Advent Day 7: Read: Luke 7

Compassion. Jesus’ compassion is remarkable and stand out in this chapter. I want to draw your attention to two verses.

The chapter begins with a Roman officer asking Jesus to come and heal his slave. The respected Jewish leaders appealed to Jesus’ sense of justice saying the man “deserved” to have his servant healed.

But Jesus doesn’t heal based on what we deserve. He heals the slave because the Roman officer had faith.

Fast forward to the end of the chapter and you find Jesus eating dinner in the home of a Pharisee. An immoral woman comes and begins to wash his feet, wiping them with her hair and anointing him with expensive perfume. The host is appalled that Jesus would let her touch him. After all, she doesn’t “deserve” his attention.

Jesus turns it upside down, telling the host a story to emphasize that forgiveness isn’t based on what one deserves. He forgives the woman because of her faith.

Perhaps you are in a place where you don’t feel like you ‘deserve’ attention from Jesus. If you evaluate yourself according to the criteria of the world, you are probably right. But then, none of us deserve the kindness and compassion of the God of the universe. But Jesus doesn’t respond according to the criteria of the world. He has his own criteria and there is only one thing on his list – is there faith or not?

And that’s it folks!