NOTE – My apologies for no articles or podcasts the past couple weeks. We are selling our home and are moving, so life has been extra crazy!
Luke 5:17 – On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.
The power of the Lord was with him to heal. This struck me differently today. God’s power was with Jesus to heal. But read that verse again – Who is there? Before Luke makes this statement about Jesus and his power to heal, he points out that Jewish leaders had come from every village in Galilee and Judea. They also had come from Jerusalem. This is highly significant considering the context of this section.
Luke in this section of text highlights Jesus’ ability to forgive sins, and demonstrates the true purpose of Jesus’ coming. Jesus had not come to end all human suffering, he came to forgive sins and heal people’s souls.
Luke 5:30-32 – And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
But that also applied to the Jewish leadership. God wanted to “heal” the hypocrites, the lovers of money, the control freaks, the religious elitists. Jesus wasn’t just there to condemn these men, he wanted them to be forgiven, too!
There are two quick applications we must make here today as leaders:
- In order to be an effective leader of God’s people, I need to be healed by Jesus, too. May Jesus heal us of our self-righteousness, our elitism, our desire for control, or anything else that stands in the way of godly shepherding.
- We must remember that Jesus wanted to the very end for these men to repent, show humility and come to the cross for forgiveness. We must want that too, even when those around us are behaving just like these leaders did.