Monthly Archives: March 2018

Weathering the Storms

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“Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” Matthew 8:19 ESV1

Read Matthew 8:18-27, Mark 4:35-40, & Luke 8:22-39

“When Jesus saw a crowd around Him” (Matthew 8:18), He said to [His disciples], ‘Let us go across to the other side of the lake’” (Luke 8:22b). “And leaving the crowd, they took Him with them in the boat, just as He was. And other boats were with Him” (Mark 4:35-36). On their way to the boats, “a scribe came up and said to Him, ‘Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head’ (Matthew 8:19-20).

When this sincere scribe made his declaration, he was serious. He probably expected Jesus to be pleased. So, he was no doubt disheartened by Jesus’ reply. But I don’t think Jesus wasn’t discouraging him from making such a commitment, He was just warning this scribe that things are often not as simple as they may at first appear. This scribe, and the others who followed Jesus wherever He went, could not have conceived of the difficult situation they were about to encounter.

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Malevolence

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The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against Him, how to destroy Him. Mark 3:6 ESV1

Read Matthew 12:9-14, 15:22; Mark 3:1-6, 12:13-17; Luke 6:6-11, 20:20-26

Malevolent is an adjective. It means “wishing evil or harm to another or others; showing ill will; ill-disposed; malicious: evil; harmful; injurious:”2 Jesus experienced malevolence from the religious leaders of His time. These religious leaders, particularly those from the sect of Pharisees, were hateful toward Jesus out of jealousy. The more and more popular Jesus got, the more and more irritated these religious leaders got. People were flocking to Jesus instead of them. People were praising Jesus and not them. Their envy got the best of them; it turned into malice. They began to look for a way to trap Jesus and bring Him down. That task was easier planned than carried out.

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Crazy Times

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And He went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So, His fame spread. Matthew 4:23-24a ESV1

Read Matthew 4:23-25, Mark 3:7-21 & Luke 6:12-19

Do you feel overwhelmed with the craziness of your life? Are you inundated with responsibilities, deadlines, phone calls, emails, rough commutes, long lines, things that don’t work, needy people, messes, arguments, lost possessions, financial troubles, betrayal, unreconcilable situations, sickness, pain, or sleepless nights? Do you want to scream, “Slow down World, and let me off!” Jesus knows how you feel. He experienced similar feelings when His ministry here on Earth suddenly exploded.

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When All Seems Lost

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As He drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.       Luke 7:12 ESV1

Read Luke 7:11-17

When we are suffering, or are witnessing another suffering, our first instinct is usually to turn to God, begging Him to intervene. But when the situation doesn’t change, or if it gets worse, we begin to believe God doesn’t care, that He is cruel, or that He is unable to help. We blame Him for the problem. We pull away from Him. We lose hope. Today we meet a woman who was beside herself with grief. Her worst nightmare had come true. And God seemed nowhere to be found.

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For Power and Direction

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And when it was day, He departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought Him and came to Him, and would have kept Him from leaving them, but He said to them, “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”  Luke 4:42-43 ESV1

Read Mark 1:35-39 & Luke 4:42-44

Jesus is the Son of God. The Angel Gabriel said it (see Luke 1:30-33). The Apostle Peter confessed it (see Matthew 16:16). Jesus Himself claimed it when He said He was equal with God (see John 8:56-58), that when one saw Him, he/she saw God (see John 14:6-9), that He had the authority to judge and give eternal life (see John 5:21-23), and that He and the Father were One (see John 10:30-33). But did you ever notice that Jesus called Himself the Son of Man?

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An Honorable Character

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“Go; let it be done be done for you as you have believed.” Matthew 8:13 ESV1

Read Matthew 8:5-13 & Luke 7:2-10

Before Jesus left Capernaum, He performed one more healing. The account of this healing stands out from some previous healings in the fact that the focus is not on the one being healed but the one asking for the healing. The one asking for the healing here was a Roman centurion, and he was asking for the healing of his young servant who was “sick of the palsy, grievously tormented” (Matthew 8:6 KJV2). From this account, what can we discover about this Roman centurion and surprisingly virtuous person?

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Obey When it Makes No Sense

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Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone,” … But he went out and began to talk freely about it.    Mark 1:43-45 ESV1

Read Matthew 8:1-4, Mark 1:40-45 & Luke 5:12-16

 Are you a questioner? Do you have to be fully convinced before you take action? Do you have to know the reason why a command is given before you obey? Do you have to know all the facts before you proceed? Or, are you unconditionally obedient? When one in charge gives you a command, do you obey completely even when you don’t understand the why behind the request? Do you trust the integrity of authority figures; therefore, you obey without question? Do you act in faith without justification? Or, are you somewhere in the middle, evaluating each situation separately, obeying fully sometimes, choosing to disobey at other times? The recipient of Jesus’ next healing had to decide as to whether he would fully obey the command given to him.

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