Life Source - Week 4 - Day 3 ** John 10

We finish this week's lesson in John 10.  Before you read, allow me to make some comments about shepherding in the Middle East.  It is so different from what we know in the West - with our ranches and huge herds. 

• flocks were not large ... usually about 25 sheep
• the eastern shepherd "leads" the sheep ... he does not "drive" them
• the shepherd carries 4 pieces of equipment ... his scrip (a pouch to carry his food), a sling as an offensive weapon, a staff (a club like piece of wood that hangs on his belt - a weapon) and his rod (the crook that you see in pictures ... to pull wayward sheep back ... to place across the entrance to the fold.  The shepherd holds the rod low at the entrance forcing the sheep to slowly crouch underneath it to get into the fold.  This allows the shepherd to examine each sheep for any injury that has come its way during the day.) [look at Ezekiel 20:37]
• the "fold" is the pen which encloses the sheep for the night ... in towns, it is a common area used by many shepherds and the flocks are mixed together ... in the wilderness, it is a blocked area usually surrounded by rock walls and brush collected by the shepherd.
• shepherds use their voice or a small flute-like instrument to call their sheep ... it is unique to each shepherd ... and their sheep now the sound ... and respond.  Other sheep do not respond.
• the shepherd will risk his own life to protect his sheep when mortal danger is near.  Remember how David talked about killing a lion and a bear to protect his sheep (1 Samuel 17: 34 - 36)

Now ... read John 10 with those images in your mind.  See what impresses you in these precious words from our Lord. 

Jesus makes three remarkable claims about His own identity in this chapter.  The first is in verse 7.  His claim is that He, Himself, is the gate for the sheep.  It is His person that allows the sheep to go in and out in safety, in security.  And the realization hits home ... how in the world do we live our lives in and out of the struggles, the battles, the dangers, the fears that this world throws at us?  How can we keep functioning with any sense of peace and calmness in our own souls?  Oh, yes ... it is because of our gate-keeper.  It is because Jesus, Himself, gives us that security.  His sheep know that He provides the fullness so that we can move about our lives with security.  And, with that picture in mind, hear Him say, "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full."  That's what abundant life means ... it means we are secure with Him! 

His second claim is in verse 11.  He is also the good shepherd.  The word "good" means "intrinsically good, intrinsically beautiful".  The Lord Himself is that for you.  That means that He is on the watch for you.  He is carefully watching for the dangers, the threats that come your way.  And He was willing to give His life for you.  That's what a good shepherd does.  He does not bolt and run when the going gets rough!  He will not leave you.  He will be beside you in the most difficult circumstances that you must face.  He is right there ... with His rod and His staff.  You are safe.  Do you believe that?

Don't miss verse 16.  There is indeed one flock ... His flock of His followers ... but there are many sheep-pens, many folds.  In this context, Jesus is most likely referring to the fold of Judaism ... He has other sheep, the Gentile believers who will be brought into the flock.  He did not require them to be a part of the Jewish fold.  In fact, Paul addresses that very question in the book of Galatians.  Converts did not have to become Jewish before they could accept Christ.  How does the verse apply to us, today?  There is one flock ... Christ's church, His body on this earth.  And it is scattered all over the globe.  They do not exist in one sheep-pen.  That is why there are different ways to worship, to exist together, in different places.  Don't make the Jewish mistake of exclusivity - of thinking that all must look and act just like you to be a part of Christ's flock! 

There is about a two and a half month time span between verses 20 and 21.  The first of this chapter is somewhere around the Feast of Tabernacles.  That is in the fall, the harvest.  Verse 21 begins with the Feast of Dedication.  That feast is in the winter.  It is Hanukkah.  It is the 8 day celebration of the Maccabaean revolt that finally regained freedom for Jerusalem from Antiochus Epiphanes in 164 BC.  The Temple had been horribly desecrated and defiled during Antiocus' reign.  It had gone so far as offering pigs on the great altar before the Temple.  The rooms of the Temple had been turned into brothels.  It was a capital offense to circumcise your baby boys.  In fact, if you did circumcise your baby on the 8th day ... as Jewish custom required ... as were caught ... you were crucified with your baby around your neck.  The horrors are beyond anything I can even imagine.  Judas Maccabaeus led the revolt that finally freed Jerusalem.  Then the process of cleansing the Temple and rededicating it began.  It is that hard won freedom ... that return of light and freedom to Jerusalem ... that Hanukkah celebrates.  So ... it is now December. 

His third claim comes during this festival of celebration.  It is in verse 30.  Jesus makes a public statement regarding His identity and equality with God the Father.  It is a claim to deity.  And the Pharisees did not miss it!  To those religiously blind eyes, He was committing blasphemy.  And that offense deserved the death penalty.  Feel the rage and violence that fills the air. 

Jesus retreats.  Not because He is afraid ... not because He could not safe Himself ... but because the time was not yet right.  His "hour" was not yet here.  His arrest and sacrificial death must happen during Passover, not the Feast of Dedication.  I am intrigued by the location to which He retreats.  He goes back across the Jordan River to where John had been baptizing.  That would be where Jesus had been baptized by John.  That would be where He had received the confirmation from the Father that He was, indeed, beloved and pleasing to the Father.  Maybe He needed that reminder.  He knows what lies ahead for Him. 

And the people continue to come ... and they believe.  Nothing, nothing, nothing is powerful enough to stop the plan of God for the redemption of people.  Not then ... and not now.  No government, no tyranny, no charismatic opposition has the power to thwart the plan of God.  He is still sovereign over the affairs of men.  Even in the madness in our world at present.  I find peace knowing that. 

Close today by hearing again these beautiful, strenghtening words from our Lord ...

My sheep listen to my voice.  I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.  I and the Father are one.

Listen ..... believe ...... and live!

Life Source - Week 4 - Day 2 ** John 9

Our reading today is John 9. 

This chapter narrates an intriguing story.  It is another of the "signs" that John records to lead his readers to faith.  Several things impress me.  Let me share a few ...

First, the disciples saw a chance for a theological discussion ... Jesus saw a man who could not see.  The song, "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath comes immediately to mind.  Sometimes I, too, am more interested in talking "about" Jesus, or religious matters, or theological questions, than I am about walking in Jesus' steps ... seeing people through His eyes ... doing the "work of God" (verse 4).

Secondly, this blind man did not seek out Jesus and ask for help.  Jesus saw him ... went to him ... helped him without requiring anything at all from him.  How often do we reserve our help to those who want it ... who ask for it.  That way we can determine if they are "worthy" of our help or not.  I realize that we must be wise.  After all, I work in a church ... and the scam artists abound ... those who learn how to milk the churches in our community.   And we must be wise stewards of our resources.  But I am talking about on a personal level.  When was the last time you ever just helped someone because they needed help and you happened to be there?  I think to have the eyes of Jesus ... we need to see more of those opportunities.  Perhaps we can be a bit blind ourselves!

The third thing that strikes me as remarkable in this encounter is the progressive nature of this man's faith.  Did you see it?  His understanding of who Jesus was grew ...

1. the man they call Jesus (verse 11)
2. he is a prophet  (verse 17)
3. this man from God  (verse 33)
4. Lord!  (verse 38)

Don't miss that his understanding and his confidence grew as he dealt with opposition.  I need to remember that when dealing with the opposition that I must sometimes face.  He moved from no knowledge of the real identity of Jesus to full faith is His Lordship!  And he worshiped.  How about you?  Don't become discouraged if you feel that your understanding of Jesus is not very far down the road.  Respond to what you do know ... and let it grow.  Be faithful in the little things ... and it will grow. 

Lastly, I love the blind man's statement in verse 25.  "One thing I do know.  I was blind but now I see."  So often we must stand firm on the "one thing we do know".  We will not be able to answer all the questions the world throws at us.  We will not be able to explain all the reasons for suffering and pain and loss and destruction.  But each of us ... in faith ... can follow this man's example. 

Don Francisco is a singer ... a troubadour really ... who puts God's Word to music.  He tells the stories in song.  One of his songs is "Since I Met Him I Can See" and it tells this man's story and his encounter with Jesus.  I include the words of that song as we close our thoughts today ...

Now it's hard to describe what my life used to be

To someone who's always been able to see

You know I wasn't unhappy or bitter that way

But everything changed since I met Him that day.

I was down by the corner just passing the time

Sittin' in the sunlight and feeling it shine.

When the sounds of a crowd began to grow in my ear

So I waited and I listened as I heard them draw near.

Then a man stepped up to me and He spat on the ground

He put the mud on my eyes and then smeared it around

Sent me off to Siloam to wash of the clay

I opened my eyes - and I looked at the day!

And I have no idea how He did it

I just know what happened to me

Yesterday I was in darkness

But since I met Him - I can see!

When the Pharisees heard it, they put me on trial

Even called in my parents and grilled them awhile.

And when in the end I defended the man

who had opened my eyes - all the trouble began.

Because I said - "Ever since the beginning of time

No one's opened the eyes of someone born blind.

This man's sent from God - it just can't be denied."

And they cursed me and grabbed me and threw me outside.

I really don't know how He found me

But I know who was talking to me

It was easy to tell by the sound of His voice

He was the reason I see.

And as soon as He spoke to me I couldn't hide

the emotion that welled up from deep down inside

And combined with the dreams that He'd made to come true

To kneel there and worship was all I could do.

And I called Him my Lord and Messiah

For everything He'd done for me.

For yesterday I was in darkness

But since I met Him - I can see.

And I called Him my Lord and my Savior

For everything He's done for me

Because yesterday I was in darkness

But since I met Him - I can see!



Our Lord and our God ... thank you for sight.  Thank you for our physical eyes.  But thank you mostly for spiritual sight.  For the gift of being able to see Jesus.  And we pray that you will increase, day by day, our ability to truly see!

Life Source - Week 4 - Day 1 ** John 8

In this lesson, we will cover 3 chapters in John ... chapters 8, 9, and 10.  They are full of teaching and dialogue.  You may want to spend more than one day in each chapter.  There is so much!  The only reason I will be covering so much territory in what seems like a short time is because I am tracking our study to accompany the Tuesday Bible Study group at my church.  I hope you are keeping a journal or notebook of some kind as you study.  In Lesson 4, when you read a chapter ... have a pen in hand and make notes to yourself about what stands out to you.  That will be your most effective application tool. 

Today ... read John 8.  What does the passage say to you?  Make your own notes, and then come back.

Consider with me verses 7:53 - 8:11.  Several lessons emerge for me.  It is extreme cruelty to use people as objects to prove points - as do the Pharisees in this encounter.  It robs the person of all humanity.  It is extreme cruelty to use people for one's own personal lust and pleasure - as we see in this narrative.  Perhaps the man (who does not get dragged into the scene ... even though the Old Law is clear about his guilt and death sentence as well!) seduced the woman.  Perhaps it was the other way around.  We don't know.  But it is sin ... it is violation of the precious gift of sexuality.  The lesson I glean for myself?  Watch out that you don't use people for your own purposes - regardless of what those purposes may be.

I am intrigued with the detail that Jesus stooped down and began to write something in the dirt.  Why?  Was it time for an "arrow prayer" to His Father?  Was it to not look at the lustful, leering eyes of the men in the crowd or the shame of the woman?  Was she ashamed or was she defiant?  Again, we don't know.  The most interesting reason I found  was in William Barclay's Daily Bible Study Series.  He uses the Armenian translation which says, "He himself, bowing his head, was writing with his finger on the earth to declare their sins; and they were seeing their several sins on the stones."  Maybe. 

What we know is that the people began to leave ... the older ones first.  I like to think that I have grown wiser with age.  Have you?  I wonder - if Jesus had been listing their personal sins in the dirt - interesting that the older people had the wisdom to recognize that ... and the courage to walk away.  Lessons for us?  Leave judgement to God.  He knows all the details ... we do not.  I need to deal with my own sin.  Let God deal with other people's.  The problem is ... when we have been hurt badly ... we want some kind of revenge or vindication.  I think Jesus would perhaps stoop down and begin to write my own personal struggles with sin to allow me to let it go!  I think He would say to me ... Gail, deal with your own stuff!  Let me deal with his/hers. 

I love the fact that Jesus gave her the freedom and the opportunity to go ... now she has a choice.  She can go back to her life of sin ... or she can choose to "follow" the Rabbi!  I like to think that she left her life of sin and became of believer.  But then, I like happy endings!  We don't know the rest of her story.  God does. 

Verses 12 - 59 continue the confrontation that Jesus has with the Pharisees.  The questions about His identity and His authority.  The tension is building.  The hour is coming ...

Jesus makes one of the "I AM" statements in this chapter.  Did you find it?  Verse 12: "I Am the light of the world."  He goes on to say that following Him keeps one out of darkness.  I want that!  I want to walk in light.  In the dark, you stumble, you crash into things, you fall.  Things are distorted. 

Once again ... we see this primary message of Jesus ... follow me. 

I am sitting in Colorado as I write this post.  It is February ... snow is deep ... everything is covered.  Once in this kind of snow my husband and I went out for a snow shoe.  We hiked up a deeply covered trail that had had no foot traffic on it at all.  The snow was knee deep.  It was so hard to pick my legs up for the next step.  It didn't take long for me to realize that if I would just fall in step behind him ... I could step into his tracks ... and my way was so much easier.  I could go further ... I could breathe better.  And I hear Jesus repeat ... over and over again ... "follow me". 

Yes, Lord ... You have already walked ahead  ... I will follow.

Life Source - Week 3 - Day 3 ** John 7

Today our reading is John 7.  Before you begin, know that it is a dialogue between Jesus and different groups of people.  Identify these groups as you read.  Also, note the confusion that swirls around in this chapter.  The  dialogue takes place during the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.  Let me share a little background about that particular feast before you read the chapter so that you can place yourself in the scene.

Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths or Ingathering) was one of the three pilgrimage feasts on the Jewish calendar.  That means that males 19 and older, living within a 15 - 20 mile radius of Jerusalem, were required by law to go the Jerusalem for the feast.  Others throughout Judea longed to be in Jerusalem for the celebration of the pilgrimage feasts.  (The others were Passover and Pentecost)  It takes place in the fall at the end of the autumn harvest.  So Jerusalem is packed to over-capacity at the time of chapter 7.  This feast lasted 7 days.  At some point commentators tell us it swelled to 8 days but we do not quite know when.  It was the most celebratory of the feasts ... a pure joy. 

From the Holman NIV Commentary on John by Max Anders:

At the heart of the celebration was a daily rite which we need to be aware of in order to understand John 7.  Rabbinical literature tells us that each morning great multitudes gathered at the Temple of Herod, carrying a citrus fruit called an ethrog in their left hands.  In their right hands they carried a lulab, which was a combination of three trees - a palm, a willow, and a myrtle - emblematic of the stages of their ancestors' journey through the wilderness.

Each morning the people would gather with the ethrog and the lulab.  The crowds followed the priest who carried a golden pitcher to the Pool of Siloam, chanting psalms and waving their lulabs in rhythm. As they approached the pool, the priest would dip his pitcher into the water and the people would say, "Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation" (Isaiah 12:3). The crowd then marched back to the temple.  The priest who had led them circled the altar once, and with accompanying priests ascended to the platform, and poured out the water.

On the seventh day, the priest would circle the altar seven times in succession - as the people of Israel had encircled the walls of Jericho. ...  It was considered the height of joy in a person's life if he could see the water being poured out onto the altar.

Now ... read John 7.

Notice a couple of things with me.  As Jesus is in dialogue with the visiting Jews as well as the Jewish religious leaders, He is challenged by three primary questions. 

1. Where did He go to school and get His rabbinical training?  All rabbis taught referencing their teacher.  Yet Jesus never mentioned His teacher.  I understand this question.  As humans we want to know the credentials of our teachers, right?  Which school?  Is it a ranked school or a little community something?  Can you see the intellectual snobbery that surfaces? 
   Ever find yourself guilty of such snobbery?  Jesus' answer to the challenge:  God taught me.
2. Where did He come from?  After all, Nazareth was just some little back water place ... certainly incapable of producing a prominent rabbi.  It's in Galilee, for heavens sake!  Can you see geographical snobbery surfacing?  Ever been guilty of such thinking?  Just think about our own country ... north vs south ... Texas vs the rest of you :) ... and within each state there is the urban vs the rural.  Then move into the international arena.  How human to think that way.  Jesus answer to the challenge: I came from God.
3. Where is He going?  Jesus had said that they could not go where He was going.  In their flesh state of mind they began trying to figure out where that was.  The conclusion was that He must be going to the Gentiles ... there is no way Jews would go there!  Can you see ethnic snobbery surfacing?  Ever been guilty of that?  Are there peoples that you will have no part of?  Peoples you feel "better than"?  Jesus' answer to the challenge:  I am going to God.

The second thing I want you to notice in this chapter is verses 37 - 39.  Think about what we learned about the Feast of Tabernacles ... it is the autumn harvest.  Water is on every mind.  It is getting scarce.  Cisterns are low.  Springs are running low.  Hills are turning brown.  The water ceremony at the great altar at the Temple is on every mind.  They want to see that water being poured out!

So here is Jesus and He calls out to crowds what He is still calling out to all who will listen:  "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 

Are you thirsty?  Are you longing for satisfaction in your life?  Are you tired of feeling parched and needy?  There is only one place where it can be found ... and that place is the source of life ... that place is the person of Jesus, Messiah and Christ.  He said "Come" on the last, great day of the Feast of Tabernacles ... and He still says "Come" to you and I.

Have you?  Will you?

Lord, help us make our "coming" to You be a daily renewal.    We are so easily side-tracked.  We know that we cannot live without water.  We cannot make it through one day without water.  Through Your Spirit, Lord, give us eyes to see on a spiritual level ... we cannot make it through one day without You!  So, today, I recommit to the daily taking of Your life into myself.  I want streams of living water to flow from me on all those around me ... beginning in my home.  I know You are faithful to Your promises ... and so, I come.

Life Source - Week 3 - Day 2 ** John 6: 25 - 71

Read John 6: 25 - 71

These verses contain one of the discourses (the teaching sections) of Jesus recorded by John.  This one centers on His teaching about Himself being the bread of life.  It contains the first of the "I AM" statements of Jesus (verse 35).  Those "I AM" statements carry Jesus' revelations about His very character ... His being.  Remember verse 4 tells us that it is Passover time.  Therefore, the minds of the people are centered on this very important feast on the Jewish calendar.  It would be spring time.  Passover occurred at the beginning of the grain harvest. 

If you are not familiar with the reasons and the rituals behind this particular feast day, you can read the details in Exodus 12.  The feast commemorated the Jews release from Egyptian slavery.  It centered around a meal.  So that meal would have been on every ones mind.  I love the way Jesus takes advantage of the current events and culture to do His teaching.  That is relevant teaching! 

So He speaks of hunger ... He speaks of bread.  And He places Himself at the center.  The people knew about hunger ... so do we.  The people knew about bread ... so do we.  What was Jesus communicating?

Bread sustains physical life.  And Jesus is the source of our sustenance for spiritual life.  What is spiritual life?  It is relationship with God.  And that relationship comes through Jesus.  He tells us to take Him into ourselves for that life.  Do you believe Him?  Are you doing that?  It is described so beautifully by St John of the Cross (1542 - 1591):

I no longer want just to hear about you, beloved Lord, through messengers.  I no longer want to hear doctrines about you, nor to have my emotions stirred by people speaking of you.  I yearn for your presence.

In this dialogue, Jesus speaks about "eating His flesh and drinking His blood."  Read His words again in verse 53 and don't miss the drama that is swirling around the Lord.  That sounds very strange to our ears, to our culture.  But there are other cultures that would not find the words so strange.  I have read of some Native American peoples who believed that by drinking the blood of an animal, they were taking the strength, the life of that animal into themselves.  When Jesus said we must drink His blood He meant that we must take His life into the very center and core of our hearts.  I think it is described best by William Barclay:

Here is Jesus, the life of God.  So long as He remains a figure in a book He is external to us; but when he enters into our hearts He is within us, and we can feed upon the life and strength and the dynamic vitality that Christ gives to us.  He is saying: 'You must take my life inside you; you must stop thinking of me as figure in a book and a subject for theological debate; you must take me into you, and you must come into me; and then you will have life, real life.'  When Jesus told us to eat His flesh and drink His blood, He was telling us to feed our hearts and souls and minds on His humanity, and He was telling us to revitalize our lives with His life until we are drenched and permeated and saturated and filled with the life of God.

Christian commemorate the life giving sacrifice of Jesus' body and blood every time we share communion together.  But, my friends, it cannot be relegated to a ritual observance and not be a daily eating and drinking!  Are you doing that?  Are you intentionally taking Jesus in every day?  I know you eat every day!  I know you drink every day!  Your body would soon be screaming at you if you did not.  Can you hear your spirit scream?  Is it starving? 

Feed yourself today ... and tomorrow ... and ...

Jesus is your bread of life. 

One of the saddest passages in all of scripture is found in verse 66 of this chapter:  "Many disciples turned back and no longer followed Him."  They thought this teaching was too difficult to take - too hard to swallow!  Jesus then asked His chosen Twelve if they, too, were going to leave.  I pray that our response is the same as Peter's ...

Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We believe ...

Life Source - Week 3 - Day 1 ** John 6: 1 - 24

Today, read John 6: 1 - 24

First, let's consider the miracle, the "sign", in verses 1 - 15.  I wish I had been there!  Did the bread "grow"?  Did the baskets just stay full?  What did that look like?  Could you see it appear?  So many questions!

Several things stand out to me as I read this event.  One is the way our Lord used this opportunity to teach and train His own disciples.  He knew what He was about to do.  And yet He keeps asking questions of the disciples.  It is the same way we teach our children when we are doing it well.  It kept the disciples thinking.  They were trying to figure out how to make this work.  That means they were engaged in the process.  Teaching is so much more effective when your students are engaged in the process!  Ask any teacher.  Ask any mom.  Jesus takes the extra time to train these men.  He could have just done it ... but He didn't.  He trained. 

I love the phrase that begins verse 12 ... "When they had all had enough ..."  Enough.  What a beautiful idea.  What an illusive idea.  Jesus provided enough for the people that day.  I know that the specific reference is to the food.  But ... consider the reality that Jesus still provides enough.  He is enough.  That means that fullness and satisfaction come from Him ... He is enough.  Spend some time today thinking about the myriad of ways that Jesus is your "enough".  That will be worship! 

I am challenged in verse 12 when Jesus told them to collect the leftovers so that nothing would be wasted.  Our particular culture is so wasteful.  Those little words from our Lord remind me to be more aware of my own tendencies to be careless and wasteful with the blessings that He continually pours out on me.  What can you do this week to help curb the waste in your own life?  I am going to be more aware of intentional food buying - not just filling the refridge and watching it spoil!  I am going to get into that closet of mine and recycle clothes that are good and still in style and just never worn.  What are some ideas you have to help with our tendency toward waste?

The people are so overwhelmed by this display of abundant food supply, we are told they intended to make Jesus king by force.  Not sure how you do that ... but there was some plan evidently.  Wouldn't Jesus have made a terrific king?!  Think of all the good He could do - "a chicken in every pot and a car in every driveway" - kind of thinking.  Was that a temptation for our Lord?  I think it was.  I think it was like the temptation in Matthew 4: 8 - 9.  Jesus would have been a great ruler.  But that was not the God-ordained path.  That would have been temporary solutions.  That would have left man in our pitiful, hopeless state of separated from God.  So, Jesus went into solitary with His Father ... He needed strength to resist temptation.  If Jesus needed that ... how much more do you and I!?  He needed some alone time with God perhaps to recenter Himself on His primary mission.  If Jesus needed that ... how much more do you and I?!
Do it this week.  Make time for it this week.  You and your Father ...

Consider verses 16 - 24 ... the storm, the walking on the water, the miraculous arrival at the destination.  There are so many lessons we can glean for ourselves here.   First, I think it is important to remember that the disciples were NOT out of God's will by being in that boat.  Jesus had sent them there.  That is where they were supposed to be ... and the storm came anyway.  Following Jesus does not mean a life that is storm-free.  In fact, just the opposite!  Storms will come into each of our lives.  The difference that following Jesus makes is that He is there - in the middle of the storm.  Therefore, there is no need for fear.  "It is I.  Don't be afraid".  Those are still the most encouraging words to me.  Don't be too quick to pass judgement on a decision that you have prayed over and felt that it was in God's will for you if the circumstances get stormy.  Listen to Henry Blackaby:

The outward appearance of success does not always indicate faith, and the outward appearance of failure does not always indicate that faith is lacking.  A faithful servant is one that does what his Master tells him whatever the outcome may be.

Trust the Lord in your storms.  He may calm the storm and bring peaceful circumstances.  (Mark 4: 37 - 41)  He may allow a shipwreck to further His purposes. (Acts 27: 27 - 44)  Or He may just get you to the other side as He does in this passage.  What is required of us?  Follow the example of the disciples in verse 21: "They were willing to take Him into the boat".  Is Jesus "in your boat"?  He will not force His way in.  He will wait for the invitation.  What circumstance is stormy for you right now?  Why not stop and ask Jesus to get in with you?  Take Him in!

Life Source - Week 2 - Day 3 ** John 5

Our reading today is John 5.  As you read, notice how the "event" in verses 1 - 15 lead into the "discourse" in verses 16 - 47.  We will see that pattern quite often in the book of John.  After you finish reading ... come back!

Archaeologists have found an underground spring that flowed under the pool, Bethesda, that would occasionally bubble up, stirring up the water in the pool.  The mythology of that time believed that an angel had stirred the waters and the first one to enter the pool after the stirring would be healed.  So we can understand the crowd of disabled and ill people that clustered there. 

A few things to notice about this "sign" ...

• The man had been a paraplegic for 38 years.  38 years!  I suspect he had lost hope.  You can almost feel the despair in his response to Jesus' question about getting well.  Are you having to carry a burden, a pain, right now?  Has it been a part of your life for a very long time?  Don't give up on your hope!  Hope is the thing that gives us courage and strength.  Hold on to it ... Jesus is our healer ... and He is here and He is coming.

• We watch Jesus choose the least of the least for this miracle.  A forgotten, unclean, pitiful man with no one to help him.  Listen to the words of Gary Burge in his commentary on John: 

  "Among the many at Bethesda looking for healing that day, Jesus selects a man who is a particularly difficult "case".  He does not reach out to those who are spiritually on the margin but socially "safe."  Instead, he reaches out to someone whose suffering and isolation are beyond measure.  What implications does this have for where the church "goes" today?  What social risks does John 5 insist that we take?  The same theme could be sounded from John 4 and together with this chapter, a convicting message of vision for ministry could be articulated." 

  Remember, we ARE the church!

• You cannot miss the fact that Jesus chose to do this work of healing on the Sabbath.  It was not an accident ... it was purposeful.  It was a deliberate violation of the current code of conduct for the Sabbath.  Why? ... To illustrate with dramatic clarity how the 'law' as interpreted and expanded by the religious leaders and interpreters had itself become a violation of God's original law.  How exceedingly careful we must be.  How watchful we must stay so that our religious customs and traditions and forms NEVER take a more important place in our lives that do the very words of God! 

The miraculous event of the healing leads Jesus into this discourse. (verses 16 - 47)  No one listening to His words missed the fact that Jesus was equating Himself with God.  No one missed that Jesus was saying He and God were One.  He claims the authority to do the works of God, to give life and to judge.  WOW!  Can you feel the impact on the listeners?  He even goes so far as to tell these Jewish religious leaders that they do not believe Moses!  If they knew and respected Moses, they would believe Jesus, because Moses was pointing forward to Him, to Messiah, to Jesus. 

And the animosity ... the hatred ... the plots begin in earnest. 

Do you believe what Jesus says?  I am not talking about believing "in" Jesus ... I am talking about really believing what He says?  Keep that thought in the back of your mind as we continue on this journey through John. 

His Words are true ... and trustworthy.

Lord, give us the courage, through Your Spirit, to hear and believe the things you tell us through Your Word.  And as we believe ... to respond in faith ... and to do our work in faith ... honoring You with every breath.