Thursday, December 18, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Luke 6-8
Key Verse
Luke 7:29 — “And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.”
Devotional Thought
The Sabbath controversy in Luke 6 begins in a grainfield, where hungry disciples rub wheat in their hands and eat. The Pharisees call it unlawful; Jesus answers with David and the shewbread, then heals a withered hand in the synagogue while His enemies watch, hoping to accuse Him. Their fury hardens even as the man’s hand is restored. Then Jesus climbs a mountain and prays all night before choosing twelve apostles—Peter, Andrew, James, John, and the rest, including Judas Iscariot, who would betray Him. Coming down, He stands on a plain before a great multitude from Judaea, Jerusalem, Tyre, and Sidon, and He heals them all. The Sermon on the Plain follows: blessings on the poor, the hungry, the weeping; woes on the rich and full; love for enemies; the beam and the mote; the house built on rock. In chapter 7 a centurion’s servant is healed at a distance, a widow’s only son at Nain is raised from the bier, and a sinful woman washes Jesus’ feet with her tears in Simon the Pharisee’s house. Chapter 8 opens with women who ministered of their substance and the parable of the sower.
Notice how much of this happens under scrutiny. The scribes and Pharisees watch Jesus whether He will heal on the Sabbath. Simon the Pharisee watches the woman weeping at Jesus’ feet and silently misjudges both her and his Guest. Herod’s steward’s wife Joanna and Mary Magdalene, out of whom seven devils went, follow and give. In every scene, people are deciding what to do with what they see. The season of Advent trains us in the same decision. Christ has come; Christ will come again. What we do with Him now—whether we accuse, observe, weep, or follow—reveals the treasure of our hearts.
The Sermon on the Plain presses further. Blessed are ye poor; blessed are ye that hunger now; blessed are ye that weep. Woe unto you that are rich; woe unto you that are full. These are not abstractions. They are spoken to real faces on real ground. And the closing image is plain: the one who hears and does is like a man digging deep and laying foundation on rock; the flood comes, the stream beats vehemently, and the house stands. The one who hears and does not is swept away. James will later say the same: be doers of the word, not hearers only.
This is the Advent question. Not merely, “Do I admire Jesus?” but “Do I build on Him?” The woman who wept and wiped and kissed and anointed loved much because she was forgiven much. The centurion, who never saw Jesus enter his house, believed a word spoken at a distance and found his servant whole. Faith acts. It digs deep. It gives, forgives, prays for enemies, and refuses to judge. As Christmas approaches, let us not merely hear the glad tidings of the kingdom. Let us do them, and so build on the Rock that cannot be shaken.
Reflection
- In this passage, many watched Jesus closely—the Pharisees to accuse, Simon to judge, the multitude to be healed. As you read and hear God’s Word this Advent, are you watching to find fault, to observe, or to obey?
- Jesus said the one who hears and does His sayings is like a man who digs deep and lays the foundation on a rock. Where in your life this week is God asking you to move from hearing to doing?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, Son of man and Lord of the Sabbath, we come to You as the multitude came—needy, hungry, and sometimes weeping. You healed the withered hand and raised the widow’s son; You forgave the woman who washed Your feet with her tears. Forgive us where we have watched to accuse rather than to believe. Dig deep in us this Advent. Lay our foundation on the Rock of Your Word, so that when the floods rise and the streams beat vehemently, we shall not be shaken. Make us doers, not hearers only. Give us hearts that love much because we have been forgiven much, and let our lives bear fruit an hundredfold. Amen.