Category: Daily Reflections
“The scribes and Pharisees were on the watch to see if He would perform a cure on the Sabbath so that they could find a charge against Him.” –Luke 6:7 Jesus could have healed the man with a withered hand on a day other than the Sabbath or in private. Yet Jesus refused to be intimidated and manipulated by His enemies. In fact, Jesus publicly displayed this healing on the Sabbath (Lk 6:8ff). As expected, Jesus’ opponents “went crazy” (see Lk 6:11) and eventually had Him crucified. Jesus is courageous, fearless, and confrontational. He did not compromise His principles, even...
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Jesus “put His fingers into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue.” –Mark 7:33 Jesus’ gestures of inserting his fingers into a deaf-mute man’s ears and touching the man’s tongue seem foreign to our modern, antiseptic culture. Yet if you’re baptized, you experienced the touch of Jesus in a similar way. At baptism, the priest or deacon touched your ears and lips, praying that God would open your ears to hear His Word and your lips to proclaim it. Before Jesus touched the deaf-mute, “He looked up to heaven and emitted a groan. He said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’ (that...
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“I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. ” Philippians 3:10-11 Ambition is a commendable characteristic but there is one ideal in life that must overshadow all others: to live in the image of Christ. This must be greatest ambition of every follower of Jesus and demands complete surrender and commitment. The pure joy of a life in Jesus Christ cannot be measured. Such a life is priceless and precious. However, this...
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“Why are You doing what is prohibited on the sabbath?” –Luke 6:2 Keeping the sabbath is a sign to show that we want to be holy and that the Lord makes us holy (Ex 31:13). Keeping the sabbath is to be considered a perpetual covenant between us and the Lord (Ex 31:16). Therefore, the Mosaic law commanded that anyone who does not keep the sabbath “shall be put to death” and thereby “rooted out” of God’s people (Ex 31:14). Aware of this teaching in Exodus on keeping the sabbath, we can see why some Pharisees criticized Jesus’ disciples for “picking...
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“They will surely fast in those days.” –Luke 5:35 In Isaiah’s time, people were confused about fasting. The Israelites cried out to the Lord: “Why do we fast, and You do not see it? Afflict ourselves, and You take no note of it?” (Is 58:3) Isaiah prophesied: “Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?” (Is 58:5) In Zechariah’s time, people were also confused about fasting. Bethelsarezer asked the priests and the prophets: “Must I mourn and abstain in the fifth month as I have been doing these many years?” (Zec 7:3) The Lord answered: “When...
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