All these verses in Luke cover four main points. First of all they show Jesus as the fine flour. He is so fine and balanced. Luke 2:40 says, “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.” He was growing, but He was also strong in spirit. Sometimes the young ones grow physically, but they are not strong in spirit. With Jesus there was not only the growth in His physical life, but also the strengthening in His spirit. He was so balanced, even with the four things in this one verse. He grew and waxed strong in spirit. He was full of wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him. He had growth, a strong spirit, wisdom, and the grace of God. He was really balanced, not only in two or three ways, but in four ways.
The same chapter in Luke tells us that when He was twelve years of age, He knew how to care for His Father’s will and yet at the same time be subject to His natural parents. He both rebuked His parents and was subject unto them. He asked, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49). Yet verse 51 says that He went with them and was subject unto them. Do you see the balance? Some young people may say, “I am for God; I do not care for my parents.” Yes, they are for God, but they are not balanced. When they are still under age, as Jesus was when He was twelve, they must be for God, yet at the same time be subject to their parents. So many young people are for Jesus, but in a rough way. They are not fine and balanced.
Luke 2:52 says that Jesus as a child found favor with both God and man. To find favor with God is one thing, but to find favor with man is another. Jesus was so balanced, so fine, and so even, but we are so unbalanced. We may be good, but in an unbalanced way; thus we are not the fine flour, but the coarse flour. When the Lord Jesus was young, He was wholly for His heavenly Father, yet He was willing to be balanced.
We really see Jesus as the fine flour in the Gospel of Luke. He rejoiced, but He also wept. I am afraid that many of us have never wept, and some in the past years have never rejoiced. We are not so balanced. Some are too quiet and need to make a little noise, and some noisy ones need to be quieter. We all must be balanced. Luke 10:21 says that Jesus rejoiced in spirit, but it was not for Himself; He rejoiced in the will of God. “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.” He rejoiced because the Father had revealed all these things to the babes. Luke 19:41 says that He wept over Jerusalem: “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it.” He was not weeping for Himself, but for the situation of the city of Jerusalem.
We all must be balanced. When we need to rejoice, we must rejoice. When we need to weep, we must weep. Jesus, the balanced man, lives today in us! The very Jesus who is our life is the rejoicing One as well as the weeping One. If we have never rejoiced, if we have never wept, it simply proves that we are not experiencing the man Jesus as our life. If we do take Him as our life, when He weeps, we will weep; when He rejoices, we will rejoice.
How we need to pray-read all these verses in Luke that we may really see Jesus as the fine flour! When He sent His disciples to a place in Samaria, the people rejected them. So the disciples said, “Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?” But He turned and rebuked them and said, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of” (Luke 9:54-55). He was so fine. Whether the people rejected Him or welcomed Him, He was continually the same. No rejection could irritate or offend Him. When people welcomed Him, He went away. “But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed” (Luke 5:15-16). We would think that when His fame grew it would be a great opportunity for Him to do something. But He withdrew Himself and went into the wilderness to pray. When people welcomed Him, He went away, and when people rejected Him, He was patient with them. All these verses reveal to us a man who is really the fine flour. He is so tender, so kind, so even, so balanced, so gentle, and so pure.
Home | First | Prev | Next