5.23-Jesus loved a lot of different kinds of people.

5.23-

Jesus loved people who were super religious people. Some have been mostly helped by “religion” and rarely hurt. They have a view of religion set by their own view of their own congregation and fellowship. They see the good and experience the good and to them religion has been a good thing.

He loved people who were not religious at all. Toxic abuse has happened to some people at church. Women and children have been bullied and abused or even discounted and ignored. To these people religion is something that hurts people. The religious people whom Jesus taught would get furious at him and try to kill him.

He loved people who loved the Scriptures. I came from a family that loved the Bible. We went to Bible classes to learn all of the great stories of God’s love for people. One of these is the story of a widow who was almost out of food. A prophet of God came by and ask for some food. He promised her that if she would make him some bread and give it to him that God would provide for her and the flour would not run out. God provided for the widow, the prophet Elijah and the food did not run out.

Mother and dad loved those who taught Scripture from our local church. Our uncle Bob, Robert Wishard, was a main teacher and preacher at our church when we didn’t have visiting preachers. The visiting preachers were invited to come home with us and eat whatever we had. Then the preacher would take a nap and then get up and prep for the evening lesson. Dad and mom helped the ministers of the Gospel.

It is no surprise that four of their kids and grandkids became ministers or Christian counselors. Jesus was for sincere, honest teachers of Scripture. He was opposed to those who used this role to abuse and hurt other people. He loved them enough to tell the false teachers that they needed to change their ways.

1 Kings 17.

17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of ^[a]the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” ² The word of the Lord came to him, saying, ³ “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is ^[b]east of the Jordan. ⁴ It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” ⁵ So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is ^[c]east of the Jordan. ⁶ The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. ⁷ It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁹ “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” ¹⁰ So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a ^[d]jar, that I may drink.” ¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” ¹² But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no ^[e]bread, only a handful of flour in the ^[f]bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering ^[g]a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.” ¹³ Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from ^[h]it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. ¹⁴ For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The ^[i]bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil ^[j]be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’” ¹⁵ So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. ¹⁶ The ^[k]bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil ^[l]become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.

Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son

¹⁷ Now it came about after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. ¹⁸ So she said to Elijah, “What do I have to do with you, O man of God? ^[m]You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death!” ¹⁹ He said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰ He called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am ^[n]staying, by causing her son to die?” ²¹ Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray You, let this child’s life return ^[o]to him.” ²² The Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child returned ^[p]to him and he revived. ²³ Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” ²⁴ Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”