Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Jan 10 2020 - Luke 5:12-28 – We have seen remarkable things today

Jesus continued to perform remarkable miracles. A man with leprosy was cleansed and the news about what Jesus was doing spread around the area. Great crowds gathered seeking to be healed. Jesus tried to get away for quiet times of prayer, but he was not left undisturbed for long.

As he was teaching one day with a crowd around him listening, some friends brought a paralysed man for healing. Crowds filled the house where Jesus was teaching and gathered tight around the door; there was no way through. The friends of the paralysed man hauled him up onto the roof and, making a hole, lowered the paralysed man to the ground at Jesus feet. Jesus healed the man and sent him on his way carrying the mat. The mat that had previously been used to carry him around was now triumphantly carried away by him.

Luke records the reaction of the crowds, both to this healing and to Jesus' demonstration that he had power to forgive sins; "Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, 'We have seen remarkable things today'" (Luke 5:26).

But the things Jesus was doing were not embraced as good news by all who gathered around him. Already the scribes and Pharisees were finding fault with Jesus. He seemed to claim to himself powers which belong to God alone and they were deeply shocked and offended by him.

Not that this stopped Jesus. The healing of the paralysed man is immediately followed in Luke by another equally remarkable miracle. The narrative continues, "After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. 'Follow me,' Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him" (5:27-28). Tax collectors were renowned for their love of money and could often make themselves relatively rich at the expense of those they fleeced. Yet, at a mere word, Levi / Matthew leaves his living to follow Jesus. Jesus' ability to transform the heart and to draw people to follow him is equally as remarkable as his ability to heal sickness. His call to Levi is quite as much a demonstration that he has the power to forgive sin and to give a new start to those who seem to be without hope – both to themselves and to others.

Jesus continues to touch and transform lives. But we can sometimes be suspicious and dismissive of the things which God is doing through the risen Saviour. The first Jewish Christians found it hard to understand that God had accepted Gentiles simply through faith in Christ; many wanted to impose Jewish customs on them before they would accept them.

I have just been reading a similar story concerning David Livingstone. It seems that, in conventional terms, he was not a very successful missionary. He had only one African convert, Sechele, the chief of the Bakwena tribe in what is now Botswana. But Livingstone soon wrote off his convert as a backslider because he would not abandon his secondary wives. Sechele pleaded with Livingstone, "Do not give me up because of this. I shall never give up Jesus. You and I will stand before him together." His pleas did not move Livingstone, but after he left, Sechele led church services for his own people. He taught them to read and the Bible became popular. Gradually the Bakwena became Christians. Sechele then travelled hundreds of miles as a missionary to other tribes and many more were drawn to Christ through his ministry.

We need eyes to see the remarkable things that God is doing in our day and to give him all the glory and the praise.

Father God, remove the misty spectacles of prejudice and party spirit from my eyes that I may see clearly what you are doing in the world and rejoice at every evidence of your grace. Lord Jesus, give me a greater measure of your Spirit and be pleased to do remarkable things in me and through me.

Jan 10 2019 - Genesis 7:11-8:5 – Water world

Today we read of the whole world destroyed but also washed clean in the waters of the great flood. Noah obeyed God and built his immense boat to house himself and the animals which God had given him to preserve. Note the fascinating words, "Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark" (Genesis 7:15). It appears to be a deliberate echo of Genesis 2:19 where God brought all the animals to Adam that he might name them.

And then there is another wonderful feature of this story. When Noah and all the animals had entered the ark we read, "Then the Lord shut him in" (7:16). It is the Lord who shuts the door of the ark; the very act by which many are brought to judgment is also the act by which Noah and all with him are kept safe. The Lord himself secures their safety.

In similar fashion we read that it was because "God remembered Noah" (Genesis 8:1) that the flood subsided and the great boat came to rest again on dry land. God has not abandoned his purpose to create a world that will reflect the glory of its creator and its Saviour.

Yesterday we saw how the world was saved through the obedience of one man and that Noah points us to the ultimate Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. This theme is picked up by the apostle Peter who writes that, "God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also – not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience towards God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand" (1 Peter 3:20-22). Peter focusses on the way in which God waited for Noah to complete his task before judgment fell and that this judgment also saved Noah and those with him. In the same way the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ witnessed the outpouring of God's judgment from heaven but has also been the means by which we have been saved – brought to share in his resurrection life. All of this is symbolised in baptism. The baptismal pool is, in picture, the great flood in which we pass through the judgment of God into a world made new.

When Jesus died upon the cross,
when he was buried in the dust,
he bore the judgment I deserved –
for me, the sinner, died the just!

When Jesus rose up from the tomb
he rose as firstborn from the dead:
he broke the powers of sin and hell
and lives for me, my risen head.

And here I also die and rise,
baptised into his holy name;
with him I'm judged, with him I die –
on me the law has no more claim.

With Christ I rise up from the grave
to live for ever with my Lord;
alive to God, with this desire,
to be obedient to his word.

Father God, we praise you for the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that through his death and resurrection he has become the Saviour of the world. And we thank you that in your mercy you have drawn us to come and trust in him. You have remembered us and we are eternally thankful. Help us to draw others to him that they also might know your salvation.

Peter Misselbrook