Good News is Proclaimed to the Poor

Scripture:

Luke 6:17-23

Quick Summary:

Jesus blesses the people who thought they were cursed.

The Point:

No matter what is going wrong in your life, God still love you and is with you!

Questions for Family Time:

1.     Why did people think they were cursed by God?

a.      Bad stuff was happening to them.

2.     Like what bad stuff?

a.      They were poor and hungry. People they loved kept dying.

3.      What was the good news Jesus proclaimed?

a.        When we go through hard stuff, it’s not because we are cursed by God.

Deeper:

In the Old Testament, when the Hebrews came into the Promised Land, they were told to stop in a valley. On one side was Mount Gerizim, on the other side Mount Ebal. There in the valley, the whole Law was read to them. Every rule, every commandment was said in front of all the people. Then half of the Hebrews went and stood on one mountain the other half on the other mountain. The ones on Mount Gerizim shouted out what would happen if they followed God’s Law. They shouted The Blessings. Then, those on Mount Ebal shouted out what would happen if the law was disobeyed…the curses.

Right at the birth of the nation, the people learn that if they do right by God, they will be blessed. If they do wrong by God, they will be cursed. For thousands of years later, they held this belief that if your life appears to be cursed, like you live in poverty, or are disabled, or keep losing people you love, you must have broken God’s law to receive such a curse.

This is the world that Jesus comes into. In this world, to these people who seem to be cursed by God, Jesus comes down the mountains to the people. He proclaims good news by blessing the cursed people:

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

²² Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

Jesus takes the cursed and rejected and he tells them that God has not cursed them.  Instead God has blessed them. God has given his kingdom to the poor. He will feed the hungry. He will bring joy to those with sorrow. He will bless the lonely and rejected. God has an eternal home for these people.

Jesus lifts the curse that these people were carrying. When everyone around them are accusing them of sin, and telling them they must have deserved their misfortune, Jesus shows up.  Is there really any news that could have been better for them?

This is the good news He proclaims for us: No matter what circumstance you find yourself in, God loves you. Our blessings are not how well it rains, or how well the stock market does. Our blessings are not even if we are popular and well liked. Our blessings are this:

Ours is the kingdom of God!

We will be satisfied.

We will experience joy again.

God does not reject or desert us!

We have an eternity with him waiting for us.

This is the Good News! Even when the world tells us we are cursed, We know that God is for us!

Personal Reflection:

               When have you been surprisingly blessed in moments of hardship? What hardships are you facing right now? How do you see God blessing you in the midst of them?

Jesus Healing: Dead are Raised

Scripture:

Luke 7:1-17

Quick Summary:

Jesus brings the centurion’s servant back to life. Then, on the way to the cemetery, he brings the widow’s son back to life. 

The Point:

Jesus can restore our lives, no matter who we are or how we are different.

Questions for Family Time:

1.     What was the miracle today?

a.     Jesus raised the dead.

2.     Who was dead?

a.  The centurion’s servant and the widow’s son.

3.     How were they different?

a.      The centurion was a really good guy who was a VIP. The widow was really poor and not important in her community at all. She was going to have to be a beggar or slave if Jesus didn’t do it.

4. How were they the same?

a. They both needed Jesus help.

5. Do you think Jesus would help you?  

a. YES! Jesus would help anyone, no matter how they are different.

Deeper:

            When Jesus heard about the centurion, he came highly recommended. The chief religious leaders saw him, though he was a foreigner, as worthy of a miracle. By all measures, the widow who lost her son was in more need of a miracle that day. She lost more than a servant who could be replaced. She lost her only son. As the only male left in her immediate family all of her assets were in his name: her land, her house, and her livestock. None of them would be left in her name. Her livelihood relied on her son’s life. With him gone, she was now a ward of the state, a beggar with no resources of her own.

Yet, unlike the Centurion, even though she was Jewish, no one spoke up on her behalf.  While the Centurion may have had merit, she had need.

As I thought about how that is true for our society, I couldn’t help but think of scholarships. I have spent a lot of years filling out scholarship forms, and they basically fall in these two categories. There are scholarships based on merit: how high your grades, how many activities you are in, who you know, and how high you tested. Then there are the need based scholarships: how many resources do you have? The belief is that scholarships will give a person a better future. They aren’t like loans, which you have to pay back, but a free gift.

This man and woman were hoping for a gift too, something they knew they couldn’t pay back. The synagogue leaders put in the centurion’s name on merit. The man knew though, that based on merit, he wouldn’t make the cut. He received something he didn’t deserve, even with his glowing recommendations. And who could have been more in need than the widow? The widow was given something that she needed desperately.

Now my scholarship metaphor breaks down here because the truth about scholarships is that they are an either/or deal. There are limited numbers of scholarships and everyone competes over those scholarships. We make our merits look better, and our poverty look worse because each scholarship is a competition with losers.

But Jesus doesn’t choose the Centurion OR the widow. He doesn’t choose according to a reference letter or a bank account. He chooses BOTH of them.

He chooses to help the faithful Gentile. And he chooses to help the poor Jew. In two stories, Jesus chooses every demographic in his world. He proves what Paul will say when he write to the Galatians: There is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

           Jesus brings life wherever he goes. He brings it regardless of our merit. He brings it regardless of our poverty. There are no limits put on his gift. We call that gift grace. So whatever you think disqualifies you from the life he offers, you are sorely mistaken. All you have to do is accept the gift.  

Personal Reflection:

               What difference have you thought keep you come from Jesus? How does this passage challenge that?

Jesus Healing: Lepers are Cleansed

Scripture:

Luke 5:12-16

Quick Summary:

A man with a skin disease came to Jesus all alone and said, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” Jesus said, “I will, be clean.” The man was cleansed from his disease.

The Point:

Jesus healed the leper, even when he was all alone.

Questions for Family Time:

1. Who was healed this week? 

         a.      The leper

2. What is a leper?

         a.  It is someone with a contagious skin disease (called leprosy)

3. Did his friends bring him to Jesus like the lame man’s friends did last time? 

         a. No, he came all alone. Jesus loves us even when we are all by ourselves.

Deeper:

            This time, the healing is just between Jesus and the leper. That is fitting with what we know about leprosy. It was a disease that according to Old Testament Law required complete separation from society. Even knowing that, this man is eerily alone because in other places in scripture we find groups of lepers. Not this man. He is by himself when he comes to Jesus.

Even though most of us don’t suffer from something that requires this kind of isolation, we understand what it means to be alone in our illness. Even when we are surrounded by support, there is a loneliness in suffering. There is the reality that I have to tough it out, I have to deal with the pain, and I am the one facing the uncertainty of mortality. There is a loneliness of suffering.

And this man, in his aloneness, finds his way to Jesus. He falls on his face and begs Jesus. And what he says is so profound: “Lord, If you will, you can make me clean.” There is no question here of Jesus’ power to heal. There is no question of what Jesus is ABLE to do. Jesus CAN make him clean.

There is just recognition that though he can, he may not. This is the tricky thing about faith, isn’t it? We may come to Jesus begging for healing and we have faith that he can do anything. Yet, he may choose not to heal us. Recognizing that is not a lack of faith.

            There is another text in scripture where these words are almost exactly the same. In this other story in Luke, a man says, “If you are willing, remove this cup from me.” The second was Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane hours before he suffered and died on the cross. In the story of the Leper, God was willing and healed the man. In the second, God did not will for the cup to be taken away, and Jesus ultimately died.

And that is true in healing today. God still heals.  He hears our prayers, sees our faith, even when we come alone, even in our isolation, and immediately we are healed. Immediately our leprosy leaves us. But sometimes, even though we come with prayers and faith knelt before God, our pain doesn’t leave. Sometimes, we remain by Jesus in the garden, sweating blood.

But even though God did not remove his cup, God did answer Jesus prayer. The scripture says, right after that prayer, “There appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.”

This is the promise God gives us: even when we are utterly alone, God can heal us. And even when he chooses not to, he doesn’t leave us to suffer alone. He sends his angels to strengthen us.

Personal Reflection:

  When have you felt alone in your suffering? How did God heal you? How did he “send his angels to strengthen you?  

Jesus Healing: The Lame Walk

Scripture:

Luke 5:17-26

Quick Summary:

Four friends put the lame man on a cot and carry him to Jesus. When they can’t get into the house, they dig a hole in the roof and lower him in. Jesus heals the lame man while the religious teachers watch.

The Point:

We can carry our friends to Jesus with faith.

Questions for Family Time:

1.     How did the friends help the lame man.

a.      They carried him to Jesus. When they couldn’t get through the door, they went through the roof!

2.     Did Jesus heal him right away?

a.  No, first he forgave his sins. But the teachers didn’t think he could do that.

3.   Did the teachers’ lack of faith keep Jesus from healing the man? 

a.      NO! He healed the man, right before their unbelieving eyes.  

Deeper:

             The man healed is a minor character in this story. He never shows any sign of faith in Jesus nor asks to be healed. In fact, he never speaks. The only time we see him do anything, is when he stands up and carries his mat away. 

The men who carried him are the ones with faith in this story. They carried the body. When the doors and windows of opportunity were closed, they didn’t give up. They dug through the roof and lowered him to Jesus. 

Their faith moved them into action. Their faith was not for their own well-being but for their friend. Have you ever been unable to move, but a friends’ faith, not your own, got you going? Who is that for you? Who is the person who has faith in you? Who carries you when you can’t stand on your own? Who digs through roofs when the doors and windows of opportunity are all shut? Who watches from the roof when your miracle happens? When I went to answer these questions, I thought of my mother. And I hoped that one day, my kids would answer these questions with “my mother.” I hope I am a source of faith in the midst of the doubt. 

But I also know my parents are not the only ones who have carried me. Many, many times it was my church family. A small group sent me notes of encouragement when I was in college and serving my first church. The old ladies brought food when my children were born. The friends my own age  helped me plan outreach events I couldn’t do on my own. In the church, I have found a community that has faith for me in the midst of depression, doubt, and fear. 

There is one more group who takes center stage in this story, though. It’s the haters…the doubters. The religious teachers tell Jesus, “You can’t do that.” After the lame man’s friends did so much work, these teachers say what Jesus did is impossible. Jesus doesn’t have the authority to forgive sins. 

And we all know people like this too, don’t we? People who only see impossibility, never potential. They steal the faith right out of us. But here’s the cool thing about Jesus. The healing of this man did not take place because of the lame man’s faith. It didn’t take place because of the friends who got him there. Jesus healed this man because of the doubt of these teachers.

Often we treat Jesus’ power to perform miracles as solely an effect of the faith present. We think that his power is only as strong as our faith. And as important as it is for us to carry each other, there may be times when we feel surrounded by Rabbis, who say Jesus can’t do it. A miracle can’t happen. All of your cheering section, is stuck on the roof, while the vultures circle around you. But Jesus is there. And no one can weaken Jesus’ power. Jesus has a way of showing them up.  

Personal Reflection:

  Who has faith for you when you can’t move? Who do you have faith for to help them move forward? Do you think God is limited by our faith?

Jesus Heals: Blind Receive Sight

Blind Receive Sight

Scripture:

John 9:1-41

Quick Summary:

On the Sabbath, the disciples see a man blind from birth and ask Jesus whose sin made him blind- his or his parents. Jesus answers their question with “Neither” and then heals him. He mixes up a little mud using the dust from the ground and spit and then sends him to Siloam to remove the dirt and be healed. When the man gets back, he can see. He is brought before the Pharisees. They can’t believe it so they ask his parents to make sure it’s him. The parents say, “Yes its him, but we don’t know anything.” When they find out Jesus healed him, they throw once blind man out of the Synagogue. Then Jesus finds him and he becomes a disciple.

The Point:

There is more than one kind of blindness, but if we want, Jesus can heal them all.

Questions for Family Time:

1.     What kind of blindness did the blind man have?

a.      physical

2.     What kind of blindness did the disciples have?

a.  They thought you could only be blind because of wrong things you have done (sin.)

3.     What kind of blindness did the Pharisees have?

a.      They were blinded by jealousy.

4. What kind of blindness did the blind man’s parents have?

a. They were blinded by fear.

5. Who did Jesus heal.

a. The ones who wanted to be. (blind man and disciples)

Deeper:

             There were a lot of blind people in this story. There was the man blind from birth. He was definitely blind. Physically blind. But one could argue that the disciples were just as blind,

because what they had always believed about faith and morality: suffering equals sin.  After all, when you sin, You suffer. So it makes sense that when you suffer you must have sinned. That way of viewing the world, gave them blindness to the suffering. After all, it was the blinds’ fault they suffered. The disciples were blinded by what the world told them about life. Then Pharisees of course were blind.

They were so blinded by their jealousy and unbelief, that they couldn’t see this as a miracle. Instead, it was crime. They were so blinded by hate, that they kicked a man out of their faith community for telling the truth. And if we are going to talk about the Pharisees, it seems we should also talk about the blindness of the man’s parents because of all the groups, their blindness was probably the most self-inflicted. They were so blinded by fear; they wouldn’t even share what happened to their son.

“Let him get kicked out of the community, but we aren’t taking the risk.”

So What Blinds you? Is it your physical limitations? Is it how you view others who suffer? Is it jealousy? Is it fear? If you were one of the people in the story, who would you be?

I believe Jesus could have healed all of these people, taking their blinders off, and letting them see. But in this story he doesn’t. He only heals those who are ready. The Blind man.  Not only could he look at Jesus. He saw who Jesus really was. For him, both times, it took Jesus coming to him. The Disciples. They start seeing suffering, and more importantly those who suffer, differently. Once they could see suffering as not self-inflicted, they could seek to help those who suffer. It took Jesus to give them a different view of the world.

  

But for the Pharisees, who opposed him, and the parents who were too wrapped up in their stance in society, Jesus doesn’t give them what they don’t want. For the Pharisees, it wasn’t all of them.

We find that they fight at the trial, and then at the end, some of them even become disciples. For the parents, who were hung up on keeping their place in the religious community, there is an interesting twist. Their son ends up losing his place, just as they feared they would, but then he ends up getting a better place, within the community of the Messiah.

Whether it’s your view of the world that keeps you in a rut. Whether it’s something physical that holds you back. Whether its jealousy or hate whether its fear of losing your place in society. Do you want to take the blinder off? Jesus won’t give you what you don’t want, but if you’re ready, he does give sight to the blind.

Personal Reflection:

               What blinds you? Are you ready for Jesus to give you sight.