beyond the miracle

Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. (Luke 7:11-17, ESV) 

Unlike the centurion, these people weren't looking for Jesus to help them. Jesus just did it out of compassion!

The response to the miracle is fear and glorifying God. In a similar, but perhaps more extreme, way to the fish miracle a couple of chapters ago, the people are not obsessed with the miracle but are suddenly awestruck and obsessed with the God who has done the miracle. If we don't look beyond the miracle to the one behind it, we've missed the point - the man will die again later with just a few more years on the clock. But if we look to the one who performed this miracle out of his great love for us - then that changes everything.

outstanding faith

After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well. (Luke 7:1-10, ESV)

As Jesus commends this man's faith, when he's usually pointing out a lack of it, we should pay close attention to what this man's faith is like.
Firstly, his faith comes from a place of humility. Although, the Jews describe him as someone who is worthy to have Jesus help him, the first thing out of his mouth (via his messengers) is "I am not worthy to have you come under my roof". He does not think Jesus owes him anything and recognises his humble position before Jesus, despite being a powerful man in the world's eyes. 
Secondly he believes Jesus has absolute authority. His faith consists of not a hyped up confidence that Jesus will do it, but a confidence that Jesus can do anything and a humble request. 
Do we want our faith to grow? Consider Jesus - your confidence in him will automatically grow. 

Abraham and infertility part 2

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”  And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”  He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
 (Genesis 15:1-6, NIV)

God appears to Abraham in a vision with two great promises - that He is Abraham's shield and his very great reward. What better protection can you have than the creator of the universe, and what greater reward than God himself?

But everything is tied up in infertility for Abraham. How can there be talk of a “very great reward” when he has got no one to carry on the family line?

God is gracious. He doesn’t rebuke Abraham for letting infertility dominate his vision. He restates his promise that Abraham will have a son and Abraham believes him. Which is faith. Abraham takes God at his word and God counts it as righteousness. His behaviour has not changed here, Abraham will try to take matters into his own hands later. He has simply received the promise of God and believed. 

The promise that we needed to hear from God in this passage is not that we would have children, it is that we are given THE child, Abraham's offspring, Jesus. Jesus is our very great reward. The good news is not that we get something from God but that we get God! In Jesus' life, death and resurrection, in the forgiveness and acceptance and transformation that He brings, God has given us the best possible gift. There is nothing better he can give. There’s nothing better that he’s withholding. 

In the midst of infertility it often felt like he was withholding something better, but God slowly and graciously began to show us that He is our very great reward.

what fish?

And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:11, ESV)

The disciples had just had the catch of their life and they left it to follow Jesus. They had just filled their boats with so many fish that they were sinking, they had never seen anything like it before during a lifetime of fishing, but all of a sudden fish didn't seem as important anymore. When confronted by Jesus' miracle, their thoughts do not turn to what they have gained, or what they could gain in the future. They are not overcome with excitement about the miracle, they are overwhelmed with their own sin and a desire to follow Jesus. Fish? What fish? We need to follow this man.

how to lose friends quickly

Luke 4:22a

And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth.

v28-29

When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.

A dramatic change in public opinion during 6 verses. So what were "these things" that the people had heard to fill them with wrath?

v22b-27

And they said, “Is not this Joseph's son?” And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.” And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

The suggestion that they could be overlooked and God could bless someone else left them fuming. The idea that God would be interested in the Gentiles had them wanting to kill Jesus.

This seems very primitive to us, we are disgusted by their racist attitude. But are there any people we think it would be outrageous for God to bless? Would the suggestion that God acts irrespective of our categories of good (us) and bad (them) fill us with rage? The idea that a blatent sinner could receive God's mercy but an apparently good person (relying on their goodness) wouldn't, is just as offensive in our culture as the Jews/Gentiles issue was then.