Jesus traveled on!

Luke 8:1-3

After that, Jesus traveled through the country, town by town, and village by village, preaching the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, as well as certain women, who had been cured from evil spirits and from illnesses. There was Mary, who is called Mary Magdalene, out of whom there went seven devils, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, who was Herod's agent, and Susanna and many others. It was their habit to minister to their needs out of their resources.

Food for thought!

Jesus is on the road. The synagogues and places of worship are no longer open for him. He had begun, as it were, in the church, where any man with a message from God might expect to find a responsive and receptive audience. Instead of a welcome he had found opposition; instead of eager listeners he had found eager enemies, the scribes and Pharisees. Because Because of these people and their hostile attitude towards him, Jesus had to change methods of delivering God's Word. Jesus is no longer in the synagogue but on the open road and the hillside and the lake shore.
Great lessons we learn from Jesus in today's gospel reading. one of them is to refuse to make anyone who hurt us in the past become the centerpiece of our story. They should not get a starring role in our story. We only give to God the starring role in our lives.

Another lesson is that you can’t move forward when you’re still looking backward. Jesus ignores his enemies and just moved on with his mission. We too must stop staring at the closed door. Let's go of the past. Let's live fully right where we are. If like Jesus we have had scribes and Pharisees in our life, let's do like Jesus: go elsewhere; do something else; change places; change company or friends. Why did Jesus do this?

Well, holding on to the past weighs you down and creates baggage that is too heavy to carry into the future God imagines for you. One of the most common ways we can get stuck is by dwelling too long on what used to be. We stare longingly at what life was and refuse to embrace what life is. When faced with a new normal, whether becoming single after years of marriage, getting laid off, or any circumstance we’d preferred not to have, it is impossible to thrive if you insist life must be what it once was in order for you to be happy and live successfully.

Is there a past situation you need to let go of in order to move into the future God has for you? What are you afraid will happen if you let go of it? What do you hope will happen if you open yourself up to a new but uncertain future? let us pray together:

Lord, although some doors have closed, help me face the future with a vision of better things to come. When I get stuck thinking about what “should have been” or “would have been,” please remind me of what “could be” if I embrace the future with faith. Today, I choose to trust that if the door is closed, it is not one You want me to walk through—at least not right now. I choose to believe that a better door can open eventually, but I will not see it if I’m staring at the closed one behind me. Help me bounce back from my disappointment. Strengthen me for the journey ahead. Amen.