Matthew 4:23-25
Jesus is moving amid the people, healing, teaching, and preaching everywhere while gaining quite the reputation. More and more people seek out and follow this nobody from nowhere who has become somebody whose message permeates everywhere.
The crowds who follow Jesus live in a world full of hardship. They are tired and broken, bound by systems of oppression and downtrodden by disease. They are the dirty, the sick, the guilty, the average. They follow their fragile thread of hope to see Jesus.
Jesus reaches out his hand and heals those who have been condemned to pain. He speaks and truth pours out, revealing a Kingdom greater than the world understands. Jesus introduces us to God, who meets us right where we are in the messiness of our humanity. Jesus uncovers our blessedness and reminds us that we are not stuck in our failures. In God, we have hope in our present and the promise of a future blessing.
We may have walked away from our sense of God’s blessing. Maybe we feel like sinners or outcasts. Maybe we feel too normal or too boring. Maybe we can’t get past our insecurities, addictions, bad habits, or bitter relationships. Jesus meets us in the midst of those feelings of pain and inadequacy. Jesus understands our humanity and reveals what God can create through us. God will turn our human experience into abundant life. Jesus speaks and reminds us: even when we feel unworthy, God pours out blessing for us to receive.
Consider
What parts of my life do I consider unworthy of God’s blessing? What would it look like for me to turn these parts of my life over to God?
Pray
God, you know all of my thoughts and experiences. Allow me to know your presence in every part of my life. Open my heart to receive your blessing. Amen.