Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. Get the Bible study from our store here.Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – March 17, 2016 This involves his pattern of prayer, relating to others, establishing holy priorities, and a host of day-to-day issues that together establish what Jesus himself called the abundant life. In answer to such questions, Jim Miller draws practical lessons from Luke’s Gospel in order to help us live a life modeled after the example of Jesus Christ. But what does that love look like where we live? Where we work? With the people we do life with everyday? Jesus sums up the entire biblical message as follows: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27 NRSV). What steps could you take to create undistracted time to pray?.Can you identify issues that keep you from praying? Misplaced priorities? Social media? What distracts you?.Jesus needed time away to hear from and talk to God. Prayer expresses communication within a relationship. Jesus consciously lived in relation with the Father. For all that Jesus did to lead the way within God’s purposes, Jesus didn’t do what he did on his own. Regular, deliberate, undistracted prayer was Jesus’ customary way of going about life within God’s mission.įinally, Jesus’ prayer life tells us that Jesus was no lone ranger in life and ministry. The TNIV says, “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Both translations accurately convey Luke’s emphasis. The ESV rightly captures the sense: Jesus “would withdraw to desolate places and pray” (5:16). Jesus’ practice of prayer tells us he knew it to be true.įourth, by the construction of his Greek here, Luke tells us this was not a one-off event. Carrying out his call within the mission of God necessitated prayer. Jesus’ ministry of teaching, healing, and restoring required prayer or he would not have made the effort to pray the way he did. Prayer isn’t some decoration on top of an otherwise successful ministry. Third, Jesus’ choice to go away and pray in the midst of effective ministry indicated he knew he needed to pray. It’s as if Jesus was trending on social media, then shut off his phone. When Jesus chose to pray, he chose to pray where he could do so without interruption. The transition Luke chronicles here is one from Jesus surrounded by great crowds to Jesus surrounded by. Second, Jesus chose to pray where there would be no distractions. And such a journey may have been dangerous given the presence of thieves along roads in ancient Galilee.
Rather, he determined to go there specifically to pray. Jesus didn’t just happen to find himself in “lonely places” as if his GPS told him to take a wrong turn near Lake Gennesaret (5:1).
We learn several truths from Jesus’ practice of prayer in this passage. But Jesus chose to go where no one was watching so he could devote himself to prayer. He could continue healing and teaching, both vital to his mission. In other words, Jesus could stay among the crowds where his popularity was soaring. For that teaching contains Jesus’ instructions to us as well.Īfter reporting that Jesus had healed a man with leprosy, Luke informs us that Jesus regularly went to “lonely places” in order to pray. Even more so we will examine how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. This week we will look at Jesus’ practice of prayer. Luke devotes greater attention to Jesus’ teaching and healing, but he regularly sprinkles his narrative with comments about Jesus praying all night (6:12) or choosing to go into the wilderness to pray (5:16). Prayer formed a central activity of Jesus’ life and ministry. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. 14 And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for you cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” 15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 13 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.
#An undistracted mind full#
12 While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy.
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