Be Astonished

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished.”
John 5:19-20 NLT

What can be more astonishing than to see a man, who had been paralysed for thirty eight years, healed of his affliction? But Jesus attributed the miracle to His Father, who, He said, showed Him what to do. And Jesus then said to the Jewish leaders, “you ain’t seen nothing yet!”, or words to that effect. Sadly, we know that the astonishment soon to be present in the minds of the religious folks of His day didn’t translate into their acceptance of their Messiah, but, rather, it led them down a path that resulted in His crucifixion.

How was it that Jesus could say that He only did what His Father showed Him? In our natural states, we have the opportunity at times to work with someone who is skilled at what he does. Apprenticeships are a good example of such a relationship. So, we have a bricklayer who shows an apprentice the way to lay bricks in straight lines, or a plumber who communicates all the tricks and good practices of his craft backed up by vocational training at a school or college. In our schools, teachers show pupils practical and theoretical methodologies in the subjects being studied. And through it all the person being trained develops the skills for themselves by practicing at every opportunity. In my primary years, I was taught how to play a piano. My small fingers developed the required dexterity as I practised the scales and arpeggios, and by learning to play musical pieces, translating squiggles and blobs written on a piece of paper into sounds corresponding as the piano keys were pressed. I did what my teacher showed me.

But when Jesus said “For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man” He wasn’t referring to His vocational training. This wasn’t like the carpenter’s shop, where Jesus took on and developed the skills of His natural father, Joseph. Jesus was referring to His Heavenly Father, who, He said, showed Him the works that He was to do. How was Jesus taught how to heal the paralysed Pool man? The answer lies in the relationship Jesus had with His Father. And, of course, Jesus was God as well as human, so He could do the things that God does. The Father/Son relationship was maintained through prayer and presence. Occasionally, the Scriptures recorded the audio of Father speaking to His Son. Mark 1:11, “And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.“” On another occasion, recorded in John 12:28, Jesus said, “Father, bring glory to your name.” Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.“” Jesus was constantly in touch with His Father. 

We pilgrims have the benefit of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and through Him we too can do astonishing acts. John 14:12-14, “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!” And there have been many occasions when God has done astonishing things through pilgrims like us. We look up the biographies of men and women like Kathryn Kuhlman or Smith Wigglesworth and are astonished. But none of the great miracle workers woke up one morning and started to do mighty works like Jesus. First came the relationship with our Heavenly Father. And because of our humanity we have to develop the faith to do the things God has in mind for us. Small steps of faith at first lead to greater things later. But we pilgrims humbly acknowledge that it is all about God and His glory, and not about us at all. We too only do what God has asked us to do, something that requires a trained listening ear to hear Him. And people will be astonished.

Dear Father God. It is so humbling to find that You have entrusted Your great works to human beings such as ourselves. Please help us as we take faltering steps into the land of astonishments. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Father and Son

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.”
John 5:19 NLT

Jesus and His Heavenly Father had a very close relationship, perhaps only limited by Jesus’ humanity. But spiritually they were so close that Jesus could truthfully say His ministry and presence on earth was totally aligned to the will of Father God. Jesus in fact said that without that relationship, He could do nothing. To the Jewish leaders Jesus was a severe threat. On the one hand they could see the miracles that He did, indisputable acts of healing and mercy, but on the other they had the problem that Jesus claimed that these miracles were directly due to His relationship with His Father showing Him what to do. The Jewish religious leaders had never encountered anything like this before and didn’t know how to handle Jesus. Throughout His ministry, Jesus was shadowed and harassed by the Jews, who were trying to build a dossier of “crimes” that could result in Him being prosecuted and silenced for good. But in His trial before Pilate, no crime was found, and particularly one that deserved the death sentence. We read in John 18:38b, ” … Then [Pilate] went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime”“.

Jesus only spoke truths when He was here on earth. John 14:6, “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me“”. Not even a hint of a lie ever passed Jesus’ lips. He made no attempt to ingratiate Himself with the Jewish leaders. He just spoke out, and performed miracles, all perfectly in line with what was happening through His Father in Heaven. But the Incarnation was all about Jesus taking on human flesh. He was for a time willing to leave behind Him His Godly life, and become a human being. Of course, He was still God, but human limitations were very much present in His life on earth. But the reason for His coming is explained in Hebrews 2:14, “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death“.

But all who have put their trust and faith in God are God’s offspring. John 1:12, “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God“. We pilgrims are brothers and sisters, children of a Father who lives in Heaven, and we have an elder brother called Jesus. Hebrews 2:11, “So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters“. So, we read today’s verse, John 5:19, in a different light. Just as Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing, so must we pilgrims. It probably won’t place us in the upper echelons of the popularity charts, but we too must live our lives in accordance with His will, not ours. 

Dear God. Thank You for Jesus, our dear elder brother. Through His love He was prepared to die for us, taking on our sins so that we could be part of Your family. We are so grateful. 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.

Hearing His Voice

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him. So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules. But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.””
John 5:15-17 NLT

The sins of the Jewish leaders were starting to mount up. Not satisfied with telling the Pool man off for carrying his sleeping mat, they continue to interrogate him to find out who had dared to tell him to pick up his sleeping mat, violating their interpretation of the Sabbath day rules. When they found out it was Jesus, they sought Him out and John records that they started to “harass” Him. John’s account doesn’t say what form the harassment took, but I expect it was low level and something Jesus just shrugged off, for the time being. There was coming a time when He would confront their hypocrisy, and He would choose this moment carefully. But Jesus told the Jewish leaders that “My Father is always working, and so am I”. A factually correct statement of course, but one not appreciated by the Jews. Who is this person, they thought, who elevates Himself to the same level as God?

Jesus was a counter-cultural figure in the strict religious times of two thousand years ago. In His society, when it came to things about God, the Jewish faith called upon thousands of years worth of rabbinical teaching, interpretation of the Law and prophetic messages, and ended up with a rigid liturgical and belief system that would not tolerate anything that contradicted it. In that society, a religious elite emerged who did very well by leveraging the religious system for their own benefits, and by so doing kept the population in check. So, anyone who challenged their system was inevitably going to end up harassed, and Jesus was the arch-challenger. Everywhere Jesus went during His public ministry had a pharisaical following waiting to pick up on anything they disagreed with, and there was a within the Jewish leadership a faction who were plotting to kill Him. 

The Old Testament prophets were mostly resented by those around them in their times because their God-given messages were designed to challenge the sinful state that God’s chosen people had achieved. Some of those prophets suffered terribly for delivering their God-given messages. For example, Jeremiah ended up beaten and placed in the stocks on one occasion. On another he was threatened with death. Hebrews 11 gives us a good idea of the treatment of prophets. Even today, anyone who stands up and proclaims God’s message to a wayward church is deeply resented. So, a message about the sanctity of marriage and the Biblical basis of it being between a man and a woman is unwelcome in some denominations. Such prophets are accused of not moving with the times. Hmmm…

We pilgrims know God is always working, just as Jesus said. From Psalm 121, we read the encouragement that God watches over us – “He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps” (Psalm 121:3-4). Why do we fret over things that might happen, when our Heavenly Father is constantly watching over us? We wallow in a mess of “what-if’s” forgetting that God is on our side and looking out for us. And Jesus Himself declared that He was always working, like His father. In His public ministry, Jesus never seemed to have a moment’s rest. He travelled much around Galilee and Judea – someone estimated He could have walked more than three thousand miles in the three years between the carpenter’s shop and the cross. His hours of work seemed to consume all of His waking hours. But Jesus never seemed to be stressed out by the demands made of Him. He just did what His Father told Him to do. John 14:31, “but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going“.

There is always God’s work to be done by us pilgrims as well. But we need to do only what God requires of us. And no more. So finding a Christian stressed out by his church duties begs the question if there is someone here trying to exceed his mandate on this earth. But we pilgrims have a mission here on earth, to make disciples of the Master, Jesus Himself. The Great Commission, a high level strategic command, is followed by a tactical relationship between us and God, as the details are worked out in our lives. We listen for the Holy Spirit whispers in our souls, leading us to only “do what the Father requires”.

Dear Father God. We get so caught up in the busy-ness of our liturgies and denominations, that we often miss that still small voice of Your Spirit. Please forgive us, we pray, and lead and guide us where we should go. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Pick Up Your Mat

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“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!” But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” “Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded. The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd.”
John 5:10-13 NLT

The Jewish leaders were not happy at all when they found someone carrying a sleeping mat through the crowds around the Pool of Bethesda. They probably had a point if the man was moving house or was doing some other manual task, but after an amazing miracle the man was probably just heading home, musing in the process about what he was about to tell his family when he got there. He had a lot to think about. It wasn’t just his life that was changed. He would also find that the family dynamic was suddenly altered. The one cared for was no longer needing care. And what about a job – could he now find some way of repaying all the kindness shown to him over the thirty eight years of infirmity? Regarding his sleeping mat, he probably didn’t think about leaving it behind, after all, these things cost money, he thought. And anyway the Man who had healed him told him to take it with him.

But all of a sudden, he was jolted out of his thoughts by the religious police, the Jewish leaders, pulling him up over a simple thing like carrying a mat. The man explained how he had been healed, and how he had been told to pick up his mat by his Healer and walk. But that didn’t make any difference to the Jews. They asked the man, “Who said such a thing as that?”. But the man didn’t know because Jesus wasn’t with him any more. Rather than rejoice with the healed man about the marvellous miracle performed by Jesus, the Jews just wanted to stop a violation of their laws.

That was a sad day, because priorities and common sense were qualities conspicuous by their absence. The Jewish leaders missed a life changing encounter with God through the man who was healed. They were so focused on the mundane that they missed a supernatural event. But isn’t that something that we can all be guilty of? Even we pilgrims? How many times has God said something through a brother or sister, or through the preaching of the Word, or through circumstances, and we have ignored it, missing a God-moment? Do we sometimes get anxious over something that we fear might happen, only to find that God has gone before us and removed the problem? “What if’s” disappear before our loving Heavenly Father’s caring gaze. There is a short verse embedded in Peter’s first letter, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7). That isn’t there by accident – it is a reminder to all us worriers! 

But back to our man carrying his mat on the Sabbath. If something happening before us doesn’t fit into our world view, let us pause and seek God in case He is doing something supernatural. We can’t put God in a box of our own making, restricting Him to a certain way of doing things. He is God after all!

Father God. Please forgive us when we fail to recognise Your hand at work in our lives and the lives of our friends and families. We know that You care for us, Your children, every day, bringing life and hope in our times of need. We are so grateful. Amen.

Three Things

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath,”
John 5:5-9 NLT

I wonder what that man did every day, just lying there by the pool? Was his mind in neutral, in a living but comatose state? Or had he made friends with those around him, conversing with them every day? But without any meaningful stimulation, what was his mental state? And who fed him and tended to his personal needs? But the man at the Pool was obviously mentally alert and open to the possibility that he could be healed if he could only get to the water in time. What a tragedy – thirty eight years wasted. 

Jesus asked the man, “Would you like to get well?”, but the man’s response was one describing the practical difficulties caused by his disability. Imagine his limited efforts to crawl or squirm his way to the pool edge to reach the bubbling water before anyone else could get there. Imagine his despair when, once again, someone got there before him. Imagine the constant strain of having to look for the tell-tale stirring of the waters. But along comes the Saviour, compassionate and caring, with three instructions that transformed the man’s life. “Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”” 

There is so much to see behind these words. It wasn’t just the physical healing that made a difference. Once again we see that it is the whole person that Jesus heals. The man’s legs and other parts of his body suddenly had all the muscles, flesh, nerve tissues, and bones restored to them. He would have felt the new surge of energy and the lack of pain, but there was still his mental state that needed to be healed. After thirty eight years his mind would have needed time to adjust to the new situation. But we are told in John’s account that the man was instantly healed. And in accordance with Jesus’ instructions he stood up, rolled up his sleeping mat and started to walk.

People even today sometimes get caught in a rut. It needn’t be a physical disability, like the man at the Pool. It could be one of self pity, or feelings of helplessness through a relationship that has gone sour, or a job that has become full of drudgery or hardship. But Jesus has the words we need to enable us to stand up and move on. He always has a way for us to follow, to get us out of a situation. He always has the words we need to hear in times of stress and anxiety. These words may be difficult to hear and our response may well be one of fear, but through faith we know that God can heal us just as well as He healed the man at the Pool. 

In Romans 8:11, Paul wrote, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you“. We pilgrims, have the Holy Spirit living within us, giving us life and all the resources we need. After all, if the Holy Spirit was powerful enough to raise Jesus from the dead, He will have no problems with whatever ails us. So in faith we bring our problem to the Saviour and respond in obedience to whatever He tells us to do. 

Dear Father God. Thank Your for Your Son, Jesus, who came to this world for our benefit, for our salvation. Your grace and love is endless. Thank You. Amen.

Believing Jesus

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“The official pleaded, “Lord, please come now before my little boy dies.” Then Jesus told him, “Go back home. Your son will live!” And the man believed what Jesus said and started home. While the man was on his way, some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well. He asked them when the boy had begun to get better, and they replied, “Yesterday afternoon at one o’clock his fever suddenly disappeared!” Then the father realized that that was the very time Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” And he and his entire household believed in Jesus.”
John 4:49-53 NLT

Perhaps the government official, the civil servant, was worried that Jesus wouldn’t heal his son. So he begged Jesus a second time to go with him to his home to heal his “little boy”. We don’t know the lad’s age but the impression was that he was much loved and in a family that obviously was fairly wealthy, because there were servants. But this was another example of Jesus’ compassion. He saw the man’s distress and immediately responded with the instruction to “Go back home”, followed by the reassurance “Your son will live”. 

But we should note the civil servant’s response. In spite of his begging, we are told two things about the man – he believed in Jesus and he was obedient to Jesus’ command. We read, “And the man believed what Jesus said and started home”. No more begging Jesus to come to his home. No more emotional pressure. We don’t know how he heard that Jesus was back in Galilee but he journeyed to meet the Master. The urgency of his son’s illness spurred him on. He was probably thinking about where he could find Jesus. What would his reception be? Would Jesus go with him? What if he said “no”? Doubts would have pressed in on his thoughts. But regardless of all of this he kept going, ignoring anything that would have made him turn back. That’s faith in action.

The man was hurrying home, desperate to see if his son was better. What was he expecting? A small improvement? Total healing? Would he find his son back to normal, playing with the other children? What did he think when he saw some of his servants coming towards him? Were they bringing bad news? Or was it the answer to a father’s desperate encounter with Jesus, the answer he yearned for? And then, the joy when he found out that his son was well, with the fever not present anymore, and it all happened at the very moment Jesus had said, “Your son will live”. 

We pilgrim believers are a people of faith. But do we have faith like that government official? Faith that will persevere through difficulties and troubles? God will always reward the faith of His children. We don’t have to beg, but believe what Jesus said, as we read in Matthew 7:9-11, “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him”. The problem is that we “people of faith” fail to ask God for what we need. We often try every other avenue until desperation or lethargy kick in and spoil the opportunity. Or as a last resort we fall to our knees in prayer and ask God to help us. I keep a prayer diary and often find myself writing in the answers to prayers offered up days before. It’s faith building to know that God not only hears my prayers but answers them as well.

This cameo of the encounter between Jesus and the government official ends with more joy. We read, “And he and his entire household believed in Jesus”. What a tremendous outcome to find that the whole household, presumably servants and all, came to a belief in Jesus. All through a few gracious words from Jesus and the father’s faith.

Dear Father God. It must grieve You so much to see Your children struggling with issues that You have the answer to. Please forgive us. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

A Desperate Dad

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“As he travelled through Galilee, he came to Cana, where he had turned the water into wine. There was a government official in nearby Capernaum whose son was very sick. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged Jesus to come to Capernaum to heal his son, who was about to die.“
John 4:46-47 NLT

Jesus finally arrived in Galilee after all the excitement in Sychar in Samaria, and John then records that Jesus “travelled through Galilee”. Why was that? Well, Jesus had an itinerant ministry, that started when He was twelve. We read in Luke 2:49b, ” …  Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” Further on in Luke we read why Jesus travelled around. Luke wrote, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost” (Luke 19:10). Such a mission involved teaching about the Kingdom of God, healing the sick, raising the dead and doing many miraculous signs. There was a prophecy in Isaiah 61 about the Messiah’s mission, and Jesus read it out while in the synagogue in Nazareth. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favour has come”” (Luke 4:18-19). Jesus was on a mission and there was no time to lose because He was about His Father’s business.

Jesus’ reputation had preceded Him, and a civil servant needed help with a sick son, who was so ill that his family were afraid he was going to die. A nightmare scenario for any parent, because I know – I’ve been there. My daughter somehow contracted a particular type of encephalitis and spent nearly four months in hospital. The medics could do nothing other than supply nursing care, and it was only God who brought her through to full health some months later. That fact that this happened at all was recorded on her medical notes as “nothing short of a miracle”. In Jesus’ day there was little in the way of medical solutions to illness. People either got better or they died. All their families could do was to supply nursing care. It is only in the last century or so that medicine, with drugs and vaccines, have protected or treated people with otherwise fatal illnesses. 

The father of the sick son came to Jesus in desperation, and we are told that he “begged Jesus to come to Capernaum to heal his son”. But, today, is that what we have to do with God? When we have a loved one who is seriously ill, do we get on our knees and beg God to do something? I suppose it depends on our relationship with God. Those who don’t know Him will perhaps, in desperation, try anything as a last resort, and this may have been the situation with the civil servant from Capernaum. Sadly, other people will reject the only One who can heal, and instead blame Him for their situation. But the children of God, those who believe in Jesus and have been forgiven of their sins, don’t have to beg. Our loving Heavenly Father knows what we need, and begging is something we don’t have to do.  Instead, we pray the prayer of faith, trusting that God knows best. And as Jesus taught, we pray and keep on praying.

Dear Heavenly Father, You only have good gifts for Your children and You give them so freely when we ask and pray. We are so grateful. Amen.

The Galilean Welcome

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“At the end of the two days, Jesus went on to Galilee. He himself had said that a prophet is not honoured in his own hometown. Yet the Galileans welcomed him, for they had been in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration and had seen everything he did there.”
John 4:43-45 NLT

After a couple of days spent amongst the inhabitants of Sychar in Samaria, Jesus continued with His journey to Galilee. Amazing things had happened in Sychar, and the Samarians were left with the knowledge that they had met with God’s own Son, Jesus, the Messiah they had been waiting for. Perhaps Sychar was an oasis of revival in an otherwise neglected people. 

John wrote that Jesus’ ministry didn’t start very well in Galilee. We can read about that occasion in Matthew 13. John wrote that Jesus ” … returned to Nazareth, his hometown. When he taught there in the synagogue, everyone was amazed and said, “Where does he get this wisdom and the power to do miracles?”” (Matthew 13:54). But to the people amongst whom Jesus grew up and worked, in His home town of Nazareth, there was a disconnect. The account continues in Matthew, “Then they scoffed, “He’s just the carpenter’s son, and we know Mary, his mother, and his brothers—James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. All his sisters live right here among us. Where did he learn all these things?”” (Matthew 13:55-56). At first sight, it is incredible to think that the miracles Jesus had committed and the words of the Kingdom of God that He had preached, were all rejected just because they had known Him differently. And in Matthew 13:57 we read, “And they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honoured everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.”” A really sad state of affairs.

But before we pilgrims take the moral high ground and claim that we would never have behaved in such a way, we should pause and think. Who in the workplace has not resented the promotion of a colleague, thinking that he or she is no better than they are and unworthy of the promotion? Who has had trouble receiving a message from a Christian brother or sister, because they perhaps have known them from another time? Who has become a Christian only to find that their family has rejected them? If Jesus was rejected by His own people, we should expect the same. We read in John 1:10-11, “He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him“. We sometimes expect that the deliverer of God’s messages, a prophet, should be someone who has perhaps been raised in God’s presence by a family of angels. But it is so different – Paul wrote about this in 1 Corinthians 1:26-28, “Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important“. So we pilgrims should always welcome what a brother or sister, whatever their pedigree, says to us, because for all we know, God may be speaking a message for us just through them.

In our verses from John 4 today, we read that in spite of all the contempt and rejection Jesus had suffered in Nazareth, the Galileans welcomed Him anyway. They had seen the miracles He had committed in Judea, because many of them had journeyed there for the Jewish Feast. When we make that transition from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light, we are transformed. We become a new creation and we have access to all God’s resources. And through His grace and mercy He will use us obedient believers to deliver His message to those around us. That is, if we let Him. And we can expect opposition, particularly if the message is to our families and those who know us. To preach the message of salvation to our friends and family can be difficult, but we must persevere and pray. I know a man who is now a pastor of a church in a deprived area of Glasgow. He planted the church in the same community that he grew up in, and where he became involved with drugs, even becoming a dealer at one point. The police caught up with him eventually and he ended up serving a prison sentence. But in prison he was encouraged by the prison chaplain to consider spending time with Teen Challenge after he was released. But to cut a long story short, he came to know Jesus as his personal Saviour, went to Bible college, married a Christian girl in Dublin, and returned to Glasgow where he is now preaching the Gospel to his friends and family.

But Jesus was welcomed back into Galilee because He had credibility with the people there. They had seen at first hand the powerful miracles, and heard the gracious words about God’s Kingdom. It will take time for us pilgrims to achieve credibility as Christians with our friends and family, but persevere we must. And when they hear our testimonies, perhaps they too will welcome us as children of God.

Dear Heavenly Father. Through Your grace and mercy, we have a story to tell of our wonderful Saviour. Grant us the words to say, we pray, so that we can introduce others to Jesus. Amen.

Sowing and Reaping

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.”
John 4:35-38 NLT

Jesus once again used an analogy that would be well understand in that culture – the process involved in the growing of crops. But Jesus was using a natural analogy to represent the spiritual world, a world where the harvest is not grain but souls.

As Jesus pointed out, there was a delay of four months between sowing seed, and harvesting the resulting crops, and this was a time of anxiety for the farmer, because any adverse weather events could ruin the crops and destroy his livelihood. In extreme times, even famine could result. The farmer also had to withhold some of the seed so that he had something to sow in the ground the following year. In my early years, “Harvest Festivals” were held both in my school and in the local churches. These were times when we brought food items to school or church and sung hymns such as “We plough the fields and scatter, the good seed on the ground”. And all in celebration of the importance of the natural sowing and harvesting process. In those services we thanked God for His blessings, for providing us with the food we required for our very existence. 

Jesus told us the parable of the soils, which we can read in Matthew 13. But the fruit of the process, when good soil was found, was a multiplication of the seed originally planted. In Matthew 13:8 we read, “Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Near where I live, the farmer often plants a field of barley, and sometimes I select an ear of grain and estimate the crop yield. God’s blessings are there for all to see, though we take His multiplying provision for granted most of the time. But Jesus was using the analogy of sowing and reaping to illustrate a spiritual principle to His disciples. He equated the variety of soil conditions with people’s hearts.

Jesus said to His disciples, “wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest“. The “seed” had already been planted in the hearts of the people by others, the prophets and the religious leaders, and Jesus said that the people were ready to hear the message that would produce in them a spiritual harvest. And in the following years, the disciples saw the establishment of the first century church. Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 resulted in 3000 people being added to the church. That is harvesting!

So today, we pilgrims have an opportunity. There is still a spiritual harvest waiting for the reaping. I meet people who know about God, who even recognise and believe in His existence, and who are just waiting for someone to help them bring to life that knowledge and introduce them, perhaps once again, to the Saviour Jesus Christ. But I meet others who have no ideas about God at all. Their spiritual knowledge seems to come from social media and occasional encounters with news reports about other religions. They perhaps wonder about the churches dotted around our country, perhaps seeing more and more of them closing, perhaps having a perception that they are only relevant to elderly people. These are the people who may be good soil, just waiting for a seed to be planted, a seed coming straight out of God’s unlimited storehouses. Once planted, we can see the outcome as the Holy Spirit encourages the growth. Sometimes we may have the opportunity to be harvesters. Sometimes others will have that privilege.

The church I attend meets every Sunday morning in a leisure centre, and often people passing by in the corridor outside will look in, in apparent wonder and puzzlement. They sometimes stop for a few moments, perhaps receiving a seed that will start within them the process of germination. God is always at work.

We pilgrims are engaged in the farming business. Spiritual agriculture is our calling. The church goes through seasons of growth and decline as the years go by. But we are in the thick of it, sowing and reaping whenever we have the opportunity. There are never a lack of opportunities. We just need to pray for boldness and have our messages of hope ready and waiting.

Dear Father God. We pray today for divine encounters, enabling us to plant seeds whenever we have the opportunity. And lead us, we pray, to those who are just waiting for someone to introduce them to You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.