Matthew 12:9-21.
The Pharisees, still fixated on obedience to the rules, ask Jesus if it’s lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Jesus says yes and heals a man’s hand.
The Pharisees begin to plot Jesus’ death. Jesus leaves, many follow him, and he heals all their sick, warning them to keep quiet about it.
Matthew then quotes a passage from the book of Isaiah about Jesus as the beloved servant of God who does not quarrel nor shout and does not break bruised reeds or snuff out smoldering wicks.
I’ve been reading Jim Bakker’s book I Was Wrong, the story of his long fall from the heights of a hugely successful television ministry to the depths of prison for six years.
It’s a fascinating story of how God took everything away from a man, including his wife who divorced him, in order to get his attention.
In the midst of his self-pity, despair, his sense of unfair treatment, and depression, Bakker came to see that Jesus wanted an intimate relationship with him.
God wanted Bakker to understand that he is concerned about a man’s spiritual fruits not his works.
God seeks to grow spiritual character in those he chooses.
Bakker’s story resonates with me because, though I didn’t fall as far or as suddenly as
Bakker or go to prison like him, I did fall a long way and I did lose everything but my freedom.
Interestingly, we both lived in grief, denial and despair for the same six years.
It was a time of terrible testing.
But God didn’t snuff me out!
He tested me to the very edge of my faith where I stared at the ragged edge of the universe and beyond it into nothing.
But He didn’t break me in half.
He didn’t throw me away.
He sent me to Wooridle Church to begin to see who I am through his holy word.
He sent me there to grow spiritual character through more tests.
Jim Bakker found his Wooridle in prison, the daily reading of the word, the meditation on it, the finding of his sins, the re-interpretation of his life in the words of Jesus.
There is no special life but there is God’s love.
Lord, help me share some of my story tomorrow with my teachers at the faculty meeting.
Let me be gentle and humble, and let me not snuff out the smoldering wicks in the teachers who are struggling.
