Reflection for the Week

In the Old Testament, one kind of suffering after another befell Job, who did not hold back his distress when he prayed! (Job lived to see abundant blessings again.) Although not part of God’s “chosen people,” a Gentile woman wanted Jesus to cure her daughter. The Lord compared obliging her to giving food meant for children to the dogs. She asked again, begging for a “table scrap” of His help. (Jesus worked the miracle.) Some scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus why disciples of His skipped ritual handwashing before meals. Jesus brought

In accordance with Mosaic law, Mary and Joseph presented Jesus in the synagogue, where a man named Simeon recognized Him as the awaited Christ. As an adult, back in his hometown of Nazareth, Jesus’ wisdom and works astonished people who knew Him as the son of the carpenter and Mary. A synagogue official did not give up hope after receiving word that his daughter had died. A woman touched Jesus’ cloak and had her hope of healing fulfilled. The Lord welcomes trust in Him, even if we approach Him in prayer as a last resort. Jesus sent the Twel

Four fishermen (Peter, Andrew, James, and John) abandoned their boats and nets to see what Jesus wanted. One day, Jesus got into a boat with the Disciples “just as He was,” tired enough to sleep through a gale and crashing waves. The Disciples woke Him, afraid of perishing at sea and—worse yet—afraid that the Lord didn’t care. After His Ascension, Jesus has not stopped calling people to follow Him. On the road to Damascus, it took a blinding light and the voice of Jesus for a merciless Pharisee to change his ways and eventually become

Jesus got so crazy-busy that relatives wanted to rescue Him from the crowds pressing for His help. At times, He and the Disciples could not even manage a quick meal. Nevertheless, Scripture describes Pharisees objecting when the Lord allowed the Disciples to pick and eat heads of grain as they walked along on a Sabbath day. Jesus cured a man’s withered hand right in the synagogue, after Pharisees declined to say whether keeping the Sabbath prevented doing something good. Like new cloth that would pull at a tear if used to patch old fabric, or

Jesus had no need for a baptism of repentance but went to the Jordan River to fulfill the revelation promised to John the Baptist. The Holy Spirit came upon Jesus like a dove, and a voice from heaven proclaimed Him the beloved Son. Others would later come to believe because of the way Jesus taught or the miracles He worked. When the Lord went to a deserted place to pray, people looked for Him. In Capernaum, four men lowered a paralytic through the roof to get close to Jesus, who forgave the paralyzed man’s sins first and then cured Him as a s

Mary and Jesus raised their Son in a devout family. Jesus grew in strength and wisdom, but also in obedience to His parents—a humbling experience for the Son of God! Only about six months older than Jesus, John the Baptist began his public ministry first. He preached repentance and paved the way for the One on whom he would see the Holy Spirit come. John’s open acknowledgement of Jesus as the Son of God took courage! Newly called as an Apostle, Philip took Nathanael to meet the Lord. Quickly realizing that Jesus already knew him, Nathanael,

On the night of the Lord’s birth, glad tidings from heaven revealed that shepherds would find the newborn Savior lying in a manger in Bethlehem. Imagine their confusion when contrasting the glory of heaven to seeing Jesus cradled in a feeding trough. During the ritual presentation of a firstborn son in the Temple, a holy man named Simeon told Mary and Joseph that he recognized Jesus as the awaited Christ. An angel warned Joseph to take the Holy Family to Egypt before Herod could have the Child slain. When, at last, Jesus and His family return