Brown's Daily Word 2/5/15

Praise the Lord for this new day.  He blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday gathering of study and fellowship.  It was a mild day yesterday but it is getting wintry again.  When it is wintry and cold I like to read about Jesus by the Sea of Galilee... by the beach and boat.  

    In verse 22 of Luke 8, Jesus gets in the boat with His disciples.  A storm arises on the lake, but Jesus is sleeping in the bow. The water is white with foam, and the disciples are white with fear yet Jesus rebukes the wind and the turbulent winds become calm.  The disciples wonder, "Who is this man, that even the wind and the waves obey Him?"

    In verse 27, Jesus encounters a demon-possessed man, a man who lived among the tombs, a Satanic Superman, as it were, too strong to be chained and too powerful to be subdued.  Yet Jesus rebukes the demons and drives them into a herd of swine, and the disciples wonder, "Who is this man, that even the demons obey Him?"

    In verse 40, we read that the crowd was expecting Jesus.  Here you have a man whom nature obeyed and demons answered to.  Here you have a man who healed the sick and touched the lame.  Jesus calms the stormy sea and the crowds wonder, "Who is this man, who acts more like a God than a man?"

    About this time Jairus' daughter is dying, a girl of about 12, the daughter of a well-respected ruler of the synagogue.  Jairus, a man of power and influence, is the one on his hands and knees this time, begging Jesus to heal his little girl.
As Jesus makes his way through the crowd there appears a woman who has been suffering for 12 years.  Mark tells us that she had spent all her money trying to get well but only got worse.  All the pills and prescriptions and potions could not prevent her suffering.  She was a nobody—the crowds thought so, the disciples thought so, even she, herself, knew it to be true.  Suddenly Jesus declares,  "Someone touched me!"

    "But Lord," Simon Peter interrupts, "everybody's touching You!"  "No, Simon," Jesus said, "somebody touched me."  Jesus called a "nobody" a "somebody."
Jesus has a way of stopping for the nobodies.  Remember that He was on His way to raise Jairus' daughter from the dead, but Jesus stops for the nobody because He wants to show His disciples that He is sovereign over nature, He is sovereign over demons, He is sovereign over sickness, and He is sovereign over death.  That which seems like an interruption to us is really an opportunity for Jesus to display His greatness.

    The woman  suffering for 12 years  had a living  faith. "At last, here is a man who can heal me.  I know I am unclean, unrespected and unworthy; but if I can just snatch His sleeve I know I will be healed."  And suddenly, a nobody reaches out of nowhere and touches the hem of the garment of God.  Twelve long years of bleeding stopped in a heartbeat, and Jesus said, "Daughter, your faith has healed you, go in peace."  This is the only place in the New Testament where Jesus calls a woman "daughter," and she goes from being a nobody to being a somebody, to being a child of God.

    In his commentary on the Gospels, John Calvin posited that while this woman was walking toward Christ, Christ was pulling her to Himself.  There is a synergism at play in the  passage, and the God who pulls us to Himself joins us for the journey.  It is not our grasp on God that saves you; but, rather, it is God's grasp on us. 

    Karl Marx said that religion is just a crutch for the weak, but Jesus Christ is so much more than just our crutch; He is our very life support.  Without Him we would die; without Him we would perish; without Him we would be but grass for the mower.  He is a prophet, but He is more than a prophet — He is the very Word of God.  He is a priest, but He is more than a priest — He is the Lamb that was slain. He is a king, but He is more than a king — He is the King of all kings; and at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  He is Lord over nature, He is Lord over demons, He is Lord over sickness, and He is Lord over death.  He is the Alpha and the Omega.  He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end.  He sits in the engine room and the caboose, traveling before us and behind us on this journey of life.

    Jesus Christ exchanges His purity for our contamination. He takes our grime and gives us grace.  He takes our filth and gives us faith.  The God who justifies us in verse 44, will glorify us in verse 54.  The God who heals our disease in verse 44, will raise us from the dead in verse 54.  On that day, every tear will be wiped from every eye, and every sickness from every saint and we will hold not only the hem of the garment of God, but with hands outstretched we will be embraced by the everlasting arms of the Almighty.  

 In Christ,

 Brown

http://youtu.be/ePPOaX6HTPI