Today’s scripture: Matthew 20:29-34 (ESV-text and audio) (KJV) (The Message) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Ben Lamb):
Today’s passage is one that I’d never noticed before. Although it’s inconceivable to me how a group of people who accompanied Jesus could stoop to telling anyone to scram from Jesus’ presence, it’s those two shunned people that grabbed my attention.
They faced opposition from the majority of the people around them. I looked up “rebuke” in Encarta and found this: to criticize or reprimand someone, usually sharply. Yet, these gentlemen didn’t argue or respond in a similar manner with the misguided masses. Instead, they remained focused on the goal at hand, which was to seek out Jesus.
As we see, it paid off. I suspect the crowd also learned a lesson as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if a couple of crowd members later had the following conversation:
Shamus: Did you see that? Jesus went and healed those two stalkers!
OnMeUs: Yeah. I thought we were doing him a favor by keeping the riffraff away. Hmmm. Maybe the Son of God decided they were decent folk in spite of what we thought.
Shamus: I hate to admit it, but that seems to be quite an accurate assessment.
OnMeUs: I wonder how many other people we’ve rebuked have ended up actually following our group-think directives and simply turned away from Jesus? They must have totally missed out on the wonderful experience of being in his presence and learning what he wanted to do for them.
Shamus: You were reading my mind. I wish we could go back and retract those rebukes. We ought to be more kind and compassionate to people who are trying to follow Jesus. We need to be more…
OnMeUs: Christ-like. As in “Do unto others what you would like for them to do for you.” Say, isn’t that a direct quote from Jesus himself?
Shamus: Exactly.
Thought for the day: Although we can’t be literal “followers” of Christ in the Nikes-on-the-road sense anymore, we can be spiritual followers of Christ, via the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The net effect is identical.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.