It was a beautiful spring day masquerading as summer. I had my headphones in listening to my latest audiobook as I set out on the several-hour project of mowing our 8 acres. Less than an hour into my task, I started to hear it over the crappy muffler and my noise-canceling headphones. It sounded like mini gunshots, but I knew it was the engine missing.
Immediately, I disengaged the blades and headed for our outdoor spigot to spray the grass off and make sure the belts were all still attached. A few minutes later, I was back out in the yard without any issues. I made it another half hour before the sound started up again. I pulled back over to the spigot and attempted to clean the wet grass out from under the mower deck before heading back out.
I made it another half hour before it started missing again. This time I took the mower to the garage, jacked it up, and cleaned out the rest of the accumulated grass from underneath the mower deck. Confident I had finally solved the problem, I headed toward the back of our property. By the time I had made two swipes of the yard, the mower sounded like it was going to blow up. Deciding this problem was well above my pay grade, I disengaged the blades one final time and took the mower back to the garage where I parked it for Russ to figure out.
He went through the litany of things that could be wrong with the mower over the next few days, and none of them seemed to help. At this point, the panic began to set in. Kate was graduating in a week, and we were having her graduation party in our backyard–a backyard that needed to be mowed two more times before said party.
I had two options–the finishing mower on our tractor or the very small riding lawn mower sitting in the back of our yard. Neither were good options for me, but I had to do something, so I set out on the riding lawn mower.
4 hours into the seemingly endless mowing job, I heard a sound and noticed the blades were no longer cutting. Was this seriously happening? I drove the mower back to the garage and texted Russ that I had now successfully broken both mowers.
He was able to fix it quickly, and I headed back out to finish the job. 8 hours later, the yard was finally mowed, and my stress level was through the roof. I did not have another 12 hours to mow our yard before Kate’s graduation party, and the repair on our zero turn wasn’t going to be completed until well after the party.
Just when I thought my head was going to explode off my body, two things happened. First, our friend and neighbor noticed the situation from across the road and offered to mow our grass. He planned to mow his yard in the next couple of days and then head across the street and mow ours. Of course, that made me feel guilty because I knew he needed to mow his yard and didn’t have time to spend three hours mowing mine. I know, though, that he absolutely would have done it had another solution not presented itself.
Later that evening, we were at dinner with other dear friends, and they offered up their zero-turn mower that I didn’t even know they had. Within the hour, we were unloading their mower into our garage. Because of their hearts and action, my crisis was averted, the yard was mowed twice, and the graduation party went off in the backyard without a hitch.
They chose to speak hope and life into my seemingly dire situation through their actions.
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
We’re in the middle of Luke looking at what Jesus did when he was here on earth. In the last few weeks, we’ve talked about the different ways Jesus taught, healed, and helped others. Word of this and his reputation were spreading. Luke tells us what happens when John the Baptist’s disciples reported to him in prison:
John’s disciples reported to him in prison about all the wonderful miracles and the works Jesus was doing. So John dispatched two of his disciples to go and inquire of Jesus. When they came before the Master, they asked him, “Are you the coming Messiah we’ve been expecting, or are we to continue to look for someone else? John the prophet has sent us to you to seek your answer.”
Without answering, Jesus turned to the crowd and healed many of their incurable diseases. His miracle power freed many from their suffering. He restored the gift of sight to the blind, and he drove out demonic spirits from those who were tormented.
Only then did Jesus answer the question posed by John’s disciples. “Now go back and tell John what you have just seen and heard here today. The blind are now seeing. The crippled are now walking. Those who were lepers are now cured. Those who were deaf are now hearing. Those who were dead are now brought back to life. The poor and broken are given the hope of salvation. And tell John these words: ‘The blessing of heaven comes upon those who never lose their faith in me, no matter what happens.’ ” Luke 7:18-23 TPT
Here’s what I love about this story and Jesus in general–at the times when he could have responded with a sermon or empty words, he chose to respond with action.
Did you notice that?
When John’s disciples approached him and asked him if he was the coming Messiah, Jesus could have spoken of how he was fulfilling prophecy first, but he didn’t do that. He shows John’s disciples how he’s the fulfillment of prophecy first. Then, he explains.
He acts first.
Then, he speaks.
Actions That Offer Hope and Life
When I picture this scene, I can’t help but marvel at the beauty of it. These committed disciples of John show up where Jesus was with the crowd of people who were desperately trying to be close to him. When they question Christ, he responds by:
Healing their incurable diseases
Freeing them of their suffering
Restoring sight to the blind
Driving out demons
Christ goes beyond the physical healing, though. He offers life and salvation to the poor and broken. Hope and healing were no longer reserved for God’s chosen people, but it was a gift to everyone–to all of those poor and broken in the crowd.
That’s what I want my life to look like.
Those are the kind of people I want to surround myself with.
These are the kind of churches I want to be a part of.
I don’t want to get on my soapbox here about the church I grew up in, megachurches, or those churches that spend more time and money on themselves than they do on the poor and the broken. I do want to challenge you, though, to think about the example Jesus sets for us here. He spent his time:
Healing
Freeing people from their suffering
Speaking hope and life into others
Offering life and salvation to everyone he encountered
I don’t know about you, but that’s the example I want to follow, and it’s the example I want to see the churches and the people I align myself with following.
How We Offer Hope and Life to Others:
It might seem silly or even frivolous to compare Jesus’s gift of hope, salvation, and life to my friends offering me their mowers/mowing, and in some ways, it definitely is just that. However, those seemingly small or frivolous acts of service might be the very thing someone needs to ease their burden, offer them hope, and speak life into their chaos.
God gives us opportunities daily to speak hope and life into others–sometimes on a small scale and sometimes on a grand scale. We have to open our eyes to those situations, though. We have to want to speak hope and life into others before we can authentically follow this example of Jesus.
My challenge for you this week, friends, is to open your eyes and be aware of the opportunities you have to speak hope and life into the lives of those God intersects with you through your actions and not just your words. After all, my friends could have empathized with me, offered their apologies for the situation I found myself in, or even said the infamous “If there’s anything you need, just let us know.” They could have even offered their prayers for the solution to my problem. The example we have from Jesus goes beyond that empathy, those prayers, and those words, though. The example of Jesus speaks to our actions in these situations. Consequently, I pray that you see the ways you can:
Offer healing
Relieve suffering
Be hope
Be life
This might look like:
Bringing coffee to your coworkers
Offering to let your neighbors’ kids come to your house for an evening
Relieving a financial burden for someone
Inviting that annoying guy from the office to dinner
Serving at a food pantry
Donating to a food pantry
Loving on the least of these by joining a prison ministry, sending a care package to a widow/widower, providing backpacks and supplies to foster kids
Paying for a kid to go to camp
The opportunities are truly endless, friends, and I pray that we all start acting more and preaching a little less.
Reflections:
What’s one way you can offer hope and life to someone in your life this week?
What holds you back from offering hope and life?
What things do you need to change in your life, your family life, your church life so you can be more like Jesus?
Thanks for your post. I think often when we are thoughtful with practical needs of other it often opens doors to deeper relationships and grows trust - and when really serious stuff happens we will reach out to those who have been there all along!