Relationships need compassion…
This week’s devotions are based on the Week 9 “Explore God” – Relationships that Matter! (WATCH HERE)
Matthew 9:35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Matthew 9 is filled with Jesus’ encounters with different people. Here’s a list:
- A paralyzed man brought to him to be healed
- Matthew and his tax collector friends
- John the Baptist’s disciples
- A synagogue leader
- A bleeding woman
- Two blind men
- A mute demon-possessed man
- Religious leaders opposed to him
It’s quite the list of people misled by greed, religious teaching, or the power of demons. People with physical ailments and spiritual questions.
For Jesus it was all in a day’s work.
However, this wasn’t an isolated occurrence. Jesus went through all the towns and villages and similar people came to him. He taught them. He healed them. He proclaimed the good news of the kingdom to them.
But the crowds kept coming and his heart went out to them.
He saw people misguided with misplace trust and empty hopes and promises. He saw people stuck in the reality of their sin without forgiveness and without hope. He saw people hanging on to spiritual teach that was neither true nor comforting. His heart went out to them because he wanted these people to have a shepherd who would lead them into all truth, all comfort, and all hope. Instead of being led, people were being harassed and left spiritually helpless.
Can you see the same thing today?
Look at the headlines or listen to the news. Morals are messed up. People are living deceptions of reality. Drugs and alcohol and other addictions try to provide escapes. The religious landscape is large and confusing yet individuals are told it all leads to the same end. People are harassed by a bombardment of deceptive thoughts, superficial hope, and spiritual confusion. Do our hearts go out to them? Do we have the compassion of Jesus to help them find a shepherd to lead them, feed them, and guide them to truth.
I hope so, but have to admit I need Jesus’ forgiveness for the many times I am more ready to blow people off than to connect them to their Good Shepherd.
Jesus couldn’t get to everyone. He connected in relationship with the people he could…but then he prayed to his heavenly Father to provide more workers to bring in the harvest of people that was ready for truth, ready for hope, ready for a Good Shepherd.
Ironically, Matthew chapter 10 begins with listing the 12 disciples…they were the answer to his prayer.
So are you. So am I.
The harvest of people is around us. Pray that the Lord would use us.
Apply: Today just notice people. People driving around you, walking around you, working with you, living next to you, in class with you, etc. Pray for the Lord to use you to build a relationship with one more person to be able to point them to their Good Shepherd, Jesus.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for a heart of compassion that was willing to engage with people to bring them to know you as their Savior. AMEN.
Relationships like a religious leader matter…
This week’s devotions are based on the Week 9 “Explore God” – Relationships that Matter! (WATCH HERE)
Matthew 9:18 While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. …
23 When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, 24 he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.
This morning we continue our look at relationships Jesus affected in Matthew 9. Matthew was a tax collector…an outcast from society. A woman who touched Jesus’ garment suffered from continuous bleeding and as a result was perpetually unclean. When the woman touched Jesus he was on his way to help a synagogue leader.
Perhaps this connection may seem “normal.” Jesus was a known rabbi and it would seem natural for a synagogue leader to reach out to him…perhaps for insight into the Scripture or to be a guest speaker at the synagogue gathering. On this occasion the request was very personal. His daughter had died.
As a dad of two daughters, I can’t even begin to imagine the heartache that this man was in. I have to ask if I would have had the same confidence as this synagogue leader did to reach out and come before Jesus with the ask and confidence that if Jesus came and touched his daughter, she would live. As a pastor, one often feels like they have to be the one to encourage, comfort and be there for others when there is a time of tragedy and loss. But who is there to comfort the church leader when they experience a loss? This man has the opportunity to go to Jesus. Perhaps the relationship that needs Jesus is one who you think never does because they are always bringing Jesus to you. But to be sure, even leaders in God’s church, need God’s people to check in and see how they can be supportive and encouraging. God’s leaders need God’s people.
Jesus knew this and received the request of the synagogue leader. To be sure, many of the religious leaders of the day were more skeptical of Jesus than receptive. But this one is not. He has confidence in the healing power of Jesus. Jesus could have made a sweeping judgment on all those connected to the institution of the Jewish leadership at that time, but he doesn’t. Again he sees a soul that is hurting and a soul that is needing him. So he takes the time to step in and help.
Again a reminder in our relationships to not make sweeping judgments about a whole group of people and carry a bitterness toward all in that category. Respond to individuals. For in the group of the whole stand individuals who need Jesus.
When Jesus gets to the leader’s home, he finds the funeral mourners inside and out. He doesn’t join them, but dismisses them. They laugh when he comments the girl is sleeping. But his words were backed by his powerful hand which grabbed the hand of the girl and she sat up…alive. The impact spread throughout the region.
The Lord has not promised us the gift of physically raising people from the dead, yet the impact our witness of Jesus can have on one individual can have a ripple affect in a family or community like the raising of the synagogue’s leader’s daughter. The way you engage with one relationship with the Gospel can have widespread and generational impact beyond the immediate. Never underestimate the conversation you have, the care you show, or the time you take to build a relationship for Jesus. The blessing can be far reaching.
Apply: Don’t worry about the reaction of the crowd should you witness to Jesus and his love. The importance of a soul matters more than the reaction of a crowd!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for your love and concern for all people. Your mercy extends to all. Your power impacts lives for eternity. Your love affects the hearts of many. AMEN.
Relationships like the bleeding woman matter…
This week’s devotions are based on the Week 9 “Explore God” – Relationships that Matter! (WATCH HERE)
Matthew 9:20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.
Jesus was busy. On this particular day he was on the way to help a leader of a synagogue whose daughter had just died. As he is walking to the leader’s home, the crowd was around him and a woman touched the edge of his cloak. He didn’t just keep walking, but rather stopped and addressed the physical and spiritual need of the woman.
Not only do we see the power of God to heal, we see the power of God’s heart for the individual.
Jesus takes time for people even with he’s busy.
The only thing that stopped Jesus was a tug of his garment. In most settings, by most people, the little tug would have been ignored and life would continue…even if the person noticed the tug. Perhaps this is my projection on the situation. Little tugs are often ignored and an opportunity perhaps missed.
What are those little tugs that people send that indicate they need some attention, some help, some love…which may lead to a conversation about Jesus?
A text message?
A social media post?
An “accidental” phone call?
A “strange” comment in conversation?
The woman that encountered Jesus had trust that all she needed was a small connection to Jesus to address her bleeding.
To not miss a cue, our mindset has to be open to the interruption of others. I can get busy moving from one event to the next, one task to the next, or simply have a mindset that I don’t want to be bothered. It’s usually in the busiest times of our life that another person interrupts us with some need. Yet it may be those little tugs from people that provide great witness opportunities.
What amazes me and encourages me in Jesus’ relationships with people, is he was willing to take the time needed to address the need of a person seeking connection with him. Believers or non-believers, Jesus would take time for them.
Relationships that need Jesus are not always planned. They often come up at the most “inopportune” moments. However, our perspective of inopportune, may just be the opportunity that God is orchestrating for us to be to his witness to a soul that needs connection to Jesus.
Apply: Adjust your perspective today to notice “tugs” of people around you that might be opportunities to establish or enhance a relationship to connect them to Jesus.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for love you show to all people and the special concern and time you take to help, heal, and forgive souls. May your Spirit give me your heart! AMEN.
Relationships like Matthew matter…
This week’s devotions are based on the Week 9 “Explore God” – Relationships that Matter! (WATCH HERE)
Relationships that Matter: People like Matthew
Matthew 9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
With this brief paragraph, Matthew recounts his call to follow Jesus. He doesn’t embellish or make it about him, but rather keeps the focus on Jesus, as his whole Gospel does. But the “matter-of-fact” account of his calling to be a disciple and the following meal he hosted does not lack in the truths he wants to teach about Jesus.
Jesus was willing to get to know him and his friends.
As with Zacchaeus of yesterday, Matthew was a Roman government agent who was tasked with bringing in revenue from the citizens of Israel. He was a “necessary evil” in the land and grouped together with ones who were viewed as liars and cheaters. Perhaps like government jobs today, Matthew found a bit of security in his profession, even though he was socially outcast from his Jewish community.
We don’t know if Matthew had heard about Jesus or this was their first encounter, but one can only imagine the shock that a Jewish rabbi would call him, a tax collector, to follow him. Perhaps the only words he had heard from other rabbis and Pharisees were, “Sinner! Sinner! Cheater! Cheater!”
From Jesus he says, “Follow me.”
And Matthew does.
So impressed and struck by Jesus’ willingness to not only spend time with him, but to mentor him as a disciple, Matthew couldn’t help but introduce Jesus to the rest of his tax collector friends. There WAS someone in Israel who had a love and concern for those outside the religious elite and cultural norm. Matthew wanted them to meet Jesus.
And Jesus was willing to bring his disciples and hang out with them.
Why?
Was Jesus concerned about being “polluted” by the “uncleanness” of the meal participants? Nope.
Was Jesus concerned about his reputation with other religious leaders in the community? Nope.
Jesus was concerned about changing hearts and lives with the power of his saving love and glorious Gospel. The crowd around the table knew they were not right. The Savior around the table was there to bring forgiveness to sinners.
Hanging out with people who need Jesus is risky and can be uncomfortable. Others may question or raise objections.
However, remember the viewpoint of Jesus. He came for all people, but was more than ready to hang out with individuals that realized their righteousness was lacking and were ones that were receptive to hearing of his love and grace.
To be clear, Jesus was there for the Pharisees too. The setting caused a question from them as to why Jesus would hang out with them…Jesus used it to prick their consciences to realize that their self-righteous hearts were just as bad as the heart of a cheater. Jesus was for them if they would only realize they too were sinful in need of his forgiveness.
Every encounter is an opportunity to capture a relationship for Christ. Sometimes they are out of our comfort zone. Sometimes they are in our confronting zone. But either way, they are people that matter to Jesus…and therefore, matter to us.
Apply: What risk do you perceive hanging out with the “unrighteous”? How about the “righteous?” What common need do they both share?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for your heart of love that is for all people whether they realize it or not. Continue to form in us your heart of love for “sinners” to bring them to repentance and to enjoy a life of following you. Use us to reach souls for you. AMEN.
Do you notice people?
This week’s devotions are based on the Week 9 “Explore God” – Relationships that Matter! (WATCH HERE)
This week for our devotions, we want to learn from five encounters Jesus had with individuals during his public ministry. Each of the encounters gives us insights into the heart of Jesus and his love for people. Let us marvel at his heart. They also give us reflections to consider as we show up in this world as individuals entrusted with sharing the Gospel. Let us follow his example.
Today, Jesus interacts with Zacchaeus. Luke 19:1-10
19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ ”
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
Jesus understood his mission from his heavenly Father: Seek and save what was lost. What an amazing part of Jesus’ mission to this earth. He intentionally came to not just do all that was necessary for our eternal salvation, but he also came to bring that truth to the hearts of people. Zacchaeus was the blessed one this day.
Here’s what I learn from Zacchaeus. He was short.
Ok that’s not the point. He was looking. He was curious and wanted to see Jesus. We know by the cultural standards that Zacchaeus was an outsider. He was a wealthy, chief tax-collector. These individuals were shunned by the Jewish culture because they were representatives of Rome, the occupiers of Israel. However Zacchaeus was curious. He just wanted to see Jesus…but Jesus had different plans.
God honored Zacchaeus’ curiosity with an encounter with Jesus.
The day was life changing. Salvation came to Zacchaeus through the words and interaction with Jesus.
So what can we take away from this?
People all around us need Jesus, but some have a curiosity to meet Jesus. Not everyone in the world around us is hostile toward the Lord. Some are genuinely trying to discover who Jesus is. They may have heard something about him or have questions about him, but just are hesitant to directly engage someone to hear about him. Zacchaeus would have been content to just see Jesus. But Jesus was not content to just pass by. Jesus was looking for those that were lost and on this day he found Zacchaeus.
Who is God putting around you that his curious, has questions, or just wants to get a glimpse of Jesus? I don’t know, but when I am more aware of and embrace Jesus’ mission as my mission, they will be made evident. Jesus is THE one who came to seek and save the lost, but now we get to be his representatives in our culture, in our communities to see the Zacchaeus’ around us who are not in the tree, but in the classroom, in the breakroom, in the community group, in the places we shop and in the places we walk by. Ask God to give you the heart and eyes of Jesus to seek those that are spiritually lost to give them the message of grace and forgiveness found in Jesus.
Apply: Simply notice people around you this week…perhaps God will lead you to a Zacchaeus.
Prayer: Jesus, thank you for taking care to seek and find me and bring salvation to me. Empower and encourage me to carry the same mission! AMEN.