with devotion: redwords

Showing posts with label redwords. Show all posts

being open to hear

“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. [John 5:25-27 ESV]

I find it so interested how Jesus' words have a double meaning in this passage.

He speaks of a time that when we are alive, then of a future time after we die.

He speaks of those who have died physically hearing the voice of God.

There seems to be a difference between the two.
Those who hear before they die will be resurrected to life.
Those who refuse to hear Him in this life will not be able to hear him after death.

I think that the word hear (akousousin) is best translated comprehend.

Comprehension is more than simply hearing what someone says.

It involves being open to the voice of the one who is speaking.

In that sense, eternal life is about being open to hear God's message.

It is desiring to comprehend what the Holy Spirit is saying to us.

And when we he truly hear, we experience the life and love of God.

In contrast, those who have do not have eternal life now never comprehend.

These are not able to comprehend because they are not open to hearing.

Sadly, these have nothing in them that will survive death.

Thank you Lord for the day when I heard your voice.

... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.

the only one qualified to judge

The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. [John 5:22-24 ESV]

Most of us really do not like to talk about judging, the judgment day or anything like that.
I think that is because we all know ourselves and the things that we have done, said and thought.
We all know that apart from grace we would be lost.

Apart from the intervention and the intercession of Christ we are without hope.
So when we think about judgment our focus turns to verses like these.
Words like these, that speak of faith and eternal life, give us so much hope.

I find it interesting how Jesus says that he alone is the judge.
Perhaps this position was granted to him because he is the God-man?

In a sense Jesus is the only one qualified to judge man because he was a man who was tempted as we are yet did not sin.

In these verses Jesus speaks of not being judged and having eternal life.
Perhaps that is something that we all need to hear?
In honoring the son we have eternal life and we are not judged.

Lord, thank you for not judging me and for giving me eternal life.

... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.

spiritual intimacy

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.[John 5:19-21 ESV]

I think of an intimate unity when Jesus speaks of only doing what the Father is doing.
We see that intimacy reflected when he speaks of the love that he and the Father share.
Even in the confines of human flesh Jesus shows us an intimacy that he has with the Father.

In the gospels we see this intimate love poured out as Jesus is moved by compassion.
In this compassion we see the love of the Father and his purpose in doing greater works.
And I believe that those greater works of love and mercy continue yet today.

Whenever compassion and empathy rises up in us, the world sees a bit of that intimacy.
The lives of people like Teresa of Calcutta witness to such an intimacy with God.
In truth, there is no greater evidence of spiritual intimacy than love and care.

When we are intimate with God we see what he is doing and join with him in the work.
Spiritual gifts and fruit develop in us as we follow God in loving the world.
And intimacy grows as we mature in our relationship with Christ.

Help me to know you more intimately Lord. Help my life to testify of your love.

... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.

our spiritual father

This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. [John 5:18 ESV]

Many still today stumble over Jesus' claims of being the Son of God.
The claim seems to be a bit outrageous from a purely human point of view.
Before Jesus no one ever dared call God their father.

So, the reactions of the Jews were somewhat predictable.
Many religious people, even today, are angered when they hear someone call Jesus God.
The idea that God became human is a challenging thought for both Christians and others.

Even so, have you considered the possibility that God could become your spiritual father?
Have you thought about the idea that being born again is about fatherhood?
And that everlasting life means that you have a father for eternity?

This is the good news that Jesus and his disciples preached.
Greater than being saved and rescued from sin and death.
A glorious reality that transcends religion, dogma, theology and everything else.

Being born from above means that you have a new identity through a new father.

Our Father. May your kingdom come and your will be done in and through us.

... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.

kingdom work

Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your bed and walk.” At once the man was healed and picked up his bed and walked. ... The Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Day of Rest. It is against the Law for you to carry your bed.” ... Because Jesus did these things on the Day of Rest, the Jews made it very hard for Him. Jesus said to them, “My Father is still working all the time so I am working also.” [John 5:8-17 NLV]

The context of the Jews' criticism of the man who has been healed blows me away!

This man has been paralyzed for 38 years! 38 long years!
Where were these self-righteous Jews when this man was suffering and struggling?
Where were they when he cried? Who among them lifted one finger to help him in his suffering?

Such is the demeanor and attitude of many religious people even today.
Such folks tend to focus on legalities rather than spiritual things.
How is it that anyone would not rejoice with a healed man who suffered for so long?

These same folks persecuted Jesus because he broke their rules by helping hurting people.
These religious folks felt totally justified in their criticism because their theology.
They preferred to cling to a caustic doctrine rather than encourage people involved in God's work.

Here is the question that I think must be asked of all religion:

Does it help or hinder the work of God on planet earth?

Jesus speaks directly to this and proclaims that God is working all of the time.
He indicates that the healing of people like this man is an evidence of God at work.
In saying this he invites all who will to join God in helping hurting people.

Help me Lord to not hide behind my doctrine when I see hurting people.

... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.

the loneliness of suffering

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. [John 5:2-9 ESV]

I have to come clean and say that this question of wanting to be healed troubles me.
I experience intense arthritic pain at times - ankle surgery awaits me.
My first wife died of diabetic complications and Ann suffers from a paralyzing neurological disease.

I pray all of the time - I want to be healed and I want Ann to be healed.
So I find that my heart has to come to grips with Jesus' question.
And I am sometimes challenged to not take offense when this question comes up.

I begin by saying that Jesus knew that the man wanted to be healed.
And he knew that it was the Father's will for him to be healed.
His question is puzzling yet the man's response is quite revealing.

Do you find it interesting that the man never really answered Jesus' question?
The expectation is that the man would have shouted "YES! I want to be healed"
But instead he says that he has no one to help him in his quest for healing.

Can you feel the pain and the loneliness that this man is experiencing?
Does compassion rise up in you when you think about his paralysis?
Where do you think his friends and family were these past 38 years?

I love that Jesus walked into this man's loneliness, pain and suffering.
The man was sick for almost forty years and wanted, dare I say prayed, to be healed.
Yet healing did not come until Jesus arrived on the scene.

It is an object lesson for us about our need to help those who are helpless.
Would it be that people like this man are befriended by people like us.
How great it would be if those in pain did not have to suffer alone.

Help us dear Holy Spirit. May no one ever have to suffer alone.

... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.

exercising trust in a crisis

The official pled, “Sir, please come now before my child dies.” Then Jesus told him, “Go back home. Your son is healed!” And the man believed Jesus and started home. While he was on his way, some of his servants met him with the news that all was well—his son had recovered. [John 4:49-51 MSG]

The dialog between Jesus and the official seems a bit strange.
The man comes pleading to him about a son who is very sick.
At first blush, Jesus comes off as a bit uncaring.

To the naked eye it would seem that the Lord was dispassionate about the man's son.
He refused to come with the father but seemed to brush him off with a few words.
One observing the interaction might have a different perspective than we have today.

I think that is one of the messages in this story for us today.
Things are not always as they appear to us in our moment of crisis or pain.
God is at work even when things seem out of control.

The official could have doubted Jesus' sincerity and demand that he come with him.
He could have insisted that he have it his way and continue to beg Jesus.
Instead he gave up control and chose to trust what Jesus told him to be true.

Such is our challenge in every day life when "bad things" happen.
We can insist in prayer that we have it "our way" or we can trust in the Lord.
We can believe that God is at work even when there is no evidence to prove it.

Lord, help me to remember this lesson and trust you when crisis and pain comes.

... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.

spiritual food

Jesus replied, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about.” ... Then Jesus explained: My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. 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. [John 4:32-35 NLT]

I can relate to doing things that quench my spiritual hunger.
In times like that it seems that I forget about my physical needs all together.
As if something spiritual transcends that which is natural.

There is just something other-worldly about engaging in work that you are made to do.
And unless you read something different, I am not speaking of religious work or activities.
The work I am writing about elates me spiritually and is totally relational.

God's work is all about the relational stuff.
When we lovingly interact with people we are doing the work of the kingdom.
Apart from love all ministry is void of anything spiritual.

Consider what Jesus says to his disciples about the harvesting of souls.
Does anyone believe that a soul can be won for the kingdom without love?
When I consider the ways that Jesus ministered I see love personified.

I am brought to an understanding that kingdom work is all about compassion.
Those who are hurting, lost and in pain need love and compassion.
Who among us ever came to the Savior for any reason other than someone loved us.

The work of the harvest fills us with spiritual food.
Our witness is all about the work of love in our lives.
Love is the spiritual food that each of us so desperately need.

Help me to love those who you love Lord. Please give me a heart of compassion.

... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.

worship is spiritual not geographical

Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.” ... The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
...
So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” [John 4:16-20 ESV]

Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well continues.
She begins to sense that there is something special about the man she is talking to.
He gets her attention as he speaks to her about the man who she is living with.

She immediately switches the subject to something religious yet the Lord turns it spiritual.
Jesus informs her that worship is spiritual not geographical.
We today would be wise to hear his words - it is not about where we worship.

It is not about the physical but about the spiritual.

The life of this simple woman is absolutely turned upside down when Jesus tells her who he is.
Can you sense the amazement that she must have been feeling?
The hope of all creation had appeared to her and she could not contain her excitement.

Her religious experience was turned inside out by the presence of the Ancient of Days.

Such is the evidence of all of history.
Peoples of all genders, ages and ethnicity have been radically changed by an encounter with God.
It is our spiritual heritage. I want such change.

Come Lord Jesus. I am thirsty. I need a drink from your life giving well.

... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.

spiritual thirst

Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ... The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” ... Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ... Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” [John 4:7-15 ESV]

My first reaction to this story is how a simple request can evolve into something greater.
Does the depth of the conversation simply not blow you away?
Jesus takes something so simple as a drink of water and turns it into something so profound.

He turns something ordinary into something special.

I think that is the way of the Spirit in our lives as well.
Small things can take on profound meaning.
An encouraging word or an act of kindness can have lasting consequences.

Simple conversations can become so profound.

Can anyone doubt that Jesus believed that he was the Messiah?
Could a mere man proclaim that he is the giver of living water?
The identity of Christ is so evident in this reading.

And who would not drink of this eternal well?

I have found this to be true - I have sensed this living water in my own life.
Such is the difference between the Samaritan woman's religion and what Jesus offers.
The water he gives produces more than religious zeal - his water gives spiritual life.

I am thirsty Lord. Fill me with your living water.

... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.

spiritual influence

“No one can have anything unless God gives it. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ ... He must become more important while I become less important.” He who comes from above is greater than all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly matters, but he who comes from heaven is above all. He tells what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his message. But whoever accepts his message confirms by this that God is truthful. [John 3:27-33 NLT]

This passage is a fitting follow-up to the conversation that Jesus had with the Pharisee. In these verses John the Baptist affirms the things that Jesus told Nicodemus. Consider these points that John makes as he shares with his disciples and others:

Spiritual wisdom is a gift from heaven. A person who understands this is able to receive it because they have placed themselves in a place of humility.
We are not God or the Messiah. It is a needed lesson in humility for many with an over-inflated ego. Humility is a necessity, not an option, for a follower of Christ.
We are humble fore-runners. Like John it is our job to proclaim the good news about Jesus telling all that God loves them and wants all to know him.
We are friends of God who rejoice greatly at his voice. When we read the scriptures we rejoice over his words. Our relationship with God is a joy filled one.
His influence must increase in our lives. When we are born again we begin as spiritual infants and grow into mature children of God as we walk humbly before Him.

I love it how John ends this passage saying the same thing that Jesus told Nicodemus about eternal life. When I think of John I think of someone who had such a clear and humble understanding of his role in life and such an amazing insight into God.

Like John, I pray Lord that your influence would grow stronger in my life.

... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.

the dark side

The Light has come into the world. And the Light is the test by which men are guilty or not. People love darkness more than the Light because the things they do are sinful. [John 3:19 NLV]

The setting for the coming of the Messiah is one of great spiritual darkness.
Everyone is stumbling around in the dark - even the religious leaders struggle spiritually.
This passage reminds me of this verse from the prophet Isaiah:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.

Jesus is that great light that has come into the world.
His light illuminated, and yet illuminates, the dark ways of humankind.
His life, teachings and ministry testify to the light of God.

I find it interesting how, in the gospels, sinners repented and were made whole by this light.
Yet religious people ignored their witness preferring their darkness to Christ's light.
It is a troubling thought for those of us who have followed God for a long time.

It is troubling to know that Christ mostly confronted the darkness of religious people.
It concerns me and causes me to question the dark theologies that I once embraced.
And it reminds me how easy it is to be drawn to the dark side.

Lord, I need your light. Please shine and expose all of my dark ways.

... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.

Unless you eat ... you have no life in you.

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

For centuries religious people have taken things meant to be spiritual and made them something physical. When Jesus speaks of eating his flesh and drinking his blood he is speaking a profound spiritual truth and not some twisted theological mumbo jumbo. Sadly many miss the point entirely. It was just a few verses back that Jesus spoke of how his food was doing the will of the Father. His declarations here are a mere continuance of that thought. We are challenged here to quench our appetites in similar manner.

When he talks of abiding Jesus speaks deeply to us of our need to find our very life and nourishment in doing his will. In the very same way that he abided in the Father we should abide in the Son. It is an issue of life. Do we get our life from our fleshly pursuits or do we experience life by walking in His Spirit? We cannot have it both ways. Our minds and our hearts must be set on feeding on the bread that came down from heaven. For this is the bread that will produce life today and will nourish us unto eternal life.

I need the Bread of Heaven Lord. I delight to do your will. Come Holy Spirit and fill me anew.

If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

I do not know how Jesus could make his message any clearer - whoever believes.. if anyone eats.. they will live forever. The gospel message is such a clear and concise proclamation of good news but somehow religious people have made it so hard. I have made it so hard.

Jesus wants us to be like believing children and we turn his message inside out and make believing some sort of work that we take credit for. He has given us all this magnificent ability to simply respond with a simple yes to the Holy Spirit and we have contorted it into theological nonsense. Man has exchanged the good news for something not so good.

Yet the message is there if we can get past our religious biases. Jesus is the bread that has come down from heaven to give us the news that God loves us with an everlasting love. His very own flesh was given in sacrifice so that we would have hope of a better resurrection - and not only that but a better life while we yet live.. and that is good news!

Hallelujah! Praise you Lord that your message is so simple. Help me to have childlike faith.

Do not grumble among yourselves.

So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.

How could the Jews have known that Joseph was just the adopted father of our Lord? In truth, the story of the virgin birth is a pretty wild story. I am sure that many who actually had heard the story did not believe it - many do not believe it even today. Yet in this passage Jesus affirms his miraculous entry into human form when he calls God his Father and says that he has come down from heaven. Astounding words for sure but spoken by one who has seen the Father and knows Him, and His heart, intimately.

Jesus speaks directly to the Jews when they grumble - he does not back down but responds speaking to them about how the Father draws believers to them. In his ministry Jesus often used the phrase "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" - he speaks similar words to us today. Throughout history this truth has been true - there are people who close their ears, their eyes and their hearts to God's message and God's Messiah. Yet the contrary is also true.. many have responded with faith.. many will be raised on that last day!

You have the words of life Lord Jesus. Help me to hear those words today.

This is the will of my Father ...

But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Thrice in this passage Jesus speaks of the will of the Father. First he says that his whole mission on earth is to do that will. He then speaks of holding on to all that the Father has given him. Lastly he speaks to us of our part in looking to Jesus and believing in him. What strikes me in this is how intentionally aggressive God's will is. It speaks to me of the way that God's kingdom works on planet earth. He actively initiates his will and requires us to actively, not passively, respond. It is why Jesus tells us to pray for his will to be done.

These three aspects of God's will are in harmony with each other. Without Jesus coming we would not have the message to believe in. Without his power to keep us our believing would be tenuous. And if no one believed in Jesus his coming would have been in vain. But, and this is a huge but, God's will has been, is being, and will be done. Jesus came on a rescue mission for all humanity. Millions, perhaps billions, of people throughout time have believed in Him and he has not lost one of them. This has always been God's will.

All I can say is thank you Lord for the gift of your son and his power to keep me.

I am the bread of life

So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

The passage begins with a contrast between the religion of man and true religion. Man's religion focuses on a person, like Moses, and what God will do through them. Moses prayed and manna appeared. Jesus fed five thousand by multiplying fish and bread. The religious focus was on a man and on man's needs. It seems that man's religion has always been focused on the physical and not the invisible. And it seems to continue to this day as religious people still draw the attention to themselves rather than the Lord.

The great problem with this sort of religion is that it satisfies for only a moment.. the proverbial fishes and loaves fill our stomach for an afternoon.. but the hunger and thirst soon returns. Jesus speaks to them about never hungering or thirsting again.. he tells them that the focus must not be on the bread but on The Bread.. he says that the focus should be on The Man and not a man.. not on a priest but on The High Priest. He tells them that eternal satisfaction comes directly from God and not through a man.

Help me to look to you alone Lord. Help my focus to not be distracted by what I see.

This is the work of God

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Years ago I heard many tell me that I must believe for a miracle. It made so much sense then because I believed in the idea of seed faith - the idea that a miracle was only a seed away.. all I had to do was plant a seed of faith and I would reap something supernatural. Yet, in this passage, Jesus accurately shares that faith is not believing "for" something but believing "in" someone. The delineation can be a bit subtle but it is so important. The Lord gently rebukes those following him, even us, about working for things that are temporal.

What comes to your mind when Jesus speaks of "the food that endures to eternal life"? For me, this spiritual food is the Lord himself. Prayer is a way that we ingest this kind of food.. worship and the scriptures are too.. things that engage us in relationship with Jesus. These are invisible things.. things done in private.. humble things.. things that will survive our deaths.. things that transcend earth and heaven. When I think of this food I remember how the disciples grew in relationship with Jesus as they shared meals with him.

Lord, I want to share intimate fellowship with you. Fill me with the food that endures.

Do not be afraid.

When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!" Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

It interests me how the Lord often withdrew to be by himself. Passages like this gives us a peek into what it must have been like to be Jesus. People were constantly pressing in on him.. every day they wanted more of him.. more signs.. more healings.. more miracles.. more teachings.. and in this passage they wanted to make him king. Small wonder why he needed times of solitude. Yet things change when he discerns that his disciples are in trouble.

Such is the image that Jesus paints of the God who hears the cries of struggling people - deep waters cannot stop him.. strong winds will not delay him.. rough waves do not hinder him as he travels to his friends. Can you imagine struggling in that boat.. feeling the pull of the waves and the spray of the waters? What would it have like to look up and see the image of a man coming towards you? And how welcome would Jesus' words be to you?

Come Lord Jesus and bring peace to the ship of my life.

Have the people sit down.

Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.

It is so easy for those of us who have heard this story so many times to gloss over it and not take in the extent of this amazing time in that meadow. I close my eyes and try to imagine the atmosphere in the crowd that day - unlike me these had never heard the story. What would it have been like for the disciples to experience this miracle? It is one thing to read of the miraculous in the scriptures but it is something else entirely to experience it. To taste that fish and bread must have been so surreal. To gather the leftovers would be amazing.

Yet I wonder how many of us read this passage, scratch our heads and discount such happenings in our reality. I wonder what my response would have been when Jesus said "Have the people sit down". Sadly, I have to admit that I do not think faith would arise in me today. Like so many, back then and even now, my experiences in life have hardened me to such miracles - I wish that it was not so. But perhaps one can never be prepared for a miracle? Maybe that is the message - that miracles come when they are not expected.

I will sit down Lord. I will wait on you. I will trust in your provision.

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