Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Year 4, Day 217: Luke 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here 


Discipleship Focus: Kingdom

  • Kingdom: We live in God’s creation, but it is fallen.  We do not yet live in the fullness of God’s Kingdom.  But we do know that the Kingdom of God is drawing near.  We do get to see glimpses of the kingdom each and every time that God works in us and through us as He tries to demonstrate Himself to the world.

With a chapter like Luke 8, there are so many ways to go.  In this chapter we have parables, healing stories, and general story telling.  As I was pondering the scope of all of these stories the thought struck me that each of these stories are tied together by the underlying theme of God’s Kingdom coming.

Think about it for a second.  What does God’s Kingdom look like?  God’s Kingdom looks like His disciples and the women following Jesus around and serving His ministry.  God’s Kingdom looks like a community that bases its existence not on genealogy but on unity in the work of the Father.

The Kingdom of God also looks like a demoniac who finds himself cleansed of the legion, sitting at the feet of Jesus, absorbing everything Jesus can teach him, and preparing himself to go and give his testimony to the people around him.  The Kingdom of God looks like an unknown woman who finds herself cured of a twelve-year illness just because she drew close enough to Jesus to touch Him.  The Kingdom of God looks like a synagogue leader’s daughter raised to new life as she crosses the threshold from childhood to adulthood.  The Kingdom of God looks like Jesus pulling His inner core of disciples into a private moment of discipleship within the synagogue leader’s house.

The Kingdom also looks like Jesus teaching us to let our light shine for all the world to see.  The Kingdom of God looks like Jesus reminding us to allow space for God’s Word to grow and not be choked out by the concerns of the world and the shallowness of our own life.

This is what the kingdom of God looks like!  This is what happens when Jesus comes into our life.  People’s lives are changed through word and action.  That’s the kingdom.


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