The call that won’t leave you alone… (Nurture Notes 009)

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Last week, we looked at a particular area of Luke 8. However, in continuing to re-read it in context of Luke 9, a further question came to me. Last week I asked ‘What has he done for you lately? And this week, I’d like to ask you: What is God saying to you? For this season, for right now. Essentially, for a time such as this.

Through reading His Word, through prayer, through worship, even through conversations with loved ones or through messages of those you respect, I land with that question - What is God saying to you and what is it that God is asking you to do?

We know that God speaks, and we know that He desires us to act. We might hear words like ‘act’ and ‘doing’ and automatically find ourselves switching off because let’s face it - there’s not one of us right now who’s likely to be in need of ‘more to do’, right? However, what He may well be calling you to do is lay some things down and rest. Resting still must be intentional though otherwise it always finds itself at the bottom of the pile. And so again - what is He saying to you and what is He asking you to do?

Still in Luke 8, it contains three short verses about Jesus’ mother and brothers asking after Him while He’s in the middle of His ministry speaking to people, healing people, saving people. There are huge crowds.

Verse 19 says:

“Then His mother and His brothers came to Him, but they could not reach Him because of the crowd. And He was told, ‘Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You.’ But He answered them, ‘My mother and My brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.’”

As disciples, we are not only to hear the Word of God but to put it into practice to act on it. This moment sets the tone for what unfolds in the rest of the chapter, as Jesus gives very different instructions to different people, which we of course began to uncover last week.

Firstly, as we uncovered with the demon-possessed man, despite him begging to keep going with Jesus, he gets told to do something different.

As we unpacked, the man begs to go with Jesus, but Jesus tells him:

“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” (v. 39)

And he does. He goes throughout the whole city telling everyone what Jesus has done for him.

There’s something significant about that obedience which I don’t want us to gloss over. This wasn’t obedience which was comfortable and yet it was followed through on.

Something we didn’t get to last week was the fact that just a few verses later, we find a stark contrast. On His way to heal Jairus’ daughter, Jesus heals the woman with the issue of blood. By the time He reaches Jairus’ home, people say the girl is dead. Jesus tells them she’s not dead but sleeping, and they laugh at Him.

He takes her by the hand and says, “Child, arise.” Her spirit returns and she gets up at once. Verse 56 says:

“Her parents were amazed, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.”

Why, twenty verses earlier, does He tell one person to “go and tell everyone” and now tell another to “tell no one”?

The answer lies in the varying regions Jesus was ministering in. In the Gentile area of the Gerasenes, the man’s testimony would spread without hindering Jesus’ ministry. In the strict Jewish region where Jairus lived, news of the Messiah’s arrival in this way could cause unrest and disrupt what Jesus still needed to do.

So the instruction wasn’t about the size of the miracle, but the setting.

That’s the lesson here: the specifics of Jesus’ call vary depending on where we are, the context we live in, and the people around us.

There are general instructions we all know: to love our neighbour as we love ourselves for example, and to follow His commands. But God is also very personal. He gives specific instructions for each of us - directions that might look different from what He’s asking of someone else.

The man in the Gerasenes was told to stay and speak. Jairus’ family was told to stay silent. Both were obeying.

So, at risk of repeating myself, I can’t shake the fact that this question must be asked - What is Jesus saying to you? In your workplace, your school, your family, your circle of friends?

What has He been speaking to you through His Word, through prayer, through the quiet moments you have with Him?

Maybe it’s something you’ve been putting off because it feels uncomfortable. Maybe it’s something you thought was for “later,” but God is asking you to act now.

Or perhaps, like Jairus’ family, obedience for you right now looks like keeping something close, letting it grow quietly without public announcement.

Whatever it is, the key is not just hearing but doing and trusting that God knows exactly why He’s asking you to respond in the way He is, even when we don’t have all of the answers.

Next week, we’ll be blending a bit of Luke 9 and Luke 10, rounding up on this theme of questions from Luke but in the meantime, I’d truly encourage you to find a moment of quiet within your week ahead to sit at the feet of Jesus and ask Him what He’s saying to you for this season, reminding yourself that intentionality is something God really is serious about!

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