Jesus Loves Even Me
But Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I will give you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” (Acts 3:6)
In Ancient Israel, if you were not physically capable of working (meaning you had some type of disability), you were often put out into the street to beg. You were often treated as the losest of the low and looked down upon by those who were not limited in their abilities. Many of these people were desperate for some compassion and some relief from their struggles.
And Jesus came and gave many of them that compassion and relief as he healed their limitations. But when Jesus ascended into heaven, those miracles didn’t stop. As Peter and John entered the temple to pray, they were given the opportunity to share the gospel message through a man who was lame from birth. The miracle that they performed opened the door for them to share with the people in the temple that Jesus was Messiah, the anointed one of God.
If you’ve ever worked with differently-abled people, you know what a joy it can be. Their simple faith to trust Jesus can be the best remedy when we begin to overthink and question God’s Word. We can learn from them to trust that God is in control. We can learn to share God’s saving message with confidence because of the joy that it brings. Many differently-abled people understand the comfort and the compassion of Jesus because they know what it is like to be rejected and forgotten. They know what it’s like to be looked at differently and even mistreated. But Jesus doesn’t do that. Instead, he looks at us all as his children. He died to pay for all our sins and to give us a heavenly family, no matter what our abilities are. As a church, we try to show that same love that Jesus showed when he was here on earth. Amen.
If you’ve never heard of it, or want more information on how we can show those with different abilities this love that comes through Jesus, WELS has a program called Jesus Cares. It seeks to help those who are differently-abled and give them a worship format that is adapted to meet their abilities. You can learn more at https://www.tlha.org/jesus-cares-ministries/.
The song for today is “Jesus Loves Me” by Joey+Rory