Stage 1: Getting To Know Jesus Stage 1: Getting To Know Jesus Stage 1: Getting To Know Jesus

People want attention. Even if they don’t act like it, most people do. Even INTROVERTS. They want their name in the big lights or medium lights if introverted. They need the LIKEs, the comments. A lot of people want to be INFLUENCERS. Both TikTok and Instagram Reels have over a billion user accounts apiece. Yes, that says billion. They suggest that users post between one and four videos daily to be influencers. That is a lot of content!! On top of all that, we have Facebook Reels and YouTube shorts. People want to feel like they have VALUE, and we are obsessed with it.

You want to feel like you are worth something, RIGHT? Of Course you do; we all do. 

On a brisk evening, Jesus attended one of the most awkward dinner parties recorded in Luke 14. Jesus went to eat in the house of a well-known religious leader in the village. A man with edema- a painful, unattractive, sometimes dangerous condition in which parts of the body would fill with fluid. In short, He was really bloated. 

At that time and place, people who were sick were considered UNCLEAN and could not be out in the village with everyone else. They could not be around religious leaders, especially a rabbi (religious teacher), which Jesus was. 

The party was on a Saturday Evening, the Sabbath. A day of complete rest in the Jewish culture, absolutely no work could be done. In that society, even medical treatment was not offered on the Sabbath unless someone’s life was in jeopardy. Jesus could have pretended not to notice the man when this sick man entered the room. This would have been an acceptable thing to do because this guy should not have been there in the first place. This man was to be ignored and/or thrown out of the room. But Jesus didn’t care about societal standards. He called everyone’s attention to the man.

3 And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. Luke 14:3-4

Jesus just went against culture. He asked a simple question, and they could not answer. Did Jesus break the law? No. Did Jesus break tradition? Did he go against Culture? Did he offend the crowd of religious leaders? Yes, he did! Why would Jesus do that? It is simple, really: he loved that hurting man, and he was worth Jesus breaking the tradition to help him. The religious leaders cared more about tradition and culture than the person.

It is also worth noting that Jesus loved the religious leaders as well.  He was trying to break down their walls of prejudice.

In this society, the sick man was shunned, but to Jesus, this man had value; this man was worth everything to Jesus. Just like you. It doesn’t matter what color skin you have, nationality, gender, financial status, or whatever else you identify with; Jesus came to this earth and died on the cross so that you can have a relationship with him. 

Scripture References: Luke 14:1-14