Scripture reading:
19Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
Observations:
What we can see here are three key points about: (a) the relationship between Jesus and God; and (b) two practical implications of this relationship for us in terms of our desire for a right relationship with god the father.
The observations which we can make in this regard boil down to three key points:
· Jesus’ authority comes solely from god.
In our world today, many of us are heavily influenced by our parents, especially when we are young.
But whilst we learn from them, we are not limited to or bound by the extent of their knowledge, achievements and experiences. Indeed, it is hoped that each generation will go further than those before them, that they will go above and beyond and discover new horizons. This is a natural process – one which we cannot stop, nor should we want to.
But with Jesus, things are different. Unlike our parents, who are human and therefore fallible, the father of Jesus (God) is literally the creator and author of life itself. You can’t go one better than god. His power and authority are infinite, and it is not possible to go higher than infinity.
Because of this, Jesus cannot exceed God the father. More to the point, Jesus depends on the father. Jesus is not a self-made man in this sense. By himself, he would have absolutely no power or authority at all. None whatsoever. By himself, he could have healed the blind man in the pool (see John 5:1-6), nor could he have turned water into wine, healed the official’s son or raised Lazarus from the dead.
Jesus could do these things solely and only because of God the father, on whom he is completely dependent and by whom the power and authority to accomplish these things is vested upon his shoulders.
· God has entrusted all judgment to Jesus.
One flow on consequence of this relationship is shown through versus 22&23, which show clearly show who our judge will be when the time comes for each of us to account for our time on this earth.
The thought of going before a ruler or judge to provide is not always an overly pleasant one, particularly when we ourselves are the ones who are being held to account with regard to whatever matters the confrontation in question relates.
But even where we face judgment, it is quite possible that this may not involve confrontation with the great big ruler in question. Rulers can delegate, and when this happens, the individual to whom we have to answer is not indeed the ruler himself, but rather his delegate, who is entrusted to make a decision on the big boss’s behalf. When this happens, the thought of the confrontation with the delegate himself can be a little unnerving. But this is not because of the individual delegate. Rather, it’s because of who the delegate in question works for and has been entrusted by – the great big boss.
It is the same with Jesus. Each and every one of us is accountable to the father when we die. But god the father has entrusted his son, Jesus Christ, in this regard, and for this reason, our destinies after death are in the hands of Christ Jesus.
· There is one way to god – Jesus.
Appealing though ideas about there being ‘many ways to god’ may be, they are not supported in the bible. The bible makes it clear that there is one way and one way only to god – through faith in Jesus Christ.
Personally, I am not a parent, but I could certainly imagine that almost all parents feel fairly strongly about the type of treatment which their children receive from others. Treatment given to children shows a great deal about how the individual in question feels about his or her parents. Why – because children are part of their parents. Children are part of their flesh and blood of their parents, and parents by nature have a very significant part of themselves invested in their children.
Likewise, how we respond to Jesus says a great deal about how we really feel about God. Jesus is his son, and we cannot claim to be in full relationship with god the father unless we have accepted his sacrifice on the cross as payment for our sins.
Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,
Thank you so much that you sent your son Jesus Christ into the world.
Through him, we saw your glory on full display. Through him, we saw all your power, might and wisdom, and a perfect demonstration of your unfailing love.
Lord, when we think about Jesus, let us never forget just who he is. Let us not forget for one second that you have not only made him our savior, but also entrusted him with our judgment, whether that be at the time of his return or at the time of our death.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Scripture Reading
16So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Observations:
(1) God is always at work.
Given the apparent contradiction with Genesis (where the scripture indicates that God ‘rested’ on the seventh day), I have to admit that I find the statement of Jesus in verse 17 about god always being at work a little difficult to understand.
Nevertheless, what we can see from this passage is that god never stops. He is always active, every second of every hour, of every day of every year. He is always watching over his creation. He doesn’t stop.
Although this passage is primarily about demonstrating god’s character, it also has some practical implications for us – especially for those of us who observe the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is intended for rest and worship. In general, those who observe it should abstain from traditional forms of work in the worldly sense. But there are limits to this, and the requirements should be observed with common sense. If your neighbour is sick, you do whatever you need to in order to look after them. Or if someone you know needs help, you do whatever it takes to provide the help that he or she needs. The Sabbath law does not prohibit kindness and love, nor should any follower of the lord lay aside these virtues simply because it happens to be a certain day of the week.
(2) Jesus refers to god as his father.
Although this was not actually the first time that Jesus had referred to god as being his father (that first happened in John Chapter 2, when Jesus referred to the temple (the house of god) as ‘my father’s house’ when driving out money-changers) the significance of these claims cannot be understated.
Up until now, many who have come across Jesus may have thought of him as a good and wise man – perhaps even a magician or a prophet. Even those who wouldn’t have considered him to be divine might have thought that he was pretty damn impressive.
But thoughts along those lines just don’t cut it now. By declaring himself to be equal with god, Jesus has raised the stakes no end. Now, we are only left with three possible conclusions:
a) He was not the son of god, and never believed he was.
In such a case, he was nothing but a rotten liar;
b) He was not the son of god, but honestly believed he was.
If this is the case, then he is a complete lunatic (fancy believing you were the son of god unless you really were), albeit an honest one; or
c) His claims were completely true and he is indeed the son of god.
There is no middle ground. Claims about being the son of god eliminate the safe, comfortable option. Anyone making claims like this are either liars or lunatics, or they are the son of god (as I believe) as per their claim.
(3) The Jews persecute Jesus.
Before we go being too hard on the Jews, it is important to remember one important fact - they may simply have been doing what they thought was right.
Had he not have been speaking the truth, Jesus would have been blaspheming against god – a sin punishable by death under Old Testament law, and the Jews (who genuinely believed this to be the case), would have been doing right by god in trying to kill him.
But this does not excuse them, nor are their actions forgivable. Jesus was telling the truth and the man which the Jews were trying to kill was none less than god’s only son. Sure, they most likely blind (figuratively speaking) rather than ill-intentioned, but this does not change the fact that they persecuted the son of god.
Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,
Thank you lord, that we are able to know that you never sit down and forget about the world. Nowhere do you stop and say “I’ll just sit down and rest for awhile – who cares if things go wrong in their world.” No. You watch over us all the time. Day and Night. Twenty-four seven.
Lord, forgive us whenever we fail to appreciate who you are. When we fail to appreciate just what you accomplished whilst here on this earth. You – the trinity, father, son and Holy Spirit, are nothing short of being our perfect creator. Let us not get conceited and offended when you show or talk about your greatness. Rather, let us bow down to you in submission and awe.
Father, whilst we should not judge anyone too harshly (we ourselves are sinners and not in any position to go passing out judgment), let us remember that those who were supposedly from your family did try to kill you (and, in a worldly sense, succeeded in doing so).
But let us also remember, lord, that this was done according to your design to demonstrate your greatness, which can be so clearly and explicitly seen through your unbelievable triumph over our sin on the cross.
In these things I pray.
In the name of Jesus Christ our lord,
Amen.
16So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Observations:
(1) God is always at work.
Given the apparent contradiction with Genesis (where the scripture indicates that God ‘rested’ on the seventh day), I have to admit that I find the statement of Jesus in verse 17 about god always being at work a little difficult to understand.
Nevertheless, what we can see from this passage is that god never stops. He is always active, every second of every hour, of every day of every year. He is always watching over his creation. He doesn’t stop.
Although this passage is primarily about demonstrating god’s character, it also has some practical implications for us – especially for those of us who observe the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is intended for rest and worship. In general, those who observe it should abstain from traditional forms of work in the worldly sense. But there are limits to this, and the requirements should be observed with common sense. If your neighbour is sick, you do whatever you need to in order to look after them. Or if someone you know needs help, you do whatever it takes to provide the help that he or she needs. The Sabbath law does not prohibit kindness and love, nor should any follower of the lord lay aside these virtues simply because it happens to be a certain day of the week.
(2) Jesus refers to god as his father.
Although this was not actually the first time that Jesus had referred to god as being his father (that first happened in John Chapter 2, when Jesus referred to the temple (the house of god) as ‘my father’s house’ when driving out money-changers) the significance of these claims cannot be understated.
Up until now, many who have come across Jesus may have thought of him as a good and wise man – perhaps even a magician or a prophet. Even those who wouldn’t have considered him to be divine might have thought that he was pretty damn impressive.
But thoughts along those lines just don’t cut it now. By declaring himself to be equal with god, Jesus has raised the stakes no end. Now, we are only left with three possible conclusions:
a) He was not the son of god, and never believed he was.
In such a case, he was nothing but a rotten liar;
b) He was not the son of god, but honestly believed he was.
If this is the case, then he is a complete lunatic (fancy believing you were the son of god unless you really were), albeit an honest one; or
c) His claims were completely true and he is indeed the son of god.
There is no middle ground. Claims about being the son of god eliminate the safe, comfortable option. Anyone making claims like this are either liars or lunatics, or they are the son of god (as I believe) as per their claim.
(3) The Jews persecute Jesus.
Before we go being too hard on the Jews, it is important to remember one important fact - they may simply have been doing what they thought was right.
Had he not have been speaking the truth, Jesus would have been blaspheming against god – a sin punishable by death under Old Testament law, and the Jews (who genuinely believed this to be the case), would have been doing right by god in trying to kill him.
But this does not excuse them, nor are their actions forgivable. Jesus was telling the truth and the man which the Jews were trying to kill was none less than god’s only son. Sure, they most likely blind (figuratively speaking) rather than ill-intentioned, but this does not change the fact that they persecuted the son of god.
Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,
Thank you lord, that we are able to know that you never sit down and forget about the world. Nowhere do you stop and say “I’ll just sit down and rest for awhile – who cares if things go wrong in their world.” No. You watch over us all the time. Day and Night. Twenty-four seven.
Lord, forgive us whenever we fail to appreciate who you are. When we fail to appreciate just what you accomplished whilst here on this earth. You – the trinity, father, son and Holy Spirit, are nothing short of being our perfect creator. Let us not get conceited and offended when you show or talk about your greatness. Rather, let us bow down to you in submission and awe.
Father, whilst we should not judge anyone too harshly (we ourselves are sinners and not in any position to go passing out judgment), let us remember that those who were supposedly from your family did try to kill you (and, in a worldly sense, succeeded in doing so).
But let us also remember, lord, that this was done according to your design to demonstrate your greatness, which can be so clearly and explicitly seen through your unbelievable triumph over our sin on the cross.
In these things I pray.
In the name of Jesus Christ our lord,
Amen.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Who is this fellow? The son of God - that's who
Scripture reading:
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "
12So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"
13The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Observations:
(1) Who does Jesus think he is? (Only the son of god).
One of the things which we can see clearly in this passage is that the Jews did not like anyone who gave an instruction which contradicted their man-made law, with anyone who did so being seen as rocking the boat.
How dare anyone challenge their religious and moral authority! How dare any man give an instruction which contradicts Jewish law. Who is this man? And what is his place to contradict Jewish tradition? He or she must think they are pretty damn special!
These are some interesting questions, and the answer brings out an important point.
So who is he – he is Jesus, that’s who. Son of god. Our messiah, our savior and our judge. The one who through his death on the cross took away the sin of those who believe. That’s who he is.
Nothing more, nothing less.
And what’s his place to contradict Jewish law? Again plenty.
As son of god, and one part of the holy trinity, Jesus is above laws made by man – way, way above. Neither is he in any way constrained by or bound to follow any form of Jewish tradition.
Don’t get me wrong, at no stage did Jesus contradict the laws as set down in the Old Testament in any way. Jesus was, is and will always be the only man to fully and perfectly obey and fulfill the entire old testament law.
But he was not subject any law or tradition laid down by man. And in no way at all was he shy of rocking man-made tradition in order to demonstrate the full extent of god, as he did not only on this particular occasion but many other occasions as detailed throughout the gospels.
[It is worth noting here that we are referring to law as made by the Jews themselves. We are not referring here to law made by god as given in the old testament (refer observation 1 in the previous discussion)]
(2) Give the credit to Jesus – and call him by name.
At first, the former invalid in this passage was not particularly certain about the exact identity of who it was that had healed him - obviously a deliberate choice on the part of Jesus, for whatever reason, not to reveal his identity on this particular occasion at the particular time.
But he did ascribe credit for his healing as best he could. By his reference to ‘the man who made me well,’ he sought to full recognition with regard to what had been done and who had done it in spite of his inability to name the man responsible.
(I am not particularly certain why Jesus, at first, choose not to reveal his identity to this man)
But after Jesus revealed his identity, the former invalid went back straight away and ascribed him full credit by name.
This is an important point. From time to time, our lord will do something special in our lives – be it a physical healing, new job or whatever. Whenever these things happen, we must not be hesitant in any way to ascribe full credit to our lord – both in the public domain as well as in our own private lives.
Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,
Lord, let us never forget who you really are. When you were here in physical flesh, many, such as the Jews in the passage described above, failed to appreciate who you really were. And let us, when talking to you in our prayer, never forget who you really are.
You are our maker and our judge. Nothing more, nothing less. You are all powerful and above all. And you will not be constrained be constrained in any way, shape or form by who we in our feeble minds think that you should be.
Lord, sometimes you choose to bless us with positive and exciting things in our lives, be they new jobs, babies, the overcoming of sickness, or whatever. Whenever these things, by your deliberate and purposeful design, befall on us, let us never forget just who is responsible. Let us respond to good fortune the only that is acceptable - by growing in thankfulness to you for your graciousness and mercy which you have shown to us.
In the name of Christ Jesus I pray,
Amen.
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "
12So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"
13The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Observations:
(1) Who does Jesus think he is? (Only the son of god).
One of the things which we can see clearly in this passage is that the Jews did not like anyone who gave an instruction which contradicted their man-made law, with anyone who did so being seen as rocking the boat.
How dare anyone challenge their religious and moral authority! How dare any man give an instruction which contradicts Jewish law. Who is this man? And what is his place to contradict Jewish tradition? He or she must think they are pretty damn special!
These are some interesting questions, and the answer brings out an important point.
So who is he – he is Jesus, that’s who. Son of god. Our messiah, our savior and our judge. The one who through his death on the cross took away the sin of those who believe. That’s who he is.
Nothing more, nothing less.
And what’s his place to contradict Jewish law? Again plenty.
As son of god, and one part of the holy trinity, Jesus is above laws made by man – way, way above. Neither is he in any way constrained by or bound to follow any form of Jewish tradition.
Don’t get me wrong, at no stage did Jesus contradict the laws as set down in the Old Testament in any way. Jesus was, is and will always be the only man to fully and perfectly obey and fulfill the entire old testament law.
But he was not subject any law or tradition laid down by man. And in no way at all was he shy of rocking man-made tradition in order to demonstrate the full extent of god, as he did not only on this particular occasion but many other occasions as detailed throughout the gospels.
[It is worth noting here that we are referring to law as made by the Jews themselves. We are not referring here to law made by god as given in the old testament (refer observation 1 in the previous discussion)]
(2) Give the credit to Jesus – and call him by name.
At first, the former invalid in this passage was not particularly certain about the exact identity of who it was that had healed him - obviously a deliberate choice on the part of Jesus, for whatever reason, not to reveal his identity on this particular occasion at the particular time.
But he did ascribe credit for his healing as best he could. By his reference to ‘the man who made me well,’ he sought to full recognition with regard to what had been done and who had done it in spite of his inability to name the man responsible.
(I am not particularly certain why Jesus, at first, choose not to reveal his identity to this man)
But after Jesus revealed his identity, the former invalid went back straight away and ascribed him full credit by name.
This is an important point. From time to time, our lord will do something special in our lives – be it a physical healing, new job or whatever. Whenever these things happen, we must not be hesitant in any way to ascribe full credit to our lord – both in the public domain as well as in our own private lives.
Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,
Lord, let us never forget who you really are. When you were here in physical flesh, many, such as the Jews in the passage described above, failed to appreciate who you really were. And let us, when talking to you in our prayer, never forget who you really are.
You are our maker and our judge. Nothing more, nothing less. You are all powerful and above all. And you will not be constrained be constrained in any way, shape or form by who we in our feeble minds think that you should be.
Lord, sometimes you choose to bless us with positive and exciting things in our lives, be they new jobs, babies, the overcoming of sickness, or whatever. Whenever these things, by your deliberate and purposeful design, befall on us, let us never forget just who is responsible. Let us respond to good fortune the only that is acceptable - by growing in thankfulness to you for your graciousness and mercy which you have shown to us.
In the name of Christ Jesus I pray,
Amen.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Enjoy the gifts of god - don't be constrained by legalism (John 5:8-11)
Scripture reading
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "
Observations:
(1) Don’t confuse man made law with that made by god.
At first glance, this passage might appear to highlight a situation of conflict between a direct instruction of Jesus (for the man to pick up his mat) and a conflicting instruction under the law as given by god relating to rules about the Sabbath.
If this were the case, then I would have a considerable challenge not only with this passage, but also with the entire gospel. I would certainly have a problem with putting my faith in anyone whose instructions or teachings directly contradicted those given by god in the Old Testament.
Fortunately, however, this is not the case. In no way at all was Jesus instructing the man concerned to break any of god’s laws.
Instead, the legal requirements to which the Jews in question refer related to man-made requirements which were made in addition to the law of god. They do not relate to the law itself. It was this man-made law with which the Jesus were in conflict, not the law of god.
Essentially, in Old Testament times, god commanded the Israelites to set aside one day, the seventh day of the week, as a time to stop what they were doing and cease to perform any form of work or toil. The purpose of this was two-fold: (a) for physical rest and restoration; and (b) to remember, reflect upon and honor god, their creator.
As far as I understand it, the OT does not go into a great deal of specific detail in terms of the precise details as to exactly how the Sabbath was to be performed, and it does not specify a large range of do’s and don’ts with regard to this matter. Because of this, the Pharisees, a sect of the Jews, made their own regulations, was supposedly to help people to follow god’s law in the correct manner. It was these laws with which the man was in breach. At no time at all in the story described above does the man breach any laws as specified by the Old Testament.
The Pharisees, in their claims that the man’s actions in this case were in contravention of the law, had made the critical mistake of confusing their own laws with that of god. Bad mistake. We are nowhere near on the same level as god. He is the creator, we are his creation. Our rules will never, ever equate with his.
(2) Enjoy the grace of god, don’t be constrained by the religious ‘political correctness.’
The first thing that we see here is a direct clash between the political correctness of the day with regard to religious practices and the enjoyment of the amazing grace provided by the lord.
And the second thing that we see is the man making a correct choice between the two.
Granted we actually learn in the passage which follows those quoted in the scripture reading above that the man indeed did not actually see who it was who had healed him, and it is almost certain that his actions did not represent a purposeful decision to accept the magnificent grace of our lord.
All he knew was that somebody had healed him of an extremely serious physical condition, and that this somebody had now told him to walk. Who was he to question such a command? And why on earth should he not do so because of some man-made law about religion? Moreover, had those who were now lecturing him about legal requirements ever healed him? No. Had they ever bothered to about him or his condition? Probably not. And prior to his healing, had they bothered to take any notice of him at all? I doubt it.
My guess - the man was simply paying more attention to the man that had healed him as opposed to those who had done bugger all for him, just as any other sane individual would have done.
But whatever his motives, the point is that he did have a choice. On one hand, he could bask in the sunshine of the amazing grace provided by the lord (as instructed by Jesus) and on the other hand forfeiting the enjoyment of that grace because of legalistic, man-made religious requirements.
He made the right choice, and so should we. Whilst we should make every effort at all times to behave in a manner which is honorable to our heavenly father, under no circumstances should we allow legalistic, man-made requirements to hinder our full enjoyment of the amazing grace which is provided so lavishly by our wonderful heavenly father.
(3) Look at the bigger picture – rejoice for those on whom god shows favor.
One final point – the Jews in this passage had their priorities seriously out of order. Instead of simply being happy for the man, as they should have been, they were more worried about tripping him up on a pathetic small point with regard to legalistic requirements.
The law of god as laid down in the Old Testament lays down two key basic principles which form the fundamental cornerstone of the spirit of his entire law - love the lord god with all of our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves. According to these basic principles, our most important concern when dealing with other people has to be their overall level of wellbeing - not the degree to which they comply or otherwise with man-made religious protocol. When the lord god does something wonderful like this, we should simply be glad for the recipient of his favor, not trying to trip them up on insignificant details.
Man-made religious protocol, in such circumstances, should be the last thing on our mind, and the Jews in this passage had plainly lost sight of the bigger picture of the law as laid down by god.
We must learn from this. Our focus, when dealing with other people, and indeed, at literally every moment in our lives, should be not on insignificant details but on living in a manner which is in tune with the basic fundamental spirit of god’s law – loving god with all of our hearts and loving others as ourselves.
Let’s just get these two things right and forget about minor issues relating to religious protocol.
Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,
Lord, let us never, ever, replace your great law with our own.
Your law needs no addition - it is absolutely perfect and completely beyond rapproach as it is. It is absolutely sufficient in every way, and it is completely arrogant of us to think that we need to add to it in any way at all.
Moreover, it represents nothing but absolute and complete folly on our part if we try to put our man-made law above that holy one given by you. The day we do this, lord, we are lost.
Lord, let us never over-burden ourselves with political correctness with regard to religious protocol. Instead, let us bask in the glorious sunshine of the amazing grace which you provide so freely, and free our hearts lord to with an attitude of thanksgiving simply marvel and enjoy every good gift which you decide to shower upon us in your glorious mercy and love.
Finally, lord, let us never lose sight of the basic spirit of your law. We seem to have a hard enough time just getting the basics right, so instead of being overly concerned about small details, let our hearts focus on the bigger picture with regard to your great commands – loving you with all of our hearts and loving our neighbors as ourselves.
In these things, we pray.
In your great name,
Amen.
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "
Observations:
(1) Don’t confuse man made law with that made by god.
At first glance, this passage might appear to highlight a situation of conflict between a direct instruction of Jesus (for the man to pick up his mat) and a conflicting instruction under the law as given by god relating to rules about the Sabbath.
If this were the case, then I would have a considerable challenge not only with this passage, but also with the entire gospel. I would certainly have a problem with putting my faith in anyone whose instructions or teachings directly contradicted those given by god in the Old Testament.
Fortunately, however, this is not the case. In no way at all was Jesus instructing the man concerned to break any of god’s laws.
Instead, the legal requirements to which the Jews in question refer related to man-made requirements which were made in addition to the law of god. They do not relate to the law itself. It was this man-made law with which the Jesus were in conflict, not the law of god.
Essentially, in Old Testament times, god commanded the Israelites to set aside one day, the seventh day of the week, as a time to stop what they were doing and cease to perform any form of work or toil. The purpose of this was two-fold: (a) for physical rest and restoration; and (b) to remember, reflect upon and honor god, their creator.
As far as I understand it, the OT does not go into a great deal of specific detail in terms of the precise details as to exactly how the Sabbath was to be performed, and it does not specify a large range of do’s and don’ts with regard to this matter. Because of this, the Pharisees, a sect of the Jews, made their own regulations, was supposedly to help people to follow god’s law in the correct manner. It was these laws with which the man was in breach. At no time at all in the story described above does the man breach any laws as specified by the Old Testament.
The Pharisees, in their claims that the man’s actions in this case were in contravention of the law, had made the critical mistake of confusing their own laws with that of god. Bad mistake. We are nowhere near on the same level as god. He is the creator, we are his creation. Our rules will never, ever equate with his.
(2) Enjoy the grace of god, don’t be constrained by the religious ‘political correctness.’
The first thing that we see here is a direct clash between the political correctness of the day with regard to religious practices and the enjoyment of the amazing grace provided by the lord.
And the second thing that we see is the man making a correct choice between the two.
Granted we actually learn in the passage which follows those quoted in the scripture reading above that the man indeed did not actually see who it was who had healed him, and it is almost certain that his actions did not represent a purposeful decision to accept the magnificent grace of our lord.
All he knew was that somebody had healed him of an extremely serious physical condition, and that this somebody had now told him to walk. Who was he to question such a command? And why on earth should he not do so because of some man-made law about religion? Moreover, had those who were now lecturing him about legal requirements ever healed him? No. Had they ever bothered to about him or his condition? Probably not. And prior to his healing, had they bothered to take any notice of him at all? I doubt it.
My guess - the man was simply paying more attention to the man that had healed him as opposed to those who had done bugger all for him, just as any other sane individual would have done.
But whatever his motives, the point is that he did have a choice. On one hand, he could bask in the sunshine of the amazing grace provided by the lord (as instructed by Jesus) and on the other hand forfeiting the enjoyment of that grace because of legalistic, man-made religious requirements.
He made the right choice, and so should we. Whilst we should make every effort at all times to behave in a manner which is honorable to our heavenly father, under no circumstances should we allow legalistic, man-made requirements to hinder our full enjoyment of the amazing grace which is provided so lavishly by our wonderful heavenly father.
(3) Look at the bigger picture – rejoice for those on whom god shows favor.
One final point – the Jews in this passage had their priorities seriously out of order. Instead of simply being happy for the man, as they should have been, they were more worried about tripping him up on a pathetic small point with regard to legalistic requirements.
The law of god as laid down in the Old Testament lays down two key basic principles which form the fundamental cornerstone of the spirit of his entire law - love the lord god with all of our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves. According to these basic principles, our most important concern when dealing with other people has to be their overall level of wellbeing - not the degree to which they comply or otherwise with man-made religious protocol. When the lord god does something wonderful like this, we should simply be glad for the recipient of his favor, not trying to trip them up on insignificant details.
Man-made religious protocol, in such circumstances, should be the last thing on our mind, and the Jews in this passage had plainly lost sight of the bigger picture of the law as laid down by god.
We must learn from this. Our focus, when dealing with other people, and indeed, at literally every moment in our lives, should be not on insignificant details but on living in a manner which is in tune with the basic fundamental spirit of god’s law – loving god with all of our hearts and loving others as ourselves.
Let’s just get these two things right and forget about minor issues relating to religious protocol.
Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,
Lord, let us never, ever, replace your great law with our own.
Your law needs no addition - it is absolutely perfect and completely beyond rapproach as it is. It is absolutely sufficient in every way, and it is completely arrogant of us to think that we need to add to it in any way at all.
Moreover, it represents nothing but absolute and complete folly on our part if we try to put our man-made law above that holy one given by you. The day we do this, lord, we are lost.
Lord, let us never over-burden ourselves with political correctness with regard to religious protocol. Instead, let us bask in the glorious sunshine of the amazing grace which you provide so freely, and free our hearts lord to with an attitude of thanksgiving simply marvel and enjoy every good gift which you decide to shower upon us in your glorious mercy and love.
Finally, lord, let us never lose sight of the basic spirit of your law. We seem to have a hard enough time just getting the basics right, so instead of being overly concerned about small details, let our hearts focus on the bigger picture with regard to your great commands – loving you with all of our hearts and loving our neighbors as ourselves.
In these things, we pray.
In your great name,
Amen.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Jesus has the real healing power (John 5:1-9)
1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.[b] 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
7"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
Observations:
Jesus, not mystical powers, has the power to heal.
In the previous passage (John 4:43-54), we saw a wonderful example of the extent of Jesus’ healing power through his healing of the son of a Royal Official in Galilee from what it appears was a life-threatening illness.
In this passage, we see his healing power again, with the patient concerned this time being an invalid of thirty-eight years.
As with the example in the previous passage, we are not given any information with regards to the specific nature of the illness concerned. Nevertheless, I would think that it would be safe to assume that the illness was of an incurable nature. The man in question suffered for thirty-eight years, and you would have thought that if the illness was indeed of a curable nature, then surely he would have been healed a long time prior to this particular event.
Another similarity which we can see between the above example and that from previous passage is the extent to which Jesus has complete and absolute power and control over sickness. In both cases, the individuals concerned were completely healed from their affliction by Jesus merely speaking it into existence.
But there would appear to be at least one key area of contrast – the attitude of the recipients. In the previous passage, we see that the boy’s father (a royal official) had demonstrate at least some degree of belief and confidence in the ability of Jesus to cure his son, going of his way specifically to seek Jesus out in a somewhat deliberate fashion. In contrast, the invalid concerned appeared to be placing his only some in some apparent mystical healing power of the water in the pool.
Granted, unlike the royal official, this poor invalid did not have properly functioning legs, and so it was not exactly possible for him to get up and take himself to see Jesus in a similar manner to the royal official in the previous passage. Bear in mind also the likelihood that this poor fellow had not even heard anything about Jesus at all up until this point.
Nevertheless, he was clinging on to a some futile hope about being healed by some mythical powers of the water, a fact which is testament to the to both the magnitude of his desperation and the extent to which his hopes were completely misguided.
My point here is simply this: we must be very, very careful where (and in what) we place our hopes and faith.
Putting our hopes in some form of mystical power or other form of rubbish leads only to disillusionment.
Putting our faith in Jesus, by contrast, does not. Jesus, the creator and author of life, has the power to heal literally any form of disease or disability as he chooses. As lord and ruler over all of the earth, he has complete and utter power, control and mastery over everything – with sickness and disease being no exception.
Don’t get me wrong, no one should expect simply to be healed instantaneously after a simple prayer. Indeed no where in the gospel does it promise that everyone who suffers from any form of sickness and disease will be healed at all, let alone on an instantaneous basis. God does not promise that everyone will be healed, and god will not accept being held to promises which he has never indeed given.
But god certainly has the capacity to heal absolutely any form of sickness and disease, and when we ask for healing in the form of earnest and faithful prayer, then god may (let me stress the word ‘may’) choose to demonstrate the extent of his glory through the healing of sickness.
Faith put in mystical powers is futile.
But faith in the wonder of our glorious heavenly father is truly powerful.
Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,
Lord, let us never put our faith in anything except you.
Lord, we can invent all these crazy luck charms, mystical powers, wishing wells, star signs or whatever. But at the end of the day, these are all worthless.
You and only you have the power to heal or to protect. You, our creator, are the only one with any form of authority over our wellbeing, be it in the physical realm or, more importantly, in the spiritual realm.
When we suffer from physical illness, you and only you have the power to heal – not some magical charm. And when we are spiritually lost - when we fall away from you and are spiritually broken – only you can bring us back into the faith and light of your family.
Not some secret magical power lord, you and only you.
So let us set our faith squarely and solely upon you, and let us never look anywhere else.
In your great name,
Amen.
7"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
Observations:
Jesus, not mystical powers, has the power to heal.
In the previous passage (John 4:43-54), we saw a wonderful example of the extent of Jesus’ healing power through his healing of the son of a Royal Official in Galilee from what it appears was a life-threatening illness.
In this passage, we see his healing power again, with the patient concerned this time being an invalid of thirty-eight years.
As with the example in the previous passage, we are not given any information with regards to the specific nature of the illness concerned. Nevertheless, I would think that it would be safe to assume that the illness was of an incurable nature. The man in question suffered for thirty-eight years, and you would have thought that if the illness was indeed of a curable nature, then surely he would have been healed a long time prior to this particular event.
Another similarity which we can see between the above example and that from previous passage is the extent to which Jesus has complete and absolute power and control over sickness. In both cases, the individuals concerned were completely healed from their affliction by Jesus merely speaking it into existence.
But there would appear to be at least one key area of contrast – the attitude of the recipients. In the previous passage, we see that the boy’s father (a royal official) had demonstrate at least some degree of belief and confidence in the ability of Jesus to cure his son, going of his way specifically to seek Jesus out in a somewhat deliberate fashion. In contrast, the invalid concerned appeared to be placing his only some in some apparent mystical healing power of the water in the pool.
Granted, unlike the royal official, this poor invalid did not have properly functioning legs, and so it was not exactly possible for him to get up and take himself to see Jesus in a similar manner to the royal official in the previous passage. Bear in mind also the likelihood that this poor fellow had not even heard anything about Jesus at all up until this point.
Nevertheless, he was clinging on to a some futile hope about being healed by some mythical powers of the water, a fact which is testament to the to both the magnitude of his desperation and the extent to which his hopes were completely misguided.
My point here is simply this: we must be very, very careful where (and in what) we place our hopes and faith.
Putting our hopes in some form of mystical power or other form of rubbish leads only to disillusionment.
Putting our faith in Jesus, by contrast, does not. Jesus, the creator and author of life, has the power to heal literally any form of disease or disability as he chooses. As lord and ruler over all of the earth, he has complete and utter power, control and mastery over everything – with sickness and disease being no exception.
Don’t get me wrong, no one should expect simply to be healed instantaneously after a simple prayer. Indeed no where in the gospel does it promise that everyone who suffers from any form of sickness and disease will be healed at all, let alone on an instantaneous basis. God does not promise that everyone will be healed, and god will not accept being held to promises which he has never indeed given.
But god certainly has the capacity to heal absolutely any form of sickness and disease, and when we ask for healing in the form of earnest and faithful prayer, then god may (let me stress the word ‘may’) choose to demonstrate the extent of his glory through the healing of sickness.
Faith put in mystical powers is futile.
But faith in the wonder of our glorious heavenly father is truly powerful.
Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,
Lord, let us never put our faith in anything except you.
Lord, we can invent all these crazy luck charms, mystical powers, wishing wells, star signs or whatever. But at the end of the day, these are all worthless.
You and only you have the power to heal or to protect. You, our creator, are the only one with any form of authority over our wellbeing, be it in the physical realm or, more importantly, in the spiritual realm.
When we suffer from physical illness, you and only you have the power to heal – not some magical charm. And when we are spiritually lost - when we fall away from you and are spiritually broken – only you can bring us back into the faith and light of your family.
Not some secret magical power lord, you and only you.
So let us set our faith squarely and solely upon you, and let us never look anywhere else.
In your great name,
Amen.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
How Jesus reveals his glory though adversity (John 4:43-54)
43After the two days he left for Galilee. 44(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.
46Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
48"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."
49The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
50Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."
53Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.
54This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.
Observations:
In the case described above, we see an example of how the glory of god can be shown through adversity.
Sickness is never pleasant, and nowhere in the bible does god guarantee that sickness will always be cured. Indeed, sometimes the lord does choose either for the individual concerned to pass on or for the sickness to continue for a considerable time period, even in spite of earnest prayers on the part of sufferers themselves or of their family and friends.
But on other occasions, the lord does choose sickness as a means to demonstrate his glory. This is one such occasion. In this passage we see a wonderful example of how Jesus has power over sickness and, as we see later, even over death.
The passage does not indicate the specific nature of the illness from which the boy concerned was suffering. What it does tell us, however, is that the boy was bed-ridden and his illness was life-threatening. In other words, the situation is pretty bloody serious.
In addition, it is not likely that the illness was of a nature which could be easily treated. The passage indicates that the official concerned travelled from Capernaum to Cana (about 40km) in order to plead for the help of Jesus. Such a trip would not have been necessary if the disease concerned had been of a nature which was easily curable – in such a case, the services of a local doctor in Capernaum would have been sufficient
Nevertheless, what I think we see here is a case of god using adversity in a deliberate manner for the purpose of demonstrating the extent of his glory. I believe that it was god’s absolute intention for the particular boy concerned to suffer from the particular illness concerned for the precise reason of the scenario discussed in the passage taking place.
What we see here is that although the official referred to in this passage appeared to have a fairly strong level of faith – his actions indicated a belief in the power of Jesus to cure his son’s sickness, and he did take Jesus at his word upon being given the assurance that his son would live – we see that the power of Jesus is much, much greater than what he had imagined.
We see in the story that the official concerned begged Jesus to come with him, perhaps out of a belief that Jesus would either: (a) not properly understand the situation; or (b) have to be physically present in order to heal his son.
But Jesus is more powerful than that – way more powerful. As the son of god, Christ already knew about the whole situation and fully understood the situation of the boy concerned. His physical presence was simply not required, and he was able to ensure that the boy concerned was healed simply by speaking it into existence.
This kind of reminds me of what we learn in Genesis, and how light came into the world simply by god speaking it into existence. That’s the power of god. In Genesis we saw the degree of his command and control over the natural universe in the way that he single handedly brought the concept of light into the world by simply speaking it into existence. In this passage, we see the extent of his command and control over the most serious and incurable forms of sickness, how he can heal sickness with his mere words. And in a later passage, we see how the lord has command and control even over death, when he raises Lazarus from the dead with his mere words.
There is nothing, not a singular concept in this entire world, which is beyond the command and control of our god. So powerful is he that he has complete control not only over the natural laws of the universe, but also over the extremely serious concepts of sickness and death.
Prayer:
Lord, when we look at your power, we can only stand in awe. Complete and absoulute admiration are nowhere near adequate words – your pure power and glory are just so far beyond words and so far beyond understanding that there is no way that our earthly hearts can even come close to its complete comprehension.
You have complete command over everything we can see - over the natural universe, over sickness, and even over death. How can us mere mortals of this world ever come remotely close to understanding?
Yet, for those of us who have accepted your great peace offering, for those which you have chosen to make up a part of your great family, we can only thank you that you have opened our eyes wide enough to let in the great torrent and flood of your amazing grace. And we know further, lord, that you will open our eyes to receive the full notion of your glory when we meet you in that great day in heaven.
Though many of us will experience persecution and difficult times prior to then, lord, when we see the full extent of your glory, none of that will matter and all of our tears will be wiped away and our hearts will be full of pure gladness, joy and understanding.
Lord, when we look at your greatness, we can only bow down and worship in awe – at the greatness of your power and love.
In your great name,
Amen.
46Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
48"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."
49The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
50Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."
53Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.
54This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.
Observations:
In the case described above, we see an example of how the glory of god can be shown through adversity.
Sickness is never pleasant, and nowhere in the bible does god guarantee that sickness will always be cured. Indeed, sometimes the lord does choose either for the individual concerned to pass on or for the sickness to continue for a considerable time period, even in spite of earnest prayers on the part of sufferers themselves or of their family and friends.
But on other occasions, the lord does choose sickness as a means to demonstrate his glory. This is one such occasion. In this passage we see a wonderful example of how Jesus has power over sickness and, as we see later, even over death.
The passage does not indicate the specific nature of the illness from which the boy concerned was suffering. What it does tell us, however, is that the boy was bed-ridden and his illness was life-threatening. In other words, the situation is pretty bloody serious.
In addition, it is not likely that the illness was of a nature which could be easily treated. The passage indicates that the official concerned travelled from Capernaum to Cana (about 40km) in order to plead for the help of Jesus. Such a trip would not have been necessary if the disease concerned had been of a nature which was easily curable – in such a case, the services of a local doctor in Capernaum would have been sufficient
Nevertheless, what I think we see here is a case of god using adversity in a deliberate manner for the purpose of demonstrating the extent of his glory. I believe that it was god’s absolute intention for the particular boy concerned to suffer from the particular illness concerned for the precise reason of the scenario discussed in the passage taking place.
What we see here is that although the official referred to in this passage appeared to have a fairly strong level of faith – his actions indicated a belief in the power of Jesus to cure his son’s sickness, and he did take Jesus at his word upon being given the assurance that his son would live – we see that the power of Jesus is much, much greater than what he had imagined.
We see in the story that the official concerned begged Jesus to come with him, perhaps out of a belief that Jesus would either: (a) not properly understand the situation; or (b) have to be physically present in order to heal his son.
But Jesus is more powerful than that – way more powerful. As the son of god, Christ already knew about the whole situation and fully understood the situation of the boy concerned. His physical presence was simply not required, and he was able to ensure that the boy concerned was healed simply by speaking it into existence.
This kind of reminds me of what we learn in Genesis, and how light came into the world simply by god speaking it into existence. That’s the power of god. In Genesis we saw the degree of his command and control over the natural universe in the way that he single handedly brought the concept of light into the world by simply speaking it into existence. In this passage, we see the extent of his command and control over the most serious and incurable forms of sickness, how he can heal sickness with his mere words. And in a later passage, we see how the lord has command and control even over death, when he raises Lazarus from the dead with his mere words.
There is nothing, not a singular concept in this entire world, which is beyond the command and control of our god. So powerful is he that he has complete control not only over the natural laws of the universe, but also over the extremely serious concepts of sickness and death.
Prayer:
Lord, when we look at your power, we can only stand in awe. Complete and absoulute admiration are nowhere near adequate words – your pure power and glory are just so far beyond words and so far beyond understanding that there is no way that our earthly hearts can even come close to its complete comprehension.
You have complete command over everything we can see - over the natural universe, over sickness, and even over death. How can us mere mortals of this world ever come remotely close to understanding?
Yet, for those of us who have accepted your great peace offering, for those which you have chosen to make up a part of your great family, we can only thank you that you have opened our eyes wide enough to let in the great torrent and flood of your amazing grace. And we know further, lord, that you will open our eyes to receive the full notion of your glory when we meet you in that great day in heaven.
Though many of us will experience persecution and difficult times prior to then, lord, when we see the full extent of your glory, none of that will matter and all of our tears will be wiped away and our hearts will be full of pure gladness, joy and understanding.
Lord, when we look at your greatness, we can only bow down and worship in awe – at the greatness of your power and love.
In your great name,
Amen.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Faith Should not depend on miraculous signs (John 4:43-54)
Scripture reading:
43After the two days he left for Galilee. 44(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.
46Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
48"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."
49The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
50Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."
53Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.
54This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.
Observations:
· Why is Jesus so harsh on the Galilians?
At first, the approach of Jesus in this case appears to be a little puzzling.
The warm welcome which Jesus received, along with the request of the royal official would at first appear to indicate a positive response on behalf of the Galileans in terms of receiving the gospel.
Yet Jesus is particularly skeptical of these people. Why?
The answer would not appear to have anything to do with his previous visit to the region (refer John chapter 2), during which time the performance of his first miracle saw him turn water into wine. There did not appear to be anything which stood out about that encounter in particular which would have suggested any special degree of hostility toward him.
To be sure, immediately after leaving the region on the previous occasion, Jesus had encountered a degree of resistance from the Jews in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival. (After Jesus had overturned the table of moneychangers, the Jews who were in attendance at the festival had demanded from him the production of some form of miraculous sign in order to prove his authenticity – refer John chapter 2).
But this occurred in Jerusalem not Galilee, and there is nothing in particular found in the gospel to indicate that Jesus had, at this point, been subjected to any abnormal degree of resistance and hostility from the Galileans in particular.
So why then was Jesus so scathing of them?
There is no doubt in my mind that the answer lies in future events, which Jesus would have no doubt foreseen at the time of this event.
Whilst no abnormal degree of hostility was apparent Jesus’ previous visit to the region, the same cannot be said for later events, in which the gospels do appear to describe a significant level of resistance toward his message.
Chapter 6 in the book of John, for example, describes how the Jews of Capernicum demanded to see additional miraculous signs in order to authenticate his claims about himself, and how many of his followers were unable to accept some of the more controversial aspects of his teaching.
At the time of this passage, Jesus would have been well aware about how these future events would occur, and there is no doubt in my mind that this is what explains his behavior in this passage.
Prayer:
Lord, you can see through into the future.
In particular, you can see into each and every one of our hearts. You can tell who truly has faith in you from who does not. You can tell those whose hearts toward you are hard from those whose are not. You can distinguish without a shadow of a doubt those who have truly accepted your offer of forgiveness and salvation through faith in Christ from those who have not.
Lord, I pray that you may cleanse my own heart along with any of those who may happen to share in this prayer. Yes, lord, we ask for miracles especially in times of adversity. But lord whenever we ask for miracles, let it be because we have absolutely no doubt in our own hearts about what you are capable of, not because our hearts are hard and we are demanding some form of proof.
In these things I pray.
In your great name.
Amen.
43After the two days he left for Galilee. 44(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.
46Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
48"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."
49The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
50Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."
53Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.
54This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.
Observations:
· Why is Jesus so harsh on the Galilians?
At first, the approach of Jesus in this case appears to be a little puzzling.
The warm welcome which Jesus received, along with the request of the royal official would at first appear to indicate a positive response on behalf of the Galileans in terms of receiving the gospel.
Yet Jesus is particularly skeptical of these people. Why?
The answer would not appear to have anything to do with his previous visit to the region (refer John chapter 2), during which time the performance of his first miracle saw him turn water into wine. There did not appear to be anything which stood out about that encounter in particular which would have suggested any special degree of hostility toward him.
To be sure, immediately after leaving the region on the previous occasion, Jesus had encountered a degree of resistance from the Jews in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival. (After Jesus had overturned the table of moneychangers, the Jews who were in attendance at the festival had demanded from him the production of some form of miraculous sign in order to prove his authenticity – refer John chapter 2).
But this occurred in Jerusalem not Galilee, and there is nothing in particular found in the gospel to indicate that Jesus had, at this point, been subjected to any abnormal degree of resistance and hostility from the Galileans in particular.
So why then was Jesus so scathing of them?
There is no doubt in my mind that the answer lies in future events, which Jesus would have no doubt foreseen at the time of this event.
Whilst no abnormal degree of hostility was apparent Jesus’ previous visit to the region, the same cannot be said for later events, in which the gospels do appear to describe a significant level of resistance toward his message.
Chapter 6 in the book of John, for example, describes how the Jews of Capernicum demanded to see additional miraculous signs in order to authenticate his claims about himself, and how many of his followers were unable to accept some of the more controversial aspects of his teaching.
At the time of this passage, Jesus would have been well aware about how these future events would occur, and there is no doubt in my mind that this is what explains his behavior in this passage.
Prayer:
Lord, you can see through into the future.
In particular, you can see into each and every one of our hearts. You can tell who truly has faith in you from who does not. You can tell those whose hearts toward you are hard from those whose are not. You can distinguish without a shadow of a doubt those who have truly accepted your offer of forgiveness and salvation through faith in Christ from those who have not.
Lord, I pray that you may cleanse my own heart along with any of those who may happen to share in this prayer. Yes, lord, we ask for miracles especially in times of adversity. But lord whenever we ask for miracles, let it be because we have absolutely no doubt in our own hearts about what you are capable of, not because our hearts are hard and we are demanding some form of proof.
In these things I pray.
In your great name.
Amen.
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