That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the
sea. And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and
the whole crowd was standing on the beach.
Insights: The day in which Jesus left the house and
went down to the sea was the same day in which He had healed some people,
specifically a demon possessed man, and was charged by the religious leaders as
having come from Satan. It had already
been an eventful day for Jesus and now it was going to be even fuller when He
delivered those kingdom parables. Now I
know verses one and two are here as a geographical footnote. These verses do not contain any spiritual
truth, per se. If, however, we do a
little sanctified imagining we can see some reasons for these verses being
present. I think these two verses are
here in a parable sense themselves.
Tomorrow we will define what a parable means and is, but for today I
think verse one and two stand as a geographical parable for Jesus. Remember, earlier that day the Jewish people
reached the climax of their rejection when they said Jesus was from Satan’s
kingdom. Jesus then judged them in that twelfth
chapter and now He transitions from the Jewish people to the Gentile
people. The house was often associated
with Israel in the Old Testament and the sea was often associated with the
Gentiles in the Old Testament. In the
previous chapters Jesus spent a lot of time in homes and the synagogues. After this chapter we find Jesus spending
less and less time in people’s homes and the synagogues and more and more time
in the open areas amidst creation. I
believe these two verses are present to be a lynch pen for us to hold this
distinct change in direction for Jesus.
He still had eternity set in His heart and He had not been thwarted, but
now there was a distinct expansion of His message to incorporate even the
Gentile pagans of the world. Beloved,
there are times in our lives we need to step back and evaluate the direction we
are heading. We need to determine if our
present course is effective for God and His kingdom. If for some reason there needs to be a course
change, then we must willingly follow Jesus’ example and turn toward the
Father.
Questions:
- Has there ever been a specific moment in your life in which
you knew the direction for the rest of your life was going to be
different?
- Are you in need of making an intentional shift in the direction your life is heading?
Prayer: Father, I make
plans, but in the end my plans need to be subject to You and Your ways. If there is a directional shift I am in need
of making, please stir my heart and guide me down the paths of righteousness. Amen.
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