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Many thanks to Peter Jones who has prepared this week’s devotions. This week our attention is focused on Luke chapter 14, verses 1-15. Please read these verses every day this week and, if possible, use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word.
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Luke 14:1-2 (NIV)
‘One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body.’
A few weeks ago Paul was looking at the attitude of the Pharisees to rules and regulations and how they considered these more important than the healing of a woman on the Sabbath. In our study today we see the same issue. It appears that Jesus had been invited to the home of a very important person.
I cannot recall ever being invited to the home of anybody really important, but if I was, I think I would wear my best suit and try to be on my best behaviour because I am sure there would be those there who would be watching to see if I made any mistakes. I think we all have a tendency to behave differently in front of important people. I suppose we would want to impress – perhaps it is part of human nature!
What I find strange in this story is that this was the home of someone important and yet there was a man present who was obviously out of place because of his infirmity but nobody seemed to notice. How we behave when we find ourselves in the presence of people who are different because of their disability defines our nature. This has nothing to do with our spiritual beliefs because there are many organisations who specialise in the care of people with all kinds of disability. I mention this because I believe that we will be faced with situations that will require us to respond when people come into our church who may be different to us because of their background. We have experienced a little of this in recent months and I am amazed at the love we have shown. I believe it is because we have begun to learn and apply the nature that is found in Jesus.
On a lighter note, many years ago I was invited to a house group in Cardiff. It was made up of teachers, solicitors and a local councillor. Also present was an elderly woman who looked completely out of place but nobody seemed to notice. She had a problem which became evident within about 10 minutes and was quite embarrassing but again nobody noticed. The discussion in the meeting seemed to centre on who should be saved and the type of people who should be part of the kingdom.
I did not get involved in the discussion as I disagreed with their opinions and I left that meeting thinking that house groups were not for me. I later spoke to the Pastor of the church they attended and he told me that was not a good example of house groups as that one had not grown compared with every other house group in his church.
I think that if their discussion had been about Jesus and not themselves, then they too might experience growth. Jesus is interested in meeting people’s needs whoever we are.
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