Speaking to fellow pastors, Peter encourages them to shepherd the church in gospel awe and wonder. Here, with the authority given to him by Jesus himself as an apostle, Peter exhorts pastors to shepherd with the heart and disposition Jesus intends for them. In my experience, when we shepherd this way, with gospel awe and wonder, pastoral ministry is a tremendous joy.

The sin from which all our hardship results was laid on Jesus, and in kindness, he closed his eyes in death only to open them again in resurrection power and glory. Because this is so, we can be sure today through faith in Him that one day our eyes will also open in a world without hardship or end.

For Jesus it seems that how one thinks, feels, and acts toward the hurting is indicative of one’s own spiritual condition. Towards the end of our passage Jesus learns that the Pharisees kicked the blind man out of the synagogue and this is what Jesus has to say about it: “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind” (v. 39). One of the points Jesus is making here is that the Pharisees may be able to physically see but their treatment of the blind man reveals that they are in fact spiritually blind.

Last week in our bible reading plan we read Psalm 81 which provides for us a helpful way to think about prayer. According to Asaph, the Psalmist, prayer is the habit of delighting and depending upon God’s strength. Before we consider prayer in this way, we must consider the nature of God’s strength.