Kings don’t play well with others; they don’t share power. If Jesus had called a press conference to announce that he was God’s Messiah, sent to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, the King would have arrested Jesus the next day and thrown him into a jail cell next to John the Baptist. If not the King, then certainly the Governor sent by Rome to maintain order in Israel would have used force and violence to put down their perceived threat.
Jesus didn’t call a press conference. He went about the land teaching, healing and demonstrating new life in the Kingdom of God. Jesus let the people draw their own conclusions about his identity and his mission. In the healing of the Centurion’s servant and the raising the widow’s son from the dead, Jesus’ power and authority are clearly on display.
When Jesus said, “. . . of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of God is greater than he is!” that was not a put down of John. John was the last of the prophets. John prepared the way for God’s Kingdom which in every way is vastly superior to that which preceded it.
Luke records two responses to Jesus. “All the people—even the tax collectors—agreed that God’s way was right” But, the “Pharisees and experts in religious law rejected God’s plan for them.” Why the difference?
Luke is revealing one of the greatest obstacles in our quest to make the life in Christ our way of life. Our expectations about what God should be like, what God should do, get in the way of the truth of Christ. Even John the Baptist stumbled over his own expectations of what the Messiah would be like, what the Messiah would do.
Being a faithful disciple of the Messiah who is not what we expected is hard work. Some people reduce their support, their participation in the church because the people, or pastor, or programs are not what they expected. Some people actually quit the church or walk out of programs because something didn’t meet their expectations.
When I am stumbling over my expectations I am placing myself at the center of my life. When I place Christ at the center of my life, I will come to know that God’s way is right. His way will be demanding, but is the only way I know to enter into the Kingdom of God.
What word or phrase in these verses
attracts your attention?
Reflect on that word or phrase.
What insights come to you?
How does this passage touch your life today?
7-Jan-12 Luke 7:36-8:3
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