Luke 5:8–11

Luke 5:8-11 

English Standard Version 

  Grace is disorienting.  We see this several times throughout Scripture.  Isaiah has a similar reaction when he gets a view of the throneroom -- he thinks it is his end.  When we get a glimpse of the holiness of God, we cannot help but be humbled and feel unworthy.

  This is the beautiful story -- we are unworthy, but Christ, by his blood, makes us worthy to stand before God.  It's all a free gift.  Simon, James, and John recognize the immensity of the gift, and they follow Jesus, wherever he will lead.  I don't think they fully grasp the next steps, but they grasp the power and holiness of Jesus, and that is enough.

  In the same way, we often don't understand all the next steps that are before us.  But when we realize the perfection and love of Jesus, we can be emboldened to follow, trusting in God to sustain us along the way.

Luke 5:4–7

Luke 5:4-7 

English Standard Version 

  Jesus sends Simon right back to where he had just failed -- and not just a short effort.  Simon had toiled all night and caught nothing.  

  But Simon recognizes wisdom, and he obeys.  He has every reason to stand fast in a refusal to go back to where he just came from, but he's willing to trust in the commands of Jesus.  He's just heard Jesus' teaching, so his obedience follows from listening to the Word of God.  

  Jesus sends us to strange places sometimes.  He sends us back to places where we have failed, and we often want to say no.  But if we're willing to listen to the commands of Jesus, we'll hear the compassion and understand the wisdom, and then we go.  We follow where he sends us.  

  And when we go under the grace of Jesus, we find things that we never find on our own.  Unimaginable riches, thanks to the grace and power of God.  It may not be worldly riches, but to be rich towards God is the one wealth that we can take with us beyond the grave, and that is gold that lasts forever.

Luke 5:1-3

Luke 5:1-3

English Standard Version 

  Imagine you're Simon, and there's a huge crowd pressing in on a teacher, and suddenly he's in your boat, teaching the crowd.  The Gospel comes to you in the midst of ordinary life.

  This is how the Gospel so often works -- it comes to us, in the midst of the ordinary.  There can be noise and crowds, and sometimes we miss it, but other times... it breaks through, and suddenly Jesus is there, leading us, teaching us.  God comes to us in the ordinary, transforming moments, transforming us.  This is one of the beautiful things about the Gospel -- it's full of stories we can relate to, where grace meets people in circumstances we understand, filled with vulnerability and tenderness and beauty.  The Gospel is real, and it's for real people.

Luke 4:42–44

Luke 4:42-44 

English Standard Version 

  Do you withdraw to pray?

  I get so busy, so caught up, that I forget to.  Often.  I'm not proud of it.  

  Jesus withdrew to pray.  Think of the endless streams of sick people coming to be healed.  There was no end of work for Jesus to do, between healing and teaching and ministering... but he made time to pray.  It was a priority.  

  If Jesus wasn't too busy to pray... then I ought to learn from him.  No matter what, this is a core piece of what it means to be a Christian, to build a rhythm of life around setting aside time to pray.  May we follow the example of Jesus and make room for God to speak to us.

Luke 4:40–41

Luke 4:40-41 

English Standard Version 

  It's fall and turning winter, which means it's the season where everyone is sick.  You can't go more than 30 seconds without hearing someone cough or sneeze, and our sensitvity to this is heightened since COVID.  I was on a plane the other day and the guy on the other end of the row was coughing when I got on the plane and I spent the entire plane ride wondering if he was the superspreader that would get everyone on the plane sick.  It's just that time of year -- we naturally try and avoid people and circumstances that might get us sick.

  Jesus doesn't run from it, though.  Jesus embraces us to heal us.  He comes to us.  The love of God is amazing -- when we are sinful and broken and desperate, he comes to us, in love and grace, to heal us.  Jesus never turns from us, but turns to us, thanks be to God!

Luke 4:38–39

Luke 4:38-39 

English Standard Version 

  To be healthy is to serve.  This is the path of grace -- it transforms us and leads us to serve others.  To be healthy isn't an end unto itself -- to be healthy is to be healthy so that Christ can use us in the service of others.  That's the goal -- that we are healed so that we can be in proper relationship to one another, which is a posture of service.  In a culture focused on self-actualization and self-seeking and self-serving, the way of Christ shows another path, one where wellness is defined by our ability to serve others.  May we seek that instead, for it is the healthy way.

Luke 4:33–37

Luke 4:33-37 

English Standard Version 

  There's a fork in the road of our lives -- one path leads to chaos, and one leads to order and peace.  We keep deluding ourselves, thinking that the one to chaos is more attractive, so we choose that path because the devil dresses it up and promises us all the pleasures of life.  Here in the synagogue, the demon is crying out, disrupting order.

  Jesus comes to bring order.  It's the path he promises will lead to life.  He doesn't promise that it's easy, and he talks about humility and suffering as part of that path.  It doesn't lead to destruction, so there's that.  

  Demons recognize the authority of Jesus.  We often try and ignore it, slinking around it, trying to find an easy way out.  But there is no easy way out.  There aren't any shortcuts.  It's a choice that we make, day by day -- what kind of people do we want to be in the long run, what kind of character do we want to build, what do we want our eternal souls to aim for?  If it's order and peace, then may we do the work of discipleship, day by day, choose the road of humility, and practice selflessness in every human interaction.

Luke 4:31–32

Luke 4:31-32 

English Standard Version 

  Many of my data sources these days start with 'I read it on the internet...'.  Not exactly the strongest source.  I remember going to the library when I was in high school and having to write research papers with thoroughly vetted footnotes pulled from academic sources.  These days everyone quotes ChatGPT, which is probably right sometimes, I think.

  Jesus taught as one having authority.  His very word possessed authority, because it was the same word that moved over the chaotic waters at the beginning of Genesis.  Jesus spoke with authority because he has power, and people recognized this.  They were astonished.

  We are wise to take seriously the teachings of Jesus.  We should not simply view them as inspirational -- they are that, but they are so much more.  They have creative power, so let us abide by them and let his teachings be authoritative in our own lives.  

Luke 4:28-30

Luke 4:28-30 

English Standard Version 

  Ever wish you could take something back?  Maybe some words or a reaction you managed poorly?  I wonder what these people had to say to Jesus later on.  "Our bad... we didn't realize you were the Messiah.  Sorry Jesus.  It wasn't my idea to throw you off the cliff.  Can we still be friends?"

  We all get things wrong.  Every sin is a sin against God.  When we choose sin, we deepen the separation between ourselves and God as well as the separation between ourselves and one another.  Sin isolates.  

  Thankfully, even though this happened at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, he didn't give up on us.  Though they came to condemn him, Jesus came to save and deliver, and would not be deterred by the depth of our sin.

Luke 4:23–27

Luke 4:23-27

English Standard Version

  Joe Burrow played high school football in Athens, Ohio.  It made it all the sweeter when the Bengals drafted him -- he had some Ohio roots and then came back to Ohio.  We like stories like this.  The people in Jesus' day were no different -- they liked hometown stories, thinking it would just mean more.

  The people who were listening to Jesus definitely showed up with some expectations.  They wanted the Messiah to do miracles in their town.  

  Jesus is reminding them that the Gospel isn't just for this town, though.  The Gospel is expansive, and Scripture points far beyond the world that is known to the entire globe, to the Gospel hope that people in every time and place will hear the good news of the Gospel and recognize Jesus as Lord and Savior.  It's a huge goal, and we're wise to remember the Spirit pushing us beyond our comfort zone, out into the world, and keep our eyes and ears open for ways that God is on the move.

Luke 4:20–22

Luke 4:20-22 

English Standard Version 

  Think about how many centuries have passed between Isaiah writing and Jesus speaking.  How long had people been waiting for?  Surely, many of them felt like the future would never draw near.

  But it did, in a miraculous way, even though many of them didn't grasp the fullness of it.  They were astounded, but not convinced.  They had questions.

  In the same way, we wonder when Jesus will return.  We've been waiting many centuries.  Surely, some feel like the future that God promised will never draw near.

  But it will, in a miraculous way, even though we may not grasp the fullness of it.  We will have questions.  Some will not be convinced.  

  May we trust in the workings and timing of God, even though we have many questions and feel like we've been waiting for centuries.  May the Holy Spirit help us to trust in God.

Luke 4:16–19

Luke 4:16-19 

English Standard Version 

  Do you know those phone calls where you aren't exactly sure who has called you and you're trying to figure out what their agenda is?  You're fairly certain they're trying to get money out of you, but you can't quite tell if they're a scammer or a legitimate salesperson.  Their agenda is unclear.

  Jesus is quite clear on his agenda as the Messiah.  In his first sermon, he reads from Isaiah's scroll.  He could have announced his agenda any day, with any text, but he chose this one, focused on bringing good news to the poor, proclaiming liberty to the captives, bringing healing to those who are in need.  This is what's critically important to Jesus, so as we go out into the world and look for opportunities to align with the priorities of God, let us be mindful of Jesus' focus on the poor and think about how we, too, might serve.

Luke 4:14–15

Luke 4:14-15 

English Standard Version 

  So Jesus has been in the wilderness being tempted, and then he returns -- that time of fasting has prepared him for what is to come.  He is filled with the Spirit, and word spreads quickly.  Jesus' trial in the wilderness lays groundwork for what is to come.

  We talked about Daniel in church yesterday -- his prayer life in the ordinary times prepared him to face extraordinary hardship.  The Spirit was at work, and then the Spirit sent word out in spectacular ways that God was at work.  

  May we trust that God is at work in us in the hard times, and may we stay faithfully committed to a life of prayer, that the Spirit may lead us out of lean times and into something powerful in the times to come.