Jesus and His brothers

Posted on by korgrocker

“After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.”
John 7:1-5 NLT

It is said that we can choose our friends but not our family. Jesus’ brothers, we are told, didn’t believe in Him, a sad situation, because we would have expected Him to have some family support. Jesus must have felt very alone, because, apart from a select few of His closest disciples, He was generally rejected. And that in spite of all His miracles and His Words of eternal life. Sarcastically, Jesus’ brothers suggested that He went to Judaea and “show [Himself] to the world”. That is, they said, “If [He] can do such wonderful things”. 

The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was one of the three most important events in the Jewish calendar, and one in which all the males were commanded to go to celebrate the release of the Jewish slaves from Egypt. It took place in Jerusalem, and lasted for seven days, with everyone living in tents. Jerusalem would have been heaving with so many people and, to His sarcastic brothers, this would have been the ideal time where Jesus would have achieved the maximum audience to hear His message. Some theologians think that Jesus was born about the time of this Feast, which took place somewhere around the end of September or beginning of October, and not the December date we use to celebrate His birth. Other theologians claim that Jesus’ Second Coming will happen during the Feast of Tabernacles. But in it all the Feast of Tabernacles was important to the Jewish faith. 

But, in deciding not to attend the Feast, Jesus was prioritising His mission and ministry over expectations voiced by others. There was, for Him, a real risk in attending Jerusalem at that time, because the Jewish leaders were looking out for Him, potentially to do Him harm, even, as John recorded, that they were “plotting His death”. 

I’m sure that we pilgrims have experienced animosity, ridicule and even persecution from those nearest and dearest in our families, and particularly when we first made a decision to follow Jesus. But there is only one way into Heaven. Speaking to His disciple Thomas, ”Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). We pilgrims take the long view, caring more about where we will spend eternity than the sensitivities of our friends and families. Of course, we pray for our brothers and sisters and others in our families, hoping that they too will come to believe in Jesus. But it is a hard place, finding ourselves in a lonely place in our families, ostracised for our belief in Jesus. But in our distress, we find comfort from our loving Heavenly Father. Every time we pray, there are at least three others present – God, the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Who can ever want for me?

Dear Father God. We know that in You we are never alone. You are always by our sides, just a thought and prayer away. Thank You. Amen.

Betrayal

Posted on by korgrocker

“Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.” Then Jesus said, “I chose the twelve of you, but one is a devil.” He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, who would later betray him.”
John 6:68-71 NLT

On the one hand we read about Peter stating his allegiance to Jesus and on the other hand there is a disciple, one of Peter’s colleagues, who will later go on to betray Him. Both extremes existed in Jesus’ close circle of friends, His twelve disciples. In Luke 6, there are listed the names of the Twelve disciples, later to become Apostles, and Judas’s name appears at the bottom of the list – “Judas (son of James), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him)” (Luke 6:16). Did Jesus know that Judas Iscariot would one day betray Him to the Jewish authorities? I believe He did, because He already knew what He was taking on when He came into this world. There are Old Testament prophecies that seem to suggest that Jesus would one day be betrayed, and in one of them (Zechariah 11:13) thirty pieces of silver are mentioned. In Acts 1:16, we read that there may have been a specific prophecy about Judas, ““Brothers,” [Peter] said, “the Scriptures had to be fulfilled concerning Judas, who guided those who arrested Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit, speaking through King David”. Referring to what Jesus said, His betrayer was a “devil”, perhaps implying that the devil had indeed infiltrated Jesus’ select group of disciples, possibly confirmed in John 13:2, “It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus”. 

If Jesus knew what Judas would one day do, why did He select him?  A question that can only be answered with an understanding that Jesus, being God, knew the end from the beginning. Any thoughts about self preservation were overruled by the importance of His mission for the salvation of mankind. Of course we read later that Judas was overcome with remorse and went on to return the thirty pieces of silver, after which he committed suicide, an act which, in itself, didn’t end well. Matthew 27:3-5, “When Judas, who had betrayed him, realised that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.” “What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.” Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself”. We note that even at this late stage Judas could have been saved, but he was only remorseful, and chose suicide rather than repentance and God’s forgiveness. The final mention of Judas’ sad end comes in Acts 1:18, ”Judas had bought a field with the money he received for his treachery. Falling headfirst there, his body split open, spilling out all his intestines“. The gruesome details of what happened to him at the end I’ll leave to our imaginations.

Jesus was betrayed by someone close to Him, a tragic act, but not unknown in Biblical accounts. David himself wrote about betrayal in Psalm 55. He wrote, “It is not an enemy who taunts me— I could bear that. It is not my foes who so arrogantly insult me— I could have hidden from them. Instead, it is you—my equal, my companion and close friend. What good fellowship we once enjoyed as we walked together to the house of God” (Psalm 55:12-14). Perhaps this was a prophetic word about what was to come, but David’s poignant thoughts continue, “As for my companion, he betrayed his friends; he broke his promises. His words are as smooth as butter, but in his heart is war. His words are as soothing as lotion, but underneath are daggers!” (Psalm 55:20-21). But regardless of what happened in David’s situation, he finished his Psalm on a high, “Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall. But you, O God, will send the wicked down to the pit of destruction. Murderers and liars will die young, but I am trusting you to save me” (Psalm 55:22-23). Jesus trusted in His Father to look after Him, and we see the result that first Easter Sunday.

Have we pilgrims been betrayed at any time? Well, David had the answer – turn to God for His care, love and compassion. Out of the relationship with God flows all the nurture and comfort we will ever need.

Dear Father God. Your loving kindness knows no end. Through Your Spirit working within us we feel Your love and assurance flooding over us and washing away the hurts. Thank You Lord! Amen.

The Words of Eternal Life

Posted on by korgrocker

“At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.””
John 6:66-69 NLT

In our fellowships and churches there can sometimes be a parting of ways between a member of the congregation and the leadership. It can be due to a simple administrative problem such as who does what, or someone falls out with another person,  or it could be over a doctrinal issue or some form of Biblical interpretation. Regarding the latter I know of a church where a member left because they disagreed with the Biblical stance over matters of sex and marriage. But all these situations may or may not be valid and I’m sure most divisions within the Christian real estate are avoidable, should there be a will to work out a solution.

However, in Jesus’ case, the disciples left Him because they could not accept His teaching. These men and women were having difficulty in accepting that Jesus was the Son of God, and that what He taught about His body and blood was true. Jesus said, “For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up” (John 6:44), implying that Father God sent Jesus to this world, and in the process He was going to attract people to support His Son. So perhaps the disciples who left Jesus were not the ones needed at that time. This is perhaps a contentious thought, because we know that the Gospel is available to all, but after there had been an exodus of disciples, Jesus turned to the twelve disciples He had chosen, and asked if they were going to leave too. But Peter responded with a timeless statement, “You have the words that give eternal life”. After all that had happened, the difficult (to them) teaching, the divinity claim, the consequent murmuring and complaining, and the mass exodus of Jesus’ followers, the Twelve disciples, later to become the Apostles, stood firm in their allegiance to Jesus. What would I have done, is a question I ask myself. But we note that not all the disciples other than the Twelve deserted Jesus – just “many” of them. There were still some who remain faithful. Men and women on the periphery doing what many do today, quietly getting on with a life of service to God, below the radar of public notice. People who have accepted Jesus, who believe in Him and His teaching, and who are doing their best to apply it in their own lives. 

Peter, speaking as the Twelve’s representative, stated two truths that must have gladdened Jesus’ heart. Peter said that the Disciples recognised Jesus’ divinity, and that they believed in Him. Because of that, the Disciples knew that Jesus was speaking words that, for those like them that believed them, will lead to a life spent with God.

We pilgrims too have declared that Jesus is the Son of God, that we believe in Him and we follow His teaching. The “words of eternal life” were not just for that generation but timelessly apply over the millennia right up until today and beyond. Paul wrote in Romans 10:9-10, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved”. The early disciples who left Jesus failed to make the declaration and ended up in a spiritual wilderness, but we pilgrims are in a privileged position, being of those who have declared and believed. 

Today we once again declare that Jesus is Lord and that he has the Words we need to hear for our future. And we tell others about our wonderful Saviour, that they too will have the same opportunity we have had.

Yes, Lord Jesus. We proclaim and declare that only Your have the words that will lead to eternal life. We give You all the glory today. Amen.

Spirit and Life

Posted on by korgrocker

“I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever.” …  Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.) Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.””
John 6:58, 61-65 NLT

A lifetime of teaching about the Law had conditioned the early disciples into a mindset that was unable to accept any other teaching that might contradict their world view. While Jesus was performing miracles they were quite happy to be around Him, and the teaching He had so far given them, though different and challenging, was not so far away, perhaps, from the teaching they had received. And so they rationalised in their minds any minor differences as perhaps something mis-heard or misunderstood. Of course, there may have been some things that they were not entirely sure about, but they parked them in a corner of their minds, with the hope that all would become clear one day. But then Jesus started teaching about His body and blood. They couldn’t procrastinate any longer and they had to decide what they were going to do. Jesus’ divinity was sealed and out in the open when he said to them that He would return to His Heavenly home one day. And then there was Jesus’ statement that challenged their beliefs that eternal life would only be achieved by keeping the Law. But Jesus said, “Human effort accomplishes nothing”. 

In those days, the Holy Spirit had not been given – He didn’t come until the Day of Pentecost a few years later. So the Holy Spirit within them would not have been an experience they were aware of. So when Jesus said “the Spirit alone gives eternal life” it was one more anomaly that confused their thinking. So they complained. In their minds they had much to complain about, because Jesus was communicating a different message to what they were accustomed to, and what He said to them eclipsed the miraculous signs. 

Jesus doesn’t have any time for complainers. We pilgrims too will hear Biblical teaching that we will not fully understand. In fact, there is much in the Bible that we won’t understand until we get to Heaven. But then everything will become clear. The clouds will part and all will be revealed. Jesus gave some hard teaching that offended the Jewish mindset, but rather than believe in Him, and have faith that He was the Son of God, as He said, the disciples complained. The simple statement from Jesus that “the Spirit alone gives eternal life” was overlooked in the flurry of complaints. 

We pilgrims have an experience with God that includes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In His great sermon on the Day of Pentecost, a Spirit-filled Peter said, “ … Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Receiving the Holy Spirit is an integral part of our salvation experience. He is a gift from God, given to those who have repented of their sins, who have committed to follow Jesus, and who have been baptised. Sometimes we can’t help but feel sorry for those confused complainers around Jesus, but then, with the Son of God right there in front of them, and confronted by His miraculous signs, they surely should have stayed the course. Thankfully some did, and we will read about them later.

Perhaps we pilgrims will find something to complain about when we hear a message we don’t fully understand or even agree with. But the overriding message is confirmed, or otherwise, through the Holy Spirit within us. He brings life to our spirits while we are here on Planet Earth, and after that eternal life with God will be our experience. When we are confused or challenged, we mustn’t complain, but instead turn our eyes to the One who had called us to a life with God, our wonderful Saviour Jesus.

Dear Lord Jesus. Only You have the words of eternal life. We worship You today. Amen.

Too Hard to Understand

Posted on by korgrocker

“So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. … Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” … At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him.”
John 6:53-54, 60, 66 NLT

On the way to the synagogue in Capernaum Jesus had made many disciples. These were men (and presumably women) who believed in what He said. They saw His miraculous signs. They heard His wonderful words of grace. They heard Him expound the Scriptures in a way they liked. But then they heard Jesus say things that they struggled to understand. So they ended up leaving Him and they “turned away”. A tragedy for them because they missed the only opportunity of receiving Jesus’ promise of eternal life. There may have been too many problems for these early disciples. Firstly, the concept of eating and drinking Jesus’ body and blood from a physical perspective blinded their minds to the spiritual meaning behind His words. Secondly, they perhaps did understand what Jesus was meaning, but the consequent commitment and implication for how they should now live their lives was too great a sacrifice. 

There are always people who are unable to understand, or don’t want to understand, what Biblical teaching says. One day a person might hear a sermon on anger, taking as its text Jesus’ teaching on anger – “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell” (Matthew 5:21-22). A naturally angry person might decide that to change their approach to other people who upsets them is too big an ask and they decide they can’t follow teaching like this. So they either rationalise it and continue as they did before, or they leave and find a church where Biblical teaching is less challenging. And they conveniently forget these verses from Matthew. It is easy to follow a Gospel that we agree with and won’t mean we have to change our lives.

The more liberal of Christians will have a relaxed and dismissive approach to some parts of the Bible. For example in Matthew 5:27-28, Jesus said some hard words about adultery. “You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.“ Of course, this is a very sensitive subject, but it emphasised a principle that Jesus expounded – it is not what we appear to do but what is going on inside of us. So people, particularly men, who may struggle to change their behaviour in this area, may instead choose to disagree or ignore what Jesus said. As pilgrims, do we approach the Bible with reverence and in the knowledge that it is the Word of God and the final arbiter of truth, or do we just take from it the bits that we agree with and ignore the rest, even making up excuses, or changing the meaning, for the contentious verses?

So many of the early disciples in Jesus’ day started to follow Him until His teaching became too difficult for them to follow. I wonder what they did then? But for us pilgrims, we have decided to follow Jesus, come what may. There is no turning back.

Dear Father God. There is indeed no way that we pilgrims will turn our backs on the very One who gave His all for us. We are so grateful. Amen.

Spiritual Food

Posted on by korgrocker

“Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked. So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.”
John 6:52-59 NLT

John recorded that the people listening to Jesus’ teaching were arguing with each other. This implied that some of them had grasped what He meant, and others, probably the majority, were still living in a physical world. Of course, Jesus was not teaching cannibalism. He was referring to the spiritual food that would be found through a relationship with Him. Flesh and blood, the very essence of who we are, has spiritual connotations as well. We of course know that as we eat meat we will digest it in our stomachs and the nutrients contained within the food will be absorbed into our bodies to provide the energy and the necessary components for a healthy life. There is a similar process with spiritual food, and Jesus is the source of all that our spirits will ever need. As we feed on Him, through His teachings, through God’s Word, through prayer, and so on, our spirits will find all that they need for life, and life that will extend into eternity at that.

Jesus made it clear that for those who depend only on physical foods, like their ancestors depending on manna in the wilderness, there would come a time when they would die. “Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died” (John 6:49). It does not matter what food we consume, even so called super foods, but one day our natural bodies will come to the end of their useful and natural lives. But our spirits will live forever, whether with Jesus or not. For all those who believe in Jesus and follow Him, they will experience eternal life. He said, “But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day”. Later, the Apostle Paul wrote, “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). The alternative for those who don’t believe in Him, and who don’t feed on all the spiritual resources He possesses, is therefore death. But that death will still be somewhere eternal. 

This difficult to understand teaching from Jesus still hangs in the air today, because we live in a season of God’s grace, and His Son’s work continues through the Holy Spirit. We need to see beyond the physical connotations of what Jesus was saying through to the spiritual meaning. And we need to explore in increasing depth what it really means for our spirits to feed on Jesus’ body and blood. Jesus  said that He will raise up all those who have a relationship with Him “at the last day”. This does not mean the last day of the person’s physical life, but the day when all spirits will be resurrected and provided with a physical body. Paul wrote what would happen to believers – “And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). And to unbelievers we turn to Revelation 20:5,12, “This is the first resurrection. (The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.) … I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books”. 

So the Jews sitting in the pews in the synagogue in Capernaum were arguing. But have we pilgrims never argued with each other about teaching we have heard from a pulpit somewhere? Not often of course, but it does happen, and particularly when there is a new move of God sweeping over His church. But when something potentially contentious emerges in the spiritual domain, we have a simple remedy – turn to Jesus and feed on His body and blood. At such times we will find refreshing and new life for our spirits, and the issues causing the difficulty will fade away.

Dear Lord Jesus. Only You have the words of eternal life. Only You can lead us in the right paths and feed us all the nutrients we will ever need. We worship You today. Amen.

Eat the Bread

Posted on by korgrocker

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. Yes, I am the bread of life! Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”
John 6:47-51 NLT

To the Jews, and most people on this planet, the thought of cannibalism is abhorrent. Feelings of disgust arise as we even reflect on such a thing. But as we unpick the meaning behind Jesus’ words, their importance soon emerges. Jesus told His listeners that He was “the bread of life” and He said that, unlike their ancestors who ate manna in the wilderness but still died, eating His bread would lead to eternal life. So we have the stark comparison between physical and spiritual foods. There are no physical foods that will prolong life to all eternity, even though there are those in certain industries who are trying their hardest to find products that will extend our natural lives even by a year to two. And it is true that a good diet with physical exercise will perhaps increase our life expectancies. Making our natural lives eternal has even become embroiled in fictional stories, such as in the book “She” by the Victorian writer H Rider Haggard. But in reality human beings will eventually die, but we all know that. 

Jesus compared Himself, as the bread from Heaven, with the manna that also came down from Heaven. He was the spiritual food and manna was the physical equivalent. One sustained the soul and the other the body. The Jewish teachers taught about the Scriptures in a detached sort of way. They expounded Biblical truths of course, and probably did so very capably. But Jesus’ teaching was different. He taught the people from a personal viewpoint. He didn’t just teach about spiritual food. He was the spiritual food. 

Jesus, in His claim to be the spiritual food from Heaven, was immediately misunderstood by those with an intransigent mindset that was unable to understand spiritual truths. And it is true today, with most people in Western society neglecting the importance of their spiritual lives. They try their hardest to compensate the yearnings within them with pursuits that might satisfy for a short time, but there is always a morning after the excesses of the night before. Through Isaiah, God said to the people on his day, “Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food” (Isaiah 55:2). 

We pilgrims must pay as much attention to our spirits as we do to our bodies, and through Jesus and His sacrifice at Calvary, a whole new vista opened up for us, taking us right into God’s presence and life with Him forever. So we do not neglect the spiritual food that came down from Heaven. It was so important that Jesus, at the Last Supper, gave His disciples the means to remember His life-giving presence. Luke recorded what happened, and what Jesus said, “He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you” (Luke 22:19-20). And as we remember all that Jesus has done for us, our spirits are refreshed and satisfied with the richest of food. 

Dear Lord Jesus. You are indeed the bread of Heaven, and our gratitude is eternal. We praise and worship You today. Amen.

God the Teacher

Posted on by korgrocker

“But Jesus replied, “Stop complaining about what I said. For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up. As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. (Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was sent from God, have seen him.)”
John 6:43-46 NLT

In John 6:45, Jesus quoted a verse from Isaiah 54, “I will teach all your children, and they will enjoy great peace” (Isaiah 54:13). This verse was in the middle of a prophecy about Jerusalem and its future, a future that we are yet to see, because of its End Times significance. In his prophecy, Isaiah talked about Jerusalem being rebuilt extensively with precious stones, a place where God Himself will teach His children, a place of peace with a secure government, and a place without enemies. A Utopian vision for the hard pressed Jews of that time in Israel’s history. And we can compare this new build Jerusalem with Revelation 21, where we read, “So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal” (Revelation 21:10-11). The Jews were well aware of this eschatological theme so the more Biblically astute amongst them would associate what Jesus was saying with that wonderful time they yearned for, when God lived with His people and taught them all they needed to know. 

Jesus told His listeners in our John 6 verses that all those who come to Jesus, believing in Him, will be raised up on the last day. Resurrection was a well known concept to the Jews of Jesus’s day, just as it was to the Old Testament saints like David, who wrote, “For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave. You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever” (Psalm 16:10-11). So Jesus’s statement that God will teach His children would have been associated with their expectation of a wonderful eternal life spent with their glorious Father and Teacher, God Himself. 

But Jesus, later in His ministry, told His disciples that when He had “gone away”, God would send the Holy Spirit. We read, “But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you” (John 14:26). So we can be assured that God is available to teach us even today, through the Holy Spirit who lives within us pilgrims. God’s Spirit quietly whispering His words of truth, teaching us what we need to know, and reminding us of the teachings that are recorded in our New Testament, the words of Jesus Himself. 

How are we pilgrims taught by God? Through prayer, through reading the Bible, through the preaching and exposition of God’s Word, and through the Holy Spirit within us. There are no other ways except through Jesus. But back to our verses in John 6. Jesus extended an invitation to all His listeners, to believe in Him, and that invitation is still with us today in this season of God’s grace. John 14:6, “Jesus told [Thomas], “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”. There is no other way to eternal life other than through Jesus. 

Dear Lord Jesus. You are the only way to the Father, God Himself. You provided a timeless invitation to all, to come to You and follow You. The narrow path before us is long and windy, strewn with obstacles and difficult to navigate. But as we follow You, we are assured that the way You provide will bring us into God’s presence. We are so grateful. Amen.

Stop Complaining

Posted on by korgrocker

“But Jesus replied, “Stop complaining about what I said. For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up. As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. (Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was sent from God, have seen him.)”
John 6:43-46 NLT

Jesus told the people who were murmuring amongst themselves about His claim to be the “bread that came down from Heaven” to “stop complaining”. This passage of Scripture recording Jesus’ claims to be God’s Son contained several references to Him being the bread of Heaven. The people around Him seemed to be having great difficulty in accepting or understanding what Jesus was saying, and He had to repeat His message several times. But we have to position what Jesus was saying in the culture of His times. The Jews were steeped in their history and particularly the times after the flight from Egypt and the journey through the wilderness, where God fed His people for a massive forty years. There were no doubts amongst the God-fearing people of Jesus’ day, that God had performed the miracles that they were taught about at their schools and in their homes as they grew up. So the phrase “bread from Heaven” would have been immediately associated with manna, and the miracle  that Jesus performed in feeding the crowd grabbed their attention, because it was the closest they had come to experiencing being divinely fed as their ancestors had been. 

Jesus had been known by many of the people all their lives, so although they could probably accept that God had performed miracles through a human being – after all their Scriptures recorded many such events – they were unable to accept that this “human being” before them was not just any human, but the Son of God Himself. So they complained and murmured because of, what was to them, His audacious claim. 

Unfortunately, there are many people today who puff themselves up and make outrageous claims about themselves and their spiritual abilities. But in all the froth and bubble, there is the danger of missing the very person who is making a genuine claim. This is what happened with many of Jesus’ listeners, and it continues to happen today. But instead of complaining, we must check them out. We read in Matthew 7:15-16a, “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. …”. There is also 1 John 4:1, “Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world”.

We pilgrims must never become complainers. Such people are never popular, because complainers are not a blessing to others. Rather than complain we must look to God for guidance, because He will “lead us into all truth”. Complaining achieves nothing and can make us, and others, depressed. I know we live in a world that encourages people to complain, often in the hope that they will receive some sort of monetary compensation for bad service or something like that. But when it comes to issues around God and His servants, we live in a different Kingdom, God’s Kingdom. Here there will never be any need to complain.

Dear God. Through Your grace and mercy, we have nothing to complain about, other than about our own sin. Please help us to know You more, day by day. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

The Local lad

Posted on by korgrocker

“Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because he had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?””
John 6:41-42 NLT

Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God was rejected by the people around Him, because they knew His natural parents. They knew that Jesus had lived in Nazareth, growing up like any other Jewish boy in those circumstances and times. They had probably enjoyed the products He made in His carpenter’s shop, window frames, furniture, agricultural implements. But here He is, standing before them, and making the claim that He was the “bread that came down from Heaven”. So the people started to “murmur in disagreement“, as they tried to make sense of Jesus’ claims. On the one hand they had before them the indisputable facts of His miracles, and that He fed them a fish supper on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. But on the other they could not get their minds around His claim to be divine. But Jesus didn’t waver from His message and His mission, and He didn’t hold back from speaking difficult truths.

We don’t know much about the years between Jesus’ birth and closing the door for the last time on His carpenter’s shop, before the start of His public mission. Was Jesus a pious and religious young man, someone who didn’t join in with the drunken revelries, or the laddish behaviour that was probably prevalent in His days, just as it is today? Someone like John the Baptist, who from an early age set Himself apart from his peers? We do know about the episode in the Temple when the twelve-year-old Jesus was found by His parents sitting amongst the religious teachers where we read, ”All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers” (Luke 2:47). But that’s about all, except for one verse at the end of Luke 2, “Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and all the people”. 

Jesus was well regarded in His community, but what about His claims that He was the “bread that came down from Heaven”? He may have grown up into a well-respected young man but the Son of God? Because we pilgrims are more detached from the culture and society of Jesus’ day we perhaps have less of a problem. We find it easier to accept Jesus as the Person he claimed to be, and we have the benefit of hindsight, knowing how His ministry and mission panned out, knowing how God’s plan for the salvation of mankind came to fruition. But how would we feel if a local lad suddenly started to perform miracles and make divinity claims? 

In our Christian journeys we pilgrims will inevitably meet those who make claims. Such meetings may be in person, but more likely would be through social media posts, extolling the virtues of men and women of God. And occasionally someone will emerge and form a sect, duping their followers with supernatural claims. The Scripture warn us about such people. But Jesus was unique in that no-one else has made the claim that he was the Son of God and has gone on to prove it through astounding miracles and a death and resurrection. There is only one Jesus, and we give Him all the glory today.

Dear Jesus. You are the only One, the only Son of God. You came to this world with a plan for man’s salvation and we praise and worship You today in deep gratitude. Amen.