Category: Luke

Mark 8:5 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied.

What strikes me about today’s verses is that Jesus doesn’t just provide. Using the seven loaves and few small fish of the disciples, He provides lavishly. He provides so much that the large crowd ate and “were satisfied,” with seven baskets full of leftovers.

Mark 8:6 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. 

We serve a loving, compassionate God. And yet, I am so guilty, time and again, of doubting His compassion and goodness. He provides again and again (and again and again), He provides lavishly, and still, when I am faced with a new challenge, a new worry, I am fearful He will not be able to supply my needs. Jesus, Help me.

Mark 8:7 They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them.

Precious Savior, Forgive me for my doubt and fear. I trust You. I love You. I know that You will supply all my needs, that Your goodness and provision may look nothing like I had hoped or imagined but that You *will* provide for me out of Your love and mercy. Forgive me when I doubt. Help me to trust. Thank You for Your grace. Amen.

Mark 8:8 The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

Have a blessed day.

Luke 8:50 Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”  

Commentary points out that Jesus gives Jairus two tasks: 1. Don’t be afraid. 2. Just believe. Then commentary includes this gem, “Jesus knew that fear and faith don’t go together.” Oh, friends. The struggle between fear and faith is one that I have fought for years (and years and years). I cannot say, “Jesus, I believe in Your sovereignty, Your mercy, Your grace and compassion and goodness” AND still be afraid. Yet I so often am.

Luke 8:51 When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother.

But my fear keeps me from Christ’s peace. It also limits Jesus’s ability to heal, to work, in my life. If I am afraid, then I have not put that pain, that worry, whatever it is, at His feet for Him to have. My fear means I am still holding it close to me, meaning that my energies, instead of going to Jesus, who has complete control of the situation, instead of going to a belief in His healing, even if it looks like nothing I had hoped or imagined, are zipping all over the place with worry, fear, probably some anger, uncertainty, often bitterness, etc, etc.

Luke 8:52a Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her.

Precious Savior, “I believe. Help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). You and I have worked on this for years. Forgive me that I still struggle with faith and fear. Forgive me that I still cling to fear, hold it to me, even though You are gracious, loving, compassionate, sovereign. Help me, Jesus. I want to trust only in You. I want fear to have no hold on my life. I want You to reign sovereign. Help me. Amen.

Luke 8:52b “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”

Have a blessed day.

Luke 8:49a While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. 

Luke 8:48 is Jesus saying, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.” I find it incredibly ironic that while Jesus is still speaking these words of faith and healing, someone comes from the house of Jairus to say his daughter is dead and it’s too late.

Luke 8:49b “Your daughter is dead,” he said. 

The woman who was just healed had been bleeding for twelve YEARS and simply a touch of Jesus’s cloak and her faith healed her. The demon-possessed man had been in that condition for YEARS, and Jesus drove out the demons. I can see why the messenger would say what he said, but Jairus has so many reasons to hold on to hope, hold on to faith, when Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”

Luke 8:49c “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”

Precious Savior, Thank You for the hope that can only be found in You. Forgive me for thinking that my vision of healing, my timeline for healing, is the only one there is. Thank You that Your thoughts are nothing like my thoughts, and Your ways are far beyond anything I could imagine. (Is 55:8). Amen.

Luke 8:50 Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”

Have a blessed day.

Luke 8:46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” 

The woman who touched the hem of Jesus’s cloak had been bleeding for twelve years. Twelve years. That’s a long time. And because of this bleeding, she was considered ceremonially unclean in Jewish culture, meaning she would have been an outcast, denied human contact, for twelve years. I can’t even imagine.

Luke 8:47a Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. 

And now she’s caught. She took a risk, touching the hem of Jesus’s cloak, believing that just that touch could heal her. And it did! Her faith allowed Jesus’s healing to work. And He doesn’t shame her, our Precious Savior, He calls her “Daughter,”–commentary says this is the only time in the Bible that He calls anyone “Daughter”–He tells her her faith has healed her, and He tells her to “Go in peace” after twelve years of agony.

Luke 8:47b In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 

Precious Savior, Your gentleness, Your compassion, Your grace is breathtaking. Thank You. Help me to treat others, all others, with the same compassion that You treated this woman, this outcast. Her faith in You healed her body, but Your kindness to her healed her soul. Help me to go and do likewise. Amen.

Luke 8:48 Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

Have a blessed day.

Luke 8:40 Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. 

According to commentary, the demon-possessed man was on the gentile side of the lake. In today’s scripture, Jesus has just returned to the Jewish side of the lake, but commentary says it’s still surprising that a synagogue leader would believe in Jesus, and that he only confessed his belief when his daughter was at the point of death and then only to get Jesus’s assistance.

Luke 8:41 Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house 

It reminds me of a church marquee I once saw, “When all else fails, pray.” Should you wait until all else fails? But Jesus doesn’t interrogate (“Why did you wait until your daughter was on the point of death to publicly believe?”, doesn’t condemn “Too bad, so sad. You missed your chance for My healing.” He simply responds to the faith of the father and goes to assist.

Luke 8:42a …because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.

Precious Savior, We do not deserve Your goodness. We cannot earn Your mercy. And yet, You lavish us with all of that and more daily. Thank You for responding to us in faith. Thank You for meeting us where we are. Help us to grow in love, in mercy, in You. Always. Help us. Amen.

Luke 8:42b …As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. 

Have a blessed day.

Luke 8:29 For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.

Commentary points out that the demons inhabiting this man recognized Jesus in verse 28 and called him by his full title: Jesus, Son of the Most High God. What struck me most in this commentary was the following: “They knew the true identity of Jesus better than the religious leaders did.”

Luke 8:30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 

The Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious leaders of the day, claimed to know who Jesus was and what He was about, yet a horde of demons in a defenseless man were the ones to call Him by His name. It strikes me as incredibly sad that these “religious leaders” were so blind, so ignorant.

Luke 8:31 And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

Precious Savior, Forgive me when I do not respond to You with the deference that You deserve. I know that You are Jesus, Son of the Most High God. Help me to live my life rooted in You. Help me never to forget who You are and who You are to me. Amen.

Luke 8:32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission.:

Have a blessed day.