Pharisees and others clung to rigid observances, hoping that they could earn salvation. They challenged Jesus, asking why His disciples didn’t fast or why they unlawfully picked heads of grain to eat while walking along on the Sabbath. Noticing a man with a withered hand in the synagogue, the Lord saw no reason to wait until after the Sabbath to heal him. Jesus asked the Pharisees, but they refused to give their opinion. While Pharisees and Herodians then used the healing that day to plot against Jesus, throngs of others placed their hope in

Jesus invited Peter, Andrew, James, and John away from their fishing boats and nets to follow Him. After likewise calling the customs collector Matthew (Levi) away from his post, Jesus didn’t mind eating at his house among tax collectors and sinners. After a group of four men lowered a paralytic through the roof to reach Jesus, some scribes decried the Lord’s forgiveness of the man’s sins as blasphemy. Jesus then enabled the man to pick up his mat and walk. People at the synagogue recognized that Jesus taught with authority—an impressio

When Jesus blessed five loaves and two fish which then fed a crowd of thousands, even the Twelve didn’t grasp that He came to satisfy a deeper hunger. Jesus walked over the water to join the Disciples in a boat as they struggled to row against the waves. They thought they were seeing a ghost, and He had to calm them before calming the choppy water. Leprosy was incurable in biblical times, yet Jesus touched a leper who believed and cured him. Rather than becoming jealous, John the Baptist found joy in making way for the Lord. When we struggle

Shepherds had received a joy-filled message from heaven, announcing the birth of our Savior. They left in haste to see for themselves, found everything just as an angel had described, and shared what had been told to them. Years went by, and John the Baptist identified Jesus as the Son of God, who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. After hearing John’s proclamation, Andrew told His brother Simon Peter that he had found the Messiah. When Jesus invited Philip to follow Him, Philip went and got Nathanael to come, too. Having encountered the Lor

Suddenly, the night became glorious. An angel appeared, proclaiming the joyous news of our Savior’s birth. It must have seemed puzzling to the shepherds when the angel said that they would find the Lord in a manger (a manger? the feeding trough for livestock?!). In haste, the shepherds went to Bethlehem to see. Finding everything just as the angel had described, they glorified and praised God. Magi later came with gifts for the newborn King. During the ritual Presentation of the Lord in the temple, a holy man named Simeon recognized Jesus as

Scripture doesn’t tell us how Joseph came to know about Mary’s expected child. The news came as a shock, but an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream to reassure him. In faith, he then took Mary into their marital home and raised Jesus as his son. An angel also appeared to Zechariah, who doubted the message that his wife, Elizabeth, would bear a son to be named John. Zechariah lost the ability to speak until the day he gave his son the name declared by the angel. When unexpected news comes our way, how much convincing do we need t

When a determined group of men lowered a paralyzed man through the roof to bring him close to the Lord, Jesus rewarded their faith by healing the man spiritually and physically. The Virgin Mary responded in faith to the angel Gabriel’s message that she would give birth to the Son of God. Time went on, and John the Baptist lived and died in a way that prepared people to believe in the Lord as Jesus took every step on His way of bringing salvation to sinners. When we wonder what more God has in mind for us, do we open ourselves to His plan, no