Which Crowd Are You In?
11 Soon afterward he went to a city called Na'in, and
his disciples and a great crowd went with him. 12 As
he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a man
who had died was being carried out, the only son of
his mother, and she was a widow; and a large crowd
from the city was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw
her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not
weep." 14 And he came and touched the bier, and the
bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to
you, arise." 15 And the dead man sat up, and began to
speak. And he gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized
them all; and they glorified God, saying, "A great
prophet has arisen among us!" and "God has visited his
people!" 17 And this report concerning him spread
through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding
country.
Luke 7:11-17 (RSV)
For the next several devotions I will be taking a
closer look at this passage of Scripture and what it
means. Today our focus is on WHICH CROWD ARE YOU IN?
This lesson has two very different crowds. One is
following Jesus, the Crown of Life, while the other is
following a bier (or coffin), or death. One crowd is
following with their heads up and eyes fixed in eager
anticipation, anxious to see what the miracle worker
will do next. The other crowd is walking heads down,
moaning and whaling and feeling the emptiness and pain
of the loss of life. One crowd is coming from a long
journey where they are anticipating the refreshing and
relaxing atmosphere of city luxuries. The other crowd
is leaving the life of the city to place one of their
own in a grave, of which there is no relief or pardon.
One crowd serves living water, the other dirt. As
time goes by, one crowd experiences LIFE, JOY, AWE,
FREEDOM, REST, HAPPINESS, CONTENTMENT, BELONGING. The
other experiences the putrid effluvia of rotting
flesh, the inability to take a full breath due to the
stench, the thriving of decomposing insect life. One
crowd is going where it is clean and healthy and the
other is going where it is vile and contaminated. One
crowd contains family relation and friends, the other
contains the family of believers united by the blood
of Christ. At the center of one crowd is Christ, the
great healer/physician who died for our sins and
continues to offer healing and pardon to all who
follow. At the center of the other crowd is death,
opposition to Christ, and perpetual sickness and pain.
One crowd follows HOPE, the other follows DISTRESS.
One crowd follows the AUTHOR OF LIFE; the other
follows a CORPSE.
Which crowd are you in?
William Hiskey
DCE, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bowling Green, KY
Updated: 07/08/03
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