“… came to Him …”
Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. 30 Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. 31 The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
(Matthew 15:29-31; NIV. Please read Matthew 14-15 … at least a couple of times.)
When Jesus sat down … available … “great crowds came to Him”.
It was not the hale and hearty … not the wise and wealthy … not the sophisticated and successful that came to Him. It was the lame, the cripple, and the blind. It was those who knew that they needed Him … had no other hope … and in this case had someone that cared about them enough to get them to Jesus.
Of course, Jesus gave them what they needed, and they left walking … talking … hearing … seeing … rejoicing. No wonder the people were amazed.
I am too.
ON SECOND THOUGHT: What would happen if a church, the body of Christ, decided to welcome the folks that “needed’ Jesus most? Would they find help … strength … joy … life … love? And if so, would we not all be amazed?
July 20, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I think I saw this weekend what God does when people who need to rest … find such a place. When people who need someone to just let them talk … find such a place. When people who need to be loved by a Jesus that forgives sins and gives life … find such a place.
We are not able to help lame people walk. But we can help people walking down a lonely path … find a better one. We are not able to make blind people see, but we can help people living in darkness find the light. We may not be able to help a mute person speak again … but we are able to help someone who has sat silently … hurting inside for so long … find a voice that is able to speak their pain so they can begin to heal.
I have been amazed at the chain reaction that has taken place in a family of people that just needed to catch their breath. Lives have been changed … strength has been gained … love has been shared … and the joy continues to grow.
July 20, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Never before have I seen the hand of God working so obviously in the people around me!! Probably because I wasn’t paying attention…probably because I didn’t believe that God would do things in such a way. But I have seen a group of people welcome those that are hurting (they welcomed me) give them time and opportunity to rest and heal (they gave me that same opportunity). God has worked out issues and strengthened hearts…God has solved problems that seemed overwhelming.(He did that for me as well). And all of this …in my own life..and in the people I have seen come to find Jesus….all of it is simply AMAZING!! God is so good! Isn’t He??
Jesus is what people need. If we can allow hurting broken bruised people a chance to get to see Him and know Him, they will fall in love with Him. He will heal them, just as he healed the blind and the lame. And it is amazing to watch!