Encountering Jesus Christ
“When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said, ‘Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!’ Then He touched her, and instantly she could stand again. How she praised God!” - Luke 13:12-13
Yesterday, we asked the question, “Why do I need the church?” In a world where seemingly everything else has gone virtual, why should we go to church? There are two major reasons that going to church is still important. The first is that we all need the church because it is where we encounter the person of Jesus Christ.
Luke 13 shows us a typical Jewish Sabbath Day, and Luke recalls that Jesus was teaching there. That’s an important detail because Jesus didn’t have to come to the synagogue to preach and teach. He could have just done all his teaching outside in the public square.
He could have remained in the public square and the marketplace and declared God’s Word from the street corner. But He did not. If Jesus saw a need to gather in the Lord’s house, how much more should we? If the paradigm for proclaiming the preached Word wasn’t modeled after what was convenient then, why should we make convenience paradigmatic for us now?
And it was there, during that corporate, in-person worship experience that the text says there was an unnamed woman in attendance. She needed help, hope, and healing, and she could only get it in the presence of Jesus. She could not have gotten what she needed had she stayed home. She could not have received what God had for her had she relied on reports of others.
She had to get it by being in the presence of Jesus. In the context of the Word going forth and praise and worship going up, she saw Jesus, and she got a chance to meet Him for herself. It was a personal, powerful, and purposeful encounter that literally changed her life. And it all happened in the house of God!
If you want to encounter Jesus Christ, it is possible in many places. We should never limit Christ’s capabilities. He can meet you anywhere. But He certainly will meet you in the church! And that personal, powerful, and purposeful encounter, could change your life, just like it did for the woman in Luke 13!
Yesterday, we asked the question, “Why do I need the church?” In a world where seemingly everything else has gone virtual, why should we go to church? There are two major reasons that going to church is still important. The first is that we all need the church because it is where we encounter the person of Jesus Christ.
Luke 13 shows us a typical Jewish Sabbath Day, and Luke recalls that Jesus was teaching there. That’s an important detail because Jesus didn’t have to come to the synagogue to preach and teach. He could have just done all his teaching outside in the public square.
He could have remained in the public square and the marketplace and declared God’s Word from the street corner. But He did not. If Jesus saw a need to gather in the Lord’s house, how much more should we? If the paradigm for proclaiming the preached Word wasn’t modeled after what was convenient then, why should we make convenience paradigmatic for us now?
And it was there, during that corporate, in-person worship experience that the text says there was an unnamed woman in attendance. She needed help, hope, and healing, and she could only get it in the presence of Jesus. She could not have gotten what she needed had she stayed home. She could not have received what God had for her had she relied on reports of others.
She had to get it by being in the presence of Jesus. In the context of the Word going forth and praise and worship going up, she saw Jesus, and she got a chance to meet Him for herself. It was a personal, powerful, and purposeful encounter that literally changed her life. And it all happened in the house of God!
If you want to encounter Jesus Christ, it is possible in many places. We should never limit Christ’s capabilities. He can meet you anywhere. But He certainly will meet you in the church! And that personal, powerful, and purposeful encounter, could change your life, just like it did for the woman in Luke 13!
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