Good Tuesday morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
True to the title of our time together each day, we have joined Jesus and His closest friends as they are walking toward Jerusalem only a few days before that famous Passover/Easter weekend which changed the world, about 2000 years ago. We began on the other side of the Jordan river, what they often called the wilderness area, and a small village of Ephraim where Jesus had been staying trying to keep out of the public eye for a while because of the schemes of the Pharisees to arrest and eliminate Jesus, according to John 11:54.
Jesus was becoming so popular that these religious leaders felt their influence and power was at risk. This was particularly true immediately following the ultimate miracle Jesus performed, raising Lazarus from dead after he’d been dead at least 5 days.
As they walked the dusty road from Jericho west toward Jerusalem, I think these friends were discussing the unforgettable words Jesus had spoken as they began this trip. Jesus had said to His friends very clearly: “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day He will be raised to life!” (Matt. 20:18-20)
There are no words Jesus could have spoken which would have been more shocking or confusing or troubling to His friends. It seemed to make no sense to those who had walked with Jesus all these months, and seen His miracles, heard His teaching and watched the celebrating crowds in almost every town Jesus visited.
So, in these days as these closest friends walked with Jesus toward Jerusalem, I believe their minds were filled with questions and growing anxiety about… What awaited them in Jerusalem?
John, of all the disciples, appears to have had the closest friendship with Jesus and seems to have understood Jesus in a way none of the other disciples did, and so I think those words Jesus spoke likely troubled John more than any of the others. As they walked toward Jerusalem, I wonder if John was reflecting on an incident he records for us in John 8 which took place one of the last times Jesus and His disciples had been in Jerusalem?
Jesus had said, “I am the light of the world, whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life… I know where I came from and where I am going…” (John 8:12,14) Those listening to Jesus in Jerusalem that day were a wide array of people including some of the Pharisees and wisest religious teachers. They felt it was their duty to lead the Jewish people in understanding God and God’s laws, and they took great offense at these, and other words Jesus spoke which seemed to suggest they were deceitful, and religious hypocrites, and should not be trusted!Jesus had continued, on that particular day, taking on the rebukes of those religious leaders. Jesus had said “If you knew Me, you would know My Father also… I am going away, and you will look for Me and you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” (John 8:19-21)
Whenever Jesus spoke like this it incensed the Pharisees who thought themselves to be near perfection and felt they were experts on anything having to do with God. Yet they could not deny His miracles! Who was this man? Jesus continued: “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins if you do not believe that I am He, you will indeed die in your sins.” Naturally they responded to Jesus with a question they often asked Him: “Who are you?” John and the others pondered that question often and deeply as they walked with Jesus. May I ask all of us today, my friends, with Easter now only a few days away, who do you think the people in your city believe Jesus Christ really is? What about you? Who do YOU say Jesus is?
On this occasion Jesus answered those religious leaders sternly, and I wonder if Jesus might be saying something similar today to many leaders in our world today who are turning people away from God? Jesus said: “I have much to say in judgment of you. But Him who sent me is trustworthy and what I have heard from HIM I tell the world. When you have lifted up the Son of Man then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing on My own, but I speak just what the Father has taught Me. The One who sent Me is with Me… for I always do what pleases Him.” (John 8:21-30)
Did you notice the words Jesus used to predict His crucifixion? It was finally when Jesus was lifted up on that cross to die His atonement death for the sins of the world, that Jesus proved His full obedience to His Father and His uniqueness in being the ONLY person who could die for my sins and yours, since He was sinless God incarnate!
Do you understand that my friends? The Pharisees rejected that concept! The resurrection of Jesus and His ascension back to heaven, of course, was final proof of Jesus being the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah!
Finally, today, as John walked along, he remembered what Jesus had said next on that memorable day: “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to the family forever. So if the Son of God sets you free from your sin you will be free indeed...If God were your Father you would love Me for I have come from God. I have not come on my own, God sent Me… I am telling you what I have SEEN in My Father’s Presence” (John 8:31-42) As John was remembering those powerful words I wonder if he frequently glanced at Jesus as they walked along together. Jesus looked normal, just like any other man. Yet Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. John longed to know God’s truth, to fully understand these challenging words of Jesus. To fully grasp the reality that Jesus was God in the flesh, and that Jesus had come from heaven where He existed for all eternity past with God the Father, and that Jesus was going to actually allow the human race He had created to brutalize Him and crucify Him! It was more than John’s mind could comprehend, oh how he needed God’s help in understanding Jesus! How about you and me my friends, do we fully understand Jesus?
Years later, when John sat down to write the story of Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God had helped John find the answers he desperately sought, and it was this powerful truth with which John began his very unique book we know as the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word [Truth] and the Word [Truth] was with God and the Word [Truth] was God. Through Him [Jesus, God the Son] all things were made, without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it… The Truth Light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world and though the world was made through Him the world did not recognize Him. He came to those which were His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who did receive Him, Jesus gave them the right to become children of God… The Word [Truth} became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son of God, who came from the Father full of grace and truth.“ (John 1:1-14)
I wonder if John simply shook his head as he walked along with Jesus that day, trying his very best to understand such remarkable, profound, world changing truth. John would live to be a very old man and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God John wrote five books which are in our Bible all about Jesus the Savior of the world and the King over God’s kingdom. (Gospel of John; 1, 2 & 3rd John; Revelation)
I wonder if John could have imagined the profound impact his John chapter 8 would have upon millions and millions of people who were searching for truth, searching for hope and help and finally found Jesus? Tomorrow we’ll continue looking at these powerful words which Jesus spoke. Have these words changed your life my friend? And here’s a song to help us celebrate such powerful, life changing truth!
Today’s Scripture is John 8:12-42.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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