He Knows

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

HE KNOWS

Luke 6:6-11

6 On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. 7 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. 8 But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Get up and stand in front of everyone." So he got up and stood there. 9 Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?"  10 He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was completely restored. 11 But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

NIV

First, it is interesting that as Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath, the Pharisees, and teachers of the law, were watching to see if he would heal someone on the Sabbath. They knew Jesus had the power to heal people, which of course, they did not. Why were they so intent on finding a reason to accuse Jesus? Was it jealous on the part of the teachers of the law, that Jesus was teaching instead of them? There was great tension between them and Jesus, but Jesus had no tension with them, it was all them, hatred, and jealousy, that drove them to not only accuse but to find a way to do something that would hurt Jesus, and destroy his authority among the people. But Jesus knew their thoughts. Once again, we see the Godhead in Jesus, because although he was in human form, Jesus was God, and had and has the ability to know the thoughts of man. This brings us to wonder about whether God is always aware of our thoughts all the time, or it is just when we come to him in our time of conversation with him, which is usually called our time of prayer, or when we pray for something. When Jesus knew what they were thinking it was because of their time of encountering each other, just as it is when we and God encounter each other when we pray. Although, God is so powerful, so always present, always knowing, always everywhere, that we would have to think He is always aware of each and every one of us, who we are, and how we think. He knows when we fail him, but He also is always extending His grace to us because we believe, we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. It does not appear that Jesus extended grace to the Pharisees and teachers of the law who were opposed to him, and wanted to find a way to accuse him of wrongdoing against the law. There too, is another lesson for us. It is not right for us, as believers, who have been commanded to love each other as Christ has  loved us, to look to find is another believer is guilty of an offense, even of one against us. We wonder, if when we think that we have been offended, is it because we are thinking more highly of ourselves than we should? When we feel hurt, is it because we are thinking too much about ourselves, that everything revolves around us, and we are not thinking or acting with grace? If we are trying to be more like Jesus, then forgiveness should always be before any other feelings that might be within us. Well, that is enough rambling, we did not even get to the healing part. Nevertheless, we have learned something about ourselves and reminded ourselves that Jesus knows.