He Came To Save Us

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:17

Good morning on this final day of November! Imagine the junior Pharisees watching Jesus as He walked into the public tavern, certain in their minds that soon the sinners would be fleeing the place. Surely a stern modification of behavior was coming forth! It did, and soon the junior Pharisees would hear Jesus telling those sick from their sin and saved only in Him to not be like the Pharisees. What?!

In a time when people were much like us, Jesus came to save the lost sheep of Israel. The physician went straight to the sick, or at least those of the sick who would behold their sickness and reach out to Him for salvation. The powers of the land of God's chosen people refused to believe that they could be sick at all. Was not their behavior above reproach? Nope, Jesus reproached it several times in His ministry. Did not the strict obedience to the Law of Moses and a multitude of additional traditions save them? Nope, Jesus told one of their big dogs - the teacher of Israel - that he must be born again and start from a new beginning. Religion, surely that would do it, right? Nope, Jesus told His disciples to beware the yeast of the Pharisees.

They too needed a Savior, and He stood right in front of them. The powers that ruled in the province of Judea would refuse our Lord and kill Him, and He would rise again and send out His messengers to the Gentiles. And in our multitudes we have been saved by our Lord Jesus! Praise God for Him as we celebrate His birth in this season of the year.

Bucky