Responding to Hope and Healing
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Good morning!
Today, we are going to begin chapter 8 of Luke.
Last week, we covered a lot of ground, but today, we will slow our pace a bit.
One of the benefits of working through a text like this is that you can’t skip over difficult passages.
In the climate of the church today, there is a lot of conversation about the role of women in the church.
In the first three verses of chapter eight, Luke makes a point to mention that women are with and supporting Jesus.
Our goal today is simply to understand Luke’s intention.
He intentionally mentions them, and today, we will try and figure out why and what that means for each of us.
As we begin, let me say that it is not my intention to try and define or redefine anything regarding women’s ministry in the church.
I want us to look at the text and understand Luke’s intention.
I will read and refer to many different commentators whose writings span about 500 years.
In addition, we will read lots of scripture.
We will do that to get as well-rounded a view of this passage as possible.
Before we read those verses, let’s jump back to Luke 4 and reread what Jesus said he came to do because it gives us the context for Luke 8:1-3.
Look at this with me in Luke 4:17-19.
17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written:
18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
If you remember, this was when Jesus read in the synagogue right after his desert temptation.
Jesus made it clear from the beginning of his ministry that he came to minister to those that society had overlooked.
We see that all through his ministry, and we see it in a very specific way in Luke 8:1-3.
In a male-dominated world, women were rarely the focus of those teaching.
We will see today and in many other places in all four gospels that women were no less important to Jesus.
Look at Luke 8:1-3 with me.
1 Afterward he was traveling from one town and village to another, preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him,
2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary, called Magdalene (seven demons had come out of her);
3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others who were supporting them from their possessions.
The first thing I want to point out is what Luke says is happening in verse one.
Jesus is traveling, preaching, and telling the good news of the Kingdom of God.
1. Jesus’ mission was to reveal the Kingdom of God.
1. Jesus’ mission was to reveal the Kingdom of God.
This is always the priority.
Life Group Question: How can we ensure that this remains our priority?
Jesus didn’t come to challenge social issues.
Jesus came to proclaim the goodness of God, and in doing so, people’s hearts were changed.
The changing of hearts is what inspires and empowers cultural change.
Life Group Question: How have you experienced cultural change that was the direct result of a heart change?
Too often, the church has gotten this backward.
If our goal is culture change and not preaching the gospel, we are not following Jesus’ lead.
The heart has to change before behavior will be different.
12 Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a saltwater spring yield fresh water.
James is pointing out that we cannot be something we are not.
We are what we are.
But Jesus can change what we are.
If we try to change socital norms or culture in our own power or knowledge we are a fig tree trying to produce olives.
Luke is making a statement about the ministry of Jesus regarding his inclusion of women but makes a point to say that their inclusion resulted from their experiences with Jesus.
2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary, called Magdalene (seven demons had come out of her);
2. Jesus’ ministry brings hope and healing.
2. Jesus’ ministry brings hope and healing.
I’m reading a book called Crucial Conversations, and in the first chapter, the authors discuss how “crucial conversations” differ from something that is simply frustrating or difficult.
A Crucial Conversation, if not handled correctly, can damage relationships or projects.
There will be times when we must have crucial conversations to preserve and protect our relationships.
In the context of our subject matter today, we must consider how our attitudes and responses affect others.
In anything we do, our overarching message should always bring hope and healing.
Life Group Question: What happens when our message doesn’t communicate hope and healing?
This is what differentiates a ministry from a social program.
If our focus isn’t always the gospel, we will transfrom our church into a social club that has an identity crisis.
We want to be here and neither will anyone else.
Infact, I believe this has been at the root of church decline today.
The men and women that Luke says are following, participating, and supporting his ministry are responding to the hope and healing they have received.
Life Group Question: How is the church different when our motivation is in response to our experience of hope, healing, and grace?
As followers of Jesus, this should be the mark of our ministry as well.
If this isn’t the mark of our ministry, we need to have a “crucial conversation” with one another and with Jesus.
One of our six distinctive talks about our MOTIVATION.
Our motivation for doing anything will always be grace.
Jesus reveals the Kingdom of God everywhere He goes to teach and preach.
In response to this revelation, men and women alike are experiencing hope and healing.
Their experiences are their motivation to follow and support Jesus.
Luke: An Introduction and Commentary Luke 8:1–3
Here we learn that these women responded in love and gratitude for what Jesus had done for them (cf. Mark 15:40f.). It seems to have been not uncommon for godly women to help religious teachers, and Jesus speaks of some Pharisees who were evidently quite rapacious (20:47).
In every interaction that Jesus has, he challenges and changes people’s understanding of God.
The value of women and God’s heart for them was no different.
Where they were often sidelined, Jesus heals, teaches, and includes them in His ministry.
We can glimpse this attitude of overlooking women when Jesus interacts with the woman at the well.
This story is found in John chapter four.
27 Just then his disciples arrived, and they were amazed that he was talking with a woman. Yet no one said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
In this story, we see that Jesus does what is unexpected and culturally strange.
We know that because of the disciple's reaction to seeing Jesus with her.
Even though it was a cultural faux pas, His message brings hope to this woman.
Look at her response to Jesus' message of grace, hope, and salvation.
28 Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the people,
29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
30 They left the town and made their way to him.
Her natural response to Jesus was to go and tell everyone what she had just experienced.
This was such an incredible experience for her that she left her water.
Have you ever walked into a room, been distracted, and forgot why you went in there?
This interaction with Jesus and revelation of the Kingdom has completely distracted her from what she was doing.
What she was experiencing was more important than what she had been doing, and she was motivated to go and tell others.
The result of her testimony was a crowd of people following her back out to the well to meet Jesus.
Now, track with me here.
We have two scenes happening here.
In the first scene, the woman is changed and goes to share the hope and healing she experienced.
In the second scene, the disciples are blind to what is happening and are focused on filling their bellies.
In this second scene, we have a squabble between the disciples about whether Jesus had eaten.
How ironic it is that something amazing is happening in town, and Jesus’ disciples are over here arguing about why Jesus isn’t eating?
Jesus uses this as a teachable moment to show them they are missing what He is doing.
34 “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work,” Jesus told them.
35 “Don’t you say, ‘There are still four more months, and then comes the harvest’? Listen to what I’m telling you: Open your eyes and look at the fields, because they are ready for harvest.
36 The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
37 For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’
38 I sent you to reap what you didn’t labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from their labor.”
Jesus wants them to see that something that they have never experienced is happening.
The seed is being sowed and harvested at the same time!
Jesus is their sowing the Kingdom Seeds, and they are ready to harvest!
While they are getting reprimanded by Jesus about what is important and what their purpose for being there is, something amazing is happening in town.
This is how we miss it.
So often, God is trying to do something incredible, and the church misses it because we are fighting over something that doesn’t matter!
We are focused on whether Jesus has eaten or not when this whole town is about to accept the gospel!
This woman has just run into town to proclaim to everyone the hope and healing that she has just experienced and then invites them to come see for themselves.
Meanwhile, “Eat something, Jesus...”
They were missing it!
Consider, for a moment, how unlikely it was for this particular woman to come and testify to the whole town about the Messiah.
Of all people for this to come through, Jesus chose her.
A woman...
A sinner...
An outcast...
Look at the town’s response to this woman's unlikely testimony.
39 Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me everything I ever did.”
40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.
41 Many more believed because of what he said.
42 And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, since we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.”
Testimony from arguably the most culturally and socially unlikely person brought a whole town to faith in Jesus.
This brings us to the final point for today.
3. Jesus’ ministry is supported by the unlikely among us.
3. Jesus’ ministry is supported by the unlikely among us.
Life Group Question: Have you ever felt like the overlooked or outcast, and if so, how does this passage challenge you to see yourself?
I want to qualify the word “supported” before going further.
This is the word used in verse three.
Some translations use “supported” and others “provided for.”
διακονέω diakoneō - serve; minister to
De-uh-co-now
διακονέω (diakoneō): vb.; ≡ Str 1247; TDNT 2.81—1. LN 35.19 serve, render assistance (Mt 20:28); 2. LN 35.37 take care of, by rendering humble service to (Mt 25:44); 3. LN 46.13 wait upon, serve food and drink (Mt 4:11; Mk 1:13); 4. LN 53.66 be a deacon, minister unto (1Ti 3:10); 5. LN 57.230 διακονέω τραπέζαις (diakoneō trapezais), handle finances, formally, handle finances (Ac 6:2+), for another interp, see “wait upon”; note: there may be overlap in the verse and entries
It seems quite evident that διακονέω involved a number of different functions as persons served others, especially in connection with relief to the poor. In some instances it may be best to translate διακονέω as ‘to have responsibility to help others’ or ‘to be responsible to take care of the needs of believers.’
Undoubtedly, you are seeing the connection to another word we have spent some time learning about.
1356 διάκονος (diakonos), ου (ou), ὁ (ho) and ἡ (hē): n.masc. and fem.; ≡ Str 1249; TDNT 2.88—1. LN 35.20 servant, one who serves, without necessarily having the office of deacon (Mt 20:26; Ro 16:1; Eph 6:21; 1Th 3:2 v.r.), for another interp of Ro and Eph, see next; 2. LN 53.67 deacon, one entrusted to serve the needs of believers (Php 1:1; Ro 16:1; Eph 6:21; 1Ti 3:8, 12), for another interp of the Roman’s & Ephesian’s passage, see prior
It is very important, any time we interpret scripture, that we don’t try to make it say something it doesn’t say or hide what it is saying.
Luke is clear in his use of language.
They were providing financial support and were following Jesus with the disciples and learning from Him.
In this passage, Luke uses this word to specify the ways that these women were supporting Jesus.
But this also does not diminish Luke’s point that Jesus chose to allow their support!
These three verses are especially interesting. We said earlier that Luke’s Gospel is, among other things, the Gospel of women. Here he tells us that Jesus and His disciples were largely supported by women. Certainly this was not because they needed to be. You remember, God provided the Israelites with manna for forty years in the wilderness. Jesus might have chosen to do miracles and turn stones into bread. But unconditional love also knows how to receive. During His three years of ministry, our Lord received the generosity of those women who had been healed, liberated, and forgiven.
Life Group Question: Why does Jesus want to use broken and unlikely people instead of doing it Himself?
I included this quote because I love that he points out that Jesus didn’t need anyone to meet his needs.
Jesus could care for himself, but he chose to have people partner with him in ministry by allowing them to support him.
He is role-modeling something we don’t do well, accepting help from others.
I have shared with you guys before that this is a particularly difficult one for me.
What God has revealed to me over and over again is that it is pride in my life.
Another example that comes to mind is that of the Apostle John, who encouraged the church to support people who are spreading the gospel.
5 Dear friend, you are acting faithfully in whatever you do for the brothers and sisters, especially when they are strangers.
6 They have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God,
7 since they set out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from pagans.
8 Therefore, we ought to support such people so that we can be coworkers with the truth.
Every believer has the opportunity to both give and receive this kind of support.
Life Group Question: How do we see and support the “unlikely” ministry that God wants to do in our communities?
Whether we are supporting for a time or the ones in need of support because of what God has us doing, we are to be ready.
Again, this is the result of the heart change that accompanies a growing relationship with Jesus.
Luke tells us in verse three who they are supporting.
3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others who were supporting them from their possessions.
Note that it says they were supporting “them.”
They supported the twelve apostles in addition to Jesus.
I think it is pretty common for people to think about their own ability to support someone and to assume that they are not able to.
We don’t know a lot about these women, but evidently, this kind of support was uncommon.
Joanna was someone of means because her husband worked for Herod, but we don’t know much else about Susanna or Mary.
We need to remember that our obedience isn’t determined by our means.
We have learned by experience that when God has a need, he provides what is needed through the least expected.
This story is no different, confirming that God uses the unexpected and overlooked.
Luke Luke 8:1–3
When this discussion of women is set next to that of the sinful woman in 7:36–50, it is clear that Jesus’ ministry spanned social backgrounds as well as moral backgrounds. It is striking that here the women’s response took the concrete form of support. Just as in the Old Testament the whole nation was to support the priests, so these women, as beneficiaries of God’s grace, gave to support Jesus’ ministry. Receiving should lead to giving.
In our study of this book, we have seen Jesus pouring into the overlooked in their society.
Today, we have seen the overlooked pouring into Jesus and the twelve disciples.
As we consider how we are going to apply today’s passage and this book as a whole to our lives, we need to allow Jesus to reorient our minds to see as he does.
Sometimes, we overlook the person or people God has placed in our lives to support the ministry.
At other times, we will be the ones that are overlooked.
All of us are stuck in a paradigm of thinking we know who God can and cannot use.
As we have seen repeatedly, those paradigms don’t exist in the Kingdom of God.
Just like Jesus did, we must allow God to reveal those paradigms and let him guide us as he leads us to work outside them.
God can and will use whoever he wants to fulfill his mission of redeeming the world.
Jesus came to reveal the Kingdom of God, and in doing so, he brought hope and healing.
Those who experienced it responded with support, and they grew closer to God.
In case you missed it, this is abiding.
Whether you feel qualified or not, Jesus wants you to reveal the Kingdom to you and through you as you abide in Him.
We all need to ask God to remove the paradigms in our lives so that we can see his work and join him in it.
God wants to reveal the Kingdom through you.
Don’t limit your experiences by following cultural norms.
Listen more to Jesus than you do to society.
God can and will use anyone he wants.
Let’s pray.
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