Luke 7 Our Daily Bread for Today ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

Luke 7:1-50
Faith of the Roman Officer
1When Jesus had finished saying all this, he went back to Capernaum. 2Now the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. 3When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish leaders to ask him to come and heal his slave. 4So they earnestly begged Jesus to come with them and help the man. "If anyone deserves your help, it is he," they said, 5"for he loves the Jews and even built a synagogue for us."
6So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, "Lord, don't trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. 7I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. 8I know because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, 'Go,' and they go, or 'Come,' and they come. And if I say to my slaves, 'Do this or that,' they do it."
9When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd, he said, "I tell you, I haven't seen faith like this in all the land of Israel!" 10And when the officer's friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.
Jesus Raises a Widow's Son
11Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, with a great crowd following him. 12A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The boy who had died was the only son of a widow, and many mourners from the village were with her. 13When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. "Don't cry!" he said. 14Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. "Young man," he said, "get up." 15Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk to those around him! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.
16Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, "A mighty prophet has risen among us," and "We have seen the hand of God at work today." 17The report of what Jesus had done that day spread all over Judea and even out across its borders.
Jesus and John the Baptist
18The disciples of John the Baptist told John about everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his disciples, 19and he sent them to the Lord to ask him, "Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?"
20John's two disciples found Jesus and said to him, "John the Baptist sent us to ask, 'Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?'"
21At that very time, he cured many people of their various diseases, and he cast out evil spirits and restored sight to the blind. 22Then he told John's disciples, "Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. 23And tell him, 'God blesses those who are not offended by me. F32 '"
24After they left, Jesus talked to the crowd about John. "Who is this man in the wilderness that you went out to see? Did you find him weak as a reed, moved by every breath of wind? 25Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes? No, people who wear beautiful clothes and live in luxury are found in palaces, not in the wilderness. 26Were you looking for a prophet? Yes, and he is more than a prophet. 27John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say,
'Look, I am sending my messenger before you, and he will prepare your way before you.' F33
28I tell you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John. Yet even the most insignificant person in the Kingdom of God is greater than he is!"
29When they heard this, all the people, including the unjust tax collectors, agreed that God's plan was right, F34 for they had been baptized by John. 30But the Pharisees and experts in religious law had rejected God's plan for them, for they had refused John's baptism.
31"How shall I describe this generation?" Jesus asked. "With what will I compare them? 32They are like a group of children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends, 'We played wedding songs, and you weren't happy, so we played funeral songs, but you weren't sad.' 33For John the Baptist didn't drink wine and he often fasted, and you say, 'He's demon possessed.' 34And I, the Son of Man, feast and drink, and you say, 'He's a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of the worst sort of sinners!' 35But wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it. F35 "
Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman
36One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to come to his home for a meal, so Jesus accepted the invitation and sat down to eat. 37A certain immoral woman heard he was there and brought a beautiful jar F36 filled with expensive perfume. 38Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
39When the Pharisee who was the host saw what was happening and who the woman was, he said to himself, "This proves that Jesus is no prophet. If God had really sent him, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She's a sinner!"
40Then Jesus spoke up and answered his thoughts. "Simon," he said to the Pharisee, "I have something to say to you." "All right, Teacher," Simon replied, "go ahead."
41Then Jesus told him this story: "A man loaned money to two people—five hundred pieces of silver F37 to one and fifty pieces to the other. 42But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?"
43Simon answered, "I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt." "That's right," Jesus said. 44Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn't offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You didn't give me a kiss of greeting, but she has kissed my feet again and again from the time I first came in. 46You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. 47I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love." 48Then Jesus said to the woman, "Your sins are forgiven."
49The men at the table said among themselves, "Who does this man think he is, going around forgiving sins?"
50And Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
FOOTNOTES:F32: Or who don't fall away because of me. F33: Mal 3:1. F34: Or praised God. F35: Or But wisdom is justified by all her children. F36: Greek an alabaster jar. F37: Greek 500 denarii. A denarius was the equivalent of a full day's wage.


Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

~Lena’s Journalin’ Today ~
I see in this passage today the differences between religiousness trying to do what one is “supposed to do” and relationship where one does what they want to do. The actions may even be the same actions, but the heart is not the same.
When you were a kids, did your parents tell you, you had to go to church? It was a good thing and you may have done it, but also may have felt you had to. If you grew in relationship with the lord and with His body, you may have changed your have to’s into want to’s and now you go because you yourself love God and His people.
When the want to’s come it shows growth and maturity. It shows revelation and enlightenment or understanding has come. Some saw Jesus and the things He did, but did not understand who He was, others saw Him with the eyes of understanding. Their responses to Him changed with the understanding changing.
Jesus was bringing change to the earth. It was/is good for those who see it, believe it and receive and respond to it, and for those who will not see, believe, receive, respond, it is very, very hard. The end results will differ greatly, the outcomes are extreme.
The centurion who sought Jesus, said that he was a man under authority. He could have said he was a man with authority given Him, but he recognized something about Jesus that caused Him to submit His title to a higher ruler. I looked up the words “under authority”. I was surprised with their meanings. It said it is about the freewill. One cannot come under authority in a true sense, that God recognizes as covering, without submitting His own will. Those who serve and those being served by authority both have to execute their freewill to do so in a Biblical sense. This man was saying to Jesus, that he understands that it takes a freewill to come under the rule of someone, but in doing so miracles will be accomplished. WOW, huh? He understands that it also takes a freewill to rule with the best interest of the people in heart and mind, the people had already told Jesus that His interest was for God’s will, at least to the extent that he knew of it. He helped see to it that they had a synagogue.
When a ruler serves the people well, it does not mean he will always do as the people think, no he will do what is best, the people will not always know what is best, but it is a rulers responsibility before God to know and do what is best. He has to be willing to stand under the scrutiny of the people’s opinions if he does not rule as they desire him to. That takes consideration of true love. Will I as one over, be willing to love the people no matter what they say or do to me and decide for their best interest without one hint of vengeance for immature or opinionated words they may speak of me?
That’s how God loves us, into maturity, not into the ushy gooshies. The ooshy gooshies could send us straight to hell, why else would satan use our 5 senses so much? We have to be led by God’s spirit, not by the cry of the flesh, the flesh cries out like a little child, give me what I want. The spirit rises up and says NO, it is bad for you! Who rules? Who submits? The flesh or the spirit nature? That shows how mature we are, who we let rule, who we submit ourselves to and who we obey. If we only ever obey ourselves, we are babies, that’s ok, if we realize it is time to grow up. Growth pains will come though. Submission can be either easy or hard, it is up to our attitudes about it. One thing too, is those we submit to are not perfect, they are people, we have to trust God big time to do this. All that in consideration, are we willing?

Daily Repetitive Verses:

Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.