OUR FATHER WHOSE SON WAS NOT RECEIVED BY THOSE TO WHOM HE WAS SENT

The Lord Jesusˋ presense in Jerusalem was causing a stir among the people and among the religious leaders. They debated among themselves what His words meant and tried to reason together whether He was the promised one or not. Some felt that He was the prophet and the Christ they were waiting for but others objected because He was from Galilee and not from Bethlehem where the Christ was to appear. 

John chapter 7 verses 32 -  53  captures the debate among the inhabitants of Jerusalem over the validity of Jesusˋ ministry and also records  attempts by the religious leaders to arrest Him.

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. 33 Then Jesus said to them, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. 34 You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.”

35 Then the Jews said among themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What is this thing that He said, ‘You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come’?”

37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

40 Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?” 

43 So there was a division among the people because of Him. 44 Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

45 Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?”

46 The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!”

47 Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived? 48 Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

50 Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”

52 They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”

53 And everyone went to his own house.

There were some among the religious leaders like Nicodemus who argued that Jesus should be given due process of the law rather than presumptive condemnation but the status quo felt justified in their quest to destroy Jesus.

The political heat was rising and the danger to Jesus was mounting.

4

OUR FATHER WHOSE SON CAME TO DIE FOR THE SINS OF THE WORLD

Jesus, aware of the consipiracy behind closed doors to get rid of Him, declared so as He spoke to the crowds and they were not aware of the backroom deals that were being set to kill jesus so they accused Jesus of having a demon of paranoia  for believig that there were people seeking to kill Him.

John chapter 7 verses 20 - 31 reveals. 

20 The people answered and said, “You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?”

21 Jesus answered and said to them, “I did one work, and you all marvel. 22 Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

25 Now some of them from Jerusalem said, “Is this not He whom they seek to kill? 26 But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ? 27 However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.”

28 Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, “You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whomyou do not know. 29 But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

30 Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. 31 And many of the people believed in Him, and said, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?”

Even though Jesus was boldly speaking in the temple, the religious leaders could not act against Him because His time to lay down His life had not yet come.

Others, who knew of the conspiracy to kill Jesus, wondered why Jesus was able to teach in the temple under the noses of the religious authorities.

As people debated the significance of Jesusˋ ministry in their midst, some people reasoned that He must have been the Saviour they were waiting for because they could not imagine that  another representative would do more astonishing supernatural miracles than Jesus was doing.

Amen.

1

OUR FATHER WHO  SENT HIS SON TO TEACH US

John chapter 7 verses 10 - 19;

10 But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. 11 Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, “Where is He?” 12 And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him. Some said, “He is good”; others said, “No, on the contrary, He deceives the people.” 13 However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

14 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. 15 And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?”

16 Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. 19 Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?”

Amen.

1

OUR FATHER WHOSE SON CAME TO SAVE THE WORLD

The political opposition to Jesusˋ ministry was intensifying and designs to kill Him were on the table and Jesus began to restrict His movements to the northern territory of Galilee to stay away from those who sought to kill Him.

In the book of John chapter 7 verses 1 - 9, the Lord explained the reason why He was regulating His traveling itnerary to avoid Jerusalem and Judea;

1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. 3 His brothers therefore said to Him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. 4 For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.”       5 For even His brothers did not believe in Him.

6 Then Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.        7  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.” 9 When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.

When the feast of Tabernacles arrived, Jesusˋ brothers cynically urged Him to go to Jerusalem so that more people could see His miraculous powers. They considered Jesusˋ ministry to be a novelty to be promoted at festivals and so their view was that He should show Himself to the world to maximize His exposure.

Jesus, knowing that their understanding of what was actually going on was limited, told them that the time had not yet come for the revealing of His primary reason for coming down from heaven and as such, He could not be conspicuous at that time and would not travel with His brothers to the feast.

The time for which all of creation awaited to see the perfection of the nature of God was approaching but was not yet.

Amen.

1

 OUR FATHER WHOSE SPIRIT GIVES LIFE

John chapter 6 verses 60 - 71 concludes the chapter this way;

60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”

61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. 65 And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”

66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”

68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” 

71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

Amen.

1

 OUR FATHER WHO GAVE US THE BREAD OF LIFE

The Lord Jesus, continuing to talk to the crowd who were seeking truth from Him, had an interchange with them where He revealed to them the permanent nature of the bond He would form with those who would believed in Him.  John chapter 6 verses 35 - 59 records the conversation in the town of Capernaum this way;

 35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

When the people heard Jesusˋ assertions of being the one through whom everlasting life came, they were perplexed because they knew Jesus and the family from which He came. When He claimed to have come down from heaven, they complained because they thought they knew from where He had come. Jesus, perceiving their discontentment with His claims, told them to stop grumbling about what He was saying because He was the focal point of Godˋs plan of salvation. Anyone who was to be saved would be drawn to Jesus the Father and anyone who believed in Jesus having been drawn to Him, would obtain eternal life.

43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

The Lord  pressed the controversial point that people would have to partake in His flesh and His blood in order to have life in the same way that the ancestors of the Jews ate manna in the desert in order to survive.

The distinction that Jesus made was that those who ate manna in the desert ultimately died but those who ate the bread that came down from heaven, would live forever.

Ingesting bread by physically eating it was a representation of the way that those who believed in Jesus when He gave His body to be broken and shed His blood, would  have Jesus abiding in them.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS SON AS THE BREAD OF LIFE

The persistent crowd crossed the lake and traced the whereabouts of the Lord Jesus and they tried to calculate how He got to Capernaum so quickly because He had not left with the boat but was already there when they arrived.

The Lord, speaking to the crowd of people who had followed Him, advised them to reconsider what they were seeking. Instead of striving to hunt Him down because of the benefits He provided like food, Jesus told them to seek food that results in eternal life that He, the Son of Man, would give them. 

To this, they asked Jesus what they needed to do that would qualify them for the bread of life and Jesus told them that they needed to believe in the whom God sent and had Godˋs seal of approval. 

25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 

26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

The people listening to Jesus who had followed Him across the lake and had tracked Him down in the city were hungry for the things of God and they pressed Jesus for more answers.

30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

Jesus explained to them that in the same way their ancestors received bread from heaven in the desert, He himself was the bread sent down from heaven and those who were drawn to Him and believed in Him would be partakers in eternal life by the bread that Jesus alone could give them.

The people implored Jesus to give them the bread unto eternal life.

Amen.

8

OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON 

The famous scene where Jesus walked on water is captured in todayˋs passage out of the book of John chapter 6 verses 16 - 24.

After feeding the crowd of people who were following Him, Jesus had to evade them because they were talking among themselves and formenting a plan to proclaim Him as their king.

Jesus had gone up a mountain alone and as evening set in, He did not return to join His disciples so they got into their boat and began to sail back to Capernaum.

As darkness fell, the disciples, navigating on the increasingly rough water, saw a figure on the water walking towards them and they were terrified.

Jesus spoke to them assuring them that it was He who approached them and when they let Him into the boat, they immediately arrived at their destination in a translation across the surface of the water.

16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, 17 where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. 18 A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” 21 Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

The next day, the crowd that had been pursuing Jesus realized that He was no longer in the area and so they crossed the lake  towards Capernaum in search of Him.

Amen.

8

OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE THE WORLD

The book of John chapter 6 verses 1 - 15 relates the event where a huge crowd of about 10,000 people followed Jesus hoping to receive healing and hear Him teach and the Lord undertook to feed them starting with a five barley loaves and two small fish.

1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

The miraculous feeding of the 10,000 people from five loaves and two fishes was startling enough for the people to start thinking about who Jesus was and how beneficial He could be for them.

As they mused on this, Jesus became aware of their intentions to proclaim His as their  king and because this was not the plan of salvation that was set in motion from the beginning of time, Jesus widthdrew to a mountain by Himself to escape the peopleˋs intention.

Amen.

2

 

OUR FATHER WHO BEARS WITNESS TO HIS SON THROUGH THE SUPERNATURAL WORKS HE DOES

The book of John chapter 5 verses 31 - 47, recording Jesus' explanation of His legitimacy as the giver of life, says this;

31 “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. 33 You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. 35 He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. 36 But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. 37 And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. 39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

41 “I do not receive honor from men. 42 But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. 43 I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. 44 How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

Amen.

8

OUR FATHER WHO IS EXACTLY REFLECTED BY THE  SON OF GOD

The religious leaders of jerusalem were perplexed by Jesusˋ ministry. On one hand, He was performing miracles of healing that were indisputable but on the other had, He was not conforming to the standard they believed needed to be followed.

For example, Jesus was healing people on the Sabbath day when the religious tradition held that no work ( including miraculous healings ) should be done on the Sabbath.

Because of the challenge that Jesus represented to the established religious order, they attacked Him with accusations of breaking the Sabbath and blasphemy and they sought ways to permanently remove Him from the scene.

The book of John chapter 5 verses 16 - 23 records the grievances that the religious leaders had towards Jesus and the responses that Jesus gave to them to explain His work.

16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him 

24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.. .

The Lord Jesus, in response to the accusation against Him of calling Himself the Son of God and saying that God was His own father and thus making Himself equal to God, expounded for them the extent to which the Son of God is an exact representative reflection of God the Father;

• Every action the Son takes is an action taken by the Father first
• The Father reveals all His actions to the Son and the Son emulates them
• The Father gives life and the Son gives life to whom He pleases
• The Father does not judge but commits judgement to the Son
• Honoring the Son is tantamount to honoring the Father
• Hearing the words of the Son and believing the Father brings us eternal life
• Hearing the words of the Son and believing the Father excludes us from judgement
• Hearing the words of the Son and believing the Father moves us from death to life
• The dead can hear the voice of the Son and those who do will live
• The Father has life within Himself and had granted that the Son has life as well
• The Father gives the Son of God authority to judge because He is the Son of Man
• The Sonˋs voice will be heard from the graves and they will rise from the dead
• Those who did good rise to live and those who did evil rise to be condemned
• The Sonˋs judgement is just for He does not please Himself but only His Father

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO IS OUR HEALER

The Lord Jesus returned to Jerusalem for a religious feast and while in the city, He came across a man who had been paralysed for thirty-eight years and He asked the man if he wanted to get well.

The paralysed man explained to Jesus that he had been trying to get into the pool of Bethesda in order to be cured of his malady but he could never quite get into the pool at the right time.

Jesus commanded him to get up, pick up his mat and walk and the man was instantly healed and he was able to get up and pick up his mat and walk.

As the man moved about, the religious leaders noticed the infraction of the law of the Sabbath and they informed him that the law forbade the carrying of mats during the Sabbath.

The man told the enforcers that the man who had healed him of paralysis also told him to pick up his mat. During the conrontaion, Jesus had slipped away and the man could identify to the religious leaders who was healing people and authorizing them to carry their mats and walk.

The book of John chapter 5 verses 1 - 15 describes the occasion this way;

1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the

 Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

In an unusual move, Jesus tracked the man who had been healed and followed up with some advice. Jesus told the man that now he was well, he should stop sinning in order to prevent a greater calamity to befall him

The man original condition came about as a result of his participation with sinful activities and all of that had been over-ridden by the authority of Jesus but Jesus cautioned him that to continue in his sin would expose him to the risk of even greater harm. 

The man went and identified Jesus to the authorities.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO BLESSES THOSE WHO BELIEVE HAVING NOT SEEN

The Lord Jesus stayed with the Samaritans for two days as they grappled with the possibility that the awaited Messiah had stopped by their town and many believed. He then departed for His home country of Galilee and the people of Galilee recieved Him gladly because they had been in Jerusalem and they had seen the effect of His ministry in the city.

Whereas while Jesus was with them in their midst, the people of Galilee did not fully grasp the uniqueness and value of the person  of Jesus who they had in their midst but having  having seen Him turning Jerusalem upside down, they were more receptive to His message. Jesus described the change as the phenomenon where a prophet has no honor in his hometown but when the people see the influence he has on other people, they re-evaluate the person whowas always in their midst.

The book of John chapter 4 verses 43 - 54 describes Jesusˋ return home to and the new faith people had in Him such that even the elite of that society were seeking Him out to help them.

43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.

46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”

49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”

50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”

52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.

54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

The supernatural power that Jesus demonstrated to that family in reviving a son from near death ignited a belief in the Jesus by the nobleman himself and his whole household.

In this case, it took the manifestation of miraculous power to make people believe as Jesus pointed out in verse 48;

 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”

But there is a special place in Godˋs heart for those who believe in Jesus with no physical proofs except that their own internal witness assures them that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus said it this way in the book of John chapter 20 verse 29 which says;

Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO GAVE GIFTS TO MEN

The book of John chapter 4 verses 39 - 42 records the reaction of the Samaritans in the town to what the woman who met Jesus at the well, had told them.

The people believed in Jesus because of the earnest testimony of the woman and also because they heard Him with their own ears and were persuaded by His words and because of His manner of love towards the people of a small town whom He, a Jew, would normally have no dealings with, and yet He stayed with them in their homes and shared the good news of the kingdom of God with them. 

39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word.

42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

The Lord established a model of winning the lost people. 

• He engaged them in conversation
• He shared with them the gift of the Spirit (word of knowledge about her life)
• He entwined His life with theirs as he stayed among them as a guest

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE WORD IS OUR NOURISHMENT

The book of John chapter 4 verses 27 - 38 continues with the story at Jacobˋs well when Jesusˋ disciples returned from buying food.

The disciples were surprised to see that Jesus had broken an taboo and engaged a woman in conversation however they did not speak up about it because they knew that Jesus did not conform to cultural taboos.

The woman, having been bowled over by her encounter with Jesus went back to her home town and told everyone about the experience of Jesus telling her the hidden details of her life.

The spiritual hunger in the woman was revealed in the brief interaction with Jesus and she, knowing that people in her town had the same yearning, told them that she may have stumbled on the Christ for whom they had all been waiting.

27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”

34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 

35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

As this was happening, the disciples urged Jesus to have something to eat but He told them that his nourishment came from doing the will of the One who sent Him and completing the work that He was given to do.

Jesus then explained to His disciples that spiritual wages and the fruit for eternal life are gained by participating in the harvesting of the fields by winning souls for the kingdom of God.  The tasks of taking the crop are divided so that some people sow and others reap and in this symbiotic interdependency, everyone who joins in, benefits and rejoices together.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO KNOWS US

The book of John chapter 4 verses 1 - 26 records an encounter that Jesus had while travelling  from Jerusalem back to Galilee.

The route took Jesus through an area named Samaria and as He paused to rest by a water well that the patriarch Jacob had dug centuries before. His disciples went off to a nearby town to buy food and while they were gone, a woman came to the well to get some water.

Jesus initiated the conversation with her by asking her for a drink and our passage captures the interchange between them that followed;

1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria.

5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

Breaking the cultural norm of Jews keeping separate from Samaritans, Jesus asked the woman to get Him a drink of water. 

The woman, fully knowing the taboos being contravened, asked Jesus why He, a Jew, would be asking her, a Samaritan and a woman no less, for water. 

This societal pattern had formed when northern Israel and  Judah in the south politically split apart centuries before and their spiritual pratices veered away from each other resulting in the people in Judah considering the people in the northern part of the country to be unclean heretics.

For Jesus to engage the woman in conversation would have been a surprise to her and t anyone else who would have witnessed it. In this setting, Jesus set a universal pattern for us to see that there were no people from any religion or tribe who Jesus would not be willing to connect with and form friendships with.

10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

In response to the womanˋs point, Jesus gave her a glimpse into who He actually was by telling her that He was a gift God to her and that He was able to offer living water to anyone who asked him.

11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

The woman was skeptical of Jesusˋ claim because to her eyes, he was just a random man sitting by the well, failing to observe expected norms and who had no visible apparatus to retrieve water of any kind. She questioned whether He had the status to make promises to provide better water than what their common anscestor, Jacob, was able to provide for them when he dug the well centuries before.

Jesus responded that the water He provided to those who asked was better than the water provided by Jacob because, while Jacobˋs water would need to be drank over and over when thirst returned, the water He provided would perpetually bubble up within the person as a fountain that was a spring of eternal life.

The woman was intrigued by the possibilities and asked Jesus for the kind of water that would save her the frequent trips to the well for drinking water. 

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”´

With the woman interested in the promise of the eternal life that Jesus was proposing, He pivoted to the matter of her personal life that He knew needed to be addressed as part of the exchange between her temporal life in the flesh and the eternal life of the spirit.

19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

The profound and detailed insight into her life that Jesus described shocked her and she immediately discerned that Jesus was a prophet. 

The first things that came to her mind when she realised that Jesus was a genuine spiritual authority was to ask Him to settle an issue of religious contention related to the validity of the Jewish claim that Jerusalem was the only legitimate place of worship while her people worshiped on a mountain in their own territory instead. 

Jesus settled the question unequivocally and permanently by telling her that God the Father, because He is spirit, would seek to be worshiped in spirit and truth and this would make the requirement to worship in the physical temple in Jerusalem or on the Samaritan mountain, obsolete.

21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

Jesusˋ masterful exposition of the nature of worship did not persuade the woman that He had the rank to make such an assertion so she said to Jesus that she would rather wait for the expected Messiah to settle her question for her and it was here that Jesus asserted that the awaited Messiah for whom the generations yearned to see, was right there with her at that well.

Wow. Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT A HEROLD TO PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD

The followers of John the Baptist were concerned about reports that another person was  baptizing people and gaining a large following among the people.

They asked John the Baptist about this situation and John clarified for them that the one of whom He testified was the Christ would increase while John the Baptist decreased.

The book of John chapter 3 verses 22 - 36 records this interaction between John the Baptist and his followers.

22 After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. 24 For John had not yet been thrown into prison.

25 Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!”

27 John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease. 

John the Baptist testified that he was not the Christ but that he was sent ahead of the Christ and now that John had seen the One for whom he was sent to herald, he was thrilled to have had a role in connection with one so great as Jesus.

Speaking further on Jesus, John explained that Jesus was from heaven and was speaking to the people about heavenly things that He was a witness of but the people were not receiving his testimony. To recieve the testimony of the One sent from heaven would be receiving the words of God directly because the Christ only spoke the words of God. To receive the words of God would assure the believer of everlasting life as John the Baptist taught his followers.

31 He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. 33 He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. 34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. 35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. 36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

In this passage, John the Baptist said that God does not give the Spirit by measure. This means that to believe in the Christ and to then be given the Spirit, one is given the same Spirit that was given to Jesus in totality.

We are given the Spirit and we can grow in the Spirit as much or as little as we desire.

Therefore, we can expend our life in the pursuit of the Spirit in order to increase to the extent that the Spirit provides.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO BRING MANY SONS TO GLORY

As Jesus was gaining noteriety around Jerusalem, the religious classes were debating His teachings and were trying to assess what He was up to.  Within the religious class called the pharisees was a faction that had concluded that the miraculous signs that Jesus was doing made it likely that He was from God and so they sent a representative to meet with Him incognito to interview Him in order to gain some understanding of His position.

The book of John chapter 3 verse 1 - 21  recorded the meeting between the emissary named Nicodemus and Jesus;

1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus  said to Jesus that he and some collegues in the Sanhedrin ( the Jewish religious council ) believed that He was sent by God because of the miraculous signs they were seeing Him doing.

To this statement by Nicodemus, Jesus replied that knowing that He was from God and learning His teachings was not enough for a person to gain access to the kingdom of God but rather, a person would have to be ˋborn againˋ. 

Nicodemus was baffled by the reference to being spiritually reborn because he had interpreted Jesusˋ words to mean a physical rebirth that required a re-entry into the womb. 

Jesus steered Nicodemus towards a more spiritual understanding of what He was saying by establishing that there were two types of births one of which was the physical birth and other being a spiritual birth and it was the only spiritual birth that needed to be repeated and that this rebirth that is the work of the Spirit of God was the means by which such men would be able to live within the confines of the physical world while at the same time being able to move about in the spiritual world.

This explanation that Jesus gave completely confounded Nicodemus who could not even conceive of such things.

9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Jesus marvelled that a religious leader in Israel, with all his learning in the books of the law and the prophets, could not understand the basic things being explained.

He assured Nicodemus that the things He was teaching and testifying about were not guesses but rather things that He knew directly and had personally seen because He was from heaven and could therefore ascend to heaven. This was a reference to the book of Genesis Chapter 28 (that Nicodemus would have been very familiar with) which reads;

12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.

This dream of Jacob revealed the exchange program between heaven and earth that permitted the movement of beings between the physical realm and the spiritual one. It was the reality of the interpolation of these two realms that Jesus was explaining to Nicodemus but being rigidly trained in the things of the physical world, Nicodemus had a difficult time grappling with the possibilities of a new spiritual life.

Jesus went on to explain to Nicodemus that believing in the only begotten Son of God was the only way to acquire the righteousness that was needed to separate from the kingdom of darkness and ascend into the kingdom of God.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

The words of Jesus in this passage gives us a view into the mechanics of salvation where our faith in Jesus releases us from condemnation and we are given a new spirit and we are counted as righteous because of the new spirit within us.  Living from the spirit yields righteous deeds and we can come to the light.

Such is the unfathomably priceless gift that Jesus gave us. We are translated from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light by the work He finished on the cross.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE SON DID NOT BREAK A BRUISED REED

At the onset of Jesusˋ public ministry in Jerusalem during the Passover, many people were drawn to Him and believed in His name when they saw the miraculous works He was doing.

The book of John chapter 2 verses 23 - 25 records the people of Jerusalemˋs initial positive reception of His ministry and the passage also records Jesusˋ reserved reciprocation to that response. 

23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

Even though the people of Jerusalem, upon seeing the supernatural works Jesus was doing in their midst saw Him in a favourable light, Jesus was reticent about basing His ministry on the wave of popularity that was rising in the city.

He was fully aware of the fickle hearts of men who could, on one hand, be attracted to the novelty of a sincere and authoritative religious leader and then turn against that leader at the drop of a hat if the trends and fashion dictated so.

Jesus, the one for whom, and by whom and through whom all existance was created, was there at the beginning during the creation of mankind and therefore knew, without needing to hear from anyone, what was in man.

He was cool toward the reception He got in Jerusalem knowing that it was only the protracted exposure to His mission would reveal the true hearts of men.

Jesus did not run roughshod over the weak embers of faith that were igniting in some people of Jerusalem but He was gentle and gave room for their faith to quietly take hold and indeed some people were truly persuaded of the validity of His mission.

The book of Isaiah chapter 42 verses 1 - 4 says this is the One who was sent;

1 “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights!

I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.

2 He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.

3 A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench;

He will bring forth justice for truth.

4 He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established justice in the earth;

And the coastlands shall wait for His law.”

Amen.

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