In Luke 7:1-10 a centurion sends the Jewish elders to Jesus to request for Jesus to come and heal his valued servant. He does this because he feels that he is not worthy of coming to Jesus himself (vs.7) and yet, Jesus states that it is his faith that is greater than any that he had even found in all of Israel (vs.9). It made me think... we're never worthy to come to Jesus, our sin has messed that up, and yet He comes to us. People (like the elders in this story) come to Jesus on our behalf by praying and interceding for us, but its Jesus who himself decides to come and act and our faith impacts that.
At the same time though I think that our circumstance is a big part of things. Continuing on in Luke 7:11-17, Jesus raises the son of a widow from the dead. In vs.13 it says that, "when the Lord saw her (the widow) his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry."" He raises the young man from the dead and "Jesus gave him back to his mother." (vs.15). Time and time again when Jesus heals throughout the New Testament it says that he does this in response to faith (Luke 8:48 for example), whether spoken or simply in the eyes and the actions of the people desiring and more than that believing to be healed. Here there's no talk of the widow's faith, simply that the Lord's heart went out to her and he acts on that.... I think it's absolutely beautiful. How many times do I let my heart be broken and act based on circumstance? Not enough.
This morning I read the story in Luke 8:26-39 when Jesus healed a demon possessed man and again the idea of circumstance came up. In vs. 27 it says "for a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs." This in itself is a physical manifestation of our spiritual brokeness without Christ. In Rev 3:17 it talks about this condition and how, "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked." This man was naked, homeless and living among the dead, and in a tortured state, he knew his condition and the demons themselves were scared when Jesus came to cast them out (vs.28-29). The sin in our lives is shameful in light of the glory of Christ, but yet there was healing for this man (vs.35) and there is healing for us.
Jesus said in Isaiah 61:1-3 "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeanace of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty in instead of ashes, the oil of gladness, instead of mourning, and a garment of praise,instead of a spirit of despair."
The joy of my life is that I don't have to live in my broken state of sin. Jesus came to take us out of our condition and he counsels us to come to him and "to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see." (Rev 3:18). Jesus acts in response to our faith, he acts in response to our circumstance and he acts in response to our brokenness but we still need to come to him and let ourselves be healed.
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