Daily Devotions
This is a strange passage. Two times Jesus is trying to get His disciples to talk to Him, but they hold back and refuse!
The first time is understandable. Apparently the disciples heard Jesus’ words, decided He couldn’t possibly mean what it sounded like, and just … avoided asking Him anything, because they were afraid to hear more scary stuff. Maybe Jesus would say, “Yes, I really do mean I’m going to die!” So they kept silent.
The second time they refuse to answer, it’s because of embarrassment. Who wants to tell Jesus that you were arguing about who was the greatest? Not me!
We do this to Jesus too, don’t we? Have you never had something in your life you needed to pray about, but you didn’t—out of embarrassment, maybe, or because you were afraid you’d get an answer you didn’t want? And so you avoided the subject. But topics like that have a tendency to fester.
Maybe that’s why Jesus forces the discussion, the second time with His disciples. I don’t know if He was using His omniscience or just His sharp ears, but clearly He knows what the problem is, and He knows what they need to hear for their own wellbeing. And that’s true for our problems as well. If we can’t bring ourselves to open the subject, sooner or later He will—because He loves us. And He will see to it that we get the help we need, one way or another.
What a wonderful Lord and Savior we have, who cares for us so greatly that He notices even what we are not saying—and helps us! And no wonder, because He is the one who noticed us in the first place when we didn’t even belong to Him yet—when we were caught in sin, trapped by the power of evil, needing a rescuer. And so He became our Savior. He came into our world to give Himself as a ransom for our sake, to set us free to be children of God. His death means our everlasting life; and His resurrection means ongoing care and mercy for us. Because He understands—and cares for us.
WE PRAY: Lord, You know what I need to talk to You about. Please help me! Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
1. What kinds of things do people in general not want to talk about with God?
2. Why?
3. Are you avoiding one of these issues right now? If so, ask the Lord to help you bring it into the open.