The verse in the card

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK

Jesus, help me act like the kid described inside my birthday cards! Amen.


THE VERSE IN THE CARD

Jesus went to the temple [like a church] in His town and read from the Torah, the Jewish Bible. "The Spirit of the Lord is in me," He read. "He has sent me to make the poor happy, make the blind see, and tell you that it's time for God to save His people." Jesus looked at everyone and said, "Today, this reading has come true."

Birthday cards aren't important to younger kids. They look at the picture on the front, especially if it has Disney princesses or Transformers on it, but they don't read many of the words.

As you get older, though, you might read the inside and feel surprised and proud at what it says. Someone picked out that card because they believe its nice words describe you!

In this week's Gospel (Lk. 1:1-4;4:14-21), Jesus reads a different kind of verses - the ones in the Bible. Like a birthday card, the words are a beautiful way to describe someone sent by God to help the world: The person will do miracles, encourage people who are struggling and bring everyone closer to God.

Then Jesus says something shocking: "This reading has come true right in front of you." The Scripture verses are about Jesus! He's the Son of God, and He's come from heaven to do everything the Bible promised.

Like reading a birthday card, reading the Bible can be just listening to a bunch of nice words without paying much attention - or realizing that those words were written about a real person.

If you're amazed at what people think of you because of the verses in cards, think of what it means that the verses Jesus read were about Himself! God inspired the people who wrote down the Bible verses, and then Jesus said He's make those things come true.

It's a big job to act like the wonderful kid described inside a birthday card, but Jesus had a bigger job. He had to be the Son of God described in the Bible, sent from heaven to save the world!