2770.) John 9

“The Man Born Blind” by Henri Lindegaard, 2003.

John 9   (NRSV)

A Man Born Blind Receives Sight

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. ⁴We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes,

Not many people would appreciate having mud made with spit rubbed in their eyes! Some would look at how Jesus did this miracle and object, saying that it was offensive, inadequate, or even harmful to rub mud made with spit in a man’s eyes.

In the same way, some feel that the gospel is offensive. It is true that it offends man’s pride and human wisdom, but it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. (1 Corinthians 1:21)

In the same way, some feel that the gospel is inadequate. But have all the psychiatric and political and social programs in the world done more good than the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ?

In the same way, some feel that the gospel is harmful, that the free offer of grace in Jesus will cause people to sin that grace may abound. But the gospel changes our life for the good and the pure, not unto wickedness.

–David Guzik

⁷saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.

Psalm 146:8 (NIV)

The LORD sets prisoners free,
  the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
   the LORD loves the righteous.

⁸The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?”

⁹Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.”

¹⁰But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”

¹¹He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.”

¹²They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

For John the miracles are always a sign of the glory and the power of God. The writers of the other gospels had a different point of view; and regarded them as a demonstration of the compassion of Jesus. When Jesus looked on the hungry crowd he had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd (Mark 6:34). When the leper came with his desperate request for cleansing Jesus was moved with compassion (Mark 1:41). It is often urged that in this the Fourth Gospel is quite different from the others. Surely there is no real contradiction here. It is simply two ways of looking at the same thing. At its heart is the supreme truth that the glory of God lies in his compassion, and that he never so fully reveals his glory as when he reveals his pity.

–William Barclay

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

“The Blind Man Tells his Story to the Jews” by James Tissot, 1898.

¹³They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. ¹⁴Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.”

They ignore the wonderful healing and focus on the day that it happened. How silly we are when we major in the minors!

But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided.

¹⁷So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

He said, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight ¹⁹and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

I am almost impressed by how thoroughly they investigate this situation, looking for holes in the story! How diligent we are when we seek to believe what we want to believe, against all evidence otherwise!

²⁰His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; ²¹but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” ²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. ²³Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God!

Shakespeare gave us a similar idea but with different phrasing:

“And I can teach thee, coz, to shame the devil
By telling truth: tell truth and shame the devil.”

from Henry IV, Part One, Act 3, 1597

We know that this man is a sinner.”

²⁵He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

²⁶They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

²⁷He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen.

Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”

²⁸Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”

³⁰The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. ³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. ³²Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. ³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

³⁴They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.

My mother used to say, “There is none so blind as him who will not see.” How arrogant we are when we think we alone know the truth!

Spiritual Blindness

³⁵Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.”

³⁷Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.”

Asking the question is more than half way to having the answer. How privileged we are when Jesus reveals himself to us!

³⁸He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.

³⁹Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” ⁴⁰Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?”

⁴¹Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

Open our eyes Lord
We want to see Jesus,
To reach out and touch Him
And say that we love Him.

Open our ears Lord
And help us to listen,
Open our eyes Lord
We want to see Jesus.

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Music:

I once was blind, but now I see.  “Amazing Grace” is sung  HERE  by Nana Mouskouri.  This woman with the beautiful voice was born in Greece in 1934.  She has recorded music in fifteen languages over five decades and has sold more than 400 million discs.

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Reflections:

1)  Verse 3 could be rephrased to read:  You were born so that God’s works might be revealed in you. Look a moment at your own life. Thank God for where you see his works in you and through you. Ask him to show you more clearly what else he would like to do in your life. What else would you like to do for the Lord? Pray bold prayers to an infinitely loving, infinitely able God!

2)   The hymn “Amazing Grace” was written in 1779 by slave-trader-turned-clergyman John Newton. It is estimated that it is performed about 10 million times annually! What is it about that hymn which makes it so popular, do you think?

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Lindegaard.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/lindegaard-l-aveugle-de-naissance1.jpg

Jesus puts mud in the blind man’s eyes.   https://tillchrist.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/lazfam-ru.jpg

Tissot.    http://truthbook.com/images/gallery/James_Tissot_Blind_Man_Tells_His_Story_to_the_Jews_525.jpg

I went and washed.    http://carolinasnalc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/John-9_11.jpg

healed man worships Jesus.   https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/john-9-blind-man.jpg

2769.) Psalm 116

Psalm 116   (NIV)

Paying the Vow of Gratitude

¹ I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
² Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.

“My resolve is to trust God exclusively and worship him explicitly.”

–Derek Kidner (British OT scholar, 1913-2008)

³ The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
⁴ Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Lord, save me!”

The Lord does not stand at a distance when his people suffer. His salvation is close at hand.

⁵ The Lord is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
⁶ The Lord protects the unwary;
when I was brought low, he saved me.

“Not only is God gracious, he is also gracious to the little people, to the plain, to commoners, to the everyday person on the bus or in the shop—to people like the psalmist. That is one of the great glories of our God. When Jesus called his disciples, he called fishermen and tax collectors. When the angels announced the birth of Jesus, they appeared to shepherds.”

–James Montgomery Boice (author and pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia for more than 30 years, 1938-2000)

⁷ Return to your rest, my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you.

⁸ For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
⁹ that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.

Psalm 27:13-14  (NIV)

I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord.

¹⁰ I trusted in the Lord when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted”;
¹¹ in my alarm I said,
“Everyone is a liar.”

¹² What shall I return to the Lord
for all his goodness to me?

¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord.
¹⁴ I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.

“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.”

– Aesop

¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his faithful servants.

“They shall not die prematurely; they shall be immortal till their work is done; and when their time shall come to die, then their deaths shall be precious. The Lord watches over their dying beds, smooths their pillows, sustains their hearts, and receives their souls.”

–Charles Haddon Spurgeon (English author and the “Prince of Preachers” from London, 1834-1892)

¹⁶ Truly I am your servant, Lord;
I serve you just as my mother did;
you have freed me from my chains.

¹⁷I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
and call on the name of the Lord.

 

from Whispers of His Power,
by Amy Carmichael

(missionary to India who served 55 years without a furlough, 1867-1951)

Psalm 116:15-17  —  Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. O Lord, truly I am Thy servant . . . Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Sometimes even Christians write of death in a sad way. “We regret to announce,” they say. The Salvation Army people are right in the way they put it:  “Promoted to Glory.”

Just after “Precious in the sight of the Lord” comes “Thou hast loosed my bonds.” Think what a loosening that loosening is! No wonder the next words are, “I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving.”

But those words first refer to the loosening of all bonds of sin. If anyone is conscious of any such bond, ask for it to be loosened now. Live as God’s loosed ones.

¹⁸ I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
¹⁹ in the courts of the house of the Lord—
in your midst, Jerusalem.

“The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.”

– Henry Ward Beecher

Praise the Lord.

“We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction.”

–H.A. Ironside

Every Christian should read this Psalm with the atonement of Jesus in mind. Christians cannot help but praise God for such a wonderful gift—the gift of eternal life through His Son Jesus. Will you look upon the Psalmist and emulate His cry: “I love you LORD”? Are you willing to commit yourself to Him without reservations?

–freedominchrist.net

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Music:

Paying the vow of gratitude — “How can I say thanks / For the things You have done for me?”  HERE  is “My Tribute,” written by Andrae Crouch and sung here by the Norwegian soprano Sissel Kyrkjebo.

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New International Version (NIV)   Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Images courtesy of:

I love the Lord.   http://www.freedominchrist.net/BIBLICAL%20STUDIES/Old%20Testament/Psalms/sermons–psalms–psalm%20116–i%20love%20the%20lord-htlm.htm

verse 6, from Jeanette’s Ozpix.   https://dwellingintheword.wordpress.com/2018/11/30/2500-psalm-116/17820504665_48a7559dc1_n/

from the hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”   https://smoodock45.wordpress.com/2017/12/03/what-does-jesus-mean-by-mammon/

verse 15.   http://jacobcherians.blogspot.com/2013/11/psalm-116.html

loosed chain.   https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/chains2.jpg

2768.) John 8:31-59

John 8:31-59   (NRSV)

True Disciples

³¹Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

from Experiencing God Day-by-Day,
by Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby

TRUTH SETS YOU FREE

God’s truth never restricts you; it always sets you free! Are you discouraged? Is there a sense of bondage in a particular area in your life? A lack of victory over a certain sin? A harmful addiction? It is possible that you do not yet understand a truth about God that can release you.

If you feel powerless to meet the challenges before you, take encouragement from the promise of Philippians 4:13 — I can do all things though Christ who strengthens me. If you are defeated by circumstance, hold on to the truth of Romans 8:28 that God can work your most difficult situation into His good. If you are enslaved to a particular sin, work the truth of 1 John 1:9 into your life, which promises that if you confess your sin, God is faithful to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. All of these truths await the Holy Spirit’s implementation into your life.

It is one thing to know about the truth. It is yet another thing to experience the truth of God being worked out in your life. God’s truth will have no effect upon you unless you accept it and believe it. Perhaps you have already read and heard accounts of God working mightily in the lives of others. But have you allowed God to implement those truths into your life? What truth about God would you like to be experiencing in your life? Ask Him to implement that truth into your life today.

³³They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”

What?! They are forgetting the 400 years of slavery in Egypt, and the 70 years of exile to Babylon, and even the present occupation of their land by the Romans! By denying their enslavement, whether political or spiritual, they are denying their need for Jesus and the true freedom he can give them. And isn’t it amazing how easily we will believe a lie if it suits us.

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. ³⁵The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. ³⁶So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Discipleship means constantly remaining in the word of Jesus and that involves four things.

(a) It involves constant listening to the word of Jesus. 

(b) It involves constant learning from Jesus. All his life a Christian should be learning more and more about Jesus. 

(c) It involves constant penetrating into the truth which the words of Jesus bear, to study and think about what he said until more and more of its meaning becomes ours.

(d) It involves constant obeying of the word of Jesus. We study it not simply for academic satisfaction or for intellectual appreciation, but in order to find out what God wishes us to do. 

(iii) Discipleship issues in knowledge of the truth. “You will know the truth,” said Jesus. What is that truth? There are many possible answers to that question but the most comprehensive way to put it is that the truth which Jesus brings shows us the real values of life. 

(iv) Discipleship results in freedom. “The truth will make you free.” “In his service is perfect freedom.” Discipleship breaks the chains which bind us to our sins (as Jesus says, we are slaves to sin) and enables us to be the persons we know we ought to be.

–William Barclay

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Music:

Praise God!  “I am Free!”  Click  HERE  and join in the celebration!

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³⁷I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. ³⁸I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.”

Jesus and Abraham

³⁹They answered him, “Abraham is our father.”

Genesis 15:5-6 (NIV)

He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, ⁴⁰but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. ⁴¹You are indeed doing what your father does.”

They said to him, “We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me. ⁴³Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. ⁴⁴You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

I love how the NIV puts it:  When he lies, he speaks his native language  . . .

⁴⁵But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.

⁴⁶Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? ⁴⁷Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God.”

⁴⁸The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

By calling Jesus a Samaritan, they are claiming he is not a true Jew, not a true son of Abraham. By saying Jesus has a demon, they are connecting Jesus with the devil instead of with God.

⁴⁹Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and he is the judge. ⁵¹Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.”

⁵²The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ ⁵³Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?”

⁵⁴Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, ‘He is our God,’ ⁵⁵though you do not know him. But I know him; if I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. ⁵⁶Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.”

⁵⁷Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”

⁵⁸Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”

This is the third time in this chapter Jesus uses the phrase I Am (John 8:24, 8:28), and here in John 8:58.

I Am: The ancient Greek phrase is ego emi, which is the same term used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament in Jesus’ day to describe the Voice from the burning bush.

In using the phrase I Am (John 8:24, 8:58, 13:19) Jesus used a clear divine title belonging to Yahweh alone (Exodus 3:13-14, Deuteronomy 32:39, Isaiah 43:10) and was interpreted as such by Jesus’ listeners (John 8:58-59).

–David Guzik

⁵⁹So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

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Reflections:

1)   Jesus says anyone who commits a sin is “a slave to sin.” Some of my readers may remember saying this confession in church: “We confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.” Have there been times in your life when you have felt the weight of that bondage? Thank God for the gloriousness of his forgiveness!

2)   Galatians 3:26-29 says:  So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,  for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. So through Christ, Abraham is your father, too! What does this mean? What fullness of blessing does this bring?

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

dove.    https://missionventureministries.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/john-8-vs-32.jpg

Continue in My Word.   https://i.pinimg.com/736x/29/0c/d2/290cd2f6983d96d2ee98fe0562b52c21–john–king-of-kings.jpg

Abraham and the stars.   http://www.preceptaustin.org/sites/www.preceptaustin.org/files/images/abramstars.jpg

the devil is a liar.   https://brightstar2911.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/wpid-537695_258012124326719_764149381_n.jpg

I AM.   http://www.mccahon.co.nz/sites/all/files/images/m000828_0.jpg

2767.) John 8:12-30

John 8:12-30   (NRSV)

The scene of this argument with the Jewish authorities was in the Temple treasury, which was in the Court of the Women. The first Temple court was the Court of the Gentiles; the second was the Court of the Women. It was so called because women might not pass beyond it unless they were actually about to offer sacrifice on the altar which was in the Court of the Priests. Round the Court of the Women there was a colonnade or porch; and, in that porch, set against the wall, there were thirteen treasure chests into which people dropped their offerings. These were called The Trumpets because they were shaped like trumpets, narrow at the top and swelling out towards the foot.

The thirteen treasure chests all had their allotted offering. Into the first two were dropped the half shekels which every Jew had to pay towards the upkeep of the Temple. Into the third and fourth were dropped sums which would purchase the two pigeons which a woman had to offer for her purification after the birth of a child (Leviticus 12:8). Into the fifth were put contributions towards the cost of the wood which was needed to keep the altar fire alight. Into the sixth were dropped contributions towards the cost of the incense which was used at the Temple services. Into the seventh went contributions towards the upkeep of the golden vessels which were used at these services. Sometimes a man or a family set apart a certain sum to make some trespass or thank-offering; into the remaining six trumpets people dropped any money which remained after such an offering had been made, or anything extra which they wished to offer.

Clearly the Temple treasury would be a busy place, with a constant flow of worshippers coming and going. There would be no better place to collect an audience of devout people and to teach them than the Temple treasury.

–William Barclay

¹²Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

Since Jesus is the Word (John 1:1), it follows that he is also the light.

¹³Then the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.”

¹⁴Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵You judge by human standards; I judge no one. ¹⁶Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. ¹⁷In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. ¹⁸I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.”

Jesus can testify about Himself because He, not they, has view of eternity: I know where I came from and where I am going.

Jesus can testify about Himself because He, not they, judges righteously: You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.

Jesus can testify about Himself because His testimony is fully supported by God the Father: My judgment is true; for I am not alone.

–David Guzik

¹⁹Then they said to him, “Where is your Father?”

Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ²⁰He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

²¹Again he said to them, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”

²²Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”

²³He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. ²⁴I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.”

The word “he” is added by translators so the sentence will make sense in English. Jesus calls them to “believe that I am,” which the Jews would hear as a claim to deity, since that is the name God called himself when he spoke to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14).

²⁵They said to him, “Who are you?”

This question of the Pharisees comes from a combination of willful confusion and contempt. Though Jesus has told them over and over who He is, they will continue to ask until they get an answer they can use to condemn Him.

Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all? ²⁶I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.”

²⁷They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. ²⁸So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me.

When Jesus says he will be “lifted up,” he means “lifted up” off the ground on a cross. When Jesus is crucified, they will see the perfect obedience of the Son to the Father. And that obedience will lead to another elevation:

Philippians 2:5-11   (NIV)

 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

 Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
 rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
 And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

²⁹And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.” ³⁰As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

_________________________

Music:

HERE  is a Charles Wesley hymn — “Christ, whose glory fills the skies,” sung by the Washington Choral Arts Society. What a good prayer to sing every morning!

Christ, whose glory fills the skies,
Christ, the true and only Light,
Sun of righteousness, arise,
triumph o’er the shade of night;
Day-spring from on high, be near;
Day-star, in my heart appear.

Dark and cheerless is the morn
unaccompanied by Thee;
joyless is the day’s return,
till Thy mercy’s beams I see,
till they inward light impart,
glad my eyes, and warm my heart.

Visit then this soul of mine,
pierce the gloom of sin and grief;
fill me, radiancy divine,
scatter all my unbelief;
more and more Thyself display,
shining to the perfect day.

_________________________

Reflections:

1)   If an unbeliever asked you, “Who is Jesus?” — how would you answer? Would today’s passage help you explain more clearly who Christ is? How?

2)   Jesus and his opponents argue by often asking questions. Consider this statement about Judaism:

It is a faith based on asking questions, sometimes deep and difficult ones that seem to shake the very foundations of faith itself. “Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justice?” asked Abraham. “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people?” asked Moses. “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?” asked Jeremiah. The book of Job is largely constructed out of questions, and God’s answer consists of four chapters of yet deeper questions: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? … Can you catch Leviathan with a hook? … Will it make an agreement with you and let you take it as your slave for life?”

If you and Jesus were to have a discussion today, what questions would you want to ask him?

_________________________

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

 I AM the light.    http://www.armenhareyan.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/what-did-Jesus-mean-by-I-am-the-light-of-the-world.jpg

Psalm 119:105.   https://i.pinimg.com/736x/39/48/24/394824b02466e67ed71c02d36f7a134b–jesus-bible-jesus-christ.jpg

Be still and know that I AM.    https://dwellingintheword.wordpress.com/2018/01/23/2277-john-812-30/john8-i-am/

Jesus on the cross.    http://cocorioko.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/jesus-on-the-cross-678×381.jpg

2766.) John 8:1-11

John 8:1-11   (NRSV)

Then each of them went home, while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ²Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them.

³The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, ⁴they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.

They ignore the obvious question:  Where is the man who is equally culpable in this act of adultery?

Legally speaking, the standard of evidence was very high for this crime. There had to be two witnesses and they had to agree perfectly. They had to see the sexual act take place; it wasn’t enough to see the pair leaving the same room together or even lying on the same bed together. “Under these conditions the obtaining of evidence in adultery would be almost impossible were the situation not a setup.”

–James Montgomery Boice

⁵Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him.

In the eyes of the Jewish law adultery was a serious crime. Leviticus 20:10 lays it down:  “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife–with the wife of his neighbor–both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.”  So they are correct. The woman was liable to death by stoning.

The dilemma into which they sought to put Jesus was this. If he said that the woman ought to be stoned to death, two things followed. First, he would lose the name he had gained for love and for mercy and never again would be called the friend of sinners. Second, he would come into collision with the Roman law, for the Jews had no power to pass or carry out the death sentence on anyone. If he said that the woman should be pardoned, it could immediately be said that he was teaching men to break the law of Moses, and that he was condoning and even encouraging people to commit adultery. That was the trap in which the scribes and Pharisees sought to entrap Jesus.

–William Barclay

Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground.

⁹When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

St. Augustine says, “There remained a great misery, and a great compassion.”

¹⁰Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

It is a challenge for each of us, every day — Go, and sin no more.

Romans 8:1 (King James Version)

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

_________________________

Music:

Oh, the kindness of Jesus Christ!  HERE  is “Forgiving Eyes” by Michael Card. The video clips are from a 1999 television film called Jesus.

_________________________

Reflections:

1)   What do you think Jesus may have written on the ground? Some scholars have suggested that he may have been writing down the sins of the very men who were accusing the woman.

2)   Jesus’ words in 8:7 — Let he who is without sin cast the first stone — are commonly used today. Have you used this phrase? Has anyone ever said these words to you? What do these words say to your heart, your life?

3.  Contrast the attitude of the scribes and Pharisees with the attitude of Jesus. What are three adjectives you might use to describe each side?

_________________________

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

They kept demanding an answer.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/75401-john8-7.jpg

Jesus writing.  https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/jesussand.jpg

No condemnation.   https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/no-condemnation-101blog.jpg

2765.) John 7:31-53

John 7:31-53   (NRSV)

In this chapter there is a whole set of verdicts about Jesus (as from William Barclay).

³¹Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, ‘When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?’

³²The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him. ³³Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. ³⁴You will search for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”

³⁵The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? ³⁶What does he mean by saying, ‘You will search for me and you will not find me’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

³⁷On the last day of the festival, the great day,

At the Feast of Tabernacles, water was poured out daily at the altar to remind everyone of the water God miraculously provided for a thirsty Israel in the wilderness.

–David Guzik

while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, ³⁸and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”

Shades of the conversation with the woman at the well. To her Jesus had said,  “…. Whoever drinks of the water I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” But what a different contest! With her, he was having a private conversation in Samaria. Here Jesus is speaking at the crowded temple during a very busy festival. What is this “living water” Jesus is talking about? The next verse is John’s explanation — the Holy Spirit!

³⁹Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

⁴⁰When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, “This is really the prophet.”

There is the verdict that he was a prophet (John 7:40). That is true. The prophet is the forth-teller of the will of God, the man who has lived so close to God that he knows his mind and purposes. That is true of Jesus; but there is this difference. The prophet says: “Thus saith the Lord.” His authority is borrowed and delegated. His message is not his own. Jesus says: “I say unto you.” He has the right to speak, not with a delegated authority, but with his own.

⁴¹Others said, “This is the Messiah.”

But some asked, “Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? ⁴²Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” ⁴³So there was a division in the crowd because of him.

Where is the fact checker?! They could have done just a bit of research — maybe ask him where he was born . . .

⁴⁴Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

⁴⁵Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not arrest him?”

⁴⁶The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!”

There is the verdict that he had a most dynamic personality (John 7:46). The verdict of the officers who were sent to arrest him and came back empty-handed was that never had any man spoken like this.  When we think of how this Galilaean carpenter faced the highest in the land and dominated them until it was they who were on trial and not he, we are bound to admit that he was at least one of the supreme personalities in history. The picture of a gentle, anaemic Jesus will not do.

⁴⁷Then the Pharisees replied, “Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? ⁴⁸Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.”

They are so determined not to believe! They are so arrogant in their judgment of those who do!

⁵⁰Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, ⁵¹“Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?”

Nicodemus speaks up to defend Jesus (John 7:50). In that council of the Jewish authorities his was the lone voice raised in defense. There lies the duty of every one of us. Ian Maclaren, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, used to tell students when they preached: “Speak a good word for Jesus Christ.” We live today in a world which is hostile to Christianity in many ways and in many places, but the strange thing is that the world was never more ready to talk about Christ and to discuss religion. We live in a generation when every one of us can earn the royal title, “Defender of the Faith.” It is the privilege that God has given us that we can all be advocates and defenders of Christ in face of the criticism –and sometimes the mockery–of men.

–William Barclay

⁵²They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.” ⁵³Then each of them went home.

Galileans were objects of Judean scorn, and the butt of Judean jokes. To the Jewish leaders from Judea, nothing good could come from Galilee. But in fact, a prophet had risen from Galilee. Jonah, who was a type of Jesus, came from Gath Hepher, which was three miles north of Nazareth in Lower Galilee (2 Kings 14:25).

–David Guzik

_________________________

Music:

Isaiah 55:1 —

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
   come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
   come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
   without money and without cost.

 John 4:13-14 —

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

HERE  is “Come to the water”  sung by the Capital University Chapel Choir.

Oh let all who thirst
Let them come to the water
And let all who have nothing
Let them come to the Lord
Without money without price
Why should you pay the price
Except for the Lord?

And let all who seek
Let them come to the water
And let all who have nothing
Let them come to the Lord
Without money without strife
Why should you spend your life
Except for the Lord?

And let all who toil
Let them come to the water
And let all who are weary
Let them come to the Lord
All who labor without rest
How can your soul find rest
Except for the Lord?

And let all the poor
Let them come to the water
Bring the ones who are laden
Bring them all to the Lord
Bring the children without might
Easy the load and light
Come to the Lord

_________________________

Reflections:

1)   Verse 39 says that Jesus used the term “living water” to refer to the Holy Spirit. What additional understanding of the Holy Spirit does that phrase give you?

2)   Our friend Nicodemus shows up in verse 50. Judging from what he says there, what impact do you think his conversation with Jesus in chapter 3 has had on him?

_________________________

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

mountain stream.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/09fe6-mountains2010093verse.jpg

verse 38 script.   https://i0.wp.com/margmowczko.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Living-Water-Tabernacles.jpg?resize=500%2C454

Come to the water.   http://hbumc2.visitmysite.net/_media/uploads/files/bulletins/LHBulletin123117.pdf

2764.) John 7:1-31

John 7:1-31   (NRSV)

The Unbelief of Jesus’ Brothers

In this chapter there is a whole set of verdicts about Jesus (as from William Barclay).

After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him. ²Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near.

The festival of Booths, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, was a joyful, week-long celebration, when families camped out in “booths” made of branches and leaves to remember God’s faithfulness to Israel during the wilderness wanderings. I remember the year I lived in Jerusalem, little shacks of branches appeared on many of the apartment balconies!

³So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; ⁴for no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” ⁵(For not even his brothers believed in him.)

His brothers are half-amused, half-contemptuous, teasing him, egging him on.

–William Barclay

⁶Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. ⁷The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil. ⁸Go to the festival yourselves. I am not going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come.” ⁹After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

Jesus at the Festival of Booths

¹⁰But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret. ¹¹The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, “Where is he?” ¹²And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, “He is a good man,”

There is the verdict that he was a good man (John 7:12). That verdict is true, but it is not the whole truth. It was Napoleon who made the famous remark: “I know men, and Jesus Christ is more than a man.” Jesus was indeed truly man; but in him was the mind of God.

others were saying, “No, he is deceiving the crowd.”

There is the verdict that he was a seducer. The Jewish authorities saw in him one who was leading men away from true religion. He was accused of every crime against religion in the calendar–of being a Sabbath-breaker, of being a drunkard and a glutton, of having the most disreputable friends, of destroying orthodox religion. 

¹³Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews.

¹⁴About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. ¹⁵The Jews were astonished at it, saying, “How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?”

¹⁶Then Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. ¹⁷Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. ¹⁸Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him.

from This Day with the Master,
by Dennis F. Kinlaw

TRUTH AS A PERSON

Jesus talked a lot about truth. Note how often the word occurs in the gospel of John. When he spoke about truth, Jesus spoke in personal terms. You will remember that he refused, much to the dismay of many people, particularly the philosophers, to speak of truth in abstraction, as though it existed in itself. He wanted to relate truth to himself and to his Father in an existential way. He even went beyond that; ultimately he identified truth completely with himself and his Father.

The temple authorities, troubled by Jesus and wanting to know the truthfulness of his message, challenged him. He responded, “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God” (John 7:17).

Jesus thus affirmed the truthfulness of his own teaching in terms of a relationship to his Father. Sometimes we would like to translate that answer into, “Anyone who does the truth will certainly know it.” But that is not the way Jesus spoke or thought. We should never be fooled. There was no truth for Jesus apart from the Father. Truth was simply the Father’s will. Thus personal categories are appropriate when we speak of truth because the ultimate categories are all personal. Ultimately, Jesus is the truth.

If we develop a love affair with the truth and pursue it far enough, we will find the truth. When we find it, we will have found Jesus and that he is the one we need. 

¹⁹“Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?” ²⁰The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?”

There is the verdict that he was a deluded madman (John 7:20). It is true that either Jesus is the only completely sane person in the world or he was mad. He chose a Cross when he might have had power. He was the Suffering Servant when he might have been the conquering king. He washed the feet of his disciples when he might have had men kneeling at his own feet. He came to serve when he could have subjected the world to servitude.

²¹Jesus answered them, “I performed one work, and all of you are astonished.

See chapter 5, verses 2 through 18.

²²Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. ²³If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the sabbath?

If it is permitted (even commanded) to do a negative work (such as cutting away the flesh in circumcision) on the Sabbath, why not a positive work (healing a man) that brings wholeness?

²⁴Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

Is This the Christ?

²⁵Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? ²⁶And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah?

There is the verdict that he was a man of courage (John 7:26). No one could ever doubt his sheer courage. He had the moral courage to defy convention and be different. He had the physical courage that could bear the most terrible pain. He had the courage to go on when his family abandoned him, and his friends forsook him, and one of his own circle betrayed him. Here we see him courageously entering Jerusalem when to enter it was to enter the lions’ den. He “feared God so much that he never feared the face of any man.”

²⁷Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

²⁸Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I am from.

I wonder what tone of voice Jesus used when he said this sentence. Was he being a bit sarcastic — “Yeah, right, you think you know me and where I come from, but in reality, it would blow your mind!” Or was he being instructive — “Let’s start with what you know and move on so I can teach you what you don’t know.” Either way, he was, as he always is, speaking the truth.

I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. ²⁹I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”

³⁰Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. ³¹Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

There is the verdict that he was the Christ, the Anointed One of God. Nothing less will do. It. is the plain fact that Jesus does not fit into any of the available human categories; only the category of the divine will do.

_________________________

Music:

HERE  is “Give Me Faith”  from Elevation Worship.

_________________________

Reflections:

1)   Had I lived in Jesus’ time, would I have believed in him? What would have convinced me, or caused me to doubt? Lord, help me to believe with all my heart and mind and soul now!

2)   Jesus speaks often about what is true. Later in John he will declare, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” What does it mean to you that Jesus is truth? How does that fact impact how you think and act?

_________________________

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Give me faith.  https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/givemefaith1.jpg

family celebrating the festival of booths.   https://jscotthusted.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/sukkot20painting.jpg

man on his way to festival of Booths.    https://i1.wp.com/jamestabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Sukkoth-2.jpg?fit=484%2C400&ssl=1

Jesus is the truth.   https://quotesthoughtsrandom.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/jesus-truth.jpg

Who is He?    https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/images/content/series/_series_hero/who-is-he.jpg

2763.) John 6:25-71

John 6:25-71   (NRSV)

The Bread from Heaven

²⁵When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”

²⁶Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”

Jesus made a contrast between material things and spiritual things. It is almost universally true that people are more attracted to material things than spiritual things. A sign that says free money and free food will get a bigger crowd than one that says spiritual fulfillment and eternal life.

–David Guzik

²⁸Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?”

²⁹Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Jesus gives them no long list of things to do. He says simply, “Faith.”

Acts 16:29-31 (NIV)

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

³⁰So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? ³¹Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Remember,  they were still thinking about the feeding of the crowd so recently. It seems they did not consider Jesus multiplying the bread and loaves as enough of a miracle. Perhaps because Jesus started with something, and not nothing?

³²Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Jesus reminded them that it was not Moses who had given them the manna; it was God. Also he told them that the manna was not really the bread of God; it was only the symbol of the bread of God. The bread of God was he who came down from heaven and gave men not simply satisfaction from physical hunger, but life. Jesus was claiming that the only real satisfaction was in him.

–William Barclay

³⁴They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵Jesus said to them, “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.

Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

The hungry heart is satisfied when we know Christ and through him know God.

³⁶But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; ³⁸for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”

⁴¹Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴²They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

They judged by externals. Not a good method to find truth.

⁴³Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. ⁴⁶Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

⁵²The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

They bickered with each other. Not a good method to find truth.

⁵³So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; ⁵⁵for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

To us as Christian believers, this passage speaks so clearly to the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion. Yet John has no account of the Last Supper later in his gospel!

The Words of Eternal Life

⁶⁰When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”

Indeed. Jesus has claimed to be one a) who has descended from heaven, b) who must be the object of their belief, and c) who must be feasted upon in order for them to receive eternal life. Those who were listening to him saw Jesus as the son of Joseph; how could he also be the one who came down from heaven? And once Jesus began talking about the need to eat his flesh — the Torah strictly prohibited eating blood; the very idea was disgusting to them.

The metaphor is still a stumbling block for many. Yet for those of us who do believe in Jesus, who agree with Peter in the next verses that “You have the words of eternal life” — what blessing indeed is found in the body and blood of Christ, given for us on the cross.

⁶¹But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶²Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

Jesus in effect says, You find it hard to accept that I am the bread of life come down from heaven? What will you think when you see me ascending back into heaven?

⁶³It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. ⁶⁵And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”

⁶⁶Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. ⁶⁷So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?”

⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Here is the mark of the true believer: He cannot quit! When Jesus said to them, Will you go away also? it is clear that he would have let them go if they had wanted to. He does not hold anybody against his will. Responding to our Lord’s words, Peter says two wonderful things:

First, he says, in effect, Lord, we have been thinking about it. We have investigated the alternatives. You’re not easy to live with. You embarrass us. You frighten us. We don’t understand you at times. We see and hear you do things that simply blow our minds. You offend people who we think are important. We have looked at some alternatives, but I want to tell you this, Lord: we have never found anyone who can do what you can do. To whom shall we go? You have two things that hold us, two things we cannot deny, and the first is your words. What you say to us has met our deepest need, has delivered us from our sins and freed us from our fears. Your words, Lord, are the most remarkable words we have ever heard. They explain us and they explain life to us. They satisfy us. Nobody speaks like you do, nobody understands life like you do. That holds us.

Secondly, Lord, we have seen your character. Notice how Peter puts it: We have believed, and have come to know. That implies a process which has perhaps gone on over the course of months and years. Peter is saying, We have watched you, and we have come to see that there is nothing wrong in you. You are the Holy One of God, you are the Sinless One. You fit the prophecies; you fulfill the predictions. You have drawn us and compelled us. You are the incomparable Christ, thus there is no place to go.

I have found this to be true of real Christians. Those who steadfastly continue on always feel this way about Jesus. They know their own failures, their own weaknesses. They know that despite the many times they do not understand what is happening to them, yet they cannot leave. This is the testimony of those who walk faithfully with him and follow him. I have often said that the best definition of a Christian is someone who cannot quit. I had a phone call once from a young man, a relatively new Christian who said to me, I can’t make it. I can’t continue to be a Christian. It’s too hard. I blow it all the time. I’m going to hang it up. I had heard that kind of thing before, so I said to him, That’s a good idea. Why don’t you do that? I think you’re right. Hang it up. There was a pause on the line, and then he said to me, You know I can’t do that. I said, I know it. Of course you can’t. You can’t quit. Who can you go to? Where can you find answers and resources such as you have drawn on? This is what Peter is saying to Jesus.

–Ray Stedman

⁷⁰Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.” ⁷¹He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.

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Reflections:

1)   Jesus says that he is the bread of life. What images does that convey? How have you been nourished by this bread?

2)   “Alleluia!  Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.” Do you often tell Jesus what you think of him and about him? That is one way to praise him for his excellent greatness! What are several other qualities of Jesus — not gifts from him, but characteristics of him — that you can thank him for today? (This verse is my end-of-my-rope prayer:  Lord, I have no where else to go. Only You.)

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Music:

HERE  is “Bread of Heaven”  by Fred Hammond, who is a gospel singer, bass guitar player, and record producer.

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

bread of life.   http://www.billiesilvey.com/bread_of_life.jpg

believe.   https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/believe1.jpg

I AM.   http://www.greatdreams.com/sacred/iam.gif

bread and wine.    http://jameswoodward.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/11lastsupper_s.jpg

To whom shall we go?  http://media.salemwebnetwork.com/weblog/pritchard/john6_68b.jpg

2762.) John 6:16-24

 

John 6:16-24   (NRSV)

Jesus Walks on the Water

¹⁶When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, ¹⁷got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.

“The Sea of Galilee is six hundred feet below sea level, in a cuplike depression among the hills. When the sun sets, the air cools; and as the cooler air from the west rushes down over the hillside, the resultant wind churns the lake. Since the disciples were rowing toward Capernaum, they were heading into the wind; consequently, they made little progress.” 

–Merrill C. Tenney

¹⁹When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified.

²⁰But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

Heavenly Father, how wonderful to know that You are my Provider and Deliver, my Sustainer and Helper, my Hope and Strength, my Lord and my God. As the difficulties and dangers at home and abroad seem to increase with every passing day, I pray that my eyes will be looking away from the circumstances of life, which can become so overwhelming … by keeping the eyes of my heart fixed on Jesus, Who created all things by the word of His mouth, upholds all things by the strength of His infinite power, and holds me fast in the palm of His hands. To Him be all honor and glory, AMEN.

–Knowing-Jesus.com

²¹Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

He watches, he comes and he helps. It is the wonder of the Christian life that there is nothing that we are left to do alone. Margaret Avery tells how there was a teacher in a little country school who had told this story to her children, and she must have told it well. Some short time afterwards there was a blizzard of wind and snow. When school finished, the teacher was helping the children home. Sometimes she had practically to drag them through the drifts. When they were all very nearly exhausted with the struggle, she overheard a little boy say, half to himself: “We could be doing with that chap Jesus here now.” We could always be doing with Jesus and we never need to do without him.

–William Barclay

Psalm 107:30 (ESV)

Then they were glad that the waters were quiet,
    and he brought them to their desired haven.

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Music:

In Matthew’s account of the story of Jesus walking on the water, Peter asks if he can walk on water, too. Jesus tells him, “Come.”

Jesus asked the man at the pool of Bethesda, “Do you want to be healed?”

Can you tell God what you want, and trust God for it, even though it seems beyond you?  Then come.

HERE  is Britt Nicole singing “Walk on the Water.”

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²²The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. ²³Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
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Reflections:

1)   Craig Groeschel said, “Never let the presence of a storm cause you to doubt the presence of God.” What can you do to help you not to doubt God’s abiding presence?

2)   Tell Jesus that you trust him to bring you to your desired haven.

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Jesus walks on water.   http://www.deebrestin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/jesus-walking-on-water.jpg

feet on water.    http://www.gcumm.org/images/r/jesus_walks_water-1/586x329g0-0-514-289/jesus_walks_water-1.jpg

2761.) John 6:1-15

“Loaves and Fishes” by John August Swanson, 2003.

John 6:1-15   (NRSV)

Feeding the Five Thousand

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. ²A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. ³Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.

⁵When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.

‘Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes’ by James J. Tissot, 1886-94, (Brooklyn Museum, New York)

⁷Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”

⁸One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?”

Explanation

The key to interpreting this incident lies with the word “small.” There are at least three possibilities:

1. “Small” refers not to the fish, but to the lad. There is, unfortunately, little textual evidence for this approach.
2. “Small,” being a relative term, refers to the fish which, though large by some standards, would be considered small indeed compared to, say, a blue whale.
3. “Small” refers not to the relative size of the fish but to their number — two.

Note: For each of these explanations, there remain a few unsolved logistical problems concerning the transportation of the lad’s lunch.

–sandscribbler.wordpress.com

🙂

Philip says, “The situation is hopeless. Nothing can be done.”

Andrew says, “Well, it isn’t much, but let’s take it to Jesus and see what he can do.”

William Barclay says, “Jesus needs what we can bring him. It may not be much but he needs it. It may well be that the world is denied miracle after miracle and triumph after triumph because we will not bring to Jesus what we have and what we are. If we would lay ourselves on the altar of his service, there is no saying what he could do with us and through us. We may be sorry and embarrassed that we have not more to bring—and rightly so; but that is no reason for failing to bring what we have. Little is always much in the hands of Christ.”

¹⁰Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all.

One might say that Jesus here fulfilled the role of the loving Shepherd in Psalm 23. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. That Psalm also gave the picture of the Lord as a host, serving a meal to His servant as a guest: you prepare a table for me…you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over…I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

–David Guzik

¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks,

Jesus told the disciples to make the people sit down. He took the loaves and the fishes and he blessed them. When he did that he was acting as father of the family. The grace he used would be the one that was used in every home: “Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our God, who causest to come forth bread from the earth.”

–William Barclay

he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹²When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” ¹³So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.

More leftovers than what they started with! Jesus is never miserly. There is always enough, and more than enough.

Jesus is so calm and orderly. People are settled down before the food starts going out. Leftovers were picked up, and the picnic spot was left as clean as they found it.

¹⁴When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

¹⁵When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Oh, but these last verses hit home! The crowd wants Jesus to become their king and conqueror, to get rid of the Romans, to make their lives peaceful and happy! How often I, like them, get things reversed. I want Jesus to do what I want him to do, rather than being willing to let him use me as he sees fit. Lord, in your mercy, forgive me.

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Music:

HERE  is “Table of Plenty,” by Dan Schutte. Schutte is an American composer of Catholic liturgical music and a contemporary Christian songwriter best known for composing the hymn “Here I Am, Lord,” also known as “I, the lord of sea and sky”.

Come to the feast of heaven and earth! Come to the table of plenty!
God will provide for all that we need, here at the table of plenty.

1. O come and sit at my table where saints and sinners are friends.
I wait to welcome the lost and lonely to share the cup of my love.

2. O come and eat without money; come to drink without price.
My feast of gladness will feed your spirit with faith and fullness of life.

3. My bread will ever sustain you through days of sorrow and woe.
My wine will flow like a sea of gladness to flood the depths of your soul.

4. Your fields will flower in fullness; your homes will flourish in peace.
For I, the giver of home and harvest, will send my rain on the soil.
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Reflections:

1)   How do we, like Philip, limit what God can do in, for, and through us by assuming what is and is not possible? Where in your own prayers are you — unintentionally! — holding God to your estimate of what can be done?

2)   Are these stories in John’s Gospel helping you trust God more? Are they helping you see more in your life for which to praise and thank God?

_________________________

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Swanson.   http://www.johnaugustswanson.com/default.cfm/PID%3d1.2-10.html

Tissot.    http://www.jesuswalk.com/john/images/tissot-miracle-of-the-loaves-and-fishes-450x309x72.jpg

lunch cartoon.   http://sandscribbler.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/me_feeding5000_color.png

five loaves and two fish.   https://blogs.baylor.edu/truettpulpit/files/2015/07/John-6-1-panes_y_peces_5-26jf4ss-288×300.jpg

Thy will be done.    https://rlv.zcache.com.au/thy_will_be_done_art_print-rc88becc90b1b4a8883a14e2e40276b82_wvc_8byvr_324.jpg