Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and His disciples and a large crowd went along with Him. As He approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out-the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd form the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and He said, “Don’t cry.”

Then He went up and touched they bier that they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help His people.” This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

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It’s interesting that in this passage, Luke uses the title Lord when referring to Jesus. In every other instance so far, He has just used the name Jesus. But in this moment, as Jesus’ heart broke for this lady, he referred to Him as Lord. Maybe it’s because of what He was about to do in raising someone from the dead. But perhaps, it was to remind us that our God understand our heart. That His heart breaks as ours does. When He looks down on you and you’re hurting, He hurts with you. When you’re grieving, He grieves with you. When you’re rejoicing, He rejoices with you. His promise is that He is with us. Our God understands our feelings and emotions. He wants you to go to Him…both in good times and bad. Let Him guide you out of that hurt. Let Him comfort you through the grief. He is an awesome God who loves us entirely. Let Him in today. Tell Him how you feel. Lean on Him.

When Jesus has finished saying all this to the people who were listening, He entered Capernaum. There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. Then centurion heard of Jesus and sent home elders of the Jews to Him, asking Him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with Him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” So Jesus went with them.

He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to Him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, He was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following Him, He said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

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What I found interesting about this passage is that the Elders the centurion sent tried to persuade Jesus by saying this man loved their nation and built the synagogue. This reminds me of American Christianity today. We elevate our nation and our church buildings. We put so much emphasis on these things, thinking Jesus will be impressed, that we sometimes leave out the main ingredient…faith. When Jesus saw the faith of the centurion, the servant was healed. It’s ok to have pride in your country…it’s ok to have somewhere to gather for worship. But far too many Christians worship these things…far too many Christians are Americans first or church goers first…when Jesus wants to see our faith. Would you choose Jesus over a building? How about over your country?

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was made complete.”

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I love the imagery here. If you want a solid foundation built on Jesus, it requires you to dig deep. It takes some work…you have to seek it. When you spend time in His word, you are laying a solid foundation that you can stand on through any trial. When we try to do life on our own and we are lazy with our faith, when the trial comes we have nothing solid to stand on. His word is the solid rock that keeps us steady. How’s your foundation?

“No good tree bears bad fruit, not does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick dogs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

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What do you speak most of? Jesus says that it’s what we speak of most that our heart is found. Is it politics? Sports? Family? Finances? Work? Church? It could be anything…but is it spoken of more than the name of Jesus? If so…it’s time to re-examine our hearts. The things is…a lot of those things I listed are good things. Family? But the reality of it is that anything we put before God is keeping us from being sold out for Him. We should always put importance on our family, career, etc. as long as God is first. What do you speak of most often? Where is your heart?

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay not attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

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As I was reading this…I was judging others. It made me realize…Jesus is the only one who could teach this principal. He’s the only one with the authority to judge. The rest of us…we have planks we need to take care of. I do think it’s important that we help a brother or sister who is struggling…but there’s a difference between helping in love and judging. If I’m honest…I was thinking of judgmental people as Jesus was trying to point out my own plank. I think for many of us, myself included, we need to humble ourselves and realize our own faults. Maybe then we can begin to approach others with more love and grace.

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on the cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

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There is so much that can be unpacked in this passage. But I just want to State one thing…love your enemies. I feel like in our society today, it’s so easy to dislike and judge another person or group of people that it has almost become instinct to do so. We judge and criticize people with different political stances, race, gender, religious beliefs, and even generations. The more we judge and put down another, the more we run away from the truth of Jesus. We are to love one another…and not just those who are like us. No, Jesus specifically speaks to that point. What credit is there in that? No, Jesus says specifically to love those different than you…even those you consider an enemy. Do you have that kind of love yet? Jesus doesn’t really give us an option here. If we are going to follow Christ…we must love as He loved.

He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of His disciples were there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch Him, because power was coming from Him and healing them all.

Looking at His disciples, He said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”

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Jesus mentions the poor and the poor in spirit. During His ministry, He took care of the physical need of people, but also the spiritual need as well. He balanced both needs. Sometimes we get hung up on one or the other. Either we focus on feeding and taking care of the physical need and leave out the spiritual, or we preach and teach to the spiritual side and forget the physical. As a follower of Christ, it is important that we see both needs of people. We care for their physical needs the best we can, but we also focus on their spiritual need of needing a Savior. Have you focused on one or the other? Maybe you haven’t focused on either. Ask God to help you see people’s needs as He does.

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also designated apostles: Simon (whom He named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

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Jesus had a decision coming…He needed to choose His apostles. Instead of just going right into it, scripture says He prayed through the night in preparation for this decision. Man, wouldn’t we avoid a lot of mistakes and heartache if we did the same? What would happen if we would take time to pray and seek God’s guidance before making a decision? Even if it doesn’t seem big to you at the time, a bad choice can have big implications. As followers of Jesus, we should be in the mindset to always take time to pray to God before we act, speak, or write.

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and His disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful for only priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

On another Sabbath He went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched Him closely to see if He would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.

Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

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Jesus claimed to be Lord of the Sabbath. I love that Jesus declares here that He is above their tradition. Yes, keeping the Sabbath was a commandment from God, but what they had turned it into was a spectacle of sorts. Jesus claims authority over their traditions and wrecks havoc on it with words. I believe during this season God has declared authority over a lot of our traditional mindsets as well. What traditions has God declared authority over in your life?

They said to Him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece of out of an old garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wine skins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wine skins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wine skins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

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New and old…old and new. Everyone likes to use this parable of Jesus when they are discussing change. What I believe is that the message will never change…the method in which we share the message will often change. What’s important is that we don’t get lost in man made traditions and opinions. What matters is that we continue to share the Gospel to everyone around us. When we get fixated on buildings, programs, and services, we limit our opportunity to share the Gospel. But when we decide the message is vital…vital enough to change the method if necessary…then we have struck gold. This is a great season to do some pruning. What needs to go? What needs to stay? What needs some change?