Jesus Still has Need of You

Marty Gabler—Like Peter, scores of vanquished and beaten-down people have resigned themselves to obscurity and self-imposed penance. Their eyes once bright with hope and expectation are now dull with day-to-day sameness and lackluster existence. Rather than vibrantly walking out purpose as a daily-discovery they endure the rigors of accusing past-opportunity and the heavy yoke of indictment. While chafing under the sandy grind of unrealized fulfillment they eventually master a posture which lessens the painful contortion of their faces so that they appear to “be making it just fine.” Though the preoccupying buzz of obscurity is interfering with the message of restoration, this same Jesus wants them told that He still has need of them and that purpose still awaits. Mark 16:7 “But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He said to you.'” (NAS) The reason Jesus sent that invitation to Peter was because He was “going before” (Strong) in order to “lead forward” (Thayer). Jesus does not push backward, He brings forward.