To what shall I compare this generation?
Healing. We all long for it. When we find ourselves or the ones we love in a broken state, healing becomes what we desire more than anything. We see this play out in the account of the Centurion’s servant, the son of the widow, and the sinful woman at the home of the Pharisee. All three of them were experiencing very different states of brokenness. All three of them received healing from Jesus.
The Centurion Luke 7:1-10
In the Centurion’s account, we see that he had so much faith in Jesus’s ability to heal his servant he actually sends a message to Jesus while He is on the way to his house. The message goes something like this…
Lord, really, don’t trouble yourself to come all the way out here to heal my servant, I know you can just say the word and heal him from right where you are.
The Centurion knew what Jesus was capable of. He had faith in his ability and it says Jesus MARVELED at him (Luke 7:9). I want to marvel Jesus with my faith, don’t you? The really comforting thing about this story for me is that Jesus was on his way to heal the servant (Luke 7:6) BEFORE he knew of the Centurion’s faith.
He is willing to heal even if our faith isn’t there but when we show him our faith he MARVELS at us.
The Son of the Widow Luke 7:11-17
In the second account of Jesus’s healing in Luke 7 we see a heartbroken widow who is walking with the crowd that is carrying her dead son out of the city gate. He sees her deep sorrow and he had compassion for her. Then something truly miraculous happens. Jesus raises the man up from the dead! Can you imagine? This mother didn’t even know Jesus was coming he just showed up and healed her son.
He is willing to heal even when we aren’t asking for it and even when we don’t expect him to.
The sinful woman Luke 7:36-50
I love this story. Jesus visits the home of a Pharisee and a “woman of the city” comes to see him and proceeds to literally wash his feet with her tears. Tears I imagine are from shame and pain of the life she was living. It doesn’t say if she says anything to Jesus with her voice during this account but she speaks volumes with her actions as she anoints him with very costly ointment and kisses his feet. He says she showed more love with her actions than the Pharisee did who invited him to his house (Luke 7:44-46) He then says to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:48) and “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:50)
He is willing to heal even when we don’t deserve it if we choose to love Him.
In just one chapter of Luke, we have all these beautiful and miraculous accounts of Jesus’s compassion and love for his children yet still others reject Him even after experiencing his power. This rejection causes Jesus to say, “ To what shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,
“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.” (Luke7:31-34)
When they saw John the Baptist they didn’t believe him because he didn’t drink wine or eat bread. When they saw Jesus they didn’t believe him because did drink wine and eat bread. They were impossible to please.
I leave you with this.
Is your faith one to be marveled at?
Have you seen God move even when you didn’t ask him to?
Have you been forgiven even when you didn’t deserve it?
How have you responded to those miraculous things?
To what shall our generation be compared to?
Grace & Peace
Desiree
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Desiree Rowe
Wife and Mother of two
Follower of Christ
Chicken Farmer
Reading and studying Gods word helps me anchor my soul in truth. When the world feels shaky I find hope and peace in the steady ness of the one who never wavers.
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