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198
Humble Hero
when God was with them in the flesh, and they did not recognize
Him.
These things made Jesus’ path thorny. Christ was so pained
by being misunderstood in His own home that it was a relief to go
where such misunderstanding did not exist. He loved to visit the
home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, because in the atmosphere of
faith and love, His spirit had rest. Yet often He could find relief only
in being alone and communicating with His Father.
Those who are called to endure misunderstanding and distrust in
their own homes for Christ’s sake may find comfort in the thought
that Jesus endured the same. He invites them to find companionship
in Him and relief in sharing their hearts’ concerns with the Father.
Those who accept Christ are not left as orphans, to bear trials
alone. He invites them as members of the heavenly family to call
His Father their Father. He has great tenderness for them, far more
than what our father or mother felt toward us in our helplessness.
When a Hebrew had been forced to sell himself as a slave because
of poverty, the duty of redeeming him fell to his nearest relative.
See
Leviticus 25:25, 47-49
;
Ruth 2:20
. So the work of redeeming
us fell on Him who is a “close relative” to us. Christ became our
“redeeming relative.” Closer than father, mother, brother, friend, or
lover is the Lord our Savior. We cannot understand this love, but we
can know it to be true in our own experience.
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