Luke 5:17-26

This is a very interesting and very subtle juxtaposition of two kinds of people who listen to Jesus’ teachings: those who listen to find fault with the gospel and those who press on through the crowd (and maybe even vandalize another man’s roof) just so they could get near Jesus.

The scribes and Pharisees were there. They got the front row seats of the thick throng of people who gathered to hear Jesus. They were so privileged but that didn’t mean anything to them. They didn’t come to listen and be changed by the message. They came to criticize and look for loopholes.

Outside, a paralytic was carried by his four friends. They, too, wanted to hear Jesus. But they were not influential enough to get front row seats, in fact, they could not even get in. [Read more...]

Very interesting collection of verses about the power of God over the raging waves of the sea.

Luke 8:24-25
And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

Psa. 77:16
The waters saw you, O God,
the waters saw you and writhed;
the very depths were convulsed.

Psa. 104:7
But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight; [Read more...]

Matthew 4:17
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

It’s interesting that the first message Jesus ever preached during His earthly ministry was about repentance. It was a sharp message, not the kind of topic you would want to talk about if you want to win friends and build a winsome reputation.

If you really think about it, preaching repentance can be offensive. It is built around the assumption that the people you are talking to are sinful people. Nobody wants to be thought of as sinful. We humans love to give the impression that we are good, at least to a certain extent. And even if we know fully well that whatever good is in us cannot offset our internal corruption, we still hope that people would just overlook our faults and focus on our merits. When we meet someone who insinuates that we are bad, we avoid that person. [Read more...]

Luke 2:52
“And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”

From the time that the boy Jesus was found in the temple courts talking to the doctors of the Law up to the time when He started His public ministry, this is the only summary of His life. This is the period when He entered the awkward adolescent phase and moved towards adulthood.

I marvel.

Jesus’ adolescence is the purest that I’ve ever known; a far cry from the drinking binges and sowing of wild oats and irresponsible years we are all familiar with.