Ointment of Mud

Posted on by Adrian Clark

““It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him”. … 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 9:3, 6-7 NLT

Why did Jesus make mud with His saliva, using it as a salve or ointment for smearing on the blind man’s eyes, when He could have just healed him with a word? Or He could have laid His hands or fingers on the malfunctioning eyes. Why the mud? There have been a number of theories as to why Jesus healed the man this way. Jesus healed another blind man in Bethsaida, and we can read the account in Mark 8:23-25, “Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now?” The man looked around. “Yes,” he said, “I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.” Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly”. This was a two stage healing, starting with Jesus spitting in the man’s face followed by Him placing His hands on them. A theory promoted by some in those days was that saliva had healing properties, so perhaps Jesus was using it to help the blind man’s faith. But we don’t really know what was going on in Jesus’ healing ministry. No two healing events were the same so, try as we do to think one up, there is no formulaic recipe for copying Him. 

Vision difficulties today are common and the medical profession can often help by using optical corrections such as spectacles or contact lenses. Cataracts can be removed and replaced with an artificial lens. Degenerative or age-related conditions can often be delayed with the skills of the doctors. But someone born blind is, unless there are exceptional circumstances, beyond healing by our medics. But nothing was too hard for Jesus – He had the ability to restore sight whenever the opportunity arose. And we should also take note that through the power of the Holy Spirit, blind people have been healed today. There are well documented accounts available for those who look for them. Also note that healing a man blind from birth was more than introducing sight to his eyes. There is the infrastructure behind the eyes that processes the visual information to enable what is seen to be interpreted correctly. In healing the blind man, Jesus also reprogrammed the man’s brain.

There is a condition much worse than physical blindness and this is spiritual blindness. People with this condition are those who have rejected God and who deny the validity of anything spiritual, and particularly anything to do with God. We read what Paul wrote about the cause of spiritual blindness in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God”. Those who fail to respond to the invitation to the Good News about Jesus are committing themselves to a future spent in a place of total blackness, where any form of sight is no use at all. One day, any believer who is physically blind will receive a new pair of eyes, with perfect vision. And he or she will be able to gaze on the face of God in awe and worship. It will be an amazing experience for all of us. In Revelation 21:23 we read, “And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light“. Jesus proclaimed to His people that “….. 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” (John 8:12). Both sighted and unsighted people are in the same place before the Cross of Christ.

Dear God. You are a God of light and there is no darkness within You. We worship You today. Amen.

Stop Complaining

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“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 Dead Hear Jesus

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live. The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son. And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man.”
John 5:25-27 NLT

Jesus is still talking with the Jewish leaders. But even though this is God, talking to them through His Son Jesus, all the Jews could see was an ordinary man making some incredible claims. It is just about possible to see these leaders shaking their heads in disbelief. The language that Jesus used was clear and straightforward. He said that “the dead will hear [His] voice“. But to anyone listening they would have immediately associated the word “dead” with physical death, the state human beings end up in after their life leaves them. The dead body was then interred in a grave and would eventually have disappeared through decay. So, the Jewish leaders would have scoffed at Him, treating what Jesus was saying perhaps as a bit of a joke. Jesus was deadly serious though, because He was referring to spiritual death.

As He was out and about in the region of the Middle East, Jesus brought to the people the words about His Kingdom, where people live forever. There is no death in the Kingdom of God, and many people heard what He had to say. But how many people listened to Him? In this context Jesus was saying that when He was listened to, the listener would understand and believe Him, becoming alive in the process. Simple really. But isn’t it strange that people prefer to carry on in their old familiar ways instead of changing the course of their life, which will provide them with a better outcome. As an example, I know a lady, a committed Christian, who smokes. She has done so for many years, and it has badly affected her health, and continues to do so. Doctors have time and time again warned her about her smoking, but she continues to smoke, knowing the dangers, but unable to change and choose a better way.

We pilgrims have the opportunity to tell people about the “life-giving power” that Jesus has. But how many listen to what we have to say? To those of us in the Kingdom, the rejection we experience is inexplicable, but unsurprising, because to be a citizen in God’s Kingdom requires change. And people are more comfortable in staying where they are, in familiar territory, continuing in their lives of sin, than turning to God in repentance and receiving His life for the rest of their physical lives and into the future beyond the Great Divide. Imagine I put before a person two glasses, one containing water and the other a deadly poison, and if I told them what the contents were, which one would they choose to drink? The answer to the choice between accepting the Good News about God and His saving grace and living with Him forever, and eternal life spent with the devil and his angels in torment, is just as clear cut. But people are more likely to choose the latter rather than the former. 

The consequence of drinking the poison is physical death, and the consequence of rejecting the Gospel is eternal death. Jesus’ teaching was hard to listen to at times, and even harder to apply in their lives. There was an occasion when many of His disciples decided that they couldn’t follow Him anymore because of His teaching. In John 6:66-68 we read, “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””. Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, and through the Holy Spirit He is saying the same thing today, that if you listen to what He was, and is, saying, believing in Him, then You will live forever. There is no other way to Heaven.

‭‭Father God. There is a huge difference between hearing and listening. Please help us communicate Your words of eternal life to those around us, as we speak about Your love and grace. And we pray that You will open the ears of those that hear Your message so that they too will believe in You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Equal With God

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.”
John 5:17-18 NLT

Jesus posed a threat to the Jewish leaders because He challenged their position as religious authorities. But Jesus Himself acknowledged the role of the Jewish leaders, as we read in Matthew 23:1-3, “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach””. There was a sting in the tail of Jesus’ acknowledgement, because He once again exposed the hypocrisy of the Jewish religious authorities. But it is so sad to read that their reaction was not to embrace their Messiah, but to plot to kill Him. What Jesus said was factually correct. As God Himself, of course He was an equal of His Father in Heaven. John made that clear when he wrote the opening verses of his Gospel. We read, “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. 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” (John 1:1-5). 

It is a feature of humanity, that we have a tendency to reject anyone who doesn’t agree with our beliefs or world view. Because of their strict interpretation of the Law of Moses, the religious leaders would not accept anything that was at variance with their understanding of the Law. To them there was no wriggle room. When it came to carrying a sleeping mat on the Sabbath, to them it was a black and white, open and shut case, violating the Law. Tin their eyes, they were right and Jesus was wrong. And in those days, anyone who dared to break the Law was in danger of being stoned. We remember the account of the woman caught in adultery – John 8:4-5, ““Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”” So, Jesus had committed two “crimes” in their eyes – instructing someone to work on the Sabbath, and declaring that He was an equal with God.

But of course we pilgrims would never follow in the religious footsteps of the Jewish leaders. After all, when we meet someone we extend to them the grace and love of God, not a religious interpretation of what we find in the Bible. But I have met some Christians who are so dogmatic about the Scriptures they read, that they come across as being harsh and unforgiving, rejecting anyone who dares to contradict them. For example, they point out their black and white interpretation of what is to happen at the last judgement, and dangle their listeners over the fires of hell to try to frighten them into the Kingdom. They may not be plotting to kill their listeners, but their attitude is no different to the religious leaders in Jesus’ day. Legalism takes precedence over the love of God.

God loves all sinners. He does not love the sin, but He has a remedy for that. Jesus came two thousand years ago to save mankind from the consequences of their sin. And we pilgrims extend that love of God to others as He leads us. The message we deliver may be black and white – there is no grey area where the Gospel is concerned –  but the love of God overrules any hint of harshness or judgemental attitudes. We deliver the message. The Holy Spirit is then able to gently and lovingly lead that person to the Throne of Grace.

Dear Father God. Please forgive us when we fail to extend Your love to those around us. We pray for our families, our friends and neighbours, and everyone we meet. After all they are all Your children and You love them dearly. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Sabbath Laws

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.””
John 5:8-10 NKJV

An amazing miracle had just taken place. A man who had been severely disabled or even paralysed for thirty eight years had been healed. Totally and completely. It was as though the condition, the infirmity, had never been there in that man’s body. This miracle took place on the Jewish Sabbath, when a whole shed full of laws and regulations applied, rules which were enforced by the Jewish religious authorities. To them, it was unimportant that the man had been set free from a condition that would have otherwise have been with him to his grave. What mattered were their laws – to the Jewish authorities, they superseded anything else that would, or could, take place on the Sabbath.

Jesus Himself also confronted the Jewish Sabbath laws. We can read of an episode recorded by Luke, where the disciples were walking through some fields containing grain, and, because they were hungry, they broke off a few ears, removed the husks, and ate what was left. The Jewish authorities who were there as well, immediately took issue with this, because, in their opinion, this was doing work on the Sabbath, in harvesting grain. In reply, Jesus reminded the Jews that David, when he and his men were hungry, also broke the law by taking and eating the bread intended for priestly consumption. We can read more about this in 1 Samuel 21. But Jesus was having none of their hypocrisy and we read in Luke 6:5, “And Jesus added, “The Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath“”. In Mark 2:27, we read, “And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath“. Jesus was saying to them that the letter of the law should be overlaid with common sense.

In the Western Isles in Scotland, the fourth commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8) is still observed, strictly by some, and particularly on the Isle of Lewis. So shops and cafes are closed, and work forbidden. Even children at play are frowned upon. The definition of what is, and what isn’t, holy is open to interpretation, but the principle of setting aside a day of rest and worship is followed by many there. However, sometimes we forget why God supplied this commandment. It wasn’t just to be an opportunity to engage in religious activities, but it was also there for the benefit of the people, to give them a chance to recover from their busyness and hard work. The Sabbath was supposed to be a day of rest.

But back to the account of the man healed of his infirmity. His was an example of where an instruction from Jesus came up against laws being applied by the authorities. Following God or doing what the civil or religious authorities say can be a fine balancing act. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Everyone must submit to governing authorities. …” (Romans 13:1a), and Peter’s declaration in Acts 5:29, “But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority“. Obeying God is the higher authority when there is a conflict but taking such a stand can have consequences, as the early Christian martyrs discovered. In Western societies today however, we are free to observe our faith (for now), but in other countries there is no such freedom. 

So what do we pilgrims think about the Sabbath day? Do we use this day as a time for attending church or visiting family? Or do we treat it like any other day? In the UK the Sabbath is traditionally a Sunday, and we find that secular demands made by society have largely eliminated God’s command of keeping the day holy. So the shops are still open. Sports are played. Many businesses have extended their working week to include Sunday shifts. It is very much an individual choice but the principle of having a day of rest, a holy day, is often necessary for our own mental health and for spending quality time with our Heavenly Father. The fourth commandment is there for a reason. We neglect it at our peril.

Dear Father God. You created mankind and as part of Your design You built into us the need to have a day of rest, a holy day, after six days of work. Please help us set aside the time we need to recharge our physical and spiritual batteries. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Second Sign

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“This was the second miraculous sign Jesus did in Galilee after coming from Judea. Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days.”
John 4:54-5:1 NLT

A miracle happened when Jesus turned water into wine, and here John records that the healing of the government official’s son was the second that had taken place in Galilee. Both events were, as John wrote, miraculous occasions, inexplicable to anyone taking them at face value, but there will always be someone who attempts to explain them away by attributing to them some natural cause. Perhaps, such people say, the healing of the official’s son was a coincidence. The boy might have been very sick when his father decided to journey to find Jesus, but in the meantime he became well through the normal course of an illness, in which some people get better and others died. Perhaps the water turned into wine was some form of hoax perpetrated by the bridegroom or someone else at the wedding reception. We will always be able to find the sceptics and deniers, people who don’t want to believe what they see or hear, because to do so would result in them having to abandon their world view and take on board something that will change and even transform their lives. These people are very comfortable with their sinful lives, for now.

Jesus said, as recorded in John 4:48, “ … Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?” What was there about the Galileans that seemed to indicate that they didn’t believe Jesus’ message on its own? Was Jesus a bit exasperated that His words of eternal life were rejected until He reinforced them with a miracle or two? After all, He had a tremendous reception in Sychar, and the people there believed what He said, not what He did. John 4:42, “Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Saviour of the world.“”

The people in Jesus’ day had the benefit of the Son of God living with them. He walked amongst the Jewish people spreading His message of hope about the Kingdom of God. He preached in their synagogues, He taught in the fields and educated His disciples as they journeyed from one place to another. And yet, most people He met had a problem believing what He said. But before we condemn them, we need to walk in their shoes. If someone came to our societies today, even Jesus Himself, preaching the message that Jesus preached, what reception would they get? It would be even more difficult today, because the spirit of the age promotes any message, any ideology, that feels good. Anything that satisfies the sinful yearnings within human beings. So people today will reject any message that confronts their sin, even if their rejection of it comes with a warning that hell beckons, just over the horizons of their lives. There is a man who lives close by who I shared the Gospel with, and his response was that he would be taking part in the “big party downstairs”. Not for him a life with God in Heaven. Such a response staggered me, because its intensity in its rejection of the love of God was basically a self-imposed death sentence.

Do miracles happen today? There are many that have been documented, but still most people choose to reject the Gospel. They reject even the resurrection of the Man who was cruelly put to death on a Roman cross, perhaps the biggest miracle that this world has ever seen. But miracles or not, there is only one way to Heaven and that is through repentance and believing in Jesus. Our Heavenly Father loved the people He created so much that He was prepared to sacrifice His only Son to save them from the consequences of their sins. The people of Galilee had a choice, and that same choice is still hanging in the air, for now. It won’t be there for ever, because one day we will die and the option of believing in Jesus will die with us. We pilgrims have an opportunity to tell others about the wonderful future people can have, both in this life and beyond. And every time someone we tell about Jesus decides to believe in Him, they hold a party in Heaven. There is nothing more important in this life than the Good News brought to this world by the Son of God.

Dear Father God. All we can do is to worship You, with grateful hearts. Amen.

Saviour of the World

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Saviour of the world.””
John 4:39-42 NLT

Why should people believe in Jesus because of what this woman, someone with perhaps a rather questionable lifestyle, said? Why should exposing her rather sordid past lead to many of the Sychar inhabitants believing in Jesus? In fact the simple statement “He told me everything I ever did!” resulted in Jesus being invited to stay in the village for a further two days. In fact, it was not just a casual invitation – they “begged Him to stay”. And we are told that “many more” heard His message and believed. The short stay however resulted in many believing in Jesus because they got to know Him, and His saving love and grace, for themselves. They were not depending on someone else’s testimony. 

Perhaps the personalities and relational dynamics in the village community were suddenly overturned by the testimony of the woman by the well. They knew of course about her reputation, and she was obviously shunned by the other village women, being forced to draw water from the well when there was no-one else around. So there would have been no surprises in the woman’s message to her fellow villagers – we can perhaps visualise the nods and winks, and comments behind her back. But the fact that a stranger knew, a passer by who stopped at the well for a drink, added impact to the testimony. And we know from a previous verse that she added weight to what she had to say by including, “Could He possibly be the Messiah”? 

But the important message to the Sychar inhabitants is the same today – we introduce people to Jesus by the power of our testimonies. This power was recorded in the Acts account of the early believers, as we read in Acts 4:33, “The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all“. For us pilgrims today, our conversion experiences, articulated in our testimonies, may be the only opportunity people have to hear the Gospel. It is of course possible for people to become Christians by reading the Bible, but the real power emerges when we introduce them to Jesus personally. 

Jesus was, and is, the Saviour of the world. Only He can introduce us to God, and only we can introduce people to Jesus. Our testimonies must be full of the excitement we first experienced when we found that Jesus loved us and died in our place for our sins. The woman at the well was so excited about her encounter with Jesus that she left her water pot behind and rushed into the village to tell someone. Do we communicate the same excitement and conviction when we share with others what the Saviour of the world, Jesus, has done for us? However, if we have lost our first love, then we must do what Jesus said to the church in Ephesus. “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches” (Revelation 2:4-5). 

We pilgrims have a message so important that we must tell everyone at every opportunity. Our testimonies of what Jesus as done for us must be communicated, by what we say and what we do, to the people around us, because Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, is the Saviour of the world. By introducing people to Jesus we show them the way to eternal life. They may not have another opportunity.

Dear Lord Jesus. You said to Your disciples, “ … I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”. There is no other way into Heaven. We are so grateful for Your grace and mercy. Amen.

Prejudice

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, “What do you want with her?” or “Why are you talking to her?””
John 4:27 NLT

The moment ended. The revelation of who Jesus was faded with the return of the disciples, who were presumably carrying a packed lunch both for themselves and for Jesus. The profound declaration of “I Am the Messiah”, written in lights in the heavens, merged into the every day reality of a natural life in Israel two thousand years ago. The prejudices between Jews and Samaritans reared its ugly head and the negative thoughts of the disciples chased away the purity of faith that was emerging from the shadows. Foremost in their minds was the thought that Jews don’t converse with women and particularly never Samaritan women. 

If we pilgrims were asked today if we have any similar prejudices, what would we say? Do we look down on other people? Do we avoid contact with people we think are inferior to us? Do we only mix with our peer groups, neglecting others who might not have had the same opportunities of education that we have had, or vice versa. The Apostle James had some stern words about prejudice within the church. “My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favour some people over others? For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives?”“ (James 2:1-4). But I wonder if James was one of the disciples who were prejudiced against the Samaritans that day? He may well have been, but the transforming power of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost would have dealt with all of that!

A problem in society today is that people seem to have lost respect for their fellow human beings. For example, for some people or groups, unless others buy into their own particular ideology or world view, then they are in danger of being shunned, cancelled, or even worse. So this is an opportunity for us believers to share the truth that all people are considered equal before God. He has no favourites. Romans 2:11, “For God does not show favouritism”. I heard recently of a church men’s outing where, of the 21 attendees, there were 15 different nationalities and ages ranging from 19 to 80. The owner of the restaurant where they had a meal together was most intrigued. But why should he have been surprised – this is what Christians do.

But back to our disciples with Jesus and the Samaritan woman, by Jacob’s well. Jesus knew what they were thinking of course, and the following couple of days spent in the village of Sychar would have been interesting.

Dear Father God. All men and women are equal before You. Thank You for Your love and grace. Amen.


I AM the Messiah

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“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!””
John 4:25-26 NLT

Jesus wasted no more time in His conversation with the Samaritan woman. He came right out with a timeless statement, one that has reverberated down the centuries ever since. “I Am the Messiah”, He said. Of course, although we note the first two words, “I Am”, they would have had a special and much greater significance for the Jews. In the burning bush experience, the Lord engaged Moses in a conversation, as we read in Exodus 3. It started with the Lord saying to Moses from the burning bush, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God” (Exodus 3:6). Moses appeared reluctant to take on the assignment of negotiating with Pharaoh to obtain the release of the Israelites from their slavery and we read in verse 13, “But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?“”. In Exodus 3:14-15 we read, “God replied to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations“. 

God’s name was revered by the Jews to the extent that they would not even say it. It was forbidden for them to say any of God’s names. So when Jesus used the phrase to describe Himself, He immediately brought Himself up against the religious authorities of His day. And then to claim that He was the Messiah as well ….! But the clarity of His statement removed all doubts in the woman’s mind. 

What do we pilgrims think of the Jewish Messiah called Jesus, the One who came to save us from our sins? Of course we have knelt at the foot of His cross, repenting of our sins. We have received His forgiveness, and we continue our lives in the knowledge that the righteousness imputed to us by Jesus makes us acceptable in God’s sight. In Israel two thousand years ago, the coming of the Messiah was expected, but not in the way Jesus came. They were hoping for a Person who would set Israel free. He did, of course, but freedom from sin was not what the people had in mind. Over the centuries, the Israelites had suffered greatly under the jurisdiction and oppression of conquering armies, and longed for the day when they would be a nation in their own right again. 

Jesus, even though He was the expected Messiah, was largely rejected by the people of His day. And that rejection continues even in these present times. People are looking for a “god” who will deal with the issues they are facing. For example, poverty, homelessness, relational breakdowns, illness and disease. And unable to find such a “god”, they sinfully make one for themselves out of their own thoughts and expectations. But they fail to realise that their sin is a much bigger issue than anything they experience in their natural lives. And there is the “I AM” waiting with open arms to welcome them into His presence. That is not to say, however, that God won’t help people with their needs. He is a wonderful God who keeps on giving, time after time. But, sadly, most people today have the same sinful attitudes that the Israelites had, rejecting the One who can save them from the consequences of their rebellion and sin. But we pilgrims echo the words of Jesus, communicate His Good News, and extend His offer of salvation to those around us. “I Am the Messiah” – only four words but probably the most important message anyone will ever hear. Words that will start them on a journey to eternal life.

Dear Father God. You are the great I AM. There is none like You. Amen.

Places of Worship

Posted on by Adrian Clark

““Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?” Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews.”
John 4:19-22 NLT

There is something within human beings that makes them want to worship. This is something God has wired within us. The need to worship is in our DNA. Sadly, in our secular society, this God-given gift is distorted and focused on the wrong things. So we have the Saturday afternoon worship of a football team. Hobbies can become the focus of our worship. Some nations encourage the worship of their leaders. A common line in romance fiction is “he worships the ground she walks on”. Even the gender and sex ideologies common today can become worshipped by their activists. But none of these objects of worships – call them “idols” – will ever replace the deep inner desire to worship our Creator God. 

The countryside in the UK is dotted around with mostly elderly but generally lovely “places of worship”. Our parish churches are a legacy from past times when people were more faithful and knew the proper focus of their worship. But more and more of our churches are closing down as people turn their backs on God. Most people now consider that we are living in a post-Christian age, whatever that means, and these places of worship are becoming nothing more than mausoleums, or turned into carpet warehouses or night clubs. Some, such as a church near me, are being allowed to crumble and collapse through neglect. Two more have been converted to houses, with one in the bizarre position of having a graveyard instead of a garden. No problems with noisy neighbours though.

But Jesus, in His conversation with the Samaritan woman, floated the idea that worship is to become independent of the traditional venues so valued by the Jews and Samaritans. And we see the abandonment of elderly and difficult to heat buildings today, with Christians in the UK meeting in industrial units, in schools and leisure centres, and, of course, in people’s homes. We’re perhaps returning to the early Church model as described in Acts 5:42 and elsewhere, ”And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah.”“

God is everywhere, and not just behind a table in an old musty building, even if the table is covered with an ornate cloth embroidered with gold lace. Stained glass windows may look very impressive but they matter little to the God who looks into our hearts. So we pilgrims worship God and God alone. There is nothing else that can be allowed to take His place. We read what Jesus said to the devil in Luke 4:8, “Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” Instead of worshipping in a temple or church somewhere, we must perhaps rather consider the temple within us. ”Don’t you realise that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? …” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

God does not need the worship of us pilgrims. He never has done and never will. But He has created us in His image to worship Him, because it does something within our spirits. The communion spirit to Spirit comes alive in our worship. There is no better place to be than worshipping in God’s presence.

Father God. We worship You today, because You are worthy. Amen.