Persecution is taking place in and around Jerusalem with the aim of taking out the church and shutting down the name of Jesus. One of the leaders of the movement against the church is on his way to arrest believers 135 miles from home when all of a sudden his story is interrupted by the grace of Jesus.
Jesus follows up the Sermon on the Mount with two encounters with people that were very much different and yet very much alike. The end result? Jesus breaks social and religious boundaries in order to show mercy, and prove that he has the power to overcome death.
What does Jesus mean when he tells us "Don't judge"? What does he mean by "get the beam out of your own eye"? Are we supposed to just mind our own business and never speak into anyone's life?
The gospel is good news to real sinners. It's not the powerful, the perfect, the put-together who are shoo-ins to the kingdom of heaven. How do we know? Look at the birth of Jesus!
When you move from one house to the next, you have to put the old one in the rear view mirror. You can’t go back and help yourself to what’s in the fridge. Believer’s baptism is a public expression of leaving the old self behind, and walking in the newness of life.
Maybe you’ve had computer problems before, and someone told you, “Have you tried turning it off, and turning it back on again?” Sometimes a reboot helps solve the problem. What would happen if this virus/quarantine/etc is part of God’s merciful reboot in our lives? Shutting things down so that we learn to view them rightly?