St. Luke's Blogs

Between college semesters, I recall having jobs that I really disliked!  I hated what I was doing so much and counted the days until I’d be free to go back to school.  My parents considered this a great tactic to get my siblings and me to finish college, and it worked!  My brothers worked in hay fields or plowed, and they’d come home in the evenings covered with dirt.  My sister and I worked at a factory, which required us to arise early each morning!  We were all thrilled to go back to college, and I’m sure our parents were glad to see us go, too!

You may have a job, marriage, or other life situation that makes life difficult.  Perhaps you are simply existing and counting down the days until something will change!  Surely the Israelites must have felt that way when they were enslaved in Egypt.  Exodus 1:14 recounts, “They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.”

“One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.” – Luke 5:17-19

I must admit this has always been one of my favorite passages of scripture. In one brief story, Luke offers the church a beautiful visual of the love we are called to have for our neighbors. The story begins with Jesus teaching the experts and ends with everyone bewildered by what they have witnessed.

It is not Jesus’ teaching that necessarily amazes all who have gathered in this house. It is the love of God and the love of neighbors that bring about the amazing events of this day…

Then God spoke all these words, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it. “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.”

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend on all the law and the prophets.” –Matthew 22:36-40

Life is full of unexplained events. We see things happen around us and our only reaction is to shake our heads in wonder and amazement. Many of the events that take place around us fill our lives with joy and excitement whiles others are shockingly sad and disrupt life. When these events happen, good and bad, we often reason that they are, “The will of God.”

There is no doubt that God is at work in our world…

Freedom. The definition I found of ‘freedom’ is as follows: “…the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.”

When I consider how my faith and relationship with God the Almighty has brought me freedom, I think this definition doesn’t truly make sense. At least, not in the sense of what my faith has gifted me in my life. The freedom that has come through my faith in Jesus has gifted me the power and right to act, speak, and think as God calls me to, not as my human flesh would want. God does this gently, but with the Holy Spirit intact…

I’ll never know the exact moment I injured my back, but the fallout of whatever errant twist or turn left me in excruciating pain. It is hard to be happy and free when our bodies are in agony. During times of crisis, feeling frustrated and angry can become our new normal if we don’t stay connected to God and His unfailing love.

I wonder about Moses. He was not a young man when God came calling for him to lead the Israelites through the desert. Likely, he was around 40 years old at the beginning of that trek. Many researchers say 30 is the physical peak for human bodies. After that our bodies begin a slow decline – yikes! 

I don’t know for a fact but I’m fairly confident Moses had pain, physical and spiritual, as they walked the desert for those 40 years…

“For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

I can think of few images of grace as powerful as Jesus standing at the opening to the tomb that held Lazarus. The days leading up to Jesus’ arrival at the opening of this grave were filled with sickness, death, mourning, and a deep questioning about where Jesus was and just what he was planning on doing.  The family of Lazarus and the disciples were all concerned, and they were looking to Jesus for help.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus arrives at the home of Lazarus, only to find the family mourning the loss of their brother.  Jesus leads the family and the crowd to where they had laid Lazarus to rest. It was a dark cave with a stone covering the entry. The imagery in the story is clear.  There is no life to be found on the other side of the stone that covers Lazarus’ grave.

Jesus has the crowd remove the stone and he speaks into the dark, lifeless tomb, “Lazarus, come out!”

And the whole congregation of the people of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”