Growth in Spiritual Awareness
Luke 8:40-56
Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
Luke 8:40 And as Jesus was returning, the people welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him. 41 And a man named Jairus came, and he was an official of the synagogue; and he fell at Jesus’ feet, and began urging Him to come to his house; 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. But as He went, the crowds were pressing against Him.
Luke 8:43 And a woman who had suffered a chronic flow of blood for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, 44 came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. 45 And Jesus said, “Who is the one who touched Me?” And while they were all denying it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had left Me.” 47 Now when the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Him, and admitted in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has 1made you well; go in peace.”
Luke 8:49 While He was still speaking, someone came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; do not trouble the Teacher anymore.” 50 But when Jesus heard this, He responded to him, “Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be 1made well.” 51 When He came to the house, He did not allow anyone to enter with Him except Peter, John, and James, and the girl’s father and mother. 52 Now they were all weeping and mourning for her; but He said, “Stop weeping, for she has not died, but bis asleep.” 53 And they began laughing at Him, knowing that she had died. 54 He, however, took her by the hand and spoke 1forcefully, saying, “Child, arise!” 55 And her spirit returned, and she got up immediately; and He ordered that something be given her to eat. 56 Her parents were amazed; but He instructed them to tell no one what had happened.
In Luke’s gospel chapter 8, starting on the 40th verse and going to the 56th, we have three stories about Jesus doing healings. One thing that we need to understand is that the number three when used in the Bible relates the narrative to God. This triad form is found all over the Scripture, especially in the Gospels. The author of Luke’s gospel brought together three miraculous healing stories to illustrate to us that Jesus, when he was on earth, had divine powers.
He also uses these three healing miracles to explain to us that faith needs to be built up from its original base and never stops growing. What I’m trying to say here is that each of us has a faith in God through Jesus, and it’s important for us to continue to grow our faith and to mature in our faith. St. Paul called it moving from milk to meat, which is an excellent illustration for us to look at. When we are a newborn baby, we consume milk products. Whether that be directly from your mom or from the grocery store, infants need milk with many nutrients so that they can start to grow.
Faith is the same way, in that we start with simple milk, and we move throughout our lives to the meat. You can see this in the Scripture because the Scripture starts with simple stories that are easy-to-understand and easy to memorize. God then expects us to look into those narratives and to see more than what they are in the literal form. Remembering that Semitic writers wrote in metaphors and analogies; we start to look for more profound meaning in each of the stories. You’ll also hear the words every time I read the narrative, I learned something new. That is precisely what supposed to happen.
If you were to go to a synagogue on the Sabbath, you would discover that the first five books of the Bible are read every year. When the first Sabbath of the new year comes, the rabbi starts to read Genesis all the way through Deuteronomy. Therefore, a religious Jewish person would hear the story of creation to the end of Moses' life 70+ times in their lifetime. The sages of Israel tell us that this is done because there are so many layers of understanding to the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, that you need to be constantly hearing it and thinking about it. Every time you hear it, something new will occur to you. Then you might think of more questions or thoughts about that Scripture. Then you hear it again and those questions and thoughts become a part of your faith, and it never stops.
Too many people in the church stop learning after that first encounter with the word. That is so sad because there’s so much more that can be learned from the stories that are in the Scriptures. Think about the parables that Jesus told us. They are not that complicated if you study them over and over again. Well, let me say that when you read it the first time as I remember doing it, they did make a lot of sense. But learning more about Jesus and his culture and his ways, I was able to grasp what these parables meant, and they're really not that confusing once you had a chance to study them.
Before I became a disciple of Jesus, the world seemed black and white. Wake up, go to work, come home, have some personal time, then repeat the cycle the next day. There had to be more to life than just that cycle. When I became a disciple of Jesus, I learned that life is more than the repetitive cycle. Jesus opened pathways for an exploration of the spiritual realm. Coming to understand the ways of the LORD through Jesus is a building block of faith. Faith is strengthened as one submits to the ways of Jesus and follows Him. This passage offers three examples of how faith is strengthened when one becomes a disciple of Jesus. For a disciple of Jesus, a spiritual growth plan must be established. A person with a more profound understanding of the ways will become a stronger disciple and will be able to touch the divine.
Let me mention one other biblical person as an example to you. There was a man named Abraham. I hope you will remember him from the stories in the Book of Genesis. He realized that there was one God and that the idols that his father made of wood and stone were not gods. He went searching for God, and he found God. When you read Abraham’s story, God had him move ten times during his lifetime. Each move allowed him to gain more spiritual awareness and insight about God. That was the reason God made him move into different situations and different circumstances, so that his spiritual awareness would grow.
Each of us needs to become like Abraham and search out more profound understandings of the Scripture. The nice part is we can look into the Gospels and do it with Jesus. Now, I’m not saying you can’t do it with Abraham. Better is that you can also do it with Jesus as you progress in each of the Gospels from the beginning of his ministry until the end of it. So, think about going back and reading those stories in the Bible that you may not have read for years. Look at each one and see what new experiences you may get out of them. Your spiritual awareness and closeness with God through Christ occur every time you read the Scripture, and you think about what it means.
Here’s an excellent challenge that perhaps currently, pick up your Bible and start reading from Genesis chapter one to the end of the Revelation within a year, if not less. Take a notepad and write questions and thoughts down as you read every chapter in the Bible. Then go back and do it again and look at your questions from before and see if you have answers. Also add your new questions and thoughts so that when you read the Bible again and again, that you continue to grow in your knowledge of God. God gave us His word so that we can grow spiritually and get to know him.
