looking at the Pharisee with that look of chastisement and saying "At least she cares enough for me to take care of me. You didn't even bother to anoint my head with common oil." He then blessed the woman, told her that her sins were forgiven and send her on the way.
Chapter 8 - I always seem to spend so much time on the first chapter of the day, and then lose steam for the second chapter. Not sure how much you all like to read these things, but figure that if you get bored with it, you'll just stop when you're ready. So...with that in mind, I'm determined to give Chapter 8 a fair shake.
A little side note from my student bible here: In this chapter, Luke points out that certain women who had been healed or helped by Jesus gave up their daily lives to follow him. In fact, they often provided for him - meals, clothing, cleaning, etc... Luke introduces 13 women who are not in any of the other gospels!
I love the parables that Jesus uses to talk with us. First in the chapter is the parable of the sower. A pretty common parable that many of us know by heart. The question we need to ask ourselves - are we rocky ground, weed and thorn infested ground, ground in the pathway, or good deep fertile soil where plants can take root and flourish? Personally, I think my ground depends on the day and my attitude towards life. Some days I'm pretty good soil. God's word really sinks in and starts to make it's way towards the sun. Other days, I feel like I'm as rocky as the mountains I grew up in. But I take heart that even in the Rocky Mountains, there are trees that somehow manage to grow out of the granite.
Next up? This little light of mine, I"m gonna let it shine....
Living outside of the city, it gets pretty dark at night. Especially when there is no moon. The kind of dark where our black kitty cats outside are invisible to us. But oh how wonderful it is when you first turn on that flashlight. All of a sudden you can see everything. The cats, the armadillos, the opossums... All of a sudden though, the light goes out (forgot to replace the batteries again), and the dark seems so much darker than before.
I was raised in church - a great log-cabin type church in the middle of no-where. The type of church where you really are a family and you are with each other through the good and the bad. And the type of family where you fight with each other, but heaven help the outsider that attacks one of us. It was a great place to be. When I moved out on my own and went to college (Go Bears!), I never really found a church home there. And there were times when it got pretty dark. I was unsure of what the future held for me, and there were also times where things being taught in my classes weren't necessarily what I had believed from an early age. Eventually I'd get a weekend back at home and I'd visit my church family. Their light was so much brighter than I remembered. And in fact several of the ladies that had always been "acquaintances" with me before, became much more important to me. Even today I get messages from them and my entire day is just so much brighter. So....what are we doing to be a light in our own church?
The rest of the chapter has so many great stories, Jesus calling the church his family, (Hmmm...wonder where I got that example?) Jesus calming the storm, the healing of a demon possessed man, the healing of the woman with a bleeding issue, and bringing a dead little girl back to life. I'd love to hear your take on these stories. What speaks to you? What examples can you think of from your own life???
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