The Value of a Human: Luke 13:10-17

Focus Passage: Luke 13:10-17 (GW)

10 Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the day of rest—a holy day. 11 A woman who was possessed by a spirit was there. The spirit had disabled her for 18 years. She was hunched over and couldn’t stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her to come to him and said, “Woman, you are free from your disability.” 13 He placed his hands on her, and she immediately stood up straight and praised God.

14 The synagogue leader was irritated with Jesus for healing on the day of worship. The leader told the crowd, “There are six days when work can be done. So come on one of those days to be healed. Don’t come on the day of rest—a holy day.”

15 The Lord said, “You hypocrites! Don’t each of you free your ox or donkey on the day of rest—a holy day? Don’t you then take it out of its stall to give it some water to drink? 16 Now, here is a descendant of Abraham. Satan has kept her in this condition for 18 years. Isn’t it right to free her on the day of rest—a holy day?”

17 As he said this, everyone who opposed him felt ashamed. But the entire crowd was happy about the miraculous things he was doing.

Read Luke 13:10-17 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

One thing that fascinates me about Jesus is how He carefully crafts out a response for the people who challenge Him. In this journal entry’s passage, some of the details stand out to me, and when we see these little details together, they paint an amazing picture of God.

First, the passage begins in verse 10 and tells us Jesus was teaching in the synagogue – however Jesus was not this synagogue’s leader, so perhaps the synagogue leader had invited Jesus to speak, or perhaps this event happened during a response Jesus was giving to something He or someone else had said.

Next, Jesus simply talks and lays His hands on the woman to heal her. There were fewer calories burned in this action then there were walking to the synagogue that morning. However that doesn’t stop the synagogue leader from being upset at this healing.

However, all this leads into a theme that is present in Jesus’ response. In verses 15-16, Jesus says, “You hypocrites! Don’t each of you free your ox or donkey on the day of rest—a holy day? Don’t you then take it out of its stall to give it some water to drink? Now, here is a descendant of Abraham. Satan has kept her in this condition for 18 years. Isn’t it right to free her on the day of rest—a holy day?”

In His response, Jesus makes a comparison to the value of people vs. the value of animals. Everyone in that synagogue, including the synagogue leader, would have known that it is important and acceptable to give their animals water on the Sabbath day of rest. From the way Jesus responds, we see that He takes the position that people are more important than animals, which then makes those who are opposing His actions sound as if they value their animals over other people.

Rationally speaking, most everyone will say that humans are more valuable than animals, but do our actions and how we treat other members of the human race confirm this?

Not only does Jesus say that humans are more valuable than animals in His response in this passage, but He does so from God’s perspective. In God’s eyes each one of us is more valuable than an animal. Evolution theory says that we are nothing more than a “more evolved” animal, while Jesus says we are more valuable to God than any other animal.

God’s Law, which Jesus was helping those present understand better, was not meant to discriminate between people, but to challenge each person to have a better, more authentic, relationship with God and others.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Reunion In the Face of Loss: Luke 9:37-43a

Focus Passage: Luke 9:37-43a (NIV)

37 The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. 38 A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. 40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”

41 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

42 Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. 43a And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.

Read Luke 9:37-43a in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

When Jesus was coming down from the mountain where He revealed a glimpse of His glory to His closest disciples, He meets the other disciples and a father who has a problem. Luke’s gospel draws our attention onto a unique angle of this father’s problem that the other gospel writers did not include. In Luke’s gospel, we learn that the father asks Jesus, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.” (v. 38)

Only Luke’s gospel includes the detail that this is the only child of a desperate father. I wonder if this detail hit Jesus a little closer to home and the relationship He had with God the Father. Even though the disciples were unable to cast out the demon that had possessed this boy, Jesus knew how to get the demon out.

With the earlier detail that Luke shares about this boy being the only child, Luke also includes a unique detail following the healing. Luke tells us that “Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father.” (v. 42)

In Luke’s gospel, we see a powerful picture of a father who had almost lost hope receiving his only child back. This is incredible and it speaks to how much God loves each of us.

However, not every case is the same. Sometimes we face loss and death in this life and it does not make sense. Sometimes what happens is clearly not fair. I cannot begin to explain why Jesus restores some relationships while allowing others to end, but what I can say is that everything that happens has a reason, and God leaves nothing to chance.

The biggest truth that I can see shine through this event in Luke’s gospel, especially in the face of times when this doesn’t seem to happen in our own lives, is that God is more interested in spending eternity with us. Everything that happens has the goal of eternity together behind it. While this father gets reunited with his son, regardless of the loss we face, we should look forward to the great reunion we will all experience when we meet together in heaven. Only then can our questions be answered, and only then can Jesus fully explain why things happened the way they did.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Valued by God: Luke 12:1-12

Focus Passage: Luke 12:1-12 (GW)

Meanwhile, thousands of people had gathered. They were so crowded that they stepped on each other. Jesus spoke to his disciples and said, “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees. I’m talking about their hypocrisy. Nothing has been covered that will not be exposed. Whatever is secret will be made known. Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight. Whatever you have whispered in private rooms will be shouted from the housetops.

“My friends, I can guarantee that you don’t need to be afraid of those who kill the body. After that they can’t do anything more. I’ll show you the one you should be afraid of. Be afraid of the one who has the power to throw you into hell after killing you. I’m warning you to be afraid of him.

“Aren’t five sparrows sold for two cents? God doesn’t forget any of them. Even every hair on your head has been counted. Don’t be afraid! You are worth more than many sparrows. I can guarantee that the Son of Man will acknowledge in front of God’s angels every person who acknowledges him in front of others. But God’s angels will be told that I don’t know those people who tell others that they don’t know me. 10 Everyone who says something against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But the person who dishonors the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

11 “When you are put on trial in synagogues or in front of rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say. 12 At that time the Holy Spirit will teach you what you must say.”

Read Luke 12:1-12 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

While teaching the disciples and warning them specifically about the dangers of hypocrisy, Jesus shares an amazing image of God and how He values each of us. In Luke’s gospel, we learn that Jesus taught this truth to the disciples with a crowd listening in by starting with a rhetorical question: “Aren’t five sparrows sold for two cents? God doesn’t forget any of them. Even every hair on your head has been counted. Don’t be afraid! You are worth more than many sparrows.” (v. 6-7)

This truth is amazing when we look closely at it. In these two short verses, Jesus emphasizes how valuable a cheap, plentiful bird is – and He emphasizes that even though there were hundreds or even thousands living in the region, “God doesn’t forget any of them”. Jesus first focuses on God valuing one of the least valued birds in that culture.

But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He then shifts our attention onto the fact that God even pays incredible attention to the details of our lives. While I don’t have any real desire to count the number of hairs on my head, God is that interested in me to do so. In an interesting shift of ideas, Jesus moved from talking about the least valued animal in that culture and then He moved our focus onto what might be the least important part of our anatomy – our hair.

I’m not saying that people don’t value their hair or that hair is not given with a purpose. Instead, I am intrigued that of all the parts of our anatomy, if we lose a strand or two of hair, it would impact us the least. If we lost a finger or a toe, this would be much more significant. Our fingers and toes are more valuable than a strand or two of hair.

These details are important to us because Jesus is emphasizing our value in God’s eyes. God values us so much that He pays attention to the least valuable thing about us, and He knows every detail about that least valuable thing. God values us more than a whole flock of sparrows, and we should not be afraid when trouble comes into our life. Through every trial God brings into our life there is a purpose, and while we might not see what God is teaching us in the moment, we can trust that He is preparing us for eternity with Him – because He loves us and values us so much that Jesus became human to redeem us from sin.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Getting Our Feelings Hurt: Luke 9:51-56

Focus Passage: Luke 9:51-56 (NCV)

51 When the time was coming near for Jesus to depart, he was determined to go to Jerusalem. 52 He sent some messengers ahead of him, who went into a town in Samaria to make everything ready for him. 53 But the people there would not welcome him, because he was set on going to Jerusalem. 54 When James and John, followers of Jesus, saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven and destroy those people?”

55 But Jesus turned and scolded them. [And Jesus said, “You don’t know what kind of spirit you belong to. 56 The Son of Man did not come to destroy the souls of people but to save them.”] Then they went to another town.

Read Luke 9:51-56 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

If we look out at culture and at what is happening in our world today, there are plenty of examples of people who have reacted poorly because their feelings were hurt. I can easily use myself as an example because there have been plenty of times I have reacted – or overreacted – negatively because of hurt feelings.

This may be why, when I read this journal entry’s passage, the response James and John give Jesus jumps out at me: “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven and destroy those people?” (Verse 54)

Perhaps this was the first town that had refused Jesus, and James/John didn’t know how to handle a group of people who actively chose to reject the Messiah. Maybe it was pride from being around Jesus, arrogance that they had performed miracles, or simply because they were trying to stick up for Jesus, thinking His feelings were hurt, but whatever the reason, looking at this situation as an outside observer, it is easy to see how these two disciples over reacted.

When our feelings take precedence over our self-control, then it is easy to overreact. Destroying a town of hundreds or thousands of people simply because the gatekeeper or leaders didn’t want to let Jesus and His disciples stay there is way too strong of a response. The town would have had sick people Jesus could have healed, confused people Jesus could have taught, and hurting people Jesus could have loved.

Jesus would have done nothing but positive things for that town, but pride in the town leaders stopped Jesus from entering, and pride in two of the disciples’ hearts caused them to overreact when they heard the news that the town was not interested in letting Jesus stay there.

Pride closes the door for God to work in our lives. Pride takes the focus off of selfless help for others and refocuses it onto selfish help for oneself. The town missed out because of their leaders, but that was the leaders’ choice. When we face situations where we are rejected, it is a chance to practice maturity by not overreacting because of our feelings. Intentionally focusing on helping/giving/serving others without expecting anything in return is the antidote for pride in our lives. Jesus came to help/give/serve and He calls us to be like Him.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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