To hear this Morning Devotion, please click here — Mirror ministry
Even though mirrors in Jesus’ day were an uncommon possession typically reserved for the wealthy, that didn’t keep the Messiah from helping countless people to see who they really were.
Some of those people, upon seeing their obvious spiritual defects, decided the problem wasn’t with themselves but instead with the mirror.
So they embraced the philosophy of trying to destroy the mirror rather than to correct their own flaws.
Luke 13 in today’s One-Year Bible reading records the story of a woman healed by Jesus after 18 years of demon-caused back problems. The healing occurred in a synagogue… on the Sabbath.
The cure was immediate.
And so was the backlash of legalism.
The synagogue ruler said that there were six other days in the week when the healing could have taken place and should not have occurred on the Sabbath.
It’s interesting to note that the synagogue ruler didn’t speak directly to Jesus the healer, but instead to the congregation.
That didn’t stop Jesus from pulling out the mirror.
“You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
“When He said this, all His opponents were humiliated, but the people were delight with all the wonderful things He was doing” (vv. 15-17).
Hypocrisy is a saddening strategy that still occurs on many occasions.
I’m sure that this embarrassed synagogue ruler did not sign up as a monthly supporter for Jesus’ ministry.
It’s very likely, instead, that he joined the long list of establishment enemies who yearned for the day when this hippie, street preacher with a brain would finally get what they believed He deserved.
I can just imagine this synagogue ruler being at the front of the crowd later shouting, “Crucify! Crucify!”
You know from your own life experience that Satan loves luring us into picking up bricks when others hold up a mirror.
I sure hope you don’t do this when loved ones and friends show you certain things about your life that need attention, yet your pride is wounded because somebody else thinks you dropped — or are dropping — the ball.
Join me in thanking God whenever He uses somebody else to reveal hypocrisy in our lives.
For until we see it, we can’t address it.
It’s SO much better to use bricks for repairing our houses of faith and bridges of influence rather than for throwing them at people who are simply trying to warn us of danger ahead.
As always, I love you
Martin
