April 4 I Monday

Ruth 1-4

Luke 8:1-25

“When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and He said, ‘Don’t cry.’”    —Luke 7:13

About two years into Jesus’s public ministry, a large crowd started to follow Him because He was doing all kinds of miraculous signs and wonders throughout Galilee. Healing the sick, casting out demons and speaking in very certain terms to reveal that He is the promised Messiah with the authority to forgive our sins. The crowd following Jesus was excited, rejoicing and anticipating but there was another crowd weeping and mourning. Life and death were about to meet one another.

      A well-respected widow in the town had a crowd following her as they wept and mourned the loss of her only son. There was pain within her face as tears fell to the ground with her weeping over what her son might have become. All the memories she looked forward to making were gone as she realized the dreams she had for him had come to an end. But not only so, this widow was now at risk with no son, which meant no land inheritance in Israel. Even though there were some gleaning laws for provisions, it would still be hard for her to fend for herself. God cares about the poor, the vulnerable, the widows and the orphans in their distress as James tells us, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).

      A turning point occurred the moment these two crowds met, as Jesus walked up to this widow and said, “Don’t cry” (Luke 7:13). Jesus then turned to the widow’s dead son and said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” (Luke 7:14). And much to everybody’s surprise, this young man got up and started to speak. All of a sudden, tears of sorrow and grief turned into tears of amazement and joy. The son who was dead was brought back to life. All the people who witnessed this happening “were all filled with awe and praised God. ‘A great prophet has appeared among us,’ they said. ‘God has come to help His people’” (Luke 7:16).

      Christ is the only one who can heal this world’s brokenness and transform us from death to life. The only hope for the world and its brokenness is not social service agencies, not education, not higher learning because there is nothing that can change us like Christ. Jesus came to do for us what we were powerless to do ourselves—to save and rescue us from our sin. Have we experienced the transforming power of Jesus in our life?

Prayer: Lord God, thank You for being the One who can transform me from death to life. Give me the courage to share with others this life that I found in You. Praise You!