Today Daily Devotional

In our reading today, Jesus is calling Peter back into service, showing that he has forgiven Peter for his hasty denials when Jesus was arrested. That night, Peter had denied three times that he even knew Jesus, even though he was one of Jesus’ closest disciples (Luke 22:54-62).

We might think that Peter’s sin was unforgivable, but Jesus turned the other cheek and not only forgave Peter but also restored him as a leader. We witness Jesus inviting Peter not once, not twice, but three times to reaffirm his love and allegiance. Then Jesus commissions Peter to follow him faithfully, all the way to death if necessary. And history shows that is what Peter did.

In a time of “cancel culture,” Peter’s role would likely have ended and his name might have been erased from Scripture. But we read of his many actions as a disciple of Christ, both good and bad, and of his leadership in the church (see Matthew–Acts and 1-2 Peter). His mistakes and sins did not define him, but instead God used those experiences to shape Peter as a leader.

Our Christian leaders and friends can let us down and dis­appoint us too. Forgiveness may seem undeserved. Yet none of us is beyond the reach of God’s grace for wretches like me or you.

As we think about the neighbors we are called to love and respect for Jesus’ sake, it’s important to remember that our leaders are our neighbors too.

Most of us appreciate good leadership and generally look up to our leaders. So it’s very important for leaders to serve faithfully. To the best of their ability, they need to earn and maintain the trust that people have in them.

Most of us also realize that being a leader is not easy. Lead­ers are appointed or elected to guide us in making decisions and moving us ahead as a community. And they are called to lead wisely in times of crisis and struggle.

In our church communities today, as in the time when Hebrews was written, we have Christian pastors and other religious leaders. And we need to love, respect, and pray for them as they aim to lead with godly wisdom.

Sadly, many Christians today are polarized over vaccinations, racial justice, climate change, sexuality, and more. Within these tensions, it can be espe­cially difficult for Christian leaders to call people to follow Jesus in practical ways without fallout from the right or the left.

Let’s pray faithfully for our religious leaders. May they serve boldly and wisely in calling us “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with [our] God” (Micah 6:8).

Social media does not provide a healthy setting for Christian debate on controversial ­issues. It’s too easy for users to sound off with hurtful words over people’s interpretations of Scrip­ture, judging them to be dead wrong or even devil-led.

Imagine such an online debate between people who believed in Christ’s resurrection and those who considered it fake news. Thankfully, the calm, respectful discussion we find on the road to Emmaus invites a genuine discovery of the truth. Where these two gathered, Jesus showed up and was there with them (see Matthew 18:20; 28:20).

God designed that his people would live, learn, and grow together in community. None of us has perfect knowledge of God’s Word, but we gain insight by studying it with ­others. “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).

I have participated in many small groups in which we studied the Bible, which is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16), and applied it to life situations. As a pastor, I do not have all of the answers, but I have found that when we communally seek to know him better, Jesus joins us and we sense his presence.

As Christ-followers, we can scare people away with our insistence on being right, or we can attract people with our invitation to walk and learn together with Jesus as our guide.

The 20-year-old son of my dear friends died suddenly in a skateboarding accident, causing their world to stop and flooding them with a tsunami of grief. Their beloved son with his joy-filled, larger-than-life personality was gone. I believe Jesus weeps with them.

I can imagine my friends running up to Jesus like Martha and Mary did and blurting out, “Where were you? If you had only been here, our son would still be alive!” It’s no wonder the mourners there wondered why Jesus, who had healed blind people, did not keep Lazarus from dying.

For many of us, weeping at a funeral comes naturally; we feel compassion for those who are grieving. We are moved by their tears. Death is a harsh reality on this side of eternity. It’s not the way things are supposed to be.

Not all tears move us, how­ever. The sobbing of a teen who is pregnant, a mother whose son was racially profiled, a protester who was sprayed with tear gas, or a mass shooter who was bullied in school might generate judgment instead. Do we reserve our sympathy for the innocent and like-minded? Christians are called to weep with all who weep, as ­modeled by Christ, who saw broken people as sheep without a shepherd.

Doctors removed a big chunk of flesh from my lower leg when I had melanoma, so my stitched-up ankle was tightly wrapped for weeks. My loving husband would get on his knees, unwrap my bandages and hand-wash my sweaty foot. It was a smelly exercise in humility.

In Jesus’ day, when people wore sandals and traveled everywhere on foot, it was a habit of hospitality for household servants to wash the dust-caked feet of all who entered. It would be unthinkable—even shameful—for a person of status to carry out such a menial task. Surely not the Son of God! That’s why Peter protested to Jesus, “No . . . you shall never wash my feet.”

But Jesus had important things to teach—and especially to show that in the kingdom of God, servants and masters are brothers and sisters, and teachers and students respect one another. Male and female, citizens and immigrants, homeowners and homeless, people from every tribe and language and nation—all rank as equals in God’s family.

Jesus, by far the greatest person to ever walk the earth, humbled himself even to death for a bunch of ungrateful sinners. And he not only instructs his followers to imitate his servant heart, but he also promises that we will be blessed in doing so. In what ways can we serve ­others?

Jesus is light.

The book of John introduces Jesus this way: “In him was life, and that life was the light of all people” (John 1:4). Later Jesus described himself with similar words: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Jesus also said, “You are the light of the world”—and he was talking about all who follow him. This does not mean we are the light source as Jesus is; but in this way Jesus challenged his followers to reflect his light. When Jesus lives in our hearts and guides our actions, people around us see his light reflected in us.

When our family lived in New Mexico, we saw many Navajo hooghans—one-room dwellings with one lamp for the entire house. This setting, unlike other homes with many rooms, helps us understand Jesus’ teaching about a lamp that “gives light to everyone in the house.”

A dear colleague shared about a special moment he had with his mother just before he was ordained as a minister. She said she was proud of him and prayed that he would have a successful ministry. “But always remember,” she said, “the person you really are is the person you are at home.”

May Jesus shine brightly through you—especially at home.

Jesus came into the world to become the Lamb of God who would die for all our sins. This is why he made his final trip to Jerusalem, why he had his final lessons and prayers with his disciples, and why he went to Gethsemane to pray: His time had come!

Jesus told his closest followers, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” Acutely aware of his impending death on the cross, he asked his friends, “Stay here and keep watch with me.” Pray with me. Please!

Though our own experiences cannot compare to what Jesus went through, we can follow his example and ask others for prayer.

Fifty years ago, when I was a pastor in New Mexico, I had gallbladder surgery, and my recovery went poorly. One morning the surgeon said to my wife, “Now don’t you cry, or I’ll start crying too.” I was "standing in the need of prayer" for my body and my spirit.

During my weeks in the hospital, one of my faithful visitors was an unassuming Christian man, Coolidge Begay. Living in a Navajo family camp south of Gallup, twice my age and with limited English, he came faithfully to sit and pray with me.

When your neighbor is in trouble, regardless of what you can or can’t do for them, you can pray!

The roofs of thousands of Florida homes were badly damaged by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Soon afterward, a humorous story circulated about three mothers in a restaurant. One spoke proudly of her lawyer son, and another of her son, a doctor. But when the third mother said that her son was a roofer, all the customers stormed her table to ask for his phone number.

James and John did not yet understand what Jesus was all about—but they knew it was BIG, and they wanted a special place in whatever it was. So their mother made this special request: “Make my boys your number one and your number two!”

The ten other disciples were furious, because they too wanted to be first in Jesus’ order of power and privilege.

Jesus called a meeting to clarify his guiding principles. In government and most other systems, the highest positions have the greatest authority—but “not so with you,” Jesus said. To follow Jesus is to love your neighbors for his sake. A top follower of Jesus is a top servant.

This is the lesson Jesus reiterated when he washed his disciples’ feet, the night before he went to the cross: “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:15).

This lakeside town had an unusual problem. Visitors were sometimes met by a naked man who screamed at people! He would be bound in chains and placed under guards, only to break free and roam around again.

But things were different when Jesus came. The demons possessing this man knew Jesus and were afraid of him. Incredibly, Jesus healed the man by allowing the demons to go into a herd of pigs. And the next thing we know, the man was “sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind.”

A crowd gathered. They saw the man in his right mind. They saw the pigs drowned and floating in the water. They saw Jesus. And how did they react? They were terrified, and instead of welcoming Jesus to their neighborhood, they asked him to leave!

How did the healed man respond? He begged to stay with Jesus! But Jesus told him to go back to the very people who had asked him to leave, and to tell them all about what God had done for him.

Now here is good news: Jesus still changes lives today—some­times quietly in faithful Christian living, and sometimes dramatically through a radical life change.

What kind of neighbors are we? When we see Jesus at work, do we shut down in fear, or do we speak up about what the Lord is doing for us?

Some offenses are so deeply hurtful that it can take time and healing to be ready to let them go.

In Jesus’ parable, the debt that the unforgiving servant had built up was a huge one, yet the king had compassion and released him of all obligation. That guy represents you and me. While we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us, to pay the debt for all our sin against God (Romans 5:8-11). We have been set free!

As people who have been given a clean slate, can we, in turn, forgive others who have sinned against us? That’s much easier said than done, especially when the world tells us to stand up for our rights, get revenge, and cut ties with anyone who hurts us. In cases of abuse or danger, we do need to maintain safety, but to hold on to hatred makes us miserable.

There was a man who nearly destroyed my life. It took many years before I could tell him, in the presence of others, that God has helped me to forgive him. In response to God’s grace, how could I not do that?

Forgiveness means loving our enemies. Forgiveness means swallowing our pride. For­give­ness means trusting God with the outcome.