Tag: Luke

God of the Lowly – Luke 2:8–20

Luke 2:11 – “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

The first people to hear about the birth of Jesus were shepherds, out in the fields doing an ordinary job. They were not powerful, educated, or respected in society. The angel’s appearance would have been terrifying and completely unexpected. God chose to announce the arrival of the Savior to people who were low on the social ladder, which says something important about who this message was really for. The shepherds went anyway, despite have a lot of sheep. Whatever else was going on, they responded immediately.

It’s easy to imagine a message that would change the whole course of human history going out to kings…that is if I had designed it. Or maybe it would’ve been the top scholars. I don’t know, because I have never been a part of announcing something that big.

But the Father didn’t do it that way. No, he planned from the beginning of the universe to announce this first to people I never would’ve picked. God’s work often shows up in humble places, and that His grace is not reserved for the impressive or important. It is given freely, right where people are.

Dust of the Rabbi – Luke 5:1–11

Luke 5:10b–11 – “Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.’ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”

This passage carries more weight than it might appear at first glance. Simon and the others were fishermen, which likely meant they had not made it through the full layers of Jewish religious education. In their own words and actions, they knew they were not obvious candidates to be chosen.

Yet Jesus, a respected rabbi, calls them anyway. When Simon announces his own sinfulness, that he doesn’t measure up, Jesus does not turn away. Instead, he invites him to follow. In that culture, that invitation meant more than learning information. It meant becoming like the rabbi and doing the things the rabbi does.

That changes how I read this passage. Jesus calling Simon means Jesus saw something in him, confidence that Simon could walk with him and grow into what he was called to be. In the same way, Jesus calls us to follow him with the same kind of trust. He knows our limitations, but he also knows what he can do through us.

A right response is not to strive harder, but to stay close. To let his presence guide…to be attentive, still, and willing to move when he moves. The goal is not perfection, but proximity. To follow closely enough that I am shaped by him, learning as I go, covered in the dust of my rabbi.