During Advent this year, our church is reading through the
book of Luke. I wanted to share some of the messages of God’s love I found
through this journey.
Chapter 2:14: “Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!”
To think that God is pleased with us!
The verses Jesus read in the synagogue about himself:
4:18-19: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he
has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He
has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the
blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
He came to set me free from the prison of my sin.
7:33-34: “For John the Baptist came neither eating
bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came
eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend
of tax collectors and sinners.’”
Verses 36-38: “When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus
to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the
table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was
eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of
perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet
with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured
perfume on them.”
50: “Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved
you; go in peace.’”
The people then accused Jesus of being a friend of tax
collectors and sinners. They didn’t know they were speaking the truth.
10:16: “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever
rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
How we respond to Jesus is crucial.
15:3-6: “Then Jesus told them this parable: ‘Suppose
one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the
ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then
he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have
found my lost sheep.”’”
I praise God that he seeks one lost sinner and rejoices when
they are found.
17:3-4: “So watch yourselves. If your brother or sister
sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they
sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I
repent,’ you must forgive them.”
I am so glad Jesus is willing to forgive multiple times.
22:31-32: “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of
you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.
And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Thank you, Jesus, that you now pray for us.
I am so grateful for the kind of people Jesus paid special
attention to:
5:12-13,31-32: While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man
came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his
face to the ground and begged him, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me
clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he
said. ‘Be clean!’ And immediately the leprosy left him. Jesus answered them, ‘It
is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance.’”
8:47-48: “Then the woman, seeing that she could not go
unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the
people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed.
Then he said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.’”
The woman tried to hide, but Jesus forced her to talk to him
so he could show he loved her like a daughter.
19:1-5,9-10: “Jesus entered Jericho and was passing
through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector
and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he
could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree
to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he
looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at
your house today.’
“Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house,
because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and
to save the lost.’”
21:1-4: “As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their
gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small
copper coins. ‘Truly I tell you,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more
than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but
she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’”
23:42-43: “Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you
come into your kingdom.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will
be with me in paradise.’”
The thief on the cross.
And Jesus pays special attention to you and me too.
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