While I especially love the Gospel of John and the remarkable stories of Jesus recorded in it, I confess that Luke Chapter 7 is possibly my all time favorite chapter in the entire Bible. In Luke 7 we have four stories of Jesus and they are all different.
The first story is about Jesus healing a man from a distance. Messengers came to our Lord and asked that He come to heal the servant of a centurion (a Roman army officer). En-route, a message came from the centurion asking Jesus to just say the healing word as he felt Jesus too important to come into his humble home. Jesus did as asked and commended the centurion's faith.
The second story is equally dramatic, as Jesus and the disciples came across a funeral procession. The deceased man was the only son of a widow. This meant the widow would now be without any means of support in an age without welfare. Jesus had compassion on the poor woman, stopped the procession, and told the young man to rise. Wonderfully the young man did just that and the widow's financial and emotional suffering was relieved. So our Lord demonstrated His compassion and His power over death.
The third story is of Jesus responding the sorrowful question put to Him by His older cousin John the Baptist. John had suffered in prison for many months after he had exercised a powerful ministry of testimony to Jesus as the Messiah. Doubts about the truth of his testimony to Jesus' identity clouded his mind. So, John sent disciples to Jesus to ask if He was really the Messiah or not. Thus Jesus assisted a person with depression.
Finally, Jesus is seen at a dinner, and allowing a repentant, sinful woman to touch Him. This was a social scandal for good Jews of Jesus' time. Jesus offered the woman a word of forgiveness. Of course the Jews knew that only God could forgive sins. So we see here that Jesus both claimed to be God and demonstrated that God allowed sinners into His presence.
Can you find a more diverse set of scenes about the glory of Christ than this chapter of Scripture? I think not. Here we have a mosaic of our Lord's glory. We see how He rules over everything in creation and can heal the most stubborn diseases. We observe His compassion for those who mourn, and how He demonstrates His power over death. Then we witness how He tenderly deals with a person who suffers from depression and doubts of faith. Finally we read of how willingly He allows sinful but repentant people to come and touch Him. With such a glorious set of scenes showing the many facets of our Lord's character, how can anyone doubt the interest of our Lord in them personally?
Jesus is the Saviour for people of all sorts, people of all social levels, people with all kinds of problems medical, spiritual and social, and economic.
Will you not come today to this amazing person Who desires to bless and care for the needy, regardless of their problems? Come to Him today, He invites you to approach Him and find your deepest spiritual needs met. Come as you are and Jesus will renew you and turn your life from sin to righteousness, from sorrow to joy, from despair to delight. He shall minister grace into all your suffering. Come and come today.
