God's Care for All People

Jim:

Deuteronomy 31:30-32:14
Here I focused on verses 11 and 12: “As an eagle stirs up its next, and hovers over its young; as it spreads its wings, takes them up, and bears them aloft on it pinions, the Lord alone guided (Jacob); no foreign god was with him.” I love that image of God as an eagle, mighty and powerful, and yet gentle and caring and attentive to the needs of its young. Isaiah, of course, uses the image of the eagle’s wings (Is. 40:31), only in that case God’s people “mount up with wings like eagles.”

Romans 14:13-23
Paul tells his readers not to get too caught up in picky details about what foods are appropriate and which are to be avoided. In verse 17 he says, “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” If we’re not careful we can lose sight of the forest for the trees, forgetting the desire of God is for all people to treat one another with righteousness and peace seeking joy for all. If we pay too much attention to the details of the law we risk becoming Pharisees.

Luke 8:40-56
In these linked accounts, the healing of Jairus’s daughter and of the woman with the flow of blood, Luke is very attentive to the interaction between Jesus and the least of his society. Not only did Jesus heal a woman, one who happened to be bleeding constantly and therefore ritually unclean, but he also restored the life of a little girl who would have counted little in her community. It is Jesus’ care and compassion for those who lack a claim on society that should motivate the church to reach out to all people, but especially those who have no voice of their own.