John

Some of them believed, remember?   Today Jesus talks to those new believers in John 8:31-38.

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

I heard a story once,(and I’m a bit fuzzy on all the details) about a new believer who, once she returned home with her son (who was also a new believer) started to doubt her faith.   Her son, guided by the Holy Spirit, reminded her that God promised he would never leave them.   He called them his children and wouldn’t ever leave them.   Mom’s faith restored, she grew in her faith.   

Reading this passage I can just imagine these new believers gathered around Jesus, wondering about their new found faith, despite the criticism and scorn of the Pharisees.  Jesus taught them to stick with his words.  If they did so they would be his disciples, knowing the truth.  That truth would set them free. 

Oh, the calm assurance that would have been to them. Can’t you just see them?  Oh, making sure they remembered the words of Jesus.  Pondering them, growing, becoming more sure of the truth contained within them.    At least that’s what I want to see….

Instead…. They asked questioned what Jesus meant by saying “you will become free”.  After all, they weren’t slaves, they didn’t need freedom.

Jesus turns them from looking only at the physical.  Showing them the spiritual side of sin instead. This crowd would have known slavery, what it means to not be your own person.  They lived in the Roman empire where it would seem that every other person you met was a slave.  Jesus shows them that being captured by sin is the same as slavery.  If you sin, you are a slave to it.  Knowing the truth of Jesus’ words will set them free from the bondage to sin.   As he says “if the Son sets you free, you will be free“. 

The slave doesn’t stay in the home you know?  Slaves can be bought, sold, transferred from one place to another.  The children of the household are the ones that remain.   A slave must be given his freedom, a child of the house already has it.

But once a slave is freed, they are freed.  Meaning that if we believe in Jesus and HE (the Son) sets us free, that freedom lasts. It’s not a temporary measure.  It’s lasting. 

We who believe in Jesus, believe also in the Father because remember…Jesus only speaks what God gives him leave to speak, only what God has taught him.  

This means that those who seek to kill him don’t believe in him. They don’t believe him because the words that Jesus taught find no place within them.    Listen to Jesus, listen to the Father, find freedom from sin.  Don’t be a slave to it anymore. 

 

Remember last week I was supposed to read John 8:12-30 and I broke the passage in half?   We saw Jesus speaking the truth?  Today I’ll finish that passage. 

21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” 25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

Do you remember Jesus talked to the Pharisees, telling them how his testimony is true, and how God is his Father.  He continues talking with them, telling them how he is going away, they will look for him, and they will die in their sins, unable to go where Jesus will be.

We see him making comparisons, making it clear there are differences between him and them. 

Pharisees                                                              Jesus
From below                                                   from above
Of this world                                                not of this world

Then we see this promise.  You will die in your sins UNLESS you believe in him.  I just loved seeing this line.  Even though the Pharisees called him a liar, mocked him, tested him, scorned him…. Jesus still made that offer to them.  Believe in me, don’t die in your sins.  BELIEVE.

And again they ask “Who are you?”

Jesus’ response was that he’d been telling them all along, but they just didn’t understand what he had been telling them.  He was telling them the truth, telling them about God, telling them about himself, telling them how much there was to judge, and to be told.   But they just didn’t get it.

Jesus let them know that once he was dead (lifted up) then they would understand who he was. “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”   

I can understand the Pharisees to a certain extent… Not really understanding how this man could claim God as his Father, yet at the same time I wonder why they couldn’t, because many people who listened to him that day believed in him.  Jesus only talked about what God taught him.  Jesus did nothing on his own choosing.  He simply did what he was supposed to, said what he was supposed, and always knew that God was there for him.  Why?   He always did the things that pleased God. 

Can you imagine that?  Always doing the things that pleased God.  It just amazes me sometimes the example we have in Christ.  Knowing he only taught what he was taught, only lived as he aught to live, only doing what God wanted him too.  Such a clear and perfect example is he.   I know people cant’ say the same about me.  Wouldn’t it be cool if they could?   To know that I have learned to follow him so clearly that people can see him, can see God in me all the time?   It’s a lofty goal to live for.

Yesterday we saw a woman on the verge of being condemned.  Today we learn from John 8:12-20.

¹² Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” ¹³ So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” ¹⁴ Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. ¹⁶ Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father^[a] who sent me. ¹⁷ In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. ¹⁸ I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” ¹⁹ They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ²⁰ These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

I was originally supposed to read through to v30, but thought that reading to v20 was far enough for today.   Jesus has been preaching in the temple.  He had been tested by the Pharisees with the adulterous women, and now he is teaching them again.

Jesus: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Pharisees: “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.”

Isn’t that an odd statement from the Pharisees?  It was an outright rejection. But why?  Because he was testifyng about himself?   Just struck me as so odd. Jesus handled the oddness though.

Jesus: “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.  You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.  Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.  In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”

Jesus admitted he was testifying about himself, but that didn’t mean what he said wasn’t true.  I wonder if that was a “thing” in those days.  If you talked about yourself you were deemed a liar?  That’s what these statements seem to suggest.  I find it very odd, an odd way to phrase “we don’t believe you, we think you’re a liar”.

I find myself conflicted here, trying to figure out the best way to write my thoughts on this passage.  The verses seems so connected eh?   Jesus is clear.  His testimony is true… two witnesses are required to prove a testimony.   Not only is his testimony true, but he knows where he’s been and where he is going.  Even if the Pharisees do not. HE KNOWS!  Jesus testifies to God, God testifies to him, ergo what is said is true.

The Pharisees can’t know where he’s been or where he’s going, because they judge only by what they see, and they only see the physical world.   This isn’t how Jesus judges things.  And if he were to judge, his judgement would be true. (Implying I think that he doesn’t just judge by what he sees) and that he doesn’t judge in isolation.  GOD the Father and Jesus judge together.

Oh, I wonder if this judging bit struck a chord with them.  About judging only the outside because God oft said in the Old Testament (something the Pharisees would know well) was how man judges the outside, but God judges the heart.  The only response we get from the Pharisees is this “Where is your Father?”

Jesus: “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

You see it though right? How Jesus acknowledges that they don’t know God the Father? They haven’t the foggiest idea about how Jesus is, so how could they know God? Because to know God you need to know the Son.  They go together. If you want to know the Lord, knowing God helps and vice versa.  The more we understand Jesus the more we are enabled to understand God.  They reflect each other.

Again we get the words that, they wanted to arrest him, but didn’t because his hour had not yet come.  (it’s like being on pins and needles how often that is said eh?)

So where does this leave me (or you?)

The certainty that Jesus had in knowing where he was going.  Oh, to have that certainty even when people call you a liar.  Isn’t that a good thing?

The “if you know me you know God” oh… it’s like do people see God when they see me in action or do they just see the externals, not knowing the whys of what I do?  Do I have the surety to say “I do this because I believe in the Lord God?”

Good things to ponder.

 

 

Last week we saw the scorn of the Pharisees, today we’re looking at a passage not included in all the old manuscripts, John 7:53-8:11.

⁵³ [[They went each to his own house, 8 ¹ but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. ³ The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst ⁴ they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” ⁶ This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷ And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰ Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]]

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives and then back down to the temple.  Based on what I see in the picture below, that involves a fair amount of walking. 

Jesus, doesn’t let the problems with the Pharisees stop him in his work.  He continues his ministry, teaching the people in the temple.  Showing them more of God’s way in the things that he does.

For instance, a woman has been caught in the act of adultery.   The Pharisees (and the scribes) bring her before Jesus.  They put her right in the middle where he’s teaching, and then say “This woman has been caught in the act of adultery.”  I’ve often found it interesting they didn’t bring the fellow along, but perhaps he wasn’t married, ergo adultery wouldn’t be an issue.  I don’t know.  We aren’t told about the fellow, we just told about the woman.

Anyways, she’s there, facing the accusations of the Pharisees.   The law of Moses states that such women are to be stoned.   What would Jesus say about that?   You see, this was a test.  They wanted to find some way to legally bring charges against Jesus, and what better way then to get him to say something counter to the law!!!

I love Jesus’ response eh?  I can just see him standing there being badgered by the Pharisees.  What would you say to this Jesus, what would you do Jesus?  HUH?   Come on tell us.  Jesus’ response was simple.  He wrote in the dirt, and stood up and said “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”  He closed this statement off by paying them no nevermind.  He bent down and started to write in the dirt again. 

The response of the Pharisees and scribes?  They left.   One by one, started with the oldest, they simply left.  The woman remained, the men left. 

Can you see the scene?   All that commotion and noise, all the questions being silenced, just by saying “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Jesus doesn’t leave the woman condemned in her sin.  You noticed that too right? He asked her where her accusers where.  If anyone stayed to condemn her.  When he heard that no one did, he didn’t condemn her either, sending her away with the admonition to sin no more. 

What would you have done?

I see myself in here you know?   So often I start to condemn others, and then I found myself caught, seeing my own sin, and thinking, don’t do that.  Would you want someone pointing out your sins?  The obvious and the perhaps not so obvious? Does shaming a person change their heart?   Would throwing stones be a help or a hindrance to her?    Does shaming a person change their heart? Would throwing stones be a help or a hindrance to her? Share on X

Jesus knew a better way eh?   He didn’t condemn.  Just told her don’t sin anymore.  She knew her sin.  He didn’t need to heap burning coals on her head.  He quietly let those who would condemn leave, and let her leave too. 

Something to learn from this eh?  

Last time we heard Jesus’ call, if Thirsty come Drink.   Today in John 7:40-52 we see some division among the people. 

⁴⁰ When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” ⁴³ So there was a division among the people over him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

⁴⁵ The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶ The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” ⁴⁷ The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? ⁴⁸ Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” ⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ⁵¹ “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” ⁵² They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

We already know of the mutterings among the people, trying to figure out if this could be the Messiah, this Jesus standing before them teaching and healing.  People were so unsure. This confusion continued with some saying “This is really the Prophet” and others “This is the Christ” and others still… wondering doesn’t Christ come out of Galilee.. from the line of David?  Didn’t stop stop of them from wanting to arrest him, though none did. So much confusion.

It even led to confusion among the leadership.   The chief priests and Pharisees wanting to know why the officers didn’t bring him in for questioning and what not.  The response of the officers?   “No one ever spoke like this man!”  Jesus was so different from anyone else, they just didn’t know what to do with him or about him.    

The Pharisees wouldn’t let them get away with that though.   Challenging them that they have been influenced by Christ, deceived by him.  I can just see that verbal attack coming you know?  The Pharisees wanted Jesus out of the way, so they wanted people to see Jesus the way they did.  We don’t believe in him, neither then should you!!!!  The people, those common people, don’t really understand the law so they are accursed!  They can be deceived. YOU need to think like us Pharisees and not be fooled by this man!  

But Nicodemus was one of them and queried “shouldn’t he be heard first before being condemned?” and they turned on him as well. Questioning where his loyalties lay.  A tough time to be a Pharisee eh?   Calling people to order and then having your loyalties questioned?

And then this line that I honestly am not sure what to do with “Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee“. It sounds like a threat.  No one is going to come out of Galilee and threaten our way of living.  No prophet will be found that will come out of there.  Search for any who might and put an end to them.   (that’s how it reads to me but I’m not sure if I’m correct).

I’m really starting to see the vitriol of the Pharisees here eh?   How they wanted to get Jesus, and didn’t want anything blocking their way, but over and over in scripture we see that they can’t do anything UNTIL God allows it.  We see those words “it was not yet time” (or words to that effect).   Jesus was a huge threat to them upsetting the status quo, challenging how Jewish folks lived out their lives, questioning the legal/spiritual rules they had set in place and more. 

You know what else I see?  Suffering for the sake of Christ.  Nicodemus could have kept his mouth shut but he opened it.  He was immediately shot down for doing so.   I don’t know if Nicodemus ever came to true faith, but here he stood up for Christ and suffered for it. 

Makes me wonder eh?  It’s too easy to just keep my mouth shut.  To not say what needs saying sometimes.   Every time it seems I try people jump all over me and it gets a bit exhausting you know?  It just causes me all the more to want to keep my mouth shut and not say anything.  But here’s Nicodemus, not sure himself of just who Jesus is, stepping briefly into the gap…and if he can do that when he’s unsure of himself or the Christ, who am I to not do so when I KNOW what the Lord has done for me.  Saving me from my awfulness in spite of myself. Oh that I might have the bravery eh?  To keep trying, to keep opening my mouth, to help people see just a bit of God, this thing I need to keep doing, despite the naysayers in life who only want me to see things their way, and hang the cost. 

Let me be brave for the Lord, not self-serving, or avoiding of disagreements.  Serving the Lord faithfully. 

 

 

We can’t go where Jesus is going, but we can come and drink as we’ll learn today in John 7:37-39.

³⁷ On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” ³⁹ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

So we know that Jesus is at the Feast of Booths, it’s the last day, which is also known as the great day.  (I’m guessing that the Feast of Booths is a series of festivals that builds up to a final day).  Jesus stood up and called out the people around him.  Remember, he’s been teaching them, the Jews have been muttering about him, there’s been an attempt to arrest him, but Jesus pays no never mind to that.  He has a ministry and will keep doing it.  

Ergo he calls out to them “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

Oh… I so wish I could have been there.  I do.  

You see I have the benefit of hindsight.  I know what will happen at Pentecost.  All those flames of fire, all the disciples being filled with the Holy Spirit.  I know what will await those who come to the Lord and I just want to see them come.  I DO.     I so wish that the confusion of the last couple of days was beyond the people and they now had a true thirst, a thirst to know of the Lord.

A thirst we should all share eh?   When Jesus calls…do you want to come?  To drink and be satisfied?   To believe in the one who minds you full well?  Don’t you just want to come?

If you do, dear reader, and you just don’t know how, shoot me an email, respond in a comment and I’ll guide you along the way.   But be heedful of that call and come.  Believe in him and out of you will flow living water. Wouldn’t that just be the greatest thing?

 

 

Today we’ll be learning from John 7:26-31. Yesterday we saw Jesus Go to the Festival of Booths.

²⁵ Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? ²⁶ And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? ²⁷ But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” ²⁸ So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. ²⁹ I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” ³⁰ So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. ³¹ Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

Do you remember that Jesus didn’t want to go to the Feast of Booths?  People wanted him dead!  Yet Jesus went anyways, without any fanfare, teaching in the temple.

He caused a bit of consternation there teaching the people. Reminding them to judge each other fairly not just going with how things appear.   Some of the people there said “hey, isn’t this the man they want to kill?   He’s here!  Why aren’t they doing anything about it?”   They wondered if the authorities really know that this is the Christ?

They were confused though.  From what they knew, no would really know Christ comes from when he does appear, yet they know that Jesus comes from Nazareth. So how could he possibly be the Christ? 

While they talked and wondered, Jesus continued to teach.   He also proclaimed “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. ²⁹ I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”

Do you see what he did there?  He acknowledged that they do know him and where he’s from. It’s like he’s answering their confusion without being too direct eh?  He lets them know he didn’t come of his own doing but they don’t know the one who sent them to them.  That the one who sent him is true.  Jesus knows him because he was sent by him and he comes from him.   It’s like he’s saying .. Yes you know where I am coming from (Nazareth) but you don’t know where I am coming from (God). 

Jesus’ time to be captured hadn’t arrived yet, so when they wanted to arrest him they couldn’t. 

Despite all this confusion there were many people who believed him him, yet I wonder if they truly knew he was teh Christ because they wondered “when the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

It’s hard eh?   To truly understand Jesus the Christ.  I can see the confusion people would have had, trying to see the difference between the physical and the eternal.  Knowing a place, but not the personage sending.   Thinking as Jews that they did know God so not really understanding they they didn’t.

I SO get that.

I often feel like I don’t truly understand God and his ways and that I’m not even breaching a mole hill in my understanding of him.  I too am one of the confused.  Seeking to understand.   I need more understanding.