And they were still following the signs…
And they were still following the signs…
John 6
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
1Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4The Jewish Passover Feast was near.
5When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages[a] would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
8Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9″Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
10Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
The feeding of the five thousand is one of the first miracles of Jesus I remember hearing about as a child. I do not think I had any idea at that time of the hugeness of this miracle. The thing I do remember is that a child was used to help perform this miracle, and he would be eating leftovers for a long time.
As an adult, I wonder just how large was the area where they met, that five thousand men could sit to eat, along with women and children? I wonder why the young boy had five loaves of bread? I wonder why the disciples still were so bound in the physical world that they could not anticipate the miracle to come? And I wonder who in that crowd needed a miracle beyond what they would eat for lunch?
Why do you follow the Christ? Is it because you were raised in church? Do you follow Him because of His saving power, or because there has been a real transformation in your life brought about by Jesus Christ? Or do you follow Him hoping for a miracle?
Can you say, as the crowd that day so long ago, “Surely this is the Prophet who is come into the world.” Can you look beyond the physical miracles and see the miracle of salvation? Do you believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jesus is the very Son of God, born into this world to seek and save the lost, to reconcile us to the Father, to give us new life? If you cannot see the gospel of Jesus, then you are one of the five thousand simply looking for another miracle. May you receive the miracle of salvation this holiday season. May you repent of your sins, turn toward Jesus of Nazareth, ask Him into your heart, and turn from the darkness and into the light.
Seeing is Believing
Testimonies About Jesus
John 5:31″If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. 32There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid.
33″You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. 34Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.
36″I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. 37And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
41″I do not accept praise from men, 42but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?
45″But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
There is a saying, “Seeing is believing.” Yet, Jesus is surrounded by those who saw, but did not believe. How is this possible? The Jewish people knew the Scriptures, knew the Law of Moses, they had heard from the lips of John the Baptist that Jesus was the Christ, yet they remained clueless to His true identity.
Jesus says here in these passages that He could tell Israel about himself, but such testimony would not be valid. It would appear to be boasting, or, worse yet, lying. They did not believe John the Baptist, nor did they accept what Moses wrote about the Messiah.
The worst indictment is when Jesus said, “And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell within you.” These men knew the scriptures backwards and forward, but Jesus said God’s word did not dwell within them.
How can this be? It is because the Word was in their heads, but never made it into their hearts. They could recite the word, they could effectively teach the word, but the word was nothing more than letters scribbled on parchment. The word had not been made flesh in their hearts.
Do you know who Jesus is? Will you accept the One who came in the name of the Father to seek and save the lost? Will you allow His Word to have a resting place in your heart?
This is the day the Lord has made, rejoice in it and be exceedingly glad (Ps 118:24) for Jesus, Emmanuel, is God with us.
Heresy vs. truth
Life Through the Son
John 5:16So, 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.
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.
24″I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. 25I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
28″Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. 30By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
The truth is a strange phenomenon. Take the truth of God, for instance. The truth is that God exists. If we do not accept the truth of His existence, neither the truth nor His existence is changed. He still exists and that is the truth. In this passage, Jesus tells the truth of who He is and why He has come. To some, the truth was like a soothing balm, to others it was iodine poured into an open wound.
The Jews who did not believe began by faulting Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, because He was breaking the Jewish Law. Then, they were offended because Jesus said His Father was working even to this day, and therefore, so was He. Jesus came not to do His own works but the works of God, who sent Him. “How can this be?” they must have thought. How can Jesus call God His Father? Is this heresy or is it truth?
If only they had known the Law did not come to save, but to show them their need for a Savior. If only they had believed in spirit and in truth. If only they had the faith to bridge the gap of disbelief. If only they could have walked across the bridge from death to life.
Have you ever anticipated something, perhaps a vacation destination, but when you finally arrived it was not all you had hope it would be? I think this is the predicament in which the Jewish leaders found themselves. They knew the Scripture, they knew Isaiah had foretold a Messiah, they saw it in the Psalms, yet when He came He was not what they expected. Have you heard the truth? Do you have he faith to believe the truth? A man who brought his son possessed by an evil spirit to the disciples for healing left in the same predicament in which he arrived–his son was not healed. When he reported this to Jesus, Jesus answered by saying they were an unbelieving generation. The man answered, “I believe, help thou mine unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)
We are each given a measure of faith to help us believe. If your faith is not strong enough, ask for more. If that faith is still not strong enough, ask for yet more. God is not some cruel jokester dangling eternal life in front of you, always just out of your reach. God is a loving father and Jesus is His son, and we must only ask and salvation is ours, we must only believe and we have crossed over the bridge from eternal damnation to eternal life. Ask…believe…live.
…and the truth will set you free
Days run together this time of year, when the celebration of the birth of our Savior is sometimes overshadowed by parties, and “holiday” symphonies, and other activities that would separate us from God’s Word. Indeed, it has been five days since I have actively entered into a study of the Word. Oh, I read the Word, doing the initial preparation yesterday for teaching this coming Sunday, but I have not actually studied the Word in about a week. And I know better!
John 5
The Healing at the Pool
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, 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.
Can you even begin to imagine what it would be like to be an invalid for 38 years? My mother-in-law wore an ileostomy bag for 38 years. I have known people since then who had to wear a bag for 6 months following surgery, and it was almost more than they could tolerate. Thirty-eight years of being an invalid. How could anyone after that length of time hold out any hope for the future?
The invalid in this scripture had clearly lost hope that he could enter the waters and be healed, for others always made it into the water before him. Yet, he continued to come to the pool each day, seeking his miracle. And his miracle appeared in the form of a man named Jesus. When Jesus inquired as to his health, the man said I have no one to help me into the pool, and Jesus replied, take up your mat and walk, for you are healed. There was no need of the healing waters in the pool of Bethesda, for the great Healer was present.
The pool of Bethesda was near the Sheep Market Gate and the waters were said to be stirred by an angel. When the waters stirred, people entered the pool to receive their healing. In Hebrew, Bethesda means “House of Mercy” and in Greek it means “House of Grace.” Either way, Bethesda was a place of hope, a place of healing, a place of grace.
The next important fact in this scripture is that the city officials were unconcerned about the healing of the invalid–instead, they were offended that the man picked up his mat on the Sabbath, an action prohibited under the Law. Oh ye of little faith–what Jesus says is healed, is healed–what Jesus says is good, is good. If Jesus healed on the Sabbath, that pretty much ends the discussion of what can be done on the Sabbath and what is prohibited.
Can you see beyond the Law into the House of Grace? If not, go to your Lord in prayer today and ask that He fill you with a spirit of grace and mercy.
The Journey
I watched the Showtime special “Letting Go of God,” a 2 1/2 hour monologue by Julie Sweeney where she takes a journey of faith, and subsequently unbelief, in her quest for answers about God. Raised a Catholic, she began by loving God, by trusting God, by believing bad times were made bearable through the love of God.
Julie attended a year long Bible study at her local parish and came face to face with some insurmountable evidence, for her, that we are not God’s creation, but instead, He is ours, something to help us make sense of our existence, indeed, our presence in this universe. She concluded after much study and even searching out other religions that God cannot exist, or if He did why would we follow such a God who exacted His own son’s death in order to save flawed man whom He created?
The special was filled with Julie’s own brand of humor, and some of it was laugh out loud funny. There were other times when her pain was palpable, as she struggled to make sense of the good, the bad and the ugly that is this thing called life. Toward the end I thought perhaps she was going to come full circle, and finish by reconciling herself to God.
We have all questioned, if not the existence of God, at least the fundamental question of why bad things happen to good people. I answer this by saying we are born into a world dominated by sin, and that sin colors everything around it, like washing a red sweater with white linens. But then, I believe–I have always believed, and I always will believe in God. I have not always followed, but I have always believed and am convinced I will leave this world tenaciously clinging to this faith I have held so dear.
Where the Bible does not make sense, I lay down the cloak of faith and walk right across the muddiness of what appears to be illogic or at least incontinuity. Where God’s wrath seems to overshadow His love, I wrap myself in the blanket of hope, knowing that what I do not understand now will ultimately be made known to me.
I wrote the poem, “The Journey,” this morning and am posting it here today in lieu of my daily Bible reading. Not that I won’t read the Bible today–I almost certainly will. But then again, it is faith that drives me onward, and faith will ultimately lead me home.
The Journey
Written after watching “Letting Go of God”, a monologue by Julie Sweeney,
Stumbling through the darkness of confusion, tumbling into the light of reason she questioned everything she had been raised to believe. She loved God, always had but science taught her to look elsewhere for answers and no one told her some puzzles have no ready solutions. So she slipped silently from her raft of faith and into the blue-black waters of the intellect, where faith takes a back seat to logic. She turned her back on the God of her father, and set out on a journey of self-actualization, a pilgrimmage she continues to this day. She still uses phrases like, “Thank God,” although more out of habit than belief. She teaches her child we are each some cosmic accident and that is sad, I think, but I believe that children have the knowledge of God even before they have reason to believe, or the ability to reason. I pray that she will find her way, that God will intervene some day and she will return to that first love a child has for her Father. For the first love is the best love, and we should not be detoured on the pathway to righteousness, not by science, nor reason, nor anything.
Seeking Holiness 