"And the crowds were looking for (Jesus); and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, 'I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also...'"
(Luke 4:42-43)
Jesus, off by himself, is "found out" by the crowds (who had been searching for him). Luke tells us that they "wanted to prevent him from leaving them." Wow. Sure they were glad he was with them, for he'd been preaching, healing & "casting out demons". They were being blessed, indeed. But to try and PREVENT Jesus from leaving THEM? Wow.
But we're not too different today, are we? We like to be "blessed," and want to keep that blessing coming. We feel God's presence and power every so often and want to remain in that experience. We even feel a bit "territorial" when it comes to the work of God - great when it happens to us, not so sure when others (other churches, denominations, faith communities, etc.) experience it.
But Jesus is not a commodity to be controlled. Instead of preventing him from leaving (as if!), they could have asked to be able to follow him wherever he was going. It comes down to our agenda vs. God's plans. We have such limited sight! Jesus knows there's a big world out there with a lot of hurting people who need to experience the power of the Kingdom of God. If we kept Jesus to ourselves (our own personal "fountain of life"), we'd be missing the whole reason why He came!
PRAYER: Expand my vision of Your ministry, Lord. Don't let me ever prevent You from doing what You need to be doing in this world... Go where You need to go... Be who You need to be. I'd be honored, though, if You'd let me come along, as You desire. AMEN.
No comments:
Post a Comment