13.  That was my answer to a friend’s text asking how many people I personally know who are unemployed.  Thirteen!  A baker’s dozen wondering if they will keep their house or how they’ll pay this month’s bills. 

Luke 8:14 talks about those whose faith is choked out by life’s worries.  Some of my thirteen unemployed neighbors, friends and family members fall into this category, as do others battling worries over health, relationships and so much more.  Have you felt those storms?  Have the tough economic times caused weeds to grow among the crops of your life?  Has heartache, deception or illness created a tempest around you?  Jesus can quiet it. 

He (Jesus) got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm.  ‘Where is your faith?’ he asked his disciples.” Luke 8: 24,25

Jesus’ disciples feared death as a squall came down on the lake.  The problems around them were real, as were their fears.  Yet all became serene with just a word.  And then the next words?  “Where is your faith?”  I’ll show you where.

A woman bled for twelve years.  Anemic and tired. Poverty-stricken from seeking medical advice to no avail.  Her remedy?  Pure, unadulterated faith.  She reached out and touched Jesus’ hem as he walked by.  What the doctors couldn’t accomplish in twelve years changed in seconds.  Instant healing.

Daughter, your faith has healed you.  Go in peace.” Luke 8:46

Two similar situations with two different outcomes.  The disciples and the hemorrhaging woman knew their circumstances were bleak.  Twelve panicked and were chastised.  One reached out and found healing.  Which one do you most want to be like?

Luke 7 paints four different portraits, real people in real life dilemmas:

1. The Humble Outsider: A Roman Centurian pursues Jesus as his only hope for a dear and dying servant. He is the least likely person to understand Jesus’ power to save, and yet he is the one who truly believes in Jesus’ Godness. Even more than those who sit in church reading their Bible every single Sunday. This kind of bold faith is what saves his servant. And himself

2. The Broken Mourner: A widow loses her only son, and her grief reaches the heart of The Christ. He simply says two words: “Don’t cry.” So much compassion! Such understanding! Her grief runs deep, and she cannot say a word. Jesus doesn’t need her words, he needs her heart. And he sees a woman with an open, bleeding heart in need of comfort. He gives her that, and so much more.

3. The Insecure Prophet: From his birth, he knew his sole purpose: To prepare the way for the Messiah. He did that, faithfully, year after year. He lived in poverty, absorbed the ridicule of naysayers, proclaimed God’s words fearlessly. And then The One he’d been speaking of came. Jesus. But suddenly John the Baptist finds himself imprisoned, an unusual reward for a lifetime of faithful service. Hardship has a way of making us doubt our purpose, question what we believe. And so he asks Jesus, “Are you the one, or should I look for someone else?” Jesus understood his insecurity, how his imprisonment was wearing on his resolve. And simply responded by saying, “The rightness of your purpose isn’t defined by your circumstances. You’ve done well. I’m the one.”

4. The Penitent Sinner: She had no business being in a righteous man’s house. But her need for a Savior trumped her certain humiliation in showing her sinful self. Without a word, she finds Jesus reclining at Simon’s table. She can do nothing but cry, and wash the feet of the man she hopes will forgive her. He does, even as the more “perfect” onlookers whisper and mock. So he teaches the host and his guests a lesson at the same time: It isn’t your righteousness that saves you; it’s your ability to kneel at the feet of The Righteous One.

Which one are you? Are you an outsider whose new faith makes you feel less significant? Or are you grieving and wondering if Heaven hears? Maybe you’re a long-time Christian, with a resume full of faithful service. But lately one thing after another has made you question whether or not you’ve been on the right track. Or perhaps your steeped in sin–or even steeped in your own sense of righteousness–and you need to fall at the feet of the Savior.

Regardless of the portrait most resembling your own, the same Jesus stands ready to save.