Scripture

“Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.‘” Matthew 11:4-5

Reflections

How do you picture God?  As one who is too high and mighty to even care about someone as lowly as yourself?

John the Baptist was in prison.  In a moment of doubt, he started to wonder if Jesus was the promised one to come or if they should be waiting for another.  Jesus answered by naming the kinds of things he had been doing, living a life of love, caring for those in need.  Jesus is the one who enters into the worst of our worst, when we are weak and helpless, when our physical bodies are failing us, when we are guilty of wrong, when we are in a funk, when we are really down and out.

Surprisingly, this is the very point at which the imprisoned John found himself in complete solidarity with all those in need, the poor and lame and outcast.  For John, like them, found himself at a place in life when he could boast of nothing except his dependence on God’s own grace and mercy and protection.

Jesus didn’t come into our world to dominate it.  He didn’t come into our world to exploit it.  He came into our world to live his love for us.  As we sing in the Christmas carol, “Christ was born to save.”

Prayer

Lord God, thank you for being my example of a life of love.  Open my eyes to those in need that your love might flow through me.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Full Reading: Matthew 11:2-11