Jesus gave the disciples a prayer to pray. (It is a prayer that we have amended and adopted in our church. We say it every week in our early service and sing it on Communion Sundays in our Praise and Worship service.) Then, Jesus told two stories which he let us know that we do not have to plead, beg, whine, or wheel-and-deal to get God to do what we ask or need. The parent gave food to the child. The neighbor gave bread for the traveler. If we, human beings, give good things when we are asked, how much more will our loving God do for us?
After Jesus healed a man from a demon possession, the people wondered how he did it. Some concluded that he did it by the prince of demons, Beelzebul. Jesus pointed out that it would be pretty stupid for the prince of demons to empower him/Jesus to cast out demons…Jesus’ critics did not think through the logic of that one! The power Jesus has is greater than the forces of evil.
A woman in the crowd cried out that Jesus’ mother is blessed to have him as a son. Jesus replied that the truly blessed person is not his mom, but those who heard the word of God and have obeyed it/put it into practice.
