Luk 5:27 And after this, Jesus went out and looked [attentively] at a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office

What in the world is a tax collector and why is this so significant? Two years ago the book – A President’s Keeper was released here in South Africa. Broadcasting and publishing all the corrupt fraudulent business of then President Zuma and his chromies. They stole, especially Zuma and the Guptas, the book was so depressing for me, I had to read a couple of chapters, then put it down and either watch a feel good rom-com or go and visit some of my upbeat friends. I’m not usually prone to depression, but this book made me miserable, how could evil persist like this? Luckily the book shed some light and shortly after the release of this book Zuma was removed as president. So this is my best comparison to the perspective of a tax collector in first century Israel, the tax collectors is compared to corrupt state of the parties in the book the President’s Keeper. 

This is why this little sentence and the whole story is actually so profound for me, remember a few podcasts back, after the miraculous fishing, Peter, then Simon said to Jesus go away from me as I’m a sinner, then Jesus gave him the soft comforting words, the hot chocolate with marshmallow words on it. Now this story about Matthew/Levi is just the illustration on steroids, that Jesus can convert the most useless case of a sinner in an instant. Nobody is too lost for Jesus. So if you know people who are a lost case, please pray with me now, and we declare that the same way You Lord Jesus went searching and chasing after Matthew/Levi, please do the same for the people I’m thinking about. 

1. Luk 5:17 One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and religion teachers were sitting around. They had come from nearly every village in Galilee and Judea, even as far away as Jerusalem, to be there.

So up to this point we have only heard about all the rumours going out about Jesus, so the critics came first. I’m sure God told Jesus in His alone time that this will happen. Please Lord Jesus warn us before hand when we will attract the critics in our live, so that we can be prepared. We will attract crowds to us as we walk closer to God. 

2. Luk 5:20 Seeing the demonstration of their faith

Teach us daily how to demonstrate the big faith like the four friends. We know that only faith can impress you, so please teach us daily new ways of showing and manifesting this big faith that impresses You. I know that you have storerooms full of inspiration for us to demonstrate big faith, the faith that actually impresses you, please teach this to us. Just like in a romantic movie where the hero at the end of the movie demonstrates this big gesture of romance, I want to do it for you, I want to demonstrate the big romantic gestures of faith, please inspire me. 

Luk 5:13 Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said,

So Jesus touched the leper, He broke the rules as by touching the leper He also became unclean, so Jesus will break a rule for you, to show you that He cares. Ask Him today to break a rule for you to show you how much He cares. Secondly this must have been the first touching the man has had in ages, so if you are lonely, have not been touched, have not felt the loving affection of someone special, ask Jesus to touch you today. 

The Greek Root for this word of touching the leper is to set a fire, to light a candle. I once went on a Spiritual Sound Journey workshop, while the different sounds were playing, I felt a heat inside me, it felt as if a fire, a gently warming fire was lit in my soul. I have also heard that sometimes people will refer to someone as the ice queen, so please Lord Jesus touch us to warm us, just like what I experienced that day with the sound journey. I sometimes see Jesus as a warm cup of hot chocolate with little marshmallows in it on a cold winter’s day. So please come and touch us. I often in the winter sit and bask in the warm winter sun; this feels as if God is giving me a warm embrace, maybe this is what the leper felt that day. Please Lord Jesus touches me this way. Just also furthermore on the note of leprosy, even though in Western cultures we do not have the disease anymore, I think this healing can be copy and pasted into every skin disease, maybe it is acne, maybe it is sun stains, maybe it is a foot fungi, I would like to encourage you to think creative in the empty vases you would like to bring in front of Jesus with the skin diseases. 

Luk 5:13 “I want to. Be clean.” I could marvel at this simple sentence for days to come, firstly Jesus wants to heal us, He wants to help us. Milydia se storie – ek wil jou help.... May we daily see this manifest, that He wants to help us. I once heard the story of Joyce Meyer telling the story that God whispered softly into her ear that He wants to help her with her hair, doing her hair in the morning. May Jesus too reveal to us daily new aspects that He wants to help us with new things in our life. I have asked God to help me wash my car, to help me to see the deeper meaning of the Bible, may He show new and new ways where He wants to assist us with. 

Why did Jesus preach from a boat when the crowd was pressing in on him? First, sound travels quite easily over water, and on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, by Capernaum, there is a naturally occurring amphitheater, where the acoustics would have also made it easier for people to hear Jesus. Today this spot is called the "Bay of Parables." Gospel stories that seem odd or illogical often turn out to have sensible explanations when you think about them carefully, or when you are able to see the locales in which they happened. I talk a lot about stories and places like this, as well as about the Bay of Parables, in my new book "Jesus: A Pilgrimage." 

So firstly Jesus knows Physics, in today’s world He would have multiple Nobel Prizes, I belief having an intimate relationship with Jesus He can teach us so many wonders and marvels about Physics. Maybe your child needs extra physics lessons, ask Jesus to come and teach him/her. This is my wish and my prayer for both me and you, may Jesus daily teach us new physics wonders. 

The second wonder in this tale was when they actually caught so many fish that the nets wanted to tear, now firstly in the previous podcast I explained about the poverty in Galilea, I’ll explain it again: Fishing was also a source of income, but Herod Antipas started fishing commercially, basically taking all the fish, so the fishing industry was dying. I recently went to Ponta Do Ouro for a holiday, one of my favourite places in the world. The Mozambique Government gave the fishing rights away to the China as a barter deal for the road they built from the Ponta border to Maputo. Usually we will have an abundance of fresh shellfish available, to sell on the beach, in shops or even to eat in restaurants. With our last visit there, and I think the barter deal has only been operational for at least 18months, we obtained no prawns. Our first stop back in South Africa was to John Dory’s just to eat prawns. It was so sad. Furthermore the crime has ten folded increased in Ponta, because of the lack of income of local fishermen. I think this is to a lesser extent what happened in Capernaum, the people were very poor.

 We are currently studying Luk 4:31 -37 So Jesus went down to Capernaum, for the first century Jew this was a loaded statement. In current Gauteng, South Africa it meant Jesus (volunterily) went down to Hillbrow. The whole Gallilea was epidemically stricken with poverty, but not the poverty of finding a different work kind of poverty, the poverty that there was no solution for. There were different classes, the rich and elite, the noble people were the Romans, they owned all the land in the area. Then the Jews had to lease the land from them to do farming on. The money they made from the leasing the ground to do farming on went mostly for the Roman Taxes, then for Jewish temple taxes then lastly they had to eat from their farms. In modern day archaeological sites, no shops have been discovered in Capernaum, illustrating that there were no excess to sell, they literaly lived from the hand to the mouth. 

Ok enter the scene radical Jesus, I want to see all the aspects and dimensions of Jesus, I want to see His multicoloured jacket or robe, this is a new dimension, this is radical, ghostbusters, weird, unique, truth are stranger than fiction Jesus, this is the Jesus that keeps me awake at night with awe and wonder – like whaaaat? How did that happen? Like UFO style Jesus, like mystery Jesus. 

So the people where on their way to kill Him, they wanted to murder Him, have you seen any horror/thriller movies lately? Imagine the killer is chasing the victim, the victim then just casually and peacefully walks past the killer in the other direction, this is not something I have seen in the movies, but this is what happened here. Truth is stranger than fiction, ladies and gentlemen. I have always had a normal healthy obsession with the unexplained, oh oh oh here we go again. 

29 They mobbed Jesus and threw him out of the city, dragging him to the edge of the cliff on the hill on which the city had been built, ready to hurl him off. 30 But he walked right through the crowd, leaving them all stunned.[aa]

This escape was very remarkable. It is remarkable that he should escape out of their hands when their very object was to destroy him, and that he should escape in so peaceful a manner, without violence or conflict. There was another case like this where Jesus also just slipped away from His killers in John 8:59

Maybe this shows us that we have more power than what we realized? Can we calm the inner demons in other people just like Jesus did? May God teach this to us. 

Did Jesus turn invisible? Did He make them blind? What happened here, I want to know, Please Lord share with me the secrets of what happened here, and why is it in the Bible? What is it that you want us to copy and paste with this surreal escape in our life? Maybe this was Jesus first miracle and not the transformation of water to wine? Or the miraculous catching of all the fish? 

Maybe this is also something that we can pray for, as we walk more and more in the Spirit of God, will God too make us invisible for our enemies. 

Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 

Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. 

This is my newest addition to my prayer life, please Lord will you please make me your Safe place, your happy place. This is so sad what Jesus is saying here, that so many people will reject Him, in a world filled with so many people being angry and bitter towards God, I want to be His happy place, the place where He feels completely loved, in my brokenness off course, the place where He feels wanted and needed, the place where He feels He is appreciated, the place where He feels acknowledged, I only have feelings of gratitude towards Him, He has never disappointed me, He has always just impressed me. 

I want to be His Happy Place. I want to tell You how awesome You are, I want to brag to you about you, all you have done for me, if I were you, I would have kicked out myself 35years ago, but You never gave up on me, I want to be your happy place. I want you furthermore to teach me daily about unconditional love, I want to soak up your presence to be more like you, I want to become like. I want to be the widow that was open and receptive towards your help, I want to be the Naaman that was healed, please let me be Your happy place, Your safe place, the place where you are welcomed here, I’ll run out to meet you outside my apartment, I’ll give you a deep bear hug, I will say to you, I’m so glad you are here, I’m so glad you came to me. I want to be Your happy place. 

Just like on an airplane the safety precautions are to place the oxygen mask on your own mouth and nose first, I believe it is the same with the Spiritual Journey. God will not instruct us to teach on something we have not yet first experienced. He will heal us first, then instruct us to go an minister to fellow pilgrims. We will share from our first hand experience. One of my favourite testimonies was when I started walking intimately with God about 6years ago, I had just stepped out of an abusive relationship, and I asked God to heal me so quickly so that I could be an asset in His Kingdom. He did heal me miracouesly quick. 

All of our hurts and pains can be transformed into a beacon of hope for fellow pilgrims, so please can we broadcast and declare it out to the heavenlies – please Physician, heal thyself, come and heal us, book us in into your emotional healing ICU in order for us to tell the world, to sing a song about all that you have done for us. 

I once heard that the root meaning of the word testimony is for God to do it again, so we want to be mass producers of your testimonies of how you helped us, so that we can spread around your gospel, your good news here on earth. 

Physician, heal thyself: I once was stuck in a hopeless, loveless, meaningless relationship. Even though the person looked good on paper, he just did not tick all my boxes, I was constantly in prayer about this, then God orchestrated me to go on a 4day breakaway to the Cape with a friend of mine, I saw and tasted that the void I was experiencing in this relationship was valid, as I was right there was more, God had higher ambitions for me than to settle for mediocrity. May God too take you on exciting road trips to confirm the questions you are brewing in your pressure cooker. 

Editors note Luke did not capture the full sermon, only bits and pieces of it, so my first prayer is, let me tap into those wonderful and gracious words that was spoken on that day, please will you speak to me also those wonderful words. I want to hear from you, the words that was spoken on that day in Gallilea. 

Secondly God’s words are beautiful, it is not harsh abusive words, it is gracious. So this is my second prayer, please transform me daily into your image, unlearn the language I have learned in this broken world, and teach me your language of grace and wonderful things 

in awe of the beautiful words of grace that came from his lips

Sometimes I will listen to a sermon online and I will feel as if I’m getting a hiding with a rod, I feel condemn, guilty, and just plain gagga will feel not nice, other times I will listen to a sermon, I’m thinking in the lines of Rob Bell, Alan Storey and the words will be filled with grace and hope and light, this is the way how I also see Jesus’ teachings, it was full of grace, hope and love. May we have an abundance of teachers that really walks in the footsteps of Jesus. 

– the word in Greek is charis, may all our words that depart from our lips be filled with charis. that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech

Some people their presence feels like a hot chocolate with little marshmallows on it on a cold winters day, or some people’s presence feels like Hug in a Mug the marshmallow tipe of Hug in a Mug this is the Christ I follow, His presence is sweet and warming, pure indulgence. It feels like coming home for the first time, I pray that we may feel this daily, moment to moment. Secondly I pray that God marinate everyone I meet in His Gentle, gracious marshmallow spirit, I’m done dealing with bullies and abrasive sand paper kind of people, I’m done dying from a million little paper cut wounds, I want this gracious bubble around me. 

It is done! 

21 Then he added, “These Scriptures came true today in front of you.”

Firstly please acknowledge and ponder, meditate and think about this for a moment – this was Jesus at the beginning of His Ministry, He did not have to die to accomplish this healing, we already have this from the beginning of Jesus entering the scene. The moment Jesus enters the scene the healing starts, no hard works, no church going tick list, no acts of services – were you part of the church choir or how many Sunday School lessons did you host? Nothing na-da, His healing is from the moment go. From the beginning, so please accept this healing irrespectively of your sinful nature, even though you had road rage yesterday, He is still offering healing and compassion. 

Secondly, maybe the reason why we experience so many heart aches is for us to see a new dimension of His Creative Forces on healing? I made a note in my journal about a week ago that there is no limit to His creative forces on healing. I was working through a conflict situation with a family member, then a very special princess came to confide in me with her daddy issues. From an objective perspective I could see that her father was treating her unjustly, he was in the wrong, I coached and counselled her, but while I was giving her advice I also had the opportunity to revisit my current situation and turmoil. This was a new dimension of the healing that Jesus wants to give us. 

It is done, the healing is already there for us, all we need to do is take it. The feast of healing, like a buffet table already has been prepared, all we need to do is dish it up. The gifts are already around the Christmas tree, all we need to do is open it up. May God daily reveal this concept to us, we do not need to hurt anymore, the healing is already there, the medicine for our broken hearts are already in our cabinets, we only need to take. It is done. It has been done for the past 2,000 years. May we daily learn how to tap into this source of healing, and may this give us a platform to teach other Princesses how to tap into it. 

Just an editors note – one of my most intelligent life coaches gave me this advice – when you want to meditate on something, hoping for the answer to reach you, do something mundane like washing your car, I just did the dishes – then the answer will find you. While I was washing the dishes the song – Seize the moment, seize the day came swimming in my thoughts, I immediately transformed it into a prayer – please teach me to seize every single moment, to capture the healing you have in every single holy moment you have given us. 

Just to recap every single hurt, bruise, cut we have experienced is a new way for us to tap into His Healing, I’m convinced that He has a creative miracle in store for every single hurt, sometimes the healing comes in the form of a public apology, yes I have had that in the past, it was at his birthday party, where he apologized with a microphone in his hand, giving me the credit for the positive impact I have had in his life. So may we daily notice the different creative forces of healing He wants to bestow on us, and remember bigger test, bigger testimony.