Tag: Jesus

Red Letter Year: 7/22

Luke 9:1-17

1 One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. 2 Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.3 “Take nothing for your journey,” he instructed them. “Don’t take a walking stick, a traveler’s bag, food, money, or even a change of clothes. 4 Wherever you go, stay in the same house until you leave town. 5 And if a town refuses to welcome you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.”

6 So they began their circuit of the villages, preaching the Good News and healing the sick.

7 When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, heard about everything Jesus was doing, he was puzzled. Some were saying that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead. 8 Others thought Jesus was Elijah or one of the other prophets risen from the dead.

9 “I beheaded John,” Herod said, “so who is this man about whom I hear such stories?” And he kept trying to see him.

10 When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done. Then he slipped quietly away with them toward the town of Bethsaida. 11 But the crowds found out where he was going, and they followed him. He welcomed them and taught them about the Kingdom of God, and he healed those who were sick.

12 Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to him and said, “Send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place.”

13 But Jesus said, “You feed them.”

“But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole crowd?” 14 For there were about 5,000 men there.

Jesus replied, “Tell them to sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 So the people all sat down. 16 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. 17 They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers!

Comments

Prior to this passage, Luke has established the character of Jesus’ ministry (see Friday’s summary). At the end of this chapter the focus will shift to the journey to Jerusalem. The looming cross becomes the overriding theme. In between, the focus is on the Twelve. The ones who continue the same work as Jesus, spread it farther, carry it on, and model it for others who continue widening the circle. In sending them out, Luke makes true the name he gave them previously – apostle means one sent with a message (the noun in 6.13 is cognate to the verb in 9.2). Jesus doesn’t just send them out, he sends them with power and authority, key terms we have already seen Luke use to describe Jesus’ own work. This is most likely the reason Luke leaves out the story of John’s execution: it would only detract from the themes he is carefully developing.

The other significant change Luke makes to the previous texts is the command to take nothing is absolute (even the staff allowed in Mark is disallowed here). They literally take nothing. The work the Twelve accomplish must have been phenomenal, because it even gets Herod’s attention. Herod’s appearance here foreshadows the political opposition both Jesus and his early followers are about to face (both of which Luke writes about in Luke and in Acts). The feeding of the 5000 completes this vignette as a reminder that provision will come to those who take nothing and then meet opposition.

One last note. In 9.17, Luke tells us the people were satisfied. This is the same word Jesus used in 6.21, “Blessed are the poor, for they will be satisfied.” Luke wanted us to see this both as hope for these who give up everything to follow Jesus and the beginning of fulfilling the word spoken on the plain. I argued before that Luke de-spiritualized Matthew’s “poor in spirit.” His word choice here for people eating food bears that out.

If you have given up everything to follow Jesus (or know you’ve been called to and are scared), take hope. He still stretches a little to go as far as you need. Whatever your need, something will present itself to meet it. If you haven’t gone all in on Jesus yet, what are you waiting for?

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Red Letter Year: 7/19

Luke 8:40-56

40 On the other side of the lake the crowds welcomed Jesus, because they had been waiting for him. 41 Then a man named Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come home with him. 42 His only daughter, who was about twelve years old, was dying.

As Jesus went with him, he was surrounded by the crowds. 43 A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure. 44 Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped.

45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.”

46 But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.” 47 When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed. 48 “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

49 While he was still speaking to her, a messenger arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. He told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”

50 But when Jesus heard what had happened, he said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed.”

51 When they arrived at the house, Jesus wouldn’t let anyone go in with him except Peter, John, James, and the little girl’s father and mother. 52 The house was filled with people weeping and wailing, but he said, “Stop the weeping! She isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”

53 But the crowd laughed at him because they all knew she had died. 54 Then Jesus took her by the hand and said in a loud voice, “My child, get up!” 55 And at that moment her life returned, and she immediately stood up! Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were overwhelmed, but Jesus insisted that they not tell anyone what had happened.

Comments

Here again Luke leaves Mark’s narrative mostly unchanged, in this case a story-within-a-story with strong parallels between the two intertwined vignettes. Consider the similarities:

  • Daughter. Both are referred to as “daughter”
  • 12 years. The girl’s age and the length of the woman’s suffering
  • Incurable conditions
  • Unclean
  • Restored to community

Those last two go together. The woman suffered from ongoing gynecological bleeding and was thus perpetually unclean. Excluded from all communal and religious events, celebrations. Excluded from community. Living completely isolated in a crowd. For twelve years. The girl was dead. Jesus returns the girl to her parents and removes the barrier between the woman and community. The power of Jesus always ends isolation. Always builds community.

Luke keeps verbatim what Mark records Jesus saying to the woman. This is also exactly what Luke reports Jesus saying to the woman who washed his feet with her tears in 7.50. Luke wanted us to connect these women mentally. They share an understanding of desperation. The woman of the city was overcome with gratitude for salvation she encountered before the scene. We are present for the salvation of this woman. She had spent all she had on cures that didn’t work. Failed attempts and snake oil salesmen had exploited her weaknesses and left her destitute. Unlike the woman of the city, this woman couldn’t even prostitute to earn a living. Her condition prevented even that. I am not sure how she survived such total isolation. The earlier woman’s tears of joy were undoubtedly shared by this woman. They probably both joined Jesus’ group of women followers. Supporting his ministry and sharing her marvelous story.

Just as Luke links these two women, he also links the demon possessed man from yesterday with Jairus. This connection seems less likely, but both run to Jesus and fall at his feet. Luke is not disparaging Jairus. The crowd welcomes Jesus because we are still in Galilee. As we have seen before, Jesus was popular there even among the synagogue elders. Jairus was either one of those advocating for the centurion or he at least sanctioned that solicitation, since he was the head elder. Both he and the Gerasene man fall at Jesus’ feet because they share the desperation of the women above. He didn’t know his daughter was dead, but he knew the situation was grave. No time for decorum. No time for saving face. The head of the synagogue dropped to the dusty ground at the feet of the only hope his daughter had.

The range of his emotions is hard to overstate. Jesus agrees and sets off with him, only to be stopped by an equally desperate woman. After a weird pause for questions, they resume only to be met with the most unkind messenger imaginable. Never mind, she’s dead. Thank you Mr. Blunt. Undeterred and unperturbed, Jesus pressed on, probably half-dragging, half-supporting the grief-stricken father along. Then his mourning turned to dancing. Instead of kissing a cold corpse goodbye, he held his only daughter (echoes of the only son from Nain and the only Son of the Father) in a warm embrace. Dave Matthews is right, “you should never have to watch your only children lowered in the ground, you should never have to bury your own babies.” (Gravedigger) Twice now Luke has shown us Jesus agreed.

And back to that interruption, which marks one change Luke made. Mark describes Jesus knowing what happened. Luke tells us Jesus felt power go out of him. That might sound weird to some, but my Vineyard and Pentecostal friends can relate to a degree. It is not uncommon to feel power go out of your hands as you pray for someone and they are healed (yes, this still happens, try it sometime). What is uncommon (to me at least) is for power to go out when I’m not praying, but just walking along (even in a tight crowd as was the case here). As Peter observed, a lot of people were touching Jesus. Hard to imagine that one woman was the only one who had a need. Why wasn’t power going out of Jesus to many? Why only her? She was the only one who touched him in faith. No other answer seems available to us. The rest were pressing along, experiencing Jesus to a point, but not all the way. Not in faith. Not in desperation. Not in trust. Only she did that.

So let’s recap the group of desperate people Luke has put together for us in chapters 7 and 8. A dead boy and his mother. A woman who could not stop crying and kissing Jesus’ feet. A group of wet, drowning men, including at least one self-described sinner and one tax collector. A naked man possessed by thousands of demons. A woman sick and completely rejected by all society. A dead girl and her bereft parents. That is a desperate crew. Jesus brought the power of the Spirit to bear on them all. These desperadoes, these alienated from the world, they become citizens of the kingdom. Jesus recruits and attracts desperate people. If we want to grow his kingdom (not our own fiefdoms), we should find the desperate people. They don’t belong to the world. The world is not worthy of them.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.