Luke 8:40-42

Luke 8:40-42

And in Jesus’ return, it became that the crowd received Him.  For all were expecting Him.  And behold!  A man, whose name was Jairus, came.  And he was ruling as a ruler of the synagogue. And after falling before the feet of Jesus, he was asking Him to enter into his house because his only-begotten daughter, twelve years old, was as if she was dead.  And in His departure, the crowd was pressing very tightly around Him.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

As we begin this section, we get a hint of Jesus’ ministry.  It was reliable.  Jesus had a pattern.  Jesus was predictable.  Even though Jesus had gone away to the Gergesenes, the crowd was expecting Him when He came back.  This is really important.  If we want to make disciples in Christ, we need to give them something to imitate.  We need to be predictable.  Our faith and our teaching and our life must match so that people can predict how we will react and what we will say.  When we are predictable, people can imitate us.  If people can imitate us and we are imitating Christ, disciples of Christ will be made.

Why is it important to see Jesus as a predictable leader?  Have you ever considered Jesus as a man who is predictable or have you thought of Him as a miracle worker who bounced around all over?

Second Thought:

Jairus comes.  He is the ruler of a synagogue.  His voice carries weight in the community.  He is a big name and the people would recognize him.  However, look at how he approaches Jesus.  He approaches Jesus on his knees.  He bows before Jesus.  This is an unusual scene, because the religious leaders of Jesus’ day didn’t often portray humility in the presence of Jesus.  However, Jairus does.  There are a few others – such as Nicodemus – who do as well.  What can we learn here?  It is hard for people of high status to be humble before God.  Yet while it is hard, it is not impossible.  Anyone can find the ability to be humble if they so desire it.

Are you ready to be humble?  How do you display humbleness before God in your life?

Third Thought:

As Jesus goes out to do ministry, the crowd presses in among Him.  I think that this is a message of contrast to Jairus.  In the religious leader we see humbleness.  But in the crowd, which is no doubt full of people who are in a position of being accustomed to being humble in stature, we see people trying to force their own way.  The crowd packs in around Jesus.  They push in on Him.  They want to get His attention.  They want to assert themselves into His life.  In their desire to assert, they find no recognition with Jesus.

Do you ever assert yourself in order to get attention?  Do you ever want to make yourself more important than you really are?

Passage for Tomorrow: Luke 8:43-48