Christ's Ministry Continues On

Start off with reading John 10:40-11:46. Just a quick refresher: Jesus has left Jerusalem after speaking at the Feast of Dedication moves onto Perea and then Bethany.

While in Perea, we see the results of John the Baptist's work. These two verses reference "many,"  and in this context, they are most converts of John the Baptist. We find that as a result of John's ministry and the words he shared, that many believed him. This is a great lesson to us of the seeds that we are planting even when we don't see the results.

While Christ was staying in Perea (this is in January), Lazarus, a dear friend and follower of Christ became very sick and died. However, instead of running straight to Bethany, Christ stays in Perea for two more days. This story of Lazarus teaches us a couple of things about God. First of all, that God's ways are not our ways and that we cannot always understand God's actions or why or when He does certain things, but we can rest in the assurance that what He does is perfect and the best option for us. 

Before we continue on with the story, let's look at the disciples' reaction here to Christ. First of all, in verse 8, they show a lack of courage, because if they believed that Jesus truly was who he said he was, then they wouldn't be afraid to go any where he said. We also see a lack of understanding from the disciples in verse 12. They don't quite get Christ's "drift" when he said that Lazarus was sleeping and it takes Christ spelling the situation out to them. We also see a lack of faith in Christ's power and plan in verse 16. Again, if Christ was who he said he was, then he was in complete control of the situation and Thomas would understand that and not automatically assume that he was going to lose control and die.

So, Christ and the disciples moved onto Bethany. Martha meets with Christ and displays immense wisdom since the last time she was discussed in the scriptures. She shows faith in Christ and his power in verses  23-27, but she still has her limits and is convinced that Lazarus is beyond healing. There's a reason for this. The Jews believed that the soul of the deceased wandered around the tomb for three days before leaving the earth. This is why Martha and Mary both say if only he had come sooner, then Lazarus could have been saved. They are convinced that this is it for Lazarus. I believe that the reason Jesus waited for so many days was to prove that he truly had power over death and so that no one could claim that Lazarus's soul just rejoined the body.

It's at this point that one of the arguable most well known verses takes place..."Jesus wept." Christ's tears here aren't out of pity for Lazarus or tears for his own loss (really, as God, how much sense would that make?). No, Jesus was crying for the lack of faith around him and the separation of man from God because of sin.

I love how Jesus performs this miracle. There's no show, just his words. And it's important to note that the people moved the stone, but it was Christ's words that moved Lazarus. Only Christ could do this. And this is the final miracle that John records before Christ's resurrection. It shows that Christ is God because of his power over death.

 

A Little Hanukkah...

Read John 10:22-39. After Christ finishes his Good Shepherd Sermon, Christ finished up his ministry in Jerusalem. John doesn't mention anything for the next three months until Christ returns to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (also called Hanukkah).

So, a little background: Judas Maccabeus instituted the Feast of Dedication in 165 B.C. when the altar was rebuilt and the temple was purified during a very brief period of Jewish independence. So, this was an 8 day feast that occurred during the winter (around our Christmas).

 

Picking up in verse 22, Christ is in the temple, specifically in Solomon's Porch, and the Jews (think religious leader) rush there again to ask him if He truly was the Christ. And Christ begins to lay out his credentials for them to prove his deity.

 

Starting in verse 25, Christ states that his sayings prove his deity. In addition, his message is matchless. There is no one else who can offer what Christ does (think John 3:16).  Staying along the lines of John 3:16, Christ also never wasted a word.  John 3:16 is exactly 25 words (in both Greek and English!) and it is the full message of salvation.

 

Also, Christ has always shown in all of his sermons that his wisdom is matchless. If you look at Luke 20, the Jewish leaders try to catch him with the issues of taxes. And Christ gives them the perfect answer. Verse 26 even says that they were amazed at his answer! Luke 4:22 says that the Jewish leaders were amazed at Christ and his words and the wisdom behind them, especially considering he was just a simple carpenter.

 

Christ's words are also powerful. Only Christ had the power to raise men from the dead with his words, heal diseases with words, bring men to conviction and salvation with his words. He also had control over his words. He never spoke out of anger and he never spoke unwisely. Christ spoke in ways that everyone could understand. And lastly, Christ's words were pure.1 Peter 2:22-23 says that Christ did not sin and no wickedness was found in his speech. Those are all ways that Christ's words alone proved his deity. And of course Christ's miracles prove His deity.

 

Christ not only has the credentials to prove His deity, but also the dignity of person, power, and position that accompany the deity of God. He has the power to save and to keep (vs. 28-29), he is the Father's equal (vs. 30-33), he is bold and honest (vs. 32), he is wise and intelligent (vs. 34-39), he is sent by God the Father (vs. 36), and he is the Father's Son (vs. 36). All these are qualities of someone who is truly God and shares in God's characteristics. Yet again, we see John highlighting the words of Christ to reveal his deity.

           

The Good Shepherd

Read John 9:39-10:21. This is Christ's final message to the public before He disappears for 3 months. Here, in John 9:39-41, we get a glimpse at the continued blindness of the Jewish leaders. They thought that they could see the truth, but they were truly blind. If only they had admitted their spiritual blindness and need for Christ, because then they could have received their spiritual sight. If you think about it this way, you have to realize that you are a sinner before you can become a saint. These Jewish leaders needed to receive their spiritual "sight" before they could receive Christ. But, instead of seeing their own sinfulness, they were always comparing themselves to someone else who seemed worse, making them look good. In reality, the only measure we can use is Christ and God's Word, and by that measure, there is no one truly righteous (Romans 3:10).

So, Christ proceeds to teach a lesson to further illustrate the difference between Christ's true followers and the Jewish leaders. And, he uses and illustration that the people could relate to very well. He uses the illustration of the sheep and the sheepfold. This was a place of shelter where the sheep would go at night to be safe from thieves and wild animals. This shelter had a stone wall that had a layer of protective thorns (think barbed wire) on top of the wall, a small building, and one single guarded doorway.

Now, the shepherd knew exactly which sheep were his and actually gave them each a name. And even though we consider sheep to be pretty dumb, they do recognize their own shepherd's voice and they will come when called by him and him alone. This is the scenario that Christ is using here. The sheepfold represents heaven, the sheep are Christ's followers, and Christ is the shepherd. Let's talk about the thief. If you think about it, most thieves try to enter into a building through something other than the door. So, who represents the thieves in this scenario? Well, specifically the Jewish leaders who are trying to get into heaven through works, but this can be used for an even bigger picture or anyone who tries to get into heaven through anything other than Christ.

What Christ is illustrating here for the people in a very relatable (is that a word?) scenario from their world, is that the only way into heaven is through him and that anyone who chooses to follow him will recognize his name and will only follow him.

One final thought on Christ as our true shepherd. A true shepherd would be willing to sacrifice his life for his sheep just as Christ willingly sacrificed his life for us.

                  

 

The Progression from Blind to Seeing

Start with reading John 9:1-41.

Let's start with looking at Christ's compassion in this passage. In the midst of Christ trying to elude his would-be murderers, he stops to look after someone else who needs him. And this shows us a few things about Christ. First of all, He is never too busy to win someone to himself. Secondly, he is more concerned with the welfare of others more than his own welfare. And lastly, he notices those around him who are typically ignored by others. And of course, this is a great lesson to us. Too many times we try to allow our schedules and interests to overtake our lives and we forget to share the love of Christ with those around us who need it. We need, instead, to take the focus off of ourselves and make sure that we are ministering to those around us and pointing them to Christ.

 

We can also learn a lesson from the Disciples faulty thinking here. They believed, and this was a common belief among the Jews, that physical problems are God's way of punishing someone for sin in their life or in the life of their parents. So, they believed that either the blind man or his parents must have committed a HUGE sin. Now, we know that that is not how God works. Sometimes, physical problems are results of sin (think STDs), but not always. And many times, God does use these types of circumstances to bring glory to His name and to draw people to Him.

 

So, Christ shows the truth here. He shows them the mistake in their thinking and then heals the blind man, using this man's weakness to bring glory to God.

However, Christ doesn't leave this man with just physical healing. He also brings him spiritual healing. This man comes to know Christ in stages, which is revealed through the Jewish leaders questioning of him. First of all, in verse 11, he sees Christ as a mere man and that's how he answers their questions. Then, in verse 17, he starts to recognize that there was someone special about Christ and this time when the Jewish leaders question him, he answers that Christ is a prophet. He even goes so far in verses 27-28 in which he rebuked the Jewish leaders for their questioning of him and Christ's miracle. Moving onto verses 30-33, we see that the blind man finally sees Christ as God and this is how he answers the Jewish leaders when they again question him. And if you think about it, this is how many people have to come to Christ. I like how this passage ends with the man worshipping Christ as he finally realized who Christ is for him.

 

                           

           

The Day After The Feast

Start with reading John 7:53-8:59. Remember, last week, we saw Christ at the end of the Festival of Booths making another claim to His role as God. Well, after all of this, Christ comes back to Jerusalem. Some may ask why, since Christ clearly knows the hearts of the Jewish leaders and their desire to put him on trial and eventually put him to death, would Christ come back at this point. It's important to remember that Christ had a job to do and that he was in complete control of the situation. In other words, the Jewish leaders could not touch Christ until it was the right time.

 

So anyways, while Christ is teaching, the Jewish leaders develop a plan that they think will work and trap Christ and hopefully get him out of their hair. The know that they cannot legitimately accuse Christ of doing anything wrong (because he hasn't done anything!), so they decided to set a trap for Him. In fact, for the next six months, the Jewish leaders would try to catch Christ in some mistake so that they could find some reason to eliminate Him.

This is the first of those tests that John records. They come to Christ with what they sure is a problem that he can't solve without incriminating himself. They bring a woman to Christ who has been caught in the act of adultery. In their minds, Christ has two options:

Option #1: Say that the woman should be stoned and then He contradicts His own mission of mercy and ends any speculation that he might be the Messiah in the eyes of the people.

 

Option #2: Say the she should be free and He then contradicts the Mosaic Law (Lev. 20:10) and they can then accuse Christ of sinning (breaking the Law).

                                                        

However, as we know, Christ is God and knows what they are thinking and already has a better answer for them. He acts very cool, calm, and collected and begins drawing in the dirt....wait? What's he doing? He begins drawing in the dirt. Now, we don't have any record of what he did, but maybe he was writing the sins of the woman's accusers in the dirt (that's what some believe). What do you think?

So, after a bit of time Jewish leaders probably angrily murmuring among themselves, Christ gives a third option: "Stone her and let the person who has never sinned throw the first stone." Wow! Christ not only came up with a third option, but he twisted the situation around and made the Jewish leaders examine not the hearts of those around them, but their own hearts. How many times has Christ done this to you and in what way?

Oh, and here's the embarrassing part: this was in front of a crowd. Jesus had been teaching and the Jewish leaders interrupted him sure that they had the upper hand. Now, they're viewed as hypocrites. An interesting thought is seen in verse 9. Look at who left first. The oldest leaders. Perhaps they were beginning to see some of the wisdom Christ's teachings.


However, John begins to delve into several areas that the Jewish leaders are ignorant spiritually over the next several verses. Start in verses 13-18. This verse shows that they are ignorant of Christ's truthfulness. They accused Christ of lying about who he was and Christ turns around and says  that He is not the only one who is claiming that He is God and he uses their own Laws against them (verses 17-18).

Next, we see that the Jewish leaders are ignorant of Christ's Father. In verse 19, they think that Christ was referring to Joseph and treat this as a joke. They don't either realize or are choosing to ignore the Father to whom he is truly referring. Perhaps they even know the stories surrounding Christ's birth and the fact that his birth appeared to be illegitimate.

Next, we see their ignorance of Christ's destiny in verses 22-24. When Christ says that He was going to go away and they could not follow, they think that Christ means that he is going to kill himself because they are so confident in their eternal security and say that Christ must be going to hell because that's the only place they can't go. The phrase Christ uses to say "Where I am going, you cannot go away," what he really means is "I am withdrawing myself."

In verses 25 through 33, we see the Jewish leaders ignorance of Christ's Identity. I love Christ's response to them when they ask "who are you?" He basically say, "I've already told you; you're not getting another answer because it hasn't changed."

Verses 33 through 47 shows their ignorance/forgetfulness of their own history. In fact, they get offended when Christ says that they will be set free! Wait a minute, when they say they have never been enslaved, aren't they forgetting their time in Egypt? They are so blinded by their hate of Christ, that they are missing the message of hope that Christ was offering them and forgetting their need for freedom from sin.

Continuing onto verse 48 through 52, we see that the Jewish leaders are ignorant of Christ's character. They call him a Samaritan, a highly offensive name for the Jews. They call him this to mock his love and compassion for all men, even the dreaded Samaritans. They even go so far as to accuse Christ of demon possession. They would rather not see the acts of God as they are and would rather ignore it and attribute it to the devil.

 

In verses 53-56, the Jewish leaders show their ignorance of Christ's greatness because in their eyes here, he has made himself greater than Abraham and no one can be greater than Abraham. They've forgotten that the Messiah should be greater than Abraham.

Lastly, in these last few verses, they show their ignorance of Christ's eternality. Again, they get hung up on this Abraham issue. How could anyone be greater than Abraham or have lived before him.

So, here we see one of Christ's greatest claims to deity. "Before Abraham was, I AM." First of all, notice the phrase "I Am." This is God's name. But even more than that, notice the grammar. Before Abraham was (past tense), I am (present tense). No, this is not an accident. What Christ is saying is "I am always present, even 2,000 years before the time I am walking here on earth." Wow, what a way to end this passage!

Division at the Feast

Depiction of the Last Day of the Festival of Booths

Start by reading John 7:32-53. We see in this passage that Christ is making clear that he did not come to bring the kind of peace that the Jewish people were expecting.  As we dig into this passage, ask yourself, where would you fit in this story? What position would you take?

After the craziness of the last passage, we see the Pharisees are now moving in on Christ to question him about who he is and what he is teaching. It's a short conversation, however, because Jesus confuses them. When he says he is going where they cannot find him, they completely miss Christ's meaning and assume that he is going to the Greeks. Obviously now, we know that Christ meant heaven and that those who do not believe in him could not follow him. As their trying to puzzle out his meaning, Christ slips away.

Fast forward a few days and we see Christ emerge back into the public eye to give a prophecy about the Holy Spirit. If you look at what Christ says, it would sound pretty crazy if you were standing there. So, what did Christ mean when he said "Come unto me and out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water"? Well, let's get some background. This is the last day of the feast and on this day, there was a special ceremony called the Feast of the Rejoicing of the House of the Water-Pouring. This ceremony was meant to point towards the coming Messiah. It celebrated two events: 1) the water that flowed from the rock at Sinai (Exodus 17:1-7) and the coming reign of the Messiah and the river of living water that would flow from His throne (Ezekial 4:1, 9). It was at some point during this ceremony that Christ made his startling announcement. It makes a little more sense now, knowing what the ceremony was supposed to point towards. Christ was making yet another claim to being the Christ, and if you remember, John's purpose is to prove Christ as God, so it makes sense that he records this passage.

As a result of this claim of Christs, we see at this point, that people are still dividing themselves in regards to who Christ is. Some believe in Him as the Messiah (vs. 40-41), some are still confused about Jesus (vs. 41-42), some choose to reject Him (vs. 44), some who are afraid of Christ and touching Him (vs. 45-59), and lastly, one who is recorded as defending him (vs. 50-53). So, I ask again, where would you stand if you had been a part of that crowd that day?

 

         

             

                     

                    

 

 

 

 

The Feast of Tabernacles

Let's start with a little background....

Leviticus 23:33-44 deals with the Feast of Tabernacles and gives us an idea of what Jesus was coming into in this passage in John. Read the passage and look for the following facts:

1. What was the date/time of year for this feast?

2. How long did it last?

3. What customs were followed and why?

Now, read John 7:1-31. If you notice, this chapter begins with "after these things," which represents to us that there was a gap of time between John 6 and John 7. Based on the history and timing, there is a gap of six months here. Now that we're in chapter seven, John 7 through 10 are going to deal with this broader event of Christ's time at the Feast of Tabernacles.

Before we look at this passage, let's talk about where Christ as been. During these six months after the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus had begun a series of withdrawals from the public eye for a few reasons. One reason is the season. It was a hot time of year and he and the crowds didn't travel around as much. Another reason is the Pharisees were growing more and more antagonistic towards Christ and His message and it wasn't the right time for them to seize him. Yet another reason is while the Pharisees were hating him more and more, the common people were loving him more and more and desiring to make him king, and Christ knew it was right to remove himself from them as well. In addition, Herod was starting to grow suspicious about the activities of Christ. Christ also needed rest and time with his disciples to prepare them for their roles as he approached his death and resurrection.

Okay, enough background. Let's dig into the passage. We are 6 months out from Christ's death and it is September, time for the Feast of Tabernacles. The disciples come to Christ with a request. They want him to go to Jerusalem with them to celebrate. Some scholars say that they wanted this for selfish reasons. Basically, they wanted to show him off and have the attention of the large crowds present for the feast. This demonstrates a few things. First, that they still weren't really understanding Christ when he said he would die. Second, they were convinced that he was going to set up a kingdom based on their terms.

So, the disciples ask and Jesus tells them no. He's God and he's omniscient. He knows that the timing is not right for him to go up to Jerusalem in such a public way. He knows how the people would react, both in positive and negative ways. Christ also knew his disciples hearts. He knew that they weren't quite ready to separate themselves from this world. Ultimately, by telling them no, Christ wasn't avoiding His death, but was rather making sure it happened at the exact time it was planned.

 

Now, Christ telling his disciples no doesn't meant he wasn't going to go. In fact, in verses 10-13, we see that Christ does go, he just goes on his own timing, demonstrating that he was completely in control. While there, he spends some time in the temple teaching. If we look at verses 15-31, we see the various reactions of people to Christ. In verses 15-16, we see that they are amazed by this simple carpenter who speaks so wisely and eloquently. He then takes advantage of the situation and points out their contradictions and accuses the people of seeking to kill Him in verse 19, which causes the people to deny the idea. Christ then proceeds in verses 21-24 to point out the fact that they take issue with him healing ("work") on the Sabbath when they circumcise babies (also "work") on the Sabbath.

 

Well, after hearing his argument, the people start to wonder if he could be the Messiah, but then they doubt it because of the limits they have placed on him, namely that the Messiah surely couldn't be from Nazareth! And this is where Christ again drops a bombshell. He states "I am," which any devout Jew would recognize as him claiming to be God, and, therefore, blasphemy. And, if you look at verse 30, we see that they seek to arrest him, but God goes before him because his time had not yet come. Ultimately, through this scene, we see that many again believe in him because of the signs that he has done and the arguments that he has provided. Which tells me that it really does come down to the heart and who was there listening with open hearts and who was there trying to fit him into their own box. What do you think?