A Burden for Others
A centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant.
Luke 7:2-3 (NIV)
In Luke 7:1-10, we read of a Roman centurion who was respected by the Jews in his community, and who made a request of Jesus. One of his servants was deathly ill, and he asked Jesus to heal him.
Notice the burden he carries for his servant. This is not a son who bears the weight of carrying the family name and guarantees a monetary future. This is not a daughter who has taught him the power of love and protection and how to be the necessary mix of nurturer and defender. This is not a spouse whose heart has been knitted to his, beloved until he can’t imagine enduring the rest of his life without her.
This is a servant—utilitarian at best, expendable at worst. And yet, the centurion soldier carries such a deep burden for him that he’ll use whatever proximity he has to Jesus. He’ll expend whatever privilege that is his to get a word to Jesus. And when he does get a word to Jesus, he doesn’t make it about himself.
He doesn’t say, “Increase my fortunes.” He doesn’t say, “Elevate my name.” He doesn’t say, “Increase my title” or “Enlarge my territory.” He says, “I have a servant and I am burdened for him; I need you to heal him.”
This centurion’s request is not about himself. His burden on that day was for somebody else. Do you know how strange that sounds in these days in which we live? Most people these days are excessively caught up in their own space. But when the chance comes for this man to focus the spotlight on himself, he instead used the privilege of access and the potential that proximity provided him to request that Jesus come minister to his servant.
I believe that a strong indication of Jesus’s impact on our lives is revealed in the burdens it creates in us for other people.
This burden is the spiritual discipline needed to share Jesus with others. God gives us this burden because that is how the kingdom is expanded. It is what feeds evangelism. It is what adds fuel to your witness and testimony.
We all should long for an increase of the burden to see others enjoy a relationship with Jesus, to help others understand the power of God’s love and the strength of forgiveness and live a redeemed life.
Do you carry a burden for the people around you to experience Jesus?
Blessed by What He Sees
When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
Matthew 8:14-15 (NIV)
The healing of Peter’s mother-in-law is recorded in three different Gospels. It’s interesting to read the subtle distinctions between the three accounts.
In Mark’s retelling, he remembers them getting to the house and immediately upon entering, Peter and Andrew tell Jesus about the sickness of Peter's mother-in-law. They just tell him. There's no mention of them asking Jesus to do anything about it.
The way Luke tells it, he doesn't mention the immediacy, but what he does remember is that Peter and Andrew specifically ask Jesus to respond to her feverish condition.
What I noticed in Matthew's remembrance is that when they entered the house, Jesus saw the woman’s condition and then responded. There is no mention of promptings or requests.
All three writers were there. One says Jesus is simply told about her and He moves to minister to her. The other says He's asked to involve Himself in her condition and He does. Matthew says He is neither told about it nor asked to intervene, but sees it Himself and is moved by what He sees.
These three different viewpoints tell me that Jesus doesn't only respond to the issues, needs, or battles in your life based on your awareness of them or your initiative taken to make it your immediate important priority. Nor does He only respond when you ask Him to intervene. There are times when Jesus will exercise His authority, walk directly into your reality, and address the issues in your life that need addressing.
Jesus will fight the things that are threatening you, not necessarily based on what you've made a priority, not necessarily because you stated it as a request, but because He loves you enough that when He sees what you need, He is willing and able to bring the necessary change.
Fruit in the Off-Season
Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.
Matthew 21:18-19 (NIV)
Jesus and the disciples have apparently left Mary and Martha’s house extremely early in the morning because after making some progress on their journey, Jesus is hungry. He and the disciples are headed to Jerusalem. They are near a place called Bethphage, a suburb just outside of the city. Jesus approaches a fig tree and starts lifting leaves, looking for some small figs. He knows it is unlikely that He would find any larger figs on this tree because they don’t generally ripen until the summer months.
The context of our passage places this event just before the month of March and even smaller figs don’t show up until March or April. When Jesus doesn’t find any figs on this tree, He curses the tree rather harshly, and interestingly enough, He places permanence on His curse. “May no fruit ever grow on this tree again!” And the fig tree withers immediately.
Jesus is expecting fruit on the tree, or maybe He’s expecting nothing at all but is just using it as a lesson. Either way, the tree is being cursed for not having fruit when it was not the season for the tree to bear fruit.
Isn’t that interesting? Why is Jesus looking for fruit when it is not the season for fruit to grow?
Perhaps He is telling us as His disciples, “I want your ministries to be fruitful in season and out. I want you to focus on spiritual growth. Make people matter. Be fair in your dealings. Be spiritual in your deportment. These are the lessons that Jesus is trying to teach the disciples, and maybe He’s teaching them that ministry and service will not always be based upon personal convenience.
Sometimes life will demand of you that you produce fruit even in off-seasons. That you learn how to extend effort and extend energy when you’re running on fumes yourself. That you show love when emotionally you are running on reserve. That you learn how to forgive people when nobody has forgiven you.
You can’t wait always until it’s the “right time” when God is inspiring you that it’s your right turn. Sometimes your turn has to be taken in the off-season.
He Is King
After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?” “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”
Matthew 17:24-27 (NIV)
This passage focuses our attention on Jesus’s acknowledgement of His total self-awareness. And as much as we want Him to be so familiar to us, Jesus is not afraid of reminding us of His distinction. He can walk with you like a brother or a sister. Jesus can relate to you like a friend. Jesus can guard and protect you like a defender. He can listen and empathize like a companion. But He doesn’t want there to ever be a mistake when it comes to the totality of our interpretation of who Jesus is. He says, “Aside from all these things—friend, protector, companion, and supplier—don’t forget this: I am the King.”
The tax collectors would have a totally different approach if they understood who they were making an inquiry of. Jesus is the King.
Today I want to remind you that your life is going to be impacted only at the level of your perception of the Lord Jesus Christ. However you see Jesus in your life, that is the limit and the scope, the height and the depth, of the potential and possibilities in your life.
Your prayers, your pledge, your participation, your promises, your priorities are all shaped by how you see Jesus. And I’m here to tell you, amidst all that you see Him as, you need to also see Him as the King.
Purposeful Repetition
Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children.
Matthew 15:35-38 (NIV)
Despite what some may conclude, the account in Matthew 15, where Jesus feeds 4,000 is not the same as the story we read in the previous chapter, where Jesus feeds 5,000. The supply this time is seven loaves and a few small fish, not five loaves and two fish. The leftovers filled seven baskets, not twelve baskets, as in the case in the other episode.
Apart from these numbers, the accounts seem much the same, so the question to be asked is, why repeat such a similar narrative?
I think God is teaching us that repetition is powerful. It’s powerful for us to learn about Him, about ourselves, and about His purposes in our lives.
Why does God bring total resolve to some things while letting other things keep revisiting us spontaneously within seasons? What is the spiritual value of experiential repetitions? What is God perhaps trying to teach us?
You and I don’t repeat anything in life—pain, hurt, conditions, encounters, altercations, traumas, successes, victories, enlightenments, disappointments, or joys—that have no spiritual meaning. I guarantee you that God attaches spiritual purpose to the repeated experiences of your life. So don’t let the struggle of it nor the familiarity with it make you either ignore it or take it for granted.
Those experiences are shaping you. Maybe the repetition is teaching us to acknowledge growth, to admit what was missed, or to really heal from brokenness. Or maybe God is trying to let you see that you’ve stowed away what He told you to bury permanently. Maybe it’s revealing that you have brought into your proximity what He intended for you to bring into your life more intimately. Maybe the repetitive experience is because you gave what was necessary for others to be okay to feel secure, but you didn’t get anything for yourself—or that you focused so much on yourself that you didn’t get the opportunity in it that was intended for others.
God lets you go back through some things because they will help you mature you to be a better version of yourself.
