Carry the Flame - Renew Your Heart & Revive the WorldSample

READING

It’s easy to dehumanize people, especially in a crowd. This happens when we rage against political parties as we scroll through news feeds. Or when we gossip about the local school board to our neighbors. Or when we complain about the executives at the company—people most of us don’t really know—to our coworkers. The list goes on. We tend to dehumanize people who are in groups that are different than ours. Skin color. Ethnicity. Salary or influence. We are all capable of dehumanizing groups of people, especially if we feel slighted by them.

In today’s video, Pastor Jim Cymbala is talking about Luke 10:1-2, when Jesus sent out seventy-two of his disciples to the local towns ahead of him. Pastor Cymbala reminds us that Jesus saw the “fields” he was sending them to “harvest” as people. Those people may not have been followers of Jesus, yet. In fact, they may have been some of Jesus’s harshest critics (see Matthew 11:20-24). However, Jesus didn’t slip into the trap of dehumanizing them.

Today’s Scripture reading occurred not long before Jesus sent out the seventy-two. On his way to attend to a sick girl, a crowd followed Jesus and “almost crushed him” (v. 42). Most people in Jesus’s situation would have dehumanized this crowd. There he was trying to do the work of God—literally going to save a little girl’s life—and they crush him? Were they demanding his attention? Were they begging for blessings on their farms, cattle, families, or businesses? Did they view him as some sort of blessing machine? How could they have slighted the Son of God like that?

Yet, this story does not describe an irritated Jesus, grumbling about the noise and selfishness of everyone around him. It reveals that even in a crushing crowd, God will see the faithful, name them (“daughter”), and bless their faith.

You may identify with the bleeding woman in this story. Or, if you’re honest with yourself, you might be thinking about how you have dehumanized others. Regardless of where you fall, the God you serve loves you as deeply as he loved that woman and he loves those in the group who are different than you are. Jesus sees people, no matter who they are and even when they’re behaving badly, like the crowd was. Praise him today for seeing you, too.

REFLECTION

Which group of people are you most likely to dehumanize?

What would it take for you to get to know someone who is part of that group?

Read Luke 8:49-56 for the rest of story about Jairus’s daughter.

PRAYER

Dear God, forgive me for all the rage, gossip, and slander I’ve uttered against a group I don’t belong to. Forgive me for not seeing people within that group—people just like me who need your love and friendship. Thank you, Jesus, for seeing the bleeding woman, for your patience with the crushing crowd, and for seeing me, too. Amen.