Friday, June 26
Read: Luke 5
With this chapter we are going to start with the end. Jesus is questioned about fasting by the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Jesus responds by telling him he is the bridegroom and they are at a wedding. What he really means is that his presence is the beginning of a new era and it is time to celebrate a new point in Gods plan and a time for fasting will come later. He does not say fasting is irrelevant but that for the time it is inappropriate (Ecclesiastes 3:4).
Jesus then goes onto tell them about patches on garments and wineskins. I know this may sound confusing but can you think of why Jesus would use this illustration to answer them?
Both these illustrations bring a sense of irony to the table. A new patch is meant to fix something broken but since they are different the new patch would end up breaking the garment making it useless. The same is with the wineskins. In verse 39 Jesus refers to himself as wine. Why do you think Jesus refers to Himself as new wine and would not be liked?
The reason is this. He is hinting that He will be rejected because He is bringing a new era and a fresh approach to God that cannot be mixed with the old way of doing things. He warns them that He has come to turn their world upside down and all that they know will soon be changed.
Next let’s look at the calling of the disciples, Levi in verses 27-31 and Simon Peter, John and James in verses 1-11.
In those days there were Rabbis. Jesus was a Rabbi. Young Jewish men hoping to one day become rabbis themselves would go to a Rabbi they admired and ask them if they would teach them. A Rabbi would either say no and send him home to do his fathers trade or he would say yes and the disciple would follow the Rabbi and do everything the Rabbi would do becoming exactly like him. The calling of the twelve disciples is a little different. Jesus chose his disciples. He chose men who had already had trades, fishermen and tax collectors, which means that these guys lost their chance at becoming Rabbis. But Jesus saw something special in these men and the men knew it, put thier faith in him and followed.
This was a new way of doing things. These guys were sinners. But Jesus has this way of viewing people as God does by seeing who they can be instead of stereotyping them into who they currently are. He chose these men because He knew who they could become if they were only encouraged to become them.
And now let’s take a look at the miracles Jesus performs. Jesus doesn’t stop at sinners, but he continues to reach out to the poorest of the poor, the outcasts, the sick, and the people no one wants to touch. Who are these people in your lives? In this world? Think of the outcasts at school, in your neighborhood? Is it because they smell? Wear funny clothes or look different? Is it because they have some incurable disease? AIDS? STD’s? Are paralyzed? How do you respond to outcasts? What is your initial reaction to someone when you find out they have AIDS or when you run into someone who has Down syndrome?
Jesus loved these people too. People like these two, leprous and paralyzed, are the ones no one wanted to touch or talk to even the Pharisees and Priests. But Jesus came to show them He was doing a new thing. These were exactly the people He was searching for because He cared for them. He states that healthy do not need a doctor but those that are sick. Those are the people He came to minister to.
If we are going to follow Jesus and be his disciples we need to realize that these are the same people we should be ministering to and becoming friends with. With these people, the tax collectors, AIDS victims, sinners, the sick is with whom we should be spending our time. If we want to become like Jesus and live a life pleasing to Him then we need to be exactly where He was …. in the gutters, with the untouchables.
Process:
-What message was Jesus sending out by not choosing the best of the best?
(1 Corinthians 1:26-29)
-You have been chosen by God, not because of who you are or how you grew up or by what sins you have or have not committed, but God sees your full potential and has called you to live a life accordingly. God has a plan for your life, a calling He has given you and urges you to walk according to that calling.
-In what ways are you not walking in your full potential? Where have you let the voice of this world, stereotypes, racial prejudices, social status and cliques at school define who you are? Who do you think God wants you to be?
-Things change. Jesus brought in a whole new change that made people upset. Where do you see this happening in the church? Do you think change in the church or in the way we do ministry is a good thing or bad thing? Why or why not? Are you happy with the way the church in America is or do you think we need to change?
-Have you been convicted about how you treat people that seem lowlier than you? Ask God for forgiveness and ask Him to help you minister to the same people He ministered to.