Jesus teaches a crowd about humility
by R. Douglass Mahaffey
Four men in Jerusalem heard that Jesus would be at a friend's house teaching, enjoying fellowship and ministering to the residents of the town. They had a friend who had been paralyzed since he was a baby, who they wanted to bring to Jesus. Like the woman with the issue of blood that I wrote about a few days ago, these people believed that if they could get their friend in to just see Jesus, that He could heal them.
They brought the man to where Jesus was preaching at and tried to get him inside to bring him before the Lord. There were so many people there in the house, that they could barely see where Jesus was. No one would let them inside to get him close to where Jesus was. One of them came up with a plan.
Outside the house, there was a ladder to climb to the top of the roof. They carefully hoisted their friend to the top of the house. They broke through the wood that covered the house on the roof. They lowered their friend down to where Jesus was.
Jesus asked them what they were doing.
Let's review the situation. If these men came to a church to speak to Jesus, who, let's say was a guest speaker, they would be chastised at the very least and asked to either leave, or to sit in the back and keep quiet. How uncouth it would be to interrupt the Lord as He was speaking to the congregation. Then, the hole they cut into the floor would have required a permit from the city, clearance from the building and grounds committee, and brought before the church to be voted on. What purpose would the hole serve the rest of the church and how much would it cost the main tithers to repair the hole once its purpose was served? Can you say "RED TAPE?"
The hole was significant in that in the story, at least for me, it symbolizes the emptiness that sin leaves in our hearts when we spend our whole lives seeking something meaningful in which to fill it. In this case, the faith of the men all of a sudden filled the hole with their friend that they lowered down to Jesus to be healed. The ladder represents the path that sometimes seems out of our way to take when we are called to serve others for the glory of God. The people hindering the men's way to the Lord represents the hard-heartedness that the church often times gives off toward those that don't look, act, walk, talk, think, say, and do the things that they do in their self-righteous indignation.
The men stopping at nothing to bring their friend before Jesus represents the power of the Holy Ghost that stops at nothing to reach a hard, rejecting heart while trying to save a lost soul.
Jesus looked at the paralytic and said to him, "Son, be of good cheer, for your sins are forgiven."
The paralyzed man gathered a smile to his face as the pain left his body. People stared in amazement at the Lord and began to ask among themselves, "Who is this that pretends to forgive sins? For who can forgive sins except God?"
Jesus asked the people, "Why do you speak evil among yourselves about me? Is it easier to tell this man his sins are forgiven, or to tell him to rise up from his bed and walk? So that you will know that I have the power on earth to forgive sins (Jesus then turned to the paralyzed man), arise, take up your bed and return to your own house."
Just then, the man felt strength come to his body. He got down off of his bed mat and rolled it up and carried it with him. The other four men followed him, thanking Jesus for what he had done for their friend, and walked out of the house through the path of people as they parted a pathway for the men to leave the house.
The people praised God with reverent fear and said, "Truly, we have seen something strange here today.
Are you waiting for God to show you a sign that He is still there and that He is real? That heartbeat you just experienced, that breathe you just took, that sight you just saw with your eyes, the fact that you exist should be sign enough that God exists and is constantly there, is prolonging His return and His wrath upon the disbelievers, and sent His Son, Jesus to die on the cross for our sins that we choose to commit, when what we really deserve is death and hell, which Jesus rescued us from. He is on His throne in our hard times and in the times that He blesses us. We are to feel that it is a blessing when we are tried and go through hard times. It is those times that God is strengthening our faith to be what He has called us to be.
Be a witness to someone today about the blessings that God has brought upon you and the hard times that he brought you through as He kept His promise to never leave, nor forsake us.
R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Monday, February 3, 2014
The destitute woman of Galilee
The faith of a woman who believed with all her might
by R. Douglass Mahaffey
I have often told people that I witness to that even the demons in hell believe in God, and they tremble. Do we? There was a woman in Galilee, near Capernaum, who had hear that Jesus was coming to her area. She had heard about the people that Jesus had healed; the leper, the blind man named Bartemeus, the paralytic, the dead servant of the Roman soldier, the dead girl, whose funeral Jesus passed. Word had gotten around that Jesus was a healer with power from God. A comedian referred to Him as a miracle caterer. Jesus only did the will of the Father.
Several people were healed by Jesus by merely touching Him. That was the case with the woman with the issue of blood. She most likely had a chronic, abnormal condition such as a fibroid tumor of the uterus, or what is referred to as a "spring of blood." She was looked at as unclean and was most likely unwelcome by the population of Jerusalem. It can be supposed that many people treated her as though there were some sin in her life that caused the condition. Either way, it was definitely an unpleasant life she lived.
Then out of nowhere, there was Jesus, preaching in her town and ministering to those in need. Jesus was Rabbi to many Jews. He had a life-long, God sent mission and was undeterred in carrying it out. He passed by her in the crowd as many people pressed in to see Him and touch Him. The woman drew near to Jesus. She just knew and believed with all her might that if she only reached out and touched His garment that he wore over His robe, that she would be healed of her condition.
As she finally made her way to Jesus, she reached out and grabbed the hem of his cloak. At that moment, power went out from Jesus and He stopped. Jesus turned around and asked, "Who touched my robe?"
One of Jesus' disciples that was with Him said, "Rabbi, there are many people around you right now, touching you."
Jesus said, "Someone with tremendous faith has reached out and touched my garment's hem. For I felt the healing virtue as it left my body."
The woman felt put on the spot and was embarrassed and scared. She thought that Jesus was about to rebuke her. That is how the mind can be conditioned to believe that we are not worth worrying about, like some kid whose parents have told him his whole life that he is worthless. The woman said to Jesus, "I believed that if I only touched your hem of your garment that I would be healed."
She told Jesus about her condition and that the doctors had done all that they could to try to help her. The people had shunned her because to Jewish standards, she was unclean. Jesus knelt down to her level, helped her up and told her, "Woman, your faith has made you whole. Go and tell no one what you have witnessed today."
Jesus told all of his followers whom He healed not to tell anyone, because His time of betrayal had not yet come to pass. He knew that the Pharisees were watching Him and waiting for the first chance that they could find to kill Him for blasphemy, because He taught the truth, He taught a message that made ruling the people hard for them, and because He taught as the Son of God. But alas, most of the time, people bore witness to others the miracles that Jesus had performed in their lives and their loved ones lives. They didn't do it to be disobedient, even though they disobeyed. They were excited in the fact that the promised Messiah had finally come into the world to save it.
The woman, by today's standards can be compared to the servant woman at a church, who may have a hard time getting around, may be physically or financially burdened, but there they are, week in and week out, serving, giving of their selves, unshaken from their faith and undeterred to show the love of Christ to others from their servant's heart. She may be haggard in appearance. Maybe she has a past history of bad mistakes that follow her. Maybe she is a widow, and is alone, but still giving all she has.
People may talk about her, they may avoid relationships with her in the church, because they just don't understand her. But that doesn't stop her from loving them and praying for them anyway. Then there comes Jesus, giving her a blessing that makes other people notice her for the Christian woman she is, and they begin to recognize her publicly. This type of woman would politely stand up and give the glory to God, who by all her blessings and spiritual prosperity comes from, knowing that it is not about her and never was. Instead, it has been about pleasing God in everything she does, which is what we are called to do in the first place, so that others can see His glory in our blessings.
R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative
by R. Douglass Mahaffey
I have often told people that I witness to that even the demons in hell believe in God, and they tremble. Do we? There was a woman in Galilee, near Capernaum, who had hear that Jesus was coming to her area. She had heard about the people that Jesus had healed; the leper, the blind man named Bartemeus, the paralytic, the dead servant of the Roman soldier, the dead girl, whose funeral Jesus passed. Word had gotten around that Jesus was a healer with power from God. A comedian referred to Him as a miracle caterer. Jesus only did the will of the Father.
Several people were healed by Jesus by merely touching Him. That was the case with the woman with the issue of blood. She most likely had a chronic, abnormal condition such as a fibroid tumor of the uterus, or what is referred to as a "spring of blood." She was looked at as unclean and was most likely unwelcome by the population of Jerusalem. It can be supposed that many people treated her as though there were some sin in her life that caused the condition. Either way, it was definitely an unpleasant life she lived.
Then out of nowhere, there was Jesus, preaching in her town and ministering to those in need. Jesus was Rabbi to many Jews. He had a life-long, God sent mission and was undeterred in carrying it out. He passed by her in the crowd as many people pressed in to see Him and touch Him. The woman drew near to Jesus. She just knew and believed with all her might that if she only reached out and touched His garment that he wore over His robe, that she would be healed of her condition.
As she finally made her way to Jesus, she reached out and grabbed the hem of his cloak. At that moment, power went out from Jesus and He stopped. Jesus turned around and asked, "Who touched my robe?"
One of Jesus' disciples that was with Him said, "Rabbi, there are many people around you right now, touching you."
Jesus said, "Someone with tremendous faith has reached out and touched my garment's hem. For I felt the healing virtue as it left my body."
The woman felt put on the spot and was embarrassed and scared. She thought that Jesus was about to rebuke her. That is how the mind can be conditioned to believe that we are not worth worrying about, like some kid whose parents have told him his whole life that he is worthless. The woman said to Jesus, "I believed that if I only touched your hem of your garment that I would be healed."
She told Jesus about her condition and that the doctors had done all that they could to try to help her. The people had shunned her because to Jewish standards, she was unclean. Jesus knelt down to her level, helped her up and told her, "Woman, your faith has made you whole. Go and tell no one what you have witnessed today."
Jesus told all of his followers whom He healed not to tell anyone, because His time of betrayal had not yet come to pass. He knew that the Pharisees were watching Him and waiting for the first chance that they could find to kill Him for blasphemy, because He taught the truth, He taught a message that made ruling the people hard for them, and because He taught as the Son of God. But alas, most of the time, people bore witness to others the miracles that Jesus had performed in their lives and their loved ones lives. They didn't do it to be disobedient, even though they disobeyed. They were excited in the fact that the promised Messiah had finally come into the world to save it.
The woman, by today's standards can be compared to the servant woman at a church, who may have a hard time getting around, may be physically or financially burdened, but there they are, week in and week out, serving, giving of their selves, unshaken from their faith and undeterred to show the love of Christ to others from their servant's heart. She may be haggard in appearance. Maybe she has a past history of bad mistakes that follow her. Maybe she is a widow, and is alone, but still giving all she has.
People may talk about her, they may avoid relationships with her in the church, because they just don't understand her. But that doesn't stop her from loving them and praying for them anyway. Then there comes Jesus, giving her a blessing that makes other people notice her for the Christian woman she is, and they begin to recognize her publicly. This type of woman would politely stand up and give the glory to God, who by all her blessings and spiritual prosperity comes from, knowing that it is not about her and never was. Instead, it has been about pleasing God in everything she does, which is what we are called to do in the first place, so that others can see His glory in our blessings.
R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative
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