word4U2day

2026-10-10

Beginning of the End (4)

Matthew 24:14 NKJV

Terrible things do happen to people (and sometimes particularly Christians) across the world. It's probably impossible to read the last few days of the Word4U2Day and come to any other conclusion. So. How do we respond? Jesus' first followers give us some examples of how not to. Peter responded to a violent assault on Jesus with some unwanted sword action, and one of the mob lost an ear. So Jesus immediately put the brakes on Peter's revenge rampage, and healed the guy's ear. Fast-forward a few months and Jesus has died, risen, and left His Spirit with His followers. Suddenly they're all acting very differently.

No more blade-wielding Peter. No more revenge quests: the disciples saw themselves and all other human beings on a level playing field, all in need of the living God to come and help them. In the book of Acts you see them reaching out with Christ's own compassion to help and heal others, and boldly telling others that Jesus is Lord. They prayed for their own jailers and torturers. Things had changed. Because the disciples saw how much they themselves needed the Gospel, they saw everyone's need for the Gospel. Their eyes were opened to the weakness of all humans. Henri Nouwen puts it like this: 'In the face of the oppressed I recognize my own face and in the hands of the oppressor I recognise my own hands. Their flesh is my flesh, their blood is my blood, their pain is my pain, their smile is my smile.'

Links to Bible verses: Holy Bible

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