Jesus in Secret

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death.”
“After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee. But after his brothers left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view. The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival and kept asking if anyone had seen him.”
John 7:1, 9-11 NLT

Jesus hadn’t won Himself many friends amongst the Jewish leaders, if any at all.  The last time John records that Jesus was in Jerusalem was when He healed the man at the Pool of Bethesda, a miraculous act of healing that subsequently thrust Him directly into the firing line of the Jewish Leaders. In their eyes, His crime was twofold – He told a man to carry His sleeping mat, thus violating the Sabbath laws, and He claimed that God was His Father. We read the accounts in John 5:8, 10, 16-18, “Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” … so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!” … So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules. 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”. The conversation that Jesus had with the Jewish leaders directly confronted their authority and their religious belief system. So, in their opinion, He had to be eliminated to stop Him spreading more sedition. The Jewish leaders’ hypocrisy was breathtaking – they knew what the Law of Moses said about murder, and yet here they were plotting to kill an innocent Man, going about His Father’s business.

But Jesus still wanted to go the Feast of Tabernacles. After all, for all the Jewish people, it had a huge religious significance. In Deuteronomy 16:16 we read, “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed”. The place of choice in Jesus’ time was Jerusalem, and the hills around the city would have been covered in temporary structures. So Jesus went in private. Secretly. Keeping His head down and hoping that He wouldn’t be recognised. Earlier in His conversation with His brothers, “Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime”. But what did he mean by that?

Jesus knew that there was coming a time when He would be arrested, tried and executed in Jerusalem. But He had much to do before that happened, and he wanted to avoid a premature end to His mission. So Jesus embarked on the long walk to Jerusalem, where he mingled with the crowds, enjoying and taking part in the time of celebration, remembering with everyone else God’s continued provision for them in the current harvest and remembering His provision and protection during the forty years in the wilderness. Imagine a modern Christian conference on steroids!

Because of His humanity, Jesus needed to feed His spirit, as do we pilgrims. And we do it of course in our quiet times, and in our church services. But there are times when we should seek out and enjoy big celebration events with our fellow Christians, because sometimes God richly blesses such occasions beyond our normal experiences. At such times, God can and will speak directly to individuals, encouraging them, offering remedies to life’s problems and even directions for ministries and providing new opportunities. Perhaps that is what Jesus found at the Feast of Tabernacles and, once refreshed and encouraged, and in spite of the opposition and threats, He found Himself resourced to continue regardless with His mission and ministry.

Father God. We too have a mission in life, and we pray for the resources we need to go about Your business. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Right Time

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“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. Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil. You go on. I’m not going to this festival, because my time has not yet come.” After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee.
John 7:3-9 NLT

Jesus’ brothers didn’t believe in Him. They had seen the miracles, the amazing acts of healing. They may even have been present when the five thousand were fed. But instead of believing in their brother (well, half-brother really) they covered their lack of belief and confusion in a cloak of sarcasm. But Jesus didn’t respond in kind and factually pointed out to them that He wasn’t going because the “world” in Judea hated Him. Of course, He was meaning the Jewish leaders and the people who blindly followed them, people who revered the Jewish hierarchy almost to the point of worship. What the Jewish leaders said, the people did. The reason Jesus was hated was, He said, because He accused the whole “system” of that time of “doing evil”. So Jesus decided to stay where He was safe, in Galilee. 

There was always a “right time” about Jesus’ activities. A right time about where He went. A right time about what he said. A right time about who He healed. He constantly worked in conjunction with His Father to ensure that the right time was chosen. There is of course that famous passage in Ecclesiastes that starts, “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). We pilgrims journey on through different spiritual seasons, in the same way as the world in which we live enjoys its natural seasons. Naturally, we are born, go through the childhood phases of school and play, followed by adulthood, employment and perhaps marriage. There then follows a period of retirement after a lifetime working, preceding a twilight period of life that ushers in the end of our journey. Spiritually, the seasons are different, but there is still a pattern, as we get to know God more and more, as our Friend and Lord. And the final season is the one we know least about – eternal life with Jesus. But happen it will and we set our faces towards our Heavenly home. 

We also read what Paul wrote in Romans 5:6, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners”. The first coming of Jesus was exactly at the “right time”. No other period in history was so needy or so suitable for His message of salvation. And the timeless legacy of His visit and its message from the Calvary Cross has travelled through the corridors of time right up to the present day, and will keep travelling until this season of God’s grace comes to an end. 

Today is the “right time” for us pilgrims to embrace our wonderful Lord again. And it is the right time to tell others of His grace and love. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:1-2, “As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvellous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation”. So whatever we are doing at this moment, we look up, and in our spirits we see God’s affirmative smile, reassuring us that we are at the “right time” in this season of our lives. 

Dear Father God. Your timing for everything is impeccable. Please help us in this season of our lives to do all that we should do, in our service to You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Jesus and His brothers

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“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 Adrian Clark

“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 Adrian Clark

“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 Adrian Clark

“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 Adrian Clark

“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 Adrian Clark

“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 Adrian Clark

“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.

The Local lad

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“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.