Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 31
6:39–7:8
Luke–ACTS
19
Then Jesus gave the following illustration: “Can one blind person lead
another? Won’t they both fall into a ditch? Students are not greater than
their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the
teacher.
“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log
in your own? How can you think of saying, ‘Friend, let me help you get
rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own
eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see
well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.
“A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good
fruit. A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. A good person
produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person
produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows
from what is in your heart.
“So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I
say? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to
my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who
digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters
rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. But
anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house
right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down
against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”
When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people, he returned to
Capernaum. At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was
sick and near death. When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some
respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave. So they
earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, he
does,” they said, “for he loves the Jewish people and even built a synagogue
for us.”
So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the
officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming
to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. I am not even worthy
to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my
servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of
my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to
