Luke Chapter 7

Luke 7

Vv1-10 : The great faith of the Centurion has healed
his servant.

Vv11-17: Jesus raised a widow's son.

The GREAT TRANSITION TO THE YEAR OF OUR LORD

Contrasting John's ministry with Jesus' ministry gives
me insight of God's overall salvation plan for us.
From the beginning up until John the Baptist, it was
God preparing for the way of the Messiah, Jesus
Christ. The former was rule-based which result in a
rigid lifestyle, the latter requires a change of heart
and is faith-based which resulted in true freedom in
the year of our Lord.

Vv18- 23
Jesus gave clearly observable evidence to John's
disciple that reflected the predicted ministry of the
Messiah. In Jesus' review of his works, he used an
ascending scale of impressive deeds, ending with the
dead raised and the good news preached to the poor.
In this way he reminded that these things were
fulfillment of the prophecies. (Source: NIV Study
Bible)

V24-27
Jesus affirmed that John was the unique prophet sent
to prepare the way of the Messiah.

V28 He who is the least in the kingdom is greater
than John the Baptist? Why?

The verse parallels Mt 11:11 John belonged to the age
of the old covenant, which was preparatory to Christ.
The least NT saint has a high privilege in Christ as
part of his bride than John the Baptist, who was only
a friend of the bridegroom (Jn 3:29)

"He who is the least" – In Mt 18:3-4, Jesus stated, "
I tell you the truth, unless you change and become
like little children, you will never enter the kingdom
of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like
this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
….such a person, though "least" is regarded by God as
even greater than John the Baptist. Wow! How
privileged are we to be born in the NT times!

Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman

V47: The love of the sinful woman for Jesus was
evidence of her forgiveness. Our salvation from our
sinful past should result in our love for our Lord.
V50: The sinful woman was saved by faith.

Clearly, this account of Jesus being anointed by a
sinful woman is one of the many examples that reflects
Jesus' ministry of changing hearts and lives of
sinners.

Luke, Su

Luke Chapter 6

Luke 6

Lord of the Sabbath

Vv1-10: Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath – He
intentionally healed the the man with shriveled hand
to point out to them the true meaning of Sabbath and
to challenge them of their traditional beliefs (Which
is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to
save life or to destroy it?) I pray that my
traditional beliefs will be challenged with His
liberating new life that He has given me… a
Spirit-filled life!

V12: Before choosing the 12 apostles, Jesus spent
time in solitude and in prayer.

Vv20-49: Jesus' sermon on plain appears to parallel
Mathew's sermon on the Mount. Jesus was preaching a
message that is out of the world of His time - It is
the Kingdom message that emphasizes on the authentic
change of heart attitude. It addresses poverty both
physically and more importantly spiritually, the
hungry, the sorrowful , the outcast and rejected and
contrast that with the rich, the well-fed and "happy"
and satisfied people… He was painting a radically
different world - the heavenly kingdom – for the
people of His time. This kingdom is radically
different from ours as well!

The Kingdom Values vv27-36

Jesus uses many examples to further illustrates the
Kingdom mindset -
" If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the
other also."
"If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from
taking your tunic."
"If someone takes what belongs to you, do not demand
it back."
"Love your enemies and do good to them"
"Lend without expecting to get anything back"
"Kind to the ungrateful and wicked"

I believe these values were radical to the people of
the Jesus' time and they are totally radical to
today's values as well!!!!!!

At glance, as a Christian I don't even know if I can
practice all of them. It does not appear to be
earthly values at all. It is truly out of this
WORLD!! We are taught with some very different values
such as an eye for an eye, to know and demand my
rights, not to be taken advantage of of……I see that
Jesus is preaching about not only a change in heart
attitude, but truly a deep deep deep change or
overhaul of our heart, mind and soul. We can no
longer hold on to our worldly values but to slowly
over time rid of the old self and to embrace the new
kingdom values which admittedly not an easy thing on
earth but I believe that as Kingdom people, we need to
prepare ourselves diligently with all the Kingdom
values!

There are more Kingdom Values that I should practice
at all times:
Vv37-38
• Do not Judge
• Do not condemn
• Forgive
• Give

Vv39-42
Jesus reminded that that it is foolish and
hypocritical for us to criticize someone for a fault
while remaining blind to our considerable faults. I
need to always examine myself and not fall into the
trap of being hypocritical.

Vv43-45
V45 – for out of the overflow of his heart his mouth
speaks - may God help me to cultivate my heart. As
each tree is recognized by its own fruit - may the
things stored in my heart reflects Him and His
goodness.

V46- 49
May I be a wise builder, may I not only be a hearer of
God's words but also be diligent to put them into
practice. So that we the flood (bad times) comes, my
faith/house will not be shaken but it is well built as
I put them in practice daily!

Luke, Su

Luke Chapter 5

Luke 5

The calling of the First Disciples

Vv4-8:

Simon Peter's obedience ("because you say so, I will
let down the nets.") is an example for us to follow -
it is an important trait of Jesus' disciple.

Simon Peter's reaction speaks to me: when he
"recognized who Jesus was" (previous chapters speak
about Jesus' ministry and His mission on earth), he
saw his own sinfulness! I recalled that when I was
confronted with the gospel, He revealed to me my
sinfulness and the darkness in my life and moved me to
repentance and a changed heart. Then, He filled me
the peace that surpassed all understanding when I
received His salvation. When confronted with the
gracious, merciful, loving, holy and most High God, I
guess our only response could only be a humbling,
repenting one – there is nothing we could do to
deserve His great love over for sinful soul but to
accept and received His unconditional love just as we
are.

The Man with Leprosy

V12-13 – Jesus healed the man with leprosy. - the
man appeared to have a very simple faith (Lord, if you
are willing, you can make me clean) - It is a simple
statement but is reflects his incredible faith! I
want to acknowledge my Lord and my God as well! I
believe that if He is willing, he can make me …..(
yes, any quality that I lack, I can go before Him, my
Lord and my God)

V14 - Jesus asked the man whom he healed to submit to
the Abrahamic laws and regulations as a testimony to
others. The emphasis appears to be the call to be
obedient and to submit to certain rules /authorities
(?)

V16 - Again, Jesus withdrew to lonely places and
prayed. Time spent in solitude with the Lord appears
to be key in getting ourselves in tune with His Voice.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

VV 17 – 20 – Faith is a critical element that results
in healing, both physical and spiritual.

V24 – Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive
sins.

The Calling of the Levi

V31 - Jesus came for the sick and sinners and to call
them to repentance. He spent a lot of time eating and
drinking with them, along with His disciples.
Contrasting between his ministry and those of the
Pharisees and John the Baptist's, Jesus and his
disciples enjoyed a freedom not known by the
Pharisees' whose lifestyles tended to be a lot more
rigorous and legalistic.

Jesus' ministry is marked by authentic change of heart
attitude…He opposes legalistic display of false
righteousness in every ways (fasting….) The parable of
the new wine and old wineskin sent a strong message to
those who are reluctant to change from traditional
religious, legalistic religious ways to the gospel of
salvation – the new wine will burst the old wineskins
and the win will run out and the wineskins will be
ruined!

Su

Luke 4 (originally posted July 5th)

vv1-12 Jesus was tempted by the devil for forty days.

Temptations of Satan:

- tell stone to become bread (physical temptation - Jesus was without food for forty days)
-all the authority and splendor of the world (temptation of worldly power and glamor)
- temptation to test God's limit - If God is so good,loves you, powerful...., He would do....

vv 4,8,12: Jesus resisted all Satan's temptation using God's Word!

Takeaway: I shall immerse myself in His Word, develop habit of memorizing key scriptures for they are the best shield against temptations!

vv18,19: Jesus' ministry on earth which is
- To preach good news to the poor (Wow, the poor is close to Jesus' heart)
- To proclaim freedom for the prisoners (True liberation/freedom from all sort of bondages - we are now truly free to choose to do what's right and pleasing to Him) I believe this true freedom is different from the worldly free will/freedom to do whatever one's right in his own eyes - for this is a bondage in a different way - it results in more bondages.

- To give sight to the blind - truly, all of us were spiritually blind at one point until we received His new life into our lives! This reminded me of John Newton, the slave trader, in Amazing Grace, in his words, " Was blind, but now I see!"

- To release the oppressed - Jesus is in the business of setting the oppressed free!

- To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor - To proclaim the good news of Salvation to all!

vv 24-29 Jesus was rejected in his hometown. Let us not be like those in Nazareth, let us hold fast onto the good news of salvation through Jesus! Like Naaman who believed Elisha's word and was healed of leprosy.

vv31-37 Jesus taught with authority (v32). Jesus has authority and powe over evil spirits. He drove them out.

vv38-40: Jesus healed many and drove out demons of many.

v42: Jesus retreated to a solitary place - If Jesus needed to have quiet time alone with His Father, how much more so do I need to develop a daily devotional/quiet time with Him? May God help me develop a discipline of daily devotional time with him.

v43 - Jesus was faithful and singleminded in His ministry that He was sent for. May He also help me to be singleminded to walk my faith journey - to seek to know and please Him with all of my life!

- Su

Luke 3 (originally posted July 5th)

vv2-4:

When the word of God (v2) came to John, he began his preaching on a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. This was to fulfill the scripture as well as to prepare the way for Jesus.

v7-9: John's message of repentance distinguishes true repentence as one that was clearly evidenced by its fruit v8. He cautioned against not bearing fruit v9.

vv10- 14: True repentence resulted in an obvious change in heart attitude as well as outward behavior:
- share clothings and food with those who have none
- conduct business honestly
- Don't extort, don't accuse falsely and be content.

vv 16,17: Jesus' ministry was different from John's in that His was marked by power. Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire (?) as opposed to John who baptized with water.


v21: Jesus was baptized by John - Why? This act appears to reflect His humble and obedient heart to identify with us all.

v22 -Jesus is God's beloved Son.

- Su

Luke 2 (originally posted July 2nd)

The birth of Jesus was perfectly timed (to enter the history of humanity) and orchestrated by our Heavenly Father - Jesus' humble birth was intentional - birth in a manger for there was no room for Him in the inn! Wow, what a humble birth that God had chosen for His Son! Truly, there must be some lessons I can learn from this:

1. Is the humble birth an expression of His infinite love for us? - His love for us is so infinitely deep that He chose to identify with the true state of my soul - my nothingness and totally sinful nature.

2. Knowing that I have done nothing to deserve what the most High God has done for me, I therefore should know that there is nothing in life I should hold on to so dearly that I cannot let go because truly my life belongs to Him. How else should I live to receive this great love that He has shown me?

3. vv 8-20 described the celebration of Jesus' birth by the heavenly host as well as the shepherds' praises. Truly, the birth of Jesus was the single most important event in the history of humanity that had taken place, as reflected in Simeon's prophecy in v34:

This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed....

Do I truly take this seriously? Lord, please show me and forgive me for my slowness in responding to Your great love!

- Su

Luke 1 (originally posted July 2nd)

vv1-4: Praise God for the faithful men who were obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit to keep careful and orderly account of what happened so that we may know that our faith is based on solid ground and so that we can live according to His will with confidence.

vv23-25: Elizabeth was quick to acknowlege God's faithfulness and grace in her life. Her intimate relationship with Christ was reflected by her response to God's gift for her (her pregnancy) - she spent five months in seclusion with Him. Takeaway: Time alone with God will deepen my relationship with Him.

v38: Mary's obedience and humility (servant heart) were probably the qualities that gained her favor in the Lord's eyes. May He culcultivate in my heart and make it ever more atune to the leading of the Holy Spirit so that I can see His work in my life with increasing clarity.

vv46-55: Mary's song once again reflects her intimacy with God. She was confident of God's will for her and embraced it with joy. She knew her Lord and understood His character. May God continue to mold me to be like Mary - obedient, humble, joyful and full of praise!

- Su