Category: Faith (Page 2 of 6)

John 8:31-59

This next discourse between Jesus and those who claim to believe in him causes another upset as Jesus sets out the conditions for being a disciple. Obedience to his teachings, he tells them, will set them free from sin. As descendants of Abraham, they believed they automatically inherited the Kingdom of God, and were incensed by the idea that they were or had been slaves. Given Israel’s history of enslavement and the current Roman occupation this seems bizarre. Jesus wants them to understand that their nationality as Abraham’s children means little if they don’t love God or him, or follow his teaching. This difference is pressed home by Jesus’ statement that they behave more as children of the devil than of Abraham. No wonder they are upset with him!

Jesus tells them he is not doing this for his own glory, his motivation is to speak truth, and God will honour him. The Jews continue to misunderstand, taking as literal his references to spiritual life and death. Finally, Jesus tells them ‘Before Abraham was born, I am’. ‘I am’ (ego eimi) makes him one with God. The penalty for this is stoning, but Jesus is hidden from them. His time has not yet come.

The Jews in this passage sound a little like those who used to claim they were Christians because they lived in a ‘Christian’ country. Discipleship is a product of following Jesus and requires a definite decision to act on his word, it is never the product of a passive acquired inheritance.

Response: Choose a word, phrase, idea or action that strikes you as significant at this moment in your life and spend a few minutes reflecting on it.

John 7: 1-24

This takes place during the Feast of Tabernacles, which was held to remind the people of the time when they had lived in temporary shelters in the wilderness, and was also the time to rejoice after the harvest.

The disputes and divisions that Jesus’ teaching is causing troubles even the members of his own family, who turn against him. They don’t believe him at this time. People are confused and those who do believe are afraid to speak up. What none of them can escape is the quality of his teaching, which Jesus says is because it is God’s message. Those who do God’s will have the discernment to know its truth. Jesus is not known to have studied under a rabbi, and to put forward your own teaching would be viewed as suspect, but Jesus’ teaching comes from God. He then challenges those that only want glory for themselves and who don’t fully obey the Law of Moses. This is the very Law they criticised him for not keeping when he healed the lame man on the Sabbath. To judge correctly they need to look more deeply. This is a challenge to us today. In a world full of fake news, sound bites and angry social media we need to reject that which is shallow and pursue truth. It is easy for religion to become the mindless following of rules in order to meet expectations rather than be the pursuit of a relationship with the God of the universe.

Response: Choose a word, phrase, idea or action that strikes you as significant at this moment in your life and spend a few minutes reflecting on it.

John 6:1-21

In this passage we have two miracles or signs that point to Jesus as creator and Lord of creation with the Father( John 1:1-5). The location of this story is possibly Decapolis, the Gentile region or the northeast region under Philip the tetrarch. The mountain side on which the feeding of the 5,000 takes place may be the modern day Golan Heights. The Passover is near, we are told, and this will become important in the following teaching.

When the people are hungry and need to be fed Jesus tests his disciples as to what to do. Phillips response to Jesus is that 200 denarii, which equates to about 8 months wages, would not be enough. This gives us some idea of the task. All they do have are 5 barley loaves, which is poor people’s bread. So, Jesus takes the bread and the fish and blesses it. The blessing would go something like this ‘Blessed be thou, Yahweh our God, king of the world who causes bread to come forth from the earth’. Unlike the provision of manna in the wilderness, where nothing could be kept, this bread is collected up when all have finished. The people, happy to be fed, want to force Jesus to an earthly position of kingship, but this is not why he came. Besides this, their only interest is in being fed, not in the spiritual food that Jesus came to give them. The disciples leave to cross the lake without Jesus, who comes later, miraculously walking on the water. Some of the disciples are fishermen, the waves don’t scare them but Jesus’ arrival does! The other gospels contain fuller accounts of this event, but John’s concern here seems to be to remind us of Jesus’ sovereignty over everything including the natural world.

Response: Choose a word, phrase, idea or action that strikes you as significant at this moment in your life and spend a few minutes reflecting on it.

John 5:31-47

In Jewish law self-testimony is not valid, there have to be other witnesses to Jesus. Jesus says there are several of these;

1. His father in heaven is his primary witness,
2. John the Baptist whom they knew is also a witness, and Jesus says if they had listened to him they would be saved,
3. Jesus teachings and miracles are a witness
4. The scriptures are a witness. The Jews believed study would bring eternal life, but they fail to recognise the one that it is written about. Jesus says that Moses wrote about him, but they didn’t get it.

Jesus criticises the leaders for the fickleness of their attitude and their unwillingness to accept him:

1. They don’t see Jesus in the scripture
2. They reject him and his works and teaching
3. They accept those who promote themselves and engage in mutual honouring of one another but reject Jesus and don’t love God.

In wanting the praise of people, they missed the praise of God.

This is a warning to us, especially in these days, where many can promote themselves and their message on a global stage. We need discernment to know when we are being pointed to Jesus and the right interpretation of scripture or pointed to someone’s own desire for honour. Careful discernment will protect us from disappointment and being led astray. Even intense study of scripture will not help us if it doesn’t keep us focused on Jesus. The Jewish leader’s obsession with the observation of the law had missed the grace, truth and mercy of God which Jesus came to reveal to us.

Response: Choose a word, phrase, idea or action that strikes you as significant at this moment in your life and spend a few minutes reflecting on it.