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January 5 - Luke 7 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's a Monday, it's the start of
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  a new week. It's the 5th of January and I
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  don't know whether you are back into the swing of things from
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  today, or whether you have got another week of basking in the
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  glory of holidays, whichever of those you are.
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  Or whether you are past all of that and you are now retired and
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  every day is a holiday slash busy period and you wonder how
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  that happened. But wherever you are, no matter
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  what's going on in your life, you have taken a moment this
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  week to join me. As the two of us are going to
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  travel back in time and walk those Palestinian streets.
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  We are going to breathe in that dust in our nostrils.
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  We are going to feel the the heat on our shoulders and see
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  the intrigue unfolding around us as the Saviour of the world, the
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  God of the universe in flesh form, walks the streets and
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  interacts and heals and teaches and loves.
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  What a privilege to get to see this happening first hand
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  through the eyes of our old mate Luke.
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  Our Holy Spirit open our hearts that we would see and experience
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  Jesus afresh as we hear the words of the Gospel.
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  You ready friends? Yeah, me too.
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  Let us read together Luke Chapter 7.
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  When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people, he
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  returned to Capernaum. At that time, the highly valued
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  slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death.
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  When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected
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  Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave.
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  So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man.
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  If anyone deserves your help, he does, they said, for he loves
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  the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for us.
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  So Jesus went to them. But just before they arrived at
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  the house, the officer sent some friends to say, Lord, don't
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  trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of
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  such an honour. I am not even worthy to come and
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  meet you. Just say the word from where you
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  are and my servant will be healed.
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  I know this because I am under the authority of my superior
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  officers and I have authority over my soldiers.
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  I only need to say go and they go, or come and they come.
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  And if I say to my slaves do this, they do it.
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  When Jesus heard this, he was amazed.
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  Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, I tell
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  you, I haven't seen faith like this in all Israel.
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  And when the officer's friends returned to his house, they
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  found the slave completely healed.
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  Soon afterward, Jesus went with his disciples to the village of
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  Nain, and a large crowd followed him.
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  A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village
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  gate. The young man who had died was a
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  widow's only son, and a large crowd from the village was with
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  her. When the Lord saw her, his heart
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  overflowed with compassion. Don't cry, he said.
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  Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the
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  bearers stopped. Young man, he said, I tell you,
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  get up. Then the dead boy sat up and
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  began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
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  Great fear swept the crowd and they praised God, saying, a
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  mighty prophet has risen among us and God has visited his
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  people today. And the news about Jesus spread
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  throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside.
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  The disciples of John the Baptist told John about
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  everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his
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  disciples, and he sent them to the Lord to ask him, Are you the
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  Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for
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  someone else? John's two disciples found Jesus
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  and said to him. John the Baptist sent us to ask,
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  Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep
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  looking for someone else? At that very time, Jesus cured
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  many people of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and
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  he restored sight to many who are blind.
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  Then he told John's disciples, Go back to John and tell him
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  what you have seen and heard. The blind see the lame walk,
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  those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are
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  raised to life, and the good news is being preached to the
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  poor. And he added, God blesses those
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  who do not fall away because of me.
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  After John's disciples left, Jesus began talking about him to
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  the crowds. What kind of man did you go into
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  the wilderness to see? Was he a weak Reed, swayed by
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  every breath of wind? Or were you expecting to see a
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  man dressed in expensive clothes?
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  No, people who wear beautiful clothes and live in luxury are
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  found in palaces. Are you looking for a prophet?
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  Yes, and he is more than a prophet.
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  John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say,
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  look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will
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  prepare your way before you. I tell you, of all who have ever
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  lived, none is greater than John.
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  Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of God is greater than
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  he is. When they heard this, all the
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  people, even the tax collectors, agree that God's way was right,
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  for they had been baptised by John.
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  But the Pharisees and experts in religious law rejected God's
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  plan for them, for they had refused John's baptism.
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  To what can I compare the people of this generation?
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  Jesus asked. How can I describe them?
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  They are like children playing a game in the public square.
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  They complain to their friends. We played wedding songs and you
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  didn't dance, so we played funeral songs and you didn't
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  weep. For John the Baptist didn't
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  spend his time eating bread or drinking wine, and you say he's
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  possessed by a demon. The Son of Man, on the other
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  hand, feasts and drinks, and you say he's a glutton and a
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  drunkard and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners.
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  But wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow
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  it. One of the Pharisees asked Jesus
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  to have dinner with him. So Jesus went to his home and
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  sat down to eat, when a certain immoral woman from the city
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  heard he was eating there. She brought a beautiful
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  alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.
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  Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping.
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  Her tears fell on his feet and she wiped them off with her
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  hair. Then she kept kissing his feet
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  and putting perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had
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  invited him saw this, he said to himself, If this man were a
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  prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him.
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  She's a Sinner. Then Jesus answered his
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  thoughts. Simon, he said to the Pharisee,
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  I have something to say to you. Go ahead, teacher, Simon
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  replied. Then Jesus told him this story.
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  A man loaned money to two people, 500 pieces of silver to
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  1 and 50 pieces to the other, but neither of them could repay
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  him. So he kindly forgave them both,
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  cancelling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him
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  more after that? Simon answered.
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  I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the larger debt.
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  That's right, Jesus said. Then he turned to the woman and
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  said to Simon, Look at this woman kneeling here.
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  When I entered your home, you didn't offer me water to wash
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  the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears
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  and wiped them with her hair. You didn't greet me with a kiss,
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  but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing
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  my feet. You neglected the courtesy of
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  olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with
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  rare perfume. I tell you her sins, and they
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  are many, have been forgiven. So she has shown me much love.
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  But a person who is forgiven little shows only a little love.
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  Then Jesus said to the woman, Your sins are forgiven.
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  The men at the table said amongst themselves, who is this
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  man that he goes around forgiving sins?
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  And Jesus said to the woman, your faith has saved you go in
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  peace. Ah, Jesus, we like that woman
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  come to you broken and just so aware that we need your saving.
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  We need your grace in our lives to bring us not as broken and
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  sinful people, but as beloved children before the throne of
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  the Father. And it's only through you and
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  your gift that we do that. And so we come, knowing how much
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  we need your saving grace and our hearts equally grateful
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  because we know that you give us this gift.
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  Oh, you are the most wonderful, kind, compassionate, and
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  forgiving God, Jesus, and we love you and we're so grateful
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  for all that you do for us. Help us always maintain this
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  posture of gratitude in every day, in every moment, so that it
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  shapes us and the way that we move in this world with grateful
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  hearts. So with praise and Thanksgiving
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  overflowing from our hearts, we pray all of this in your name,
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  Jesus, Amen.