Top X July 12, 2025 Devotional
July 12, 2025
MARK 1:14-15 | 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
JOHN 19:26-27 | 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
Jesus’ life illustrates many of the points we've been stressing this week. He honored His parents in a beautiful way by delaying His ministry until He was thirty, living in His obscure hometown and working as a carpenter to support his mother and His siblings after the death of His father Joseph (who is not mentioned after Jesus was 12).
He further honored His mother as He was dying on the cross, by assigning her care to His beloved disciple, John. In the midst of agony and suffering He thought of her welfare.
Yet when His ministry created controversy and His family wanted Him to stop to preserve His life, He refused. His innovations to inherited traditions shaped history’s greatest movement. His attitudes to Gentiles, food laws, lepers, and many other things were not learned at home.
What aspects of your inherited practices have you altered or shifted?
Gracious God,
Thank You for showing us how to honor our parents, through sacrifice and support. Thank You for all the ways You shifted traditions closer to divine values.
Amen.
