Would you be a reliable witness? This calls for your response!! Luke 7.18-35
9/24/2009 9:49:45 PM
Scripture Reading: Luke 7.18-35 Today's inspiration: Be my witnesses. Acts 1.8 Good Morning. Ours is a full passage today, and will take a little effort to digest. It helps to see its divisions: John's question to Jesus (v.18-23), Jesus' view of John-the-Baptist (v. 24-30), and summation of those who reject Him (v. 31-35).


Scripture Reading: Luke 7.18-35 Today's inspiration: Be my witnesses. Acts 1.8


Good Morning.


Ours is a full passage today, and will take a little effort to digest. It helps to see its divisions: John's question to Jesus (v.18-23), Jesus' view of John-the-Baptist (v. 24-30), and summation of those who reject Him (v. 31-35). At this time, John had been thrown in prison by Herod, and since John was an extreme outdoorsman, this would have been absolutely torturous for him. John sends his students to ask a question of Jesus--'are you the One who was to come?' He KNEW Jesus was the One--clear back to when both cousins were a gleam in their mothers' eyes--why, John had kicked in the womb when he heard Mary's voice! (Luke 1.44) Later, he himself had announced Jesus as the Lamb of God. . . and baptized Him, and heard God the Father say from Heaven, "This is my beloved Son..." What?! Are you the One? John, have you lost it? Perhaps. . . John is rotting in a Roman prison, and thinking, 'if You are the One, then do something--go ahead! Establish Your kingdom on earth, overthrow these Roman fools. . . what are you waiting for? Spring me from this dungeon!' This was not to be so. Jesus simply said to John's message-bearers--'Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk... the good news is preached... This was a foreshadowing of what He would tell His followers in Jerusalem, after He had been crucified and resurrected, in the 40 days before He ascended into Heaven--"You shall be My witnesses. . ." Acts 1.8 [A witness simply tells what she has seen, heard or experienced. That was God's plan to spread Christianity throughout the world--that those who had been with Jesus. . . those who had seen the miraculous, and heard His teaching. . . those who had seen the resurrected Lord would be His witnesses.]


I love Jesus' next remarks in Luke 7, as He turns and challenges the crowd, 'What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see?' Jesus pushes the point with them. Of course, they went out to see the prophet of prophets, John, the greatest man who had ever been born of a woman. But these words of Jesus really grab me---'what did you go out to see?' Today, so much is happening at lightening speed all around us--much of it so very troubling. . . and many are looking for truth, many are looking for purpose---some not even knowing that what they are 'going out to the desert to see' is God Himself. Some are looking in all the wrong places. . . some are just waiting to be told. See, some are waiting for those who have been to the desert to hear about Jesus and seen what He has done to come back and tell them; they are waiting for you and me to tell them the night-to-day change Jesus has made in our lives. . .


And then I look in the mirror, and ask myself, 'what do I go out to see?' Do I want truth, do I want to be a difference-maker with that truth? Do I want to see Jesus, the outspoken compassionate One, who challenged the self-righteous Pharisees on a daily basis, or do I keep Him at arm's length by thinking of Him simply as Jesus the judge, or 'dead' Jesus hanging on a cross in the front of the church? Do I want to remake Him into any image that suits me, or am I ready for Who He really is?


Standing nearby, but a safe distance away, watching Him heal the sick, dress down the Pharisees, break the Sabbath laws in order to touch a hurting soul, listening to His inventive teaching. . . well, I have to admit, He is rocking my world! Who is this Man of Sorrows? What shall I do with Him? Every time we get close enough to get a glimpse of who He really is--we must decide what we will do with Him. . . keep Him at a distance? Or invite Him in and become a sold-out follower? 'Well, I don't know. . . what would a 'sold-out follower' look like?' Sold out means to take risks. . . risks with people--reaching out to the weird ones, the hurting ones, the obtuse, difficult-to-love ones. I think it would mean an all-out quest to leave no rock unturned to find out Who He is, what He wants of me, and how I might become more dangerous. . . like Him. Doing whatever it takes to point lost people to God. . . yeah, that would be sold out.


Jesus called these people out in verses 31-35--'hey, you didn't like or accept who John the Baptist was--too extreme for you--minimalist food, no drink; and then you say I befriend too many sinners, eating and drinking with them--you don't like that either. But hey, the truth is told by those who have been touched by Me--those who will never be the same. So, maybe you just can't handle the truth.'


Oh yeah, and God's plan to use men to be His witnesses to spread the Gospel throughout the world? Well, after 2000 years, we can report that the plan worked. . . though the command to be His witnesses has not expired either. start here, and simply respond to this e-mail, by answering the question--****what difference does Jesus make to you?**** I'll compile answers the answers, and send them back out. . . take a moment, won't you? I pray that you will.


Grace and peace to you,


Christine