Thanks Erin, Julie, Kara and Lindsey. What an amazing concept – bread that never spoils and always satisfies! Thanks for encouragement to believe IN that and to live FOR that.
The crowd was seeking Jesus because they wanted more physical miracles – they wanted more bread – they wanted to get something from Jesus. They were selfishly seeking Jesus and missing the real offer. They were looking for the fix to their immediate needs and missing the fix to their ultimate needs. This sounds so silly but then how often do I come to God not really seeking Jesus but seeking to get my needs met? How often do I get stuck on the physical and miss the spiritual? How often do I look for the immediate and overlook the ultimate? I truly believe that God does care about the immediate, the trivial, the physical….but He cares even more about the eventual, the crucial, the spiritual. He wants to be the bread that doesn’t just fill me for a day but fills me for an eternity.
The crowd wasn’t satisfied with the one miracle – they wanted more. Again, seems silly but how often do I question God despite clear evidence of who He is? I have experienced God’s love, I have experienced God’s grace, I have experienced God’s power….so why would I question these things when faced with a crisis?
The difference is that I may seek God improperly at times and I may question the power of God but these are not my intention nor my desire. My goal is to seek Him properly and to trust Him completely but that is a process that will take a life time and more. Thank goodness this is a relationship and that God is full love of love, grace and mercy. He meets me where I am at and shows me evidence of Himself again and again.
This week we will do John chapter 7. The tension is mounting – the hate of Jesus is growing. Really interesting when you think of it given what Jesus has been doing – what is there to hate. That is the big question. The Jews are rejecting Jesus, his brother are rejecting Him, the people are rejecting Him. Why are the people rejecting/hating Jesus? Why do people now reject or hate Jesus?
When Jesus talks in this chapter He is trying to defend or explain Himself and therefore God and this “religion.” Look at verses 18 and 24 – what do these teach us about Jesus and Christianity as a religion compared to other world religions. How can we apply verse 18 to our life?
Look at the very interesting events at the end of the chapter. The Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest Jesus but in verse 45 we see that they didn’t do it and in verse 46 we see the reason. I am sure the temple guards knew they would face significant consequences for not arresting Jesus but because of who they found Jesus to be they decided to take those consequences. Apply this to modern life. Then we see the Pharisees response in verses 47 and 48 – apply this as well.
Christine's question about verse 18 is interesting. I'm anxious to see what you all think about it. Verse 24-"Don't judge by appearances . Judge by what is "right" can be thought of in different ways. Frankly, the more someone "facebooks" or quotes their religion the more I wonder how much it is for appearances and how genuine is it? That may be a negative thing on my part but ironically I was just thinking about a post I read on facebook - it was very "I love my Jesus" but the person actions don't always reflect those words. It works both ways, sometimes the people with the least "appearance" are the most spiritual people I know.
ReplyDeleteAnother way to look at it is that Jesus was asking what the problem was about healing on the Sabbath? Instead of worrying about how things look or whether or not something is PC-or according to the "rules" just do what is right. Don't make things more complicated than they need to be.
The words in verses 45 and 46 don't surprise me. I can't imagine anyone who had the opportunity to be in the presence of Jesus could have any other opinion than that he was certainly the Son of God. These men were not threatened by Jesus. Those in power were the ones afraid of Jesus.
As far as applying it to modern life. I think because there are those that question the existence of God-they think Christians have been "fooled" by religion. To live by faith is a difficult thing to explain. Honestly, there are days that it a difficult way to live but I like many of you, have truly experienced the power of God in my life and rely on my faith when things get tough and rejoice in my faith when I feel his presence.
As I read this chapter, I really wish I could have a live audio recording of the events to hear the intonation of Jesus' voice and the mumbling of the crowds! I would guess that the more Jesus spoke truth and revealed the true motivations of the people (wanting glory for themselves, for example), the more defensive their protests would sound. It's the same today - when we're called out on our bad behavior or less-than-selfless actions, our first reaction is often to be defensive and find someone/thing else to blame. For the crowd Jesus spoke to, they pointed blame back at Jesus.. calling him demon-possessed, untrained, a fraud... anything to get the attention off of themselves and their self-serving behavior.
ReplyDeleteRegarding consequences for following Christ instead of the world's directions (like the guards and pharisees situation)... I think in the US we have a very different experience of this than Christians in other parts of the world. We might deal with teasing or rejection by non-believers, or at the worst maybe censorship or inability to express our beliefs freely at work, etc... but people in other countries often face physical punishment or even death for expressing their Christian beliefs. Personally, I need to remember that more often and be more bold in sharing my faith with others - not necessarily by posting Bible verses on Facebook (I agree with Tammy that's not always the way to go!) but by living my life and conducting my work in a way that Jesus is a natural part of my conversations with anyone and everyone!
This chapter shows many different reactions to Jesus: "wonderful man", "fraud", "demon-possessed", "The Messiah", and "The Prophet". I see this as part of the answer to Christine's question about what the verses say about Christianity and how we apply this to modern life. We all make a decision about Jesus and who is is. The bottom line is that our decision has eternal consequences. In our modern life, we have access to all the information-the full spectrum of Jesus' life and miracles and word. We have all the facts. Yet, some still don't believe. This makes me more curious of those who chose to believe back then. Is it easier or harder now? Was it easier then, seeing things first hand? is it easier now since we have all of the information?
ReplyDeleteThere is more on "self" in this chapter. Not only were people having different reactions to Jesus, but it goes deeper and demonstrates what those reactions were causing people to do. Jesus' brothers were kind of taunting him. The temple guards weren't sure who to believe and then acted with indecision. Nicodemus stood up for Him. The pharisees were so concerned with saving face and their pride that it interfered with their ability to reason and what was no longer right mattered. We really need to be aware at all times don't we? Aware of our reactions, behavior, decisions, how we treat others, Jesus speaking to us.