Everybody (even tremendous men of God like John) occasionally fails and falls short. But, rather than react with disgust and crushing condemnation, Jesus responds with compassionate, timely, real answers. The only folks who will not receive this kind of mercy are the kind of people Luke writes about as the narrative continues: the Pharisees and “experts” in the law who refused John’s message that Jesus was Israel’s Messiah (Luke 7:30).
Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless — cheerfully.
In his classic book The Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman makes this observation: “What is more revealing about the disciples is that at first they don’t impress us as being key men. None of them occupied prominent places in the Synagogue, nor did any of them belong to the Levitical priesthood. For the most part, they were common laboring men, probably having no professional training beyond the rudiments of knowledge necessary for their vocation. Perhaps a few of them came from families of some considerable means, such as the sons of Zebedee, but none of them could have been considered wealthy. They had no academic degrees in the arts and philosophies of their day."
Peter, a proud, strong-willed man, was nevertheless called by Jesus to be a disciple. Over time and devotion to Christ he became humble, penning these words in his first letter: “…God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time” (I Peter 5:5-6).
Do you need forgiveness this day? Perhaps there’s someone you need to forgive — someone waiting for you to release them. Maybe God has been waiting for you to give what you’ve been given so that you can receive what the paralytic (Mark 2) received: healing.