In Lk 7, John the Baptist was languishing in prison. He was very discouraged and began to doubt if Jesus was truly the Messiah. He sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus if He was indeed the Saviour. To be perfectly honest, it was quite an offensive question. Jesus then had a conversation in 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 with the two disciples. He gave a gentle word of correction for them to pass on to John the Baptist. However, not for a moment was Jesus angry or condemning. He had to speak the truth, but He did so with a lot of love, care, tact, and sensitivity.
𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆, Jesus had a gentle word of correction for John the Baptist, but 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗹𝘆, he was full of honour for John. He praised John for being a man who was strong in his conviction of God’s Word. He honoured him for his life of self-denial and obedience. He praised him for being so specially appointed and anointed by God to prepare the way for the Messiah. Jesus 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆, but 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗹𝘆.
This is the general rule of thumb in dealing with a difficult relationship situation: W𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰. Jesus was full of honour for His cousin, as imperfect as he may be. Part of maturity in Christlikeness is learning to be loving, forgiving and honouring, just like Jesus is!
