From the Heart by B.Demaere

  None is Diminished We all go through hard times, even John the Baptist, the cousin of the Lord Jesus ended up in prison and probably wondered why it was happening to him. Nevertheless, as this passage shows neither Jesus nor John had diminished in each other’s estimation.   The situation John found himself in didn’t affect his identity.   Jesus still thought of him to be greater than a prophet and Jesus encouraged John to look at Jesus in the same way because the Kingdom was growing because of Jesus, he was the Messiah. When John who was in prison heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him. “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see.   The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.   Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.          

  Moment of Truth (Luke 23:38-43)   Many times, while Jesus was condemned, he was challenged on his ability to save himself if he was…the king or the Messiah (v.38,39) Because of ignorance, many did not know the purpose of Jesus was to save the world, namely you and me.   He came as the Saviour of the world, and he was not going to deviated from that mission.   Now that he was on that Cross with some criminal, he had to die to fulfill that mission to completion.   This was nothing more than a temptation from Satan to stop him short of his goal.   Do you find that Satan tries that one on you too stopping you short of your goal sometime? You see, you are not alone in your temptations, the whole world and especially Jesus had to go through them as well. The one criminal who was crucified with Jesus did not fear God or respected him at all.   He was the one who challenged Jesus to save himself if he was the Messiah. But the other criminal acknowledged Jesus’s innocence and was sa