Year 4, Day 216: Luke 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Invitation

• Invitation: God is always inviting us into relationship with Him. He desires that we know Him and that we know His desire for us.

Luke 7 is a great chapter.  There are four incredible stories involving the compassion of Jesus, which you can read more about by following the link above to the theological commentary.  In this chapter we see the compassion of Jesus heal the servant of a Gentile.  We hear about Jesus raising a young dead man – probably a Jew – to life.  We hear Jesus speak words of compassion into the life of John the Baptizer as he despairs in prison.  We hear Jesus speak compassion into the life of the woman who comes before her and bears her soul in a humble act of service for Jesus.

Where does this compassion lead?  In every case, the compassion is intended to lead into invitation.  Jesus wants the centurion – who had funded the local synagogue – to come into a deeper relationship with God.  Clearly there was some relationship; Jesus wants to invite him to go deeper.  Jesus wants the woman to know the depth of God’s love for her and her dead son.  Jesus wants John the Baptizer to be invited to see the bigger picture of what God is up to in his life – even though John is in prison and going to die.  Jesus wants this woman who comes before Him to know that she is welcome in the kingdom regardless of what she has done.

Compassion is often about invitation to bring us into greater relationship with the Father.  The Father truly loves us.  His compassion is simply a natural display of His greater love and His call.

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