I actually read the passage before I went into work this morning. I was sitting in my car just before 8:30 and I knew I wanted to read it before going into work. That is my ultimate goal. To read the passage before I begin the strenuous parts of my day. That way, if and when the day hits a rough patch maybe I'll remember to go back to earlier reading and glean something from it.
In case you haven't notice today I decided to include something a little different. At the top right corner of this post is a video of a shepherd calling his sheep. John 10 talks all about Jesus being a good shepherd. (Imagine that, they're connected!) He basically starts oft by saying that the Pharisees are like thieves and robbers because they were trying to get in the sheep pen over the wall and not through the gate. It goes back to yesterday when Jesus said that they were religiously blind because the only knew the Law and they didn't act the way God had intended them to. What I got from this is that he was saying, you're trying to pretend to be a shepherd. You think you're calling the sheep, but really you're coming at it from a totally wrong way and as a result you're actions are stealing away the honorable actions that God intended. Eeek! That's a bold statement. Good thing they didn't understand what he meant! Jesus then goes on to say that he is the gate keeper. History lesson! Back in that time sheep were kept in enclosures that were built but didn't actually have a gate. The shepherd would lay where the gate would be and as a result the sheep wouldn't get by him and he could notice any coming threats. Not only that, he says that the sheep know the shepherds voice and come when he calls. That's why I love the video. It's such a great illustration of the sheep coming to the shepherd. Even through all the fog they still followed his voice. I can't take credit for finding this video though. It was used during a church service to describe the exact thing that I'm talking about in this post. So we already know Jesus and when he calls us back we respond by running to him. Just like the one little sheep though, we can still have a lot to learn before we come directly to him. Not all our paths lead directly to Jesus. Sometimes we stray and that's when we realize our need for our shepherd to care for us. During those moments is when we feel him calling us not because he wants to scold us but because he wants to lift us up and help us. I believe that there is a direct correlation between John 10 and Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along right paths for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. The shepherd takes care of his sheep. He wants what's best for them because they are his livelihood. He guides them and keeps them safe from harm. He takes them to food and helps them to remain calm when things seem scary. With their shepherd the sheep feel safe. They feel comfortable. They keep returning to him when he calls.
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This morning I woke up and read John 9. In the quiet of the morning. Can you believe that?!?! My kids slept in. Seriously?! I give up trying to get up before them and then it just happens naturally. Sometimes you just have to learn to let it go and things happen without all the effort. I was thinking about it this morning in the car on the way to work though. What if the reason that my kids kept waking up before me was so that they could see me actively reading my bible? I mean it certainly seems like a "God thing". It's important that we model for our kids what we'd like them to be like. Maybe it wasn't a coincidence at all. Mind you, I hadn't finished the reading when my husband was getting them up for school so they still saw me reading my bible. There's meaning in there somewhere, I'm sure of it.
John 9 is almost like a Cole's Notes on spiritual blindness. It begins with Jesus healing the man who was blind from birth. My favourite part of this encounter was the disciples asking if it was the man's fault of the fault of his parents that he was born blind. This is a Moses' Law thing. You know, for every sin the father makes I'll revisit it on his children. It was popular belief from the Old Testament, which is the only testament the people of the time had to go on. Jesus sets them straight though. It's neither the son's sin nor the father's. (Huh??) It actually happened to show the good works of God. Think about this in modern times. I'm going to use a personal example. I was an atheist from early teens to about 27-28 years old. My mom passed away when I was 27, but not before 10 long months of suffering while she waited for a liver transplant. Did she do something wrong? Did her parents do something wrong? No. She suffered to show the good works of God. How can I say that? Because it was a year after she passed away that I became a Christian. I saw her in her weakest state and I still wanted what she had. Assurance. If that hadn't happened in my life, I may not be the follower of Jesus that I am today. I may not be using my experiences with depression, organ donation and other aspects of my life to help people in the same situation I was in. If it wasn't for her suffering, passing and my subsequent depression, I never would have hit rock bottom in my life the way I did at that time. Do you know who's with you at rock bottom? Jesus. And he wants to help you too! I was blind, but now I see. I didn't know God, but now I do. Back to John 9. Jesus uses this analogy of blindness when he's speaking about the Pharisees. Sometimes we think we know all there is to know about something and become "experts" on the whole thing. That can actually work against us because we become so prideful about what we know that when something real and genuine comes along related to our own knowledge we may overlook it. Are ya pickin' up what I'm puttin' down here? The Pharisees knew the Old Testament like the back of their hand. They knew the Law like I know the spelling of Mississippi. Backwards and forwards. They could quote anything from it and they could hold everyone accountable for their cleanliness based on it. These guys were "The Guys" of Law knowledge during the times. People feared them because they didn't want to be cast out of the synagogue. Much like the blind man's parents. Yet, when the Messiah comes they are so prideful they don't even recognize him. In fact, they persecute him. They were spiritually blind. You see, there is a difference between knowing all the verses and being able to recite the bible, but until you live it and your actions prove it, you're spiritually blind too. The Pharisees may have known it, but they were so nit picky on the rules it blinded them. I always find it such a shame when someone claims to be a Christian yet their actions don't send that vibe at all. Like the person who goes to church on Sunday but passes judgement on Monday. Judgement is a hard thing to understand. I know that the bible tells us not to judge the world by our standards and yet that happens all the time. We are to be lights like Jesus, pointing towards him through our love of others. Unfortunately a lot of times that's not the case. That's the very reason why a lot of people refer to Christians as hypocrites. Well, that's safe to say about any group. There are radicals in every group that take some aspect of their unity to the extremes. As for myself, I just want people to know Jesus through my story. I want to help others the way Jesus helped me. It may be a little light, but I'm gonna shine it baby! What did you take away from John 9? shhhh, today's reading starts with another one of my favourite stories. Although it's not included in some versions of John 8 (my section is italicized to show this) it's found in other Gospels in the bible so there's cross references. It begins with Jesus teaching at the temple and then the Pharisees march in with a woman they just "happened" to catch in adultery. They are clearly trying to catch Jesus in a trap so they can arrest him. Nice try guys, but did you really think this was going to work out for you? I love how Jesus handles this whole situation. While they question what should happen to this woman (according to the Law she should be stoned to death) Jesus squats down and starts writing in the sand at his feet. My first thought... what's he writing?? Wouldn't it be neat to be one of the people sitting around listening to Jesus teach and then see this whole thing go down and know what he was writing? Was it a picture? Was it a teaching plan? Maybe it was the word forgiveness. Who knows. I just wish I did. After Jesus says that the one without sin can cast the first stone (and the leaders leave one at a time starting with the oldest) he basically pardons the woman and tells her to go and leave her life of sin. All in front of the group of people he had been teaching!! Woohoo! Go Jesus! Do you understand the significance of this? The one without sin is the one who gives forgiveness. Not only that he makes the Pharisees look like idiots in front of a group of people while doing so. As if that' isn't enough, he goes on teaching like he wasn't even interrupted. Like these so called "leaders" aren't worth the words they speak, and honestly they aren't. The Pharisees are so ingrained in their "Law" they're looking past the very person who is the foretold Messiah. Most of this chapter is the Jesus speaking about how he has come from the Father and will ascend again to Him as a result of their actions. I can understand how that may be confusing for them. It would be hard for me to understand if someone said that to me too. I can see them being all like, how do you know what's going to happen? Everyone knows they're going to die, but to predict it like Jesus does would be very unsettling. Lastly in this chapter Jesus begins comparing his story with that of Abraham's. Jesus states that Abraham is their father but that they just imitate him. My favourite part is when he tells them that they're nothing like Abraham (their father), they are imitators because Abraham would have been glad to see him come. He even goes so far as to say that Abraham saw that day, and he was glad. After he said this people started to pick up stones. He had touched a nerve. He had said something that, while true, was just something that wasn't said. Once again though, Jesus slipped away and wasn't stoned because it wasn't his time. I like that Jesus pushes boundaries. I feel as though if I did that I wouldn't slip away so easily. I guess that's the benefit of being the Son of God. You know what's coming. Sometimes it's so easy to say we trust in God and pray prayers, but when push comes to shove... are we ready to follow in his footsteps? Are we ready to put ourselves into places where we might be killed for what we're saying? Are we ready to go places that we don't feel comfortable in and place our trust wholly in Jesus? That is the challenge at the end of this chapter and the end of the post. Do you accept? Here's something that may help you out. In case you're wondering, I gave up trying to wake up before my kids. If it happens, that's great. Otherwise my main goal is to read the next chapter. I love learning and relearning a lot stories. I like how it's making me ponder things and write about them. It has been enlightening to me so far. I'm certainly enjoying the challenge. So much so, that I'm actually trying to figure out which book to do next. Do you have a suggestion? Leave it in the comments for me. I feel as though this whole "waking up before the kids" idea has gone the way of the dinosaurs. I'm never going to get a good grasp on it. Not until they're teenagers anyway. Then I'll want to sleep in with them! Nope, I'm just not a morning person. I will endeavour to get back to waking up before the kids again during the week. The important part of this challenge is the one that I am meeting on a daily basis - reading the chapters of John. A quick recap for you - I found the challenge on Back to Bible. Studies show that it takes 21 days to make something a habit. How convenient that the book of John has 21 chapters. In the beginning I was reading along with what Back to the Bible's commentary but going through this I've modified that a bit. Instead I read the chapter and pick out things that really struck me. Check out my last 6 posts to see what I mean. Are you ready? Let's get into Chapter 7!
We start with Jesus being in Galilee and a big festival going on in Judah. His disciples are trying to get him to go to the festival because no one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret (v. 4). Man, these guys. Sometimes they just. don't. get it. Jesus doesn't want the glory for himself. A good lesson to a lot of "Christians". Doing something to make yourself look good in the name of Jesus, that's not what it's about. You should want to do good things because you love Him, not because you want the spotlight. This is the biggest thing that struck me today. So many times we just want to look good. "Oh! I'll write that cheque for the charity to feel good about myself." "I'm going to help out that person so that they're in debt to me." These thoughts are so... abhorrent! Jesus never wanted that! He never once said I'm healing people to make myself look good. He pointed all the glory to his Father. He created an amazing example for us to follow. So why don't we? Hmm, I'm going to leave that one hanging right there, but if you have a response/rebuttal, the comment section is on down at the bottom of the page. After the disciples left Jesus also goes... in secret. The Jewish leaders were on the look out for him. They wanted to arrest and kill him. Jesus had performed so many miracles and spoken and taught so much that he had taken over the festival. People everywhere were talking about him. Oh, not out loud of course. They feared the leaders. But there were lots of whispers. It even records that some people thought he was the Messiah while others believed he was deceiving people. They were split. Some believed, some didn't. The point I'm trying to make is... Jesus was at the forefront of most conversations. You know the saying "no publicity is bad". Think along those lines. He may have gotten a bad rep from some people, but they were still talking about him. Simple as that. You may hate tabloids, but you still read the headlines in the grocery store. You still know that Angelina filed for a divorce. Finally, half way through the festival Jesus teaches in the temple and it amazed a lot of people. They couldn't figure out how he could know so much without proper teaching. My favourite line is when, after saying people are trying to kill him because he healed a man's whole body on the Sabbath. He tells them to stop judging by appearances and judge correctly. This is when things really start to get interesting. The crowd really starts to talk about Jesus and being the Messiah and this angers the leaders so much they send out the temple guards to arrest Jesus but no one laid a hand on him. This wasn't the time that Jesus was supposed to be caught. We hear his words to the people about how they will look for him but not find him and where he is, we cannot go. I love Jesus' riddles. I doubt the people of the time liked them very much. They could be hard to understand. Like the whole judgement thing. It's so easy to say that someone is holy because of how they look. I mean, honestly, appearance make it easy to be set apart. You can notice specific things about people. Some tribes in Africa wear certain jewelry, they are easy to distinguish. Some Christians wear a cross, you can see it. Wiccans will sometimes have a pentacle with them (I know, I was one). These are all things that you can wear to stand apart. What about how you act though? Do you go to church on Sunday, but maintain your affair on Monday? Do you wear a cross, yet call someone to tell them all the latest things you found out at the bingo hall? I'm just postulating. I really have no idea. How about prayer? Do you pray from your heart, or do you just make it sound something you heard someone else say? Do you rejoice in the things that God has given you, or do you strive by your own means for more? These are hard questions and I believe when Jesus said you judge by appearance he meant that we make snap decisions on what we think is right i.e. the law. Not what God's Word says is right. Finally, at the end of the passage we reconnect with Nicodemus, a person we met earlier in chapter 3. You know, the one that was having the conversation at night because he was afraid what other's may think. I'm so happy at the end of this passage though because it appears that what Jesus said to him had some effect. When the other leaders are angry and want to kill Jesus he asks them Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing? (v. 51) It's too late though, they are set in their ways. They basically tell him to get lost. You're wrong Nicodemus, check your references. Nothing good comes out of Galilee. Definitely not a Messiah, not even a prophet. Boy, how wrong were they? I love that this circles back to a person we had already met. I love that he stands up for Jesus against the other leaders. I think it's cool that even though everyone is all riled up and want to seize him no one lays a hand on him. It's just a cool chapter. I really enjoyed reading it. I didn't get to read this chapter in a quiet place like I've been meaning to do. I can't complain though. I read it at church in the library while the congregation was worshipping. Don't worry, it was the second service, I didn't skip out on my time in church. Thanks for reading along with me. Tell me how your challenge is going in the comments section. Cue the chorus of angels - Ahhhhhh Hallelujah! It's Saturday!!! My favourite morning of the week. This is the morning where we don't have to rush around trying to get 2 small beings ready for all their "stuff". Did you remember ______? - Why don't you want grapes in your lunch? - Stop hitting your brother/sister and get changed for school! - Go get some clothes on! You can't go to school naked! - You know, the "stuff". None of that this morning! I didn't even bother to set an alarm because I went to bed late AND I didn't have to get up for anything this morning. As a result, I crawled out of bed around 10 am.... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, awesome. Once again, I read off my phone, but I felt fresh as a daisy and let me tell you, I was excited for this reading. Chapter 6 starts off with Jesus feeding the five thousand... men. That doesn't include women and children in the count. I think it's safe to assume that you could say there was maybe even 8,000-9,000 people in general. He did this with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish... and there were leftovers! Can you imagine? I'm going to sit down with Jesus and engorge myself with him and roughly 7,500 other people on only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Then, when he realizes these people now want to forcefully make him a king, he leaves. He doesn't want that. He has come to show how to serve and to love. He has come as an example of what humble submission should look like. After feeding the people and leaving the disciples get into a boat and as a result they witness Jesus walking on water over to them, calming the storm as he goes. Have you ever had that in your life? There is a storm raging around you and then if you open yourself to Jesus and pray over it, it just gets so much more manageable. He has a tendency to calm the storm of life. When this crowd wakes up they go searching for Jesus and find him on the other side of the lake. There is a very interesting conversation about manna and the bread of life. God provided manna that kept His people alive for the day, but now He has provided his Son to offer eternal life. Sadly people can't understand the direct correlation between these things and a lot of disciples leave Jesus. If you think back and put yourself in the shoes of these people, how do you think you would have responded? The Sunday school answer is that you would have stayed, and I hope that I would have stayed. But we have the bible to provide the answers to our questions. The most these people had was the Old Testament. We have hindsight. They were living in the moment. Let's face it, sometimes I even get confused by what Jesus is teaching. If it wasn't for commentaries and church and discussion, I'd likely have a hard time too. One of the very last things in this chapter is the proclamation from Jesus that one of his 12 closest followers is a devil. That person also doesn't believe and will betray him to his ultimate sacrifice. W-h-o-a. That. Is. Deep. Imagine if you were there when he said this. You'd be like, well it isn't me, is it you? There could even be a sense of paranoia. Who is going to betray Jesus? Perhaps even a sense of judgement. I'm going to find out who it is and kill them before they can betray Jesus. Maybe it'd be like an episode of Survivor. Making alliances and trying to figure out who the ultimate betrayer is. I don't know what I'd do. It would certainly be hard to trust anyone but Jesus at that point. What if my best friend was the betrayer? What do you think the atmosphere would have been like at the end of Chapter 6? Above all, this passage to me reflected communion. We partake of the bread and the wine or juice because it represents the body and blood of Jesus. We do this in remembrance of who Jesus was and what he did for us by dying on the cross so that we could have eternal life. Jesus said that God's people were given manna each day but by taking the bread and drinking the wine/juice God has provided us with life, even after our existence on this earth is over. It's such a passage of hope and promise.
How are you doing on the challenge? Let me know in the comments. |
AndreaYou know the saying, the grass is always greener on the other side? This is my attempt to find greener grass right where I am in my life.
BTW - I'm the one on the right, just in case you didn't already know that. Categories
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