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TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

 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 7:14b-15

Read: Luke 7:14-15
Listen: Luke 7

TODAY’S MESSAGE

Jesus raises a son from the dead and gives him back to his mother. This is a beautiful demonstration of love and compassion to a woman who thinks she’s lost her future. Many people died during Jesus’s time, but he only raised three from the dead (this man, Jairus’s daughter in Luke 8:54 and Lazarus in John 11:43-44). So why didn’t Jesus do it more often? Part of the answer lies in the focus of his compassion. He raised them to help those impacted by their death, not for the dead person who was raised.

But there is more than compassion to this answer. Jesus also shows us what will occur when the Kingdom of God comes in all its fullness (Revelation 21). Jesus pulls the future into the present by demonstrating he is the giver of new life.

Jesus’s preview assures us the difficulties we face today are temporary. By dying on the cross, Jesus has won the battle over physical death— disease, physical disabilities, and violence. God has made a new covenant with us through his shed blood to give us new life with him in his eternal Kingdom. This is what we celebrate when we drink during Communion (Luke 22:20).

IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY

Soak in these words from the song “Remembrance” that remind us of Jesus’s great work on the cross. “I will recall the cup, poured out in sacrifice, to trade this sinner’s end, for your new covenant.”

2023 SPIRITUAL PRACTICES

Join us all of 2023 developing a different spiritual practice each month. SPIRITUAL PRACTICES are intentional regular activities to deepen our relationship with God and mold us to be more like Jesus.

June is WORSHIP. Keep track of our spiritual practices at beyondtheweekend.org/spiritualpractices.

Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.