Crazy Talk – July 3, 2019

Then [Jesus] went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
Luke 7:14,15

Crazy Talk

“Young man I say to you, get up.” What do you suppose went through people’s heads when Jesus said this? I wonder if it went something like this: “What? He’s talking to a dead man! And he’s telling him to get up? What kind of nonsense is this?” Might there even have been some anger? After all, wouldn’t this have sounded borderline cruel for the grieving mother?

Now, what do you suppose went through people’s heads when the young man sat up and began to talk. Oh my! Imagine how their thinking must have changed when they realized Jesus had the power to make this happen! This wasn’t crazy talk; this was power talk!

Our God has a habit of saying things which, to our sinful reason, sound “crazy.” He says, “Take and eat, this is my body . . . take and drink, this is my blood.” It sounds crazy—but it’s true because God has the power to make it happen. To think that in baptism God miraculously works faith in the heart, even in the heart of an infant, sounds crazy. But it happens, because God has the power to make it happen. The idea that God can really make ALL things work together for good sounds crazy. But God has the power to make it happen.

So thank God! Even when what God says sounds “crazy” to our sinful ears, God has the power to make it happen!

Prayer:
God, lead me to listen to and trust your powerful, empowering words. Amen.