Meditation from Luke Chapter 7
Wondering
what ATO is???!!! It’s Attitude Towards
Others! In the 7th chapter of Luke we see the godly attitude of
people that teach us wonderful lessons to practice.
1. Humble Centurion – The attitude about his Centurion quite surprise me.
Because he ‘highly valued’ his slave
(Luke 7:2) and he considered himself
as someone who is ‘not worthy’ (7:6)!
This attitude is reflected in his actions. He sends people to Jesus to come and
heal his slave; such is the care that the Centurion gives to his servant.
Even though
he loves the Hebrews and had built a Synagogue for them and he himself is a man
of authority he does not want to use all of that to influence Jesus and to make
Him come to his place (7:4,5). He sends his friends to Jesus and says that he
is not worthy for Jesus to come to his place (7:6).
Do we value others (those who are below us or considered low according
to the society)?
2. Compassionate Jesus – Jesus goes out of the way to help the weeping widow
whose only son died. Luke 7:13 says, “When the Lord saw her, he had compassion
for her…” When He saw her condition, He had compassion. When we see people’s condition are we compassionate or indifferent?
The compassion
of Jesus made people to see God’s favour on them!
3. Pretense-less / Plain-dealing John – He has a doubt about Jesus whether He is the Messiah
or were they to expect someone else. The way he deals with his doubt is
exemplary. He doesn’t go public announcing his doubt rather sends his disciples
directly to Jesus to clarify it (Luke 7:18-20).
What a
wonderful way to deal with doubts! Most often we go around sharing our doubts
about a person, to everyone expect that person; which is not godly. Gossip is not godly! Like John we
should take the doubt directly to the person; which will avoid
misunderstandings and misinterpretations.
4. Applauding Jesus – John doubts Jesus; yet the way Jesus looks at John and
talks about him to the people is extremely amazing! Right after John’s disciples
leave, “…Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John… What then did you go
out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet…I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John…” (Luke
7:24,26,28).
He applauds
and speaks so great of the person who doubted him! How often do we react like
this about people who doubt us?
5. Accepting & Approving Jesus – To those house of the Pharisee two guests arrive, one
is Jesus who is an invited guest and the other is a woman, an uninvited guest. The
Pharisee, though does not publicly expresses his contempt for her, he thinks ill
of her in his heart (Luke 7:39). We learn through the other gospels and as well
from what the Pharisee thinks, that she must have been a prostitute. The Pharisee
saw only as a sinner, but Jesus saw in her the heart of repentance and love for
God! That’s why Jesus accepted her!
How often we
judge people for their past sins and forget to see their present repented heart
and life!
Let us
resolve to reflect Humility, Compassion & Genuineness and to show true
appreciation and acceptance to others!
