Jewish Traditions

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Jesus’ trial before Caiaphas ended in the early hours of the morning. Then he was taken to the headquarters of the Roman governor. His accusers didn’t go inside because it would defile them, and they wouldn’t be allowed to celebrate the Passover. So Pilate, the governor, went out to them and asked, “What is your charge against this man?” “We wouldn’t have handed him over to you if he weren’t a criminal!” they retorted.”
John 18:28-30 NLT

Again, as part of God’s plan, a series of events were unfolding. Having found Jesus “guilty” of what the Jewish leaders considered blasphemy, their next step was to get the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, to rubber stamp their verdict. But his weakness became apparent immediately, by him pandering to the Jews and their Passover rules and regulations. The Jews considered that entering the house of a Gentile, or having any contact with them before the Passover would render them unclean and unable to celebrate thew festival. But such a rule cannot be found in the Old testament writings and was probably a rabbinical tradition such as alluded to in the conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees in Matthew 15:2-3, “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.” Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God?” Jesus obviously had no time for such traditions, and we even find Him willing to enter a Gentile’s house in Luke 7:2, 6, “At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. … So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honour”. We can read about Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10, where we read, “But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.”” (Acts 10:15). So, the fact that the Jews refused to enter the house of the Roman governor was not Scriptural and was a symptom of the way they had interpreted the Law for their own purposes.

Do we have any rules and regulations in our churches that we cannot find in the Bible? There are many I’m sure. For a start, the Bible doesn’t specifically call for buildings, called churches, to be built, although these can be convenient meeting place. And what about the custom of some who have introduced bells and incense at certain times in a formal time of worship. Where in the New Testament does that come from? The go-to verse for me is from Acts 2:46, “They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—”. There is that sense of community not liturgy. Sharing with one another, not sitting in pews watching the minister. I have always favoured simplicity in my Christian life, without the added complications of forms of service or complicated liturgies. The Jewish faith became so complicated that Jesus gave the Pharisees a hard time when He said, “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things” (Luke 11:42). When rules replace the love and worship of God then the worship is replaced by legalism. The sad thing is that the Pharisees thought that if they can follow all the rules then their salvation was assured. But there is a human tendency for favouring routine and neglecting the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit.

Traditions are not necessarily bad or to be avoided but, as Jesus said, we must not “ignore justice and the love of God”. It is a sometimes a scary life, to rely on the Holy Spirit. He will lead us into all sorts of situations, as we are obedient to His leading. But we must always remain close to God, because only He has the words of eternal life.

Dear Father God. We love you Lord. We praise and worship You every day and all day. Amen.

Prove It

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Jesus replied, “Everyone knows what I teach. I have preached regularly in the synagogues and the Temple, where the people gather. I have not spoken in secret. Why are you asking me this question? Ask those who heard me. They know what I said.” Then one of the Temple guards standing nearby slapped Jesus across the face. “Is that the way to answer the high priest?” he demanded. Jesus replied, “If I said anything wrong, you must prove it. But if I’m speaking the truth, why are you beating me?” Then Annas bound Jesus and sent him to Caiaphas, the high priest.”
John 18:20-24 NLT

One thing that could never be claimed was that Jesus failed to tell the truth. In fact, in John 14:6 we read, “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me“. How could the Son of God, who was perfect truth, ever be accused of saying anything that went against the very essence of His nature? Jesus said to Annas that if anyone believed to the contrary then he needed to come up with the evidence to prove it. And for good measure He asked why He was being ill-treated if He was telling the truth. It was very telling that Annas quickly gave up his line of questioning, because he knew that any substantive evidence against Jesus was lacking, and instead referred Him to his son-in-law, Caiaphas. In the presence of God’s Son, the Light quickly dispelled the darkness and brought discomfort to those who opposed God and His Son, Jesus. 

The world around us does not recognise truth. In fact “truth” is invented to suit physical observations or a person’s feelings. In fact, people have become so skewed in their understanding that if they feel, for example, that they were born in the wrong body, then that must be true. Or if they were told by their parents, or a boss at work, teacher, or anyone else, that they were a waster, then that must be truth. In our schools, the theory of evolution is taught as fact and therefore must be true, but as we pilgrims know, it is a lie propagated by the devil himself. Physical processes such as “carbon dating” have been invented to “prove” the age of a something, and the results are taken as being true. I have had philosophical discussions with atheists about the origins of the universe, and they promote theories they consider “true” such as the “big bang” but fall silent when I ask where all the matter involved in the event came from. And I usually follow up with the question as to why there is anything around us at all. Why is there not just nothing? Secular and worldly truth is invented to fit beliefs, ideologies, and limited physical evidence, and we end up with a series of “truths” that become mutually confirming, propagating a lie. 

But in God’s Kingdom, there is no room for lies or half-truths. No room for assumptions and conclusions that are based on anything but God and His Word. To a human being there is no human-derived proof available to confirm the reality of God, and anything to do with Him, because our physical senses are totally inadequate. For example, we cannot see, or taste or feel, the wind of the Spirit. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). Jesus said,  “If I said anything wrong, you must prove it“. And that was the problem for the Jewish authorities. Nothing that Jesus said could be disproved. His teaching was firmly founded on Scripture. He often quoted Biblical passages from the Old Testament to back His public messages. In Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus said, “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven“. The problem for the Jewish leaders was that they had turned God’s Law into a monster that controlled them and because of that they missed what God intended. Jesus said of them, “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things” (Matthew 23:23). 

People may say to us pilgrims, “show us the evidence”, but then we can refer them to the biggest miracle of all, our salvation. The fact that the Creator of the Universe cared enough about you and me to put into place a plan that would lead to our spending eternity with Him, is severely overlooked by the cynical and unbelieving generation around us. In John 6:30, the people ” … answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do?” People are still asking the same question today but God is not in the business of displaying His power through the routine example of signs and wonders. But even with evidence of the wonders of God, people will still not believe in Him, because they prefer to stay in their sinful state. I have known Christians who have started their journey well, and have even experienced miracles happening in their own lives, but who have fallen away and lapsed back into their lives of sin. Jesus challenged people to believe in Him and experience eternal life. In may be a few earthly years before we pilgrims join Jesus in heaven and see the fruit of our belief in Him, but one day we surely will.

Dear Father God. it is only by having faith in You that will please You. We declare that faith before You today and declare that Jesus is Lord of all. Amen,

From Grief to Joy

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Some of the disciples asked each other, “What does he mean when he says, ‘In a little while you won’t see me, but then you will see me,’ and ‘I am going to the Father’? And what does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.” Jesus realised they wanted to ask him about it, so he said, “Are you asking yourselves what I meant? I said in a little while you won’t see me, but a little while after that you will see me again. I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labour. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.”
John 16:17-22 NLT

This conversation started up between “some of the disciples”. We don’t know which ones, but some talked and some thought. Natural reactions to the crisis that was unfolding before them. If Jesus had said to them that soon He was going to be killed by the Roman authorities and would end up buried in a rich man’s grave, then they would have perhaps found that easier to understand. Their grieving process would have started and their thoughts would have extended to the period afterwards, as they faced into a life without Jesus. But Jesus said “So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again”. Such an event was totally out with their experience and understanding. How could Jesus die and then reappear again? They had obviously forgotten about the Lazarus event, where Jesus had resurrected a man who was graveyard dead, and was still alive at this time as they spoke with each other. But how could Jesus resurrect Himself? They didn’t know the answer and still hadn’t got their minds around the supernatural power of God. But with a natural analogy, Jesus tried to reassure His friends that their emotional experience would be a bit like childbirth, where a woman goes through much pain, but something soon forgotten when the new born baby is placed in her arms. Jesus told His disciples that their grief would soon afterwards be replaced by “wonderful joy”. 

What message is their here for us 21st Century pilgrims? There has to be the Kingdom reality that our faith and God’s power provides a limitless combination. Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:15a, 19-20, “Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus, … I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honour at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.” In the same epistle, Paul wrote, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).‭‭‭‭ Sadly, we too often put a boundary around God’s capabilities, looking at the situations around us with worldly eyes, instead of eyes of faith. As we look around at our challenges and sorrows, we mostly forget that our Heavenly Father has a remedy and through our faith He will bring about a Godly result. 

Father God. You are the all-powerful God. Nothing is impossible for You. We praise and worship You today. Amen.

Faith Abandoned

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith.”
John 16:1 NLT

We must start by reviewing the “things” that Jesus spoke about. In the previous chapter in John’s Gospel, Jesus taught His disciples about love and obedience, but He also warned them that the world would hate them, the “world” referring to all those people who had rejected Him and who hated Him because they misunderstood or denied who He was, why He had come to Planet Earth, and the message that he had brought. And because they hated Jesus, then they would hate His disciples as well.  There is a saying that being forewarned is being forearmed, and that certainly was Jesus’ expectation for His disciples. His concern for His friends would have been realised but for one significant factor – the Holy Spirit. He wasn’t leaving them on their own, as orphans – John 14:18, “No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you“. In those sobering days, Jesus encouraged His disciples with the assurance that He was not leaving them at all really. John 14:26, “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”. And the following verse records something applicable to all disciples everywhere and ever since, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27).

So, Jesus’ message to His disciples was there was trouble ahead, but because He had talked through with them what was likely to happen, then, with the Holy Spirit within them, they would not abandon their faith. But we know from Acts 2 that rather than abandon their faith, the disciples, now Apostles, found that their faith was supercharged and was turned into action of such proportions that the world of their time was turned upside down. Such is the power of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of ordinary men and women.

Today, we disciples of Jesus also know the consequences of believing in Jesus. And we too have the Holy Spirit within us. But is our faith supercharged? One verse that challenges me is Acts 4:31, “After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness”. When was the last time that we had a prayer meeting so powerful that the building used to hold it was shaken? Or if we use Zoom for such events do our screens start wobbling with the power of the Holy Spirit? But sadly today, the prayer meetings tend to be the least well attended of all the church meetings, and limited to a shopping list of requests, any sign of power being absent. Much as Paul wrote to Timothy, ” ... having a form of godliness but lacking power” (2 Timothy 3:5). Acts 4:31 also tells us that those present were all filled with the Holy Spirit. But had they not already been filled just two chapters earlier? The problem is that we need to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:18, “Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit”. The phrase “be filled” is the Greek continuous present tense and would be better translated, “be being filled”. We need to be constantly refilled with the Holy Spirit in our lives and all we have to do is ask. Matthew 7:11b, “ … how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.”

Heavenly Father. We thank You for the many good gifts You have provided for us. Today we pray for a fresh infilling of Your Spirit, to enable us to face the day ahead with power and the assurance that You are there with us. Amen.

You Must Testify

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“But I will send you the Advocate —the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me. And you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry.”
John 15:26-27 NLT

The word “testify” appears twice in these verses, once associated with the Holy Spirit and the other time with Jesus and His disciples. Everything they needed to know about Jesus after He had gone would be revealed to them by the Holy Spirit, who would “come” to them “from the Father”. But just a few short years before, something happened on the shores of the Galilean Sea that would have far reaching consequences, not just for those concerned, but for the world ever since. Those early disciples are long dead but their legacy lives on in successive generations of believers. Mark 1:16-17, “One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!””. Just a little further along the shore Jesus found James and John and we read, “He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men” (Mark 1:20). Did those four men have any clue about would happen over the next three years or so‭‭? Their world was turned upside down but they never turned away from Jesus. But here was their Master saying to them and the others, “you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry.” 

And testify about Jesus they did. On the same day that the Spirit fell on those gathered in that Upper Room, on the first Day of Pentecost, Peter testified about Jesus, “People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know” (Acts 2:22). And Peter’s last recorded words were, “Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen” (2 Peter 3:18). The last verse in the Bible was spoken by the Apostle John, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s holy people” (Revelation 22:21). Those early disciples, who had “been with [Jesus] from the beginning of [His] ministry” never stopped testifying about Jesus, fulfilling Jesus’ wishes in these last hours of His life.

We pilgrims, by extension, must also testify about Jesus. The Holy Spirit dwells within all truly born again believers and they too benefit from His testimony about Jesus. At every opportunity we must share how Jesus gave His life to save everyone, and in the process we testify how that made a difference to us. In John 1:4-7, we read, “The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony”. John the Baptist was the first testifier about Jesus. He realised who the Light was and he testified about Jesus “so that everyone might believe”. 

Paul wrote, “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. … But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke”” (2 Corinthians 4:7, 13). We faith-filled pilgrims may feel totally inadequate for the task of testifying but regardless we must speak the words of Jesus at every opportunity. Why? Because Jesus asked us to.

Lord Jesus. Because of Your grace and love what else can we do other than speak out our testimony of faith. Please lead us to the people You want to hear it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Rise Again

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?””
John 11:23-26 NLT

Another “I AM” statement from Jesus. This time it was “I am the resurrection and the life”. To rewind a little, though, Jesus said this in response to Martha’s faith-filled assumption that her brother was going to be resurrected “at the last day” or at the end of time. She obviously felt that it was now too late for Lazarus to rise there and then because he was dead and buried, and had been in the grave for four days. But she had faith that there would be a day sometime in the future when he would rise again. 

Jesus followed His statement about being the resurrection and the life by assuring Martha that anyone who believes in Him will live even after death, and in fact they will never die in the first place. And there was then His poignant question of Martha, “Do you believe this ..? It is a question that is universal and timeless in its reach. God sent His Son to redeem wayward humanity once and for all, and all they have to do is answer a truthful and enduring “YES” to His question.

How could Jesus make such a statement about being the resurrection and the life? Jesus, being the Son of God, spoke out the reality and truth that He was and is the resurrection and life. Death has no power over Jesus, and neither does it have any power over anyone who believes in Him. In Jesus there is life, and life eternal. 

Jesus told Martha “Your brother will rise again”. Jesus had previously told the crowd in the Temple, “For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day” (John 6:40). It was taken as read that there would be a day when the dead were resurrected, though there was a group of Jewish leaders, the Sadducees, who thought otherwise. But with the benefit of the Holy Spirit’s revelation to the early church and the Apostles, we know a bit more. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:23, “But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.” We believers know that one day Jesus will return, and we will “rise again” to join Him. There are several interpretations of Scripture about the order of events, but through Jesus all believers in Him will be resurrected and then live forever. There is no other way, except through Jesus because he is the Resurrection and He is the Life. 

Dear Father God. Once again we pray for all those around us who have been deluded into thinking that they will meet up with their loved ones in Heaven after they die. Please help us communicate to those around us that it is only through faith and belief in Your Son Jesus that Heaven will become a reality. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Extraordinary Faith

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.””
John 11:18-22 NLT

The scene couldn’t have been clearer. Lazarus had died and was in his grave. In those days a doctor wasn’t needed to certify his death because the people in Bethany just knew that he was dead. They had dealt with the rituals necessary before interment. The body had been washed and wrapped in scented cloths. There was no doubt and it was so real and certain that we read in John’s account that many people from Jerusalem, just a few miles up the road, had come to Bethany to offer their condolences to Lazarus’ two surviving sisters. Not even the Pharisees could have had any doubts about Lazarus’ demise. Lazarus and his two sisters must have been well known in the area and had many friends.

While Jesus was still on the road approaching Bethany, “Martha got word that Jesus was coming”. So she went out to meet Him, and gently rebuked Him for not coming earlier, when He could have perhaps saved Lazarus from death. But then Martha made an extraordinary statement – “But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask”. That is faith. Martha had no doubts about Jesus and His identity and powers.

Do we pilgrims have faith like Martha’s? Faith that expects miracles to happen when God shows up in our human situations? Of course, we mustn’t expect to see dead people rise up out of their graves just for the sake of it. Jesus had the power to raise Lazarus and return him to life, but He wouldn’t have done that without a reason, and that was because He wanted to bring glory to God and prove to the Pharisees once and for all that he was who He said He was. John 11:4, “But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.”” 

Reading on in John’s Gospel, we find that Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!” (John 14:12-14). We pilgrims apparently have tremendous power at our fingertips, but Jesus introduced a caveat by saying such miracles performed in His name will bring glory through Him to the Father. That certainly happened in the case of Lazarus. 

God is loving, merciful and compassionate, and He will often bring about miraculous events in answer to prayers. I can personally testify to His healing power, and I give God all the glory for what he has done for me, and on more than one occasion. And what was about to happen in response to Martha’s faith and Jesus’s desire to bring glory to His father, turned Judea upside down.

Dear God. We pray for more faith like Martha’s, faith that will see amazing works and will give You all the glory. Amen.

Plain Talking

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“The people surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name. But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
John 10:24-27 NLT

Jesus interacted with the crowds around Him in those days in Jerusalem and He made a significant claim about Himself, that he was the promised Messiah. But is spite of all he had said, the people were unconvinced. They had heard Him say, “ … If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me” (John 8:42). And then there was the time when He said, “ … I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!” (John 8:58). On His journey to Jerusalem from Galilee, Jesus spoke with a woman at Jacob’s well in Samaria, and Jesus’ statement about Himself couldn’t have been clearer. We read in John 4:25-26, “The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus told her, “I Am the Messiah!”” Jesus never wavered in telling people about His Person, His pedigree and His message. The problem for the people of His day was not that He wasn’t speaking plainly, it was because their expectations of who the Messiah would be didn’t fit in with His narrative. Also, most of the Jews of Jesus’ time were looking for a political and cultural saviour, not a Saviour from sin. They wanted Jesus to throw off the yoke of Rome and establish Zion as the capital of the world. They could not see how the meek and lowly Jesus could possibly do that. Even after His resurrection, the disciples were still expecting Jesus to bring about a political solution to Israel’s occupation and free it from a foreign power – Acts 1:6, “So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”” Jesus’ reply was recorded by Luke just before he was taken up into the clouds, never again to walk this planet until he returned as the conquering King. Acts 1:7-8, “He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”” 

Jesus could never be accused of not speaking plainly about Himself. The problem was that the people weren’t listening. At the present time the UK’s political leaders and prospective election candidates are saying much about themselves and their policies. The speaking appears to be plain but in reality much will never be repeated or will be shrugged off as election rhetoric. Very few people actually believe that what is said will actually happen. Empty promises would sum up most of the election talk. Jesus was never like that. His manifesto was clear – believe in Me and You will inherit eternal life. John 3:16 again, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”. We pilgrims also have a plain message. To those around us we repeat what Jesus said about Himself and in everything we say we point to Him as our Saviour, the One who took on the punishment we deserved for our sins so that we could inherit eternal life. Who is there in our circle of friends and family who we know needs to hear some plain talking about Jesus? They may protest about the message, but we see beyond the immediate claims that we don’t know what we are talking about, to the time when they too accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Jesus persevered with His claims about Himself and about His message to His needy people, and even in His last day he still maintained that he was the Messiah, the Jewish King long awaited. In Mark 15:2 we read, “Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “You have said it””. Pilate believed Him and added a name plate to the cross of Jesus’ crucifixion “And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”” (John 19:19). Right to the end, Jesus was the Messiah. And the people of His day missed the coming of their Messiah and instead crucified Him. A tragedy for them, but an event that brought salvation for mankind, past, present and future. Jesus said, “ … I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”” We have the light, folks; let’s turn up the wick and brighten our world.

Dear Lord Jesus. We echo the words of the Bethel song, Gratitude – “All my words fall short, I got nothing new, How could I express, All my gratitude?” But at Your feet we can worship the King of all kings. Amen.

Eye Contact

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing! His neighbours and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!” But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!” They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?””
John 9:7-10 NLT

A blind person has many disadvantages and amongst them is the lack of ability in making eye contact with someone they are conversing with. For those of us with normal sight, eye contact is something we take for granted, not always appreciating how important it is when we interact with someone. We receive non-verbal feedback, helping us to understand what is being said. Maintaining eye contact demonstrates confidence, giving weight to what we are saying. So often we look into another person’s eyes and it is as though we are looking into their very souls. But a blind person cannot achieve the same results in a conversation unless they learn to compensate in some other way.

Our eyes are a primary source of information, feeding our minds with all that we see. Jesus said, “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is” (Matthew 6:22-23). We need to process all that comes in through our eyes in a healthy way, discerning what is bad for us so that we can filter it out and leave the good. Eyes that focus on sinful images will end up darkening our souls and shutting out the good things we need to focus on.

A blind person in many ways is unable to allow bad things to enter their eye gate. They can’t watch pornography, or movies that are unwholesome. But their lives are the poorer for being unable to see the good things in life. A sunrise or sunset. The wonderful beauty of flowers in Spring. God created us to have eyes that see all that He has made. 

In the account of the blind man, the man’s neighbours were finding it hard to recognise him, because he was now engaging them with his eyes. Whereas before he looked anywhere except at them, he was now focusing on their faces and this new ability transformed him so much that his neighbours were having difficulty recognising him.

God sees all and we cannot escape his gaze. He sees right into our souls, knowing every detail of our lives. And we can look into His face, in faith that the contact through our eyes is a part of our communication with Him. John’s spiritual eyes saw amazing scenes in Heaven, as we read in Revelation. And we too can enjoy a glimpse of Heavenly realms, through the reading of Scripture. Unless our eyes read the Bible we will learn nothing about God and His ways. And in faith we pray, “seeing” with our eyes the positive outcome of our prayers. But in our spirits what are we seeing today? If very little we lift up our eyes and make eye contact with our Heavenly Father. There we will find all we need to see.

Dear Father God. Thank You for all Your good gifts, all Your answers to our prayers, and for Jesus, our wonderful and gracious Saviour. Amen.

Faith in Action

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Then he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!”
John 9:6-7 NLT

Imagine myself in the position of the blind man. I could hear a man having a conversation with some other men about the cause of my blindness. Then one of the men, who seemed to be the leader, came over to me and I heard Him spit on the ground. A few moments later He smeared something gritty and unpleasant on my eyes. But there was something about this Man. He told me to go and wash off whatever was on my eyes in the Pool of Siloam. I knew where it was of course, so slowly and carefully, I made my way there, occasionally assisted by people on the way. People were asking me why I had mud on my face, but I carried on regardless. I finally got to the Pool and made my way into the water, finding a way although there were others there too. I started to wash the mud off my eyes and a strange thing started to happen. For the first time I was conscious of light appearing before me and as I washed it got stronger and stronger until I was aware of my surroundings. I could see! As it that wasn’t amazing enough, I knew what things were even though I had never seen them before. I had been aware of people but I could now see them. And the colours! Words could not express how I felt. I just had to get back and find out more about the Man who had smeared that mud on my eyes. 

But words cannot adequately describe the experience of the blind-no-more man. It wasn’t like a sore finger that healed. This was a miraculous event that transformed the lives of the man, his family, and all those who knew him. No more having to beg. No more having to depend on his parents and well-meaning friends and family for the basics of life. No more times of self-pity and even anger, as others seemed so much more blessed than he did. But what if he had refused to go and wash his face in that particular pool, instead heading for the nearest source of water, using that instead? What if he had reacted angrily to the indignity of someone smearing mud on his face? But there were no shortcuts. The man dutifully did as the Man had told him – go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. That took faith.

In 2 Kings 5 there is the story of Naaman, an important man in charge of the king of Aram’s army. He had leprosy, and ended up at Elishah’s door, expecting to be healed of his affliction. Elisha told him to go and wash 7 times in the River Jordan. Though initially reluctant to follow Elishah’s instructions, he was persuaded by his army officers to do what he was told to do, and through the grace of God, Elisha’s faith, and his obedience, he was healed.

Sometimes God will ask us to do something, and in the process, He will strengthen our faith. All through the Gospels we can see how Jesus tested a person’s, or a people’s, obedience leading to a miraculous sign. There was no way a pot of water could become a very good wine, but the servants obediently dipped in a ladle and in front of their eyes it became wine. They could have refused, considering it an insult to their intelligence. The blind man could have refused to walk through a Jerusalem crowded with people because he had mud on his face and probably looked a bit weird. The man lying on his mat at the Pool of Bethesda, could have ignored Jesus’ instruction to get up and pick up his mat and walk away. Perhaps God has asked us to do something to unlock a healing or some other requirement that we have been praying about. But in the process of being obedient to God’s command we might have to cast aside our pride. Naaman, an important man at the head of an army, is told to go and wash in a muddy river not once but seven times. And in front of all his subordinates. That took courage. So, what is God asking us to do today? Sorry, did I hear You right, God? You really want me to …?

Dear Father God. Please increase our faith to equip us to be totally obedient to You and be You want us to be. In Jesus’ name. Amen.