What Had happened at Grace this week.

Jesus asks the disciples “Who do people say I am?” They get it right and say he is the messiah. Jesus then goes to the top of the mountain, becoming bright and shiny. We’re not in Kansas anymore - this is literally a mountain-top experience. But when there are mountains, there are also valleys, with crosses, death, and suffering. We’re not in Kansas anymore.
Jesus sends out his disciples with enough to bring good news. Five thousand people have been listening to Jesus in the wilderness. They are getting hungry, and there are only 5 loaves and 2 fish. But Jesus says it is enough. We often feel like we don’t have enough, that we will be so much better if we just had more. However, Jesus says you have enough.
Chapter Eight of Luke talks about soil. The great sower throws seed down, and it falls on different kinds to soil. In bad soil the seed withers and dies, but in the good soil the fruit rises up from the ground. This parable leaves an important question, “What if I’m not good soil?”
Chapter seven is filled with shock and awe. An outsider shows great faith, a widow's son is raised, John the Baptist is not sure about Jesus, and a sinner is forgiven much. Many times when we encounter true faith, we are filled with shock and awe.
Jesus is giving us a picture of the kingdom of God: miracles, healings, and parties. However, some are very upset that Jesus is doing any of this and are threatening to kill him. Jesus just looks at them and says the way of God is all or nothing.
Jesus bursts onto the scene; he reads from Scripture and how God is doing something new, and he says that newness is Him. How do people respond? Will they be happy? How would you have responded?