The Life of Christ Sermon Series Outline

THE INCARNATION
Sunday, January 11, 2015

INTRODUCTION: Play the Youtube video of the Incarnation by Odd Thomas.

(Slide #1) On December 23, 1855, Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92), England's best-known preacher
for most of the second half of the 19th century, delivered the following sermon in London:

“This is the season of the year when, whether we wish it or not, we are compelled to think of the birth
of Christ. I hold it to be one of the greatest absurdities under heaven to think that there is any religion in
keeping Christmas-day. There are no probabilities whatever that our Savior Jesus Christ was born on
that day, and the observance of it is purely of Popish origin; doubtless those who are Catholics have a
right to hallow it, but I do not see how consistent Protestants can account it in the least sacred. How-
ever, I wish there were ten or a dozen Christmas-days in the year; for there is work enough in the world,
and a little more rest would not hurt laboring people. Christmas-day is really a boon to us; particularly
as it enables us to assemble round the family hearth and meet our friends once more. Still, although we
do not fall exactly in the track of other people, I see no harm in thinking of the incarnation and birth of
the Lord Jesus.”

A. A Definition of the Incarnation.

(Slide #2) While the word “incarnation” is not contained within Scripture, the doctrine of the
Incarnation certainly does convey scriptural truth. The Christian doctrine of the Incarnation
teaches that the Eternal Word, the second person of the Trinity, without diminishing His deity
took upon Himself a fully human nature. Specifically, this doctrine implies that a full and
undiminished divine nature, as well as a full and perfect human nature, were united in the
historical person of Jesus of Nazareth. According to the Bible, Jesus Christ is God the Son, in
human flesh.

(Slide #3) John 1:1, 14 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory,
glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (see bulletin cover)

Wayne Grudem writes, “To complete the biblical teaching about Jesus Christ, we must affirm not
only that he was fully human, but also that he was fully divine. Although the word does not
explicitly occur in Scripture, the church has used the term incarnation to refer to the fact that
Jesus was God in human flesh. The incarnation was the act of God the Son whereby he took to
himself a human nature.”

(Slide #4) Galatians 4:4-5 – “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son,
born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might
receive adoption as sons.”

(Slide #5) The word “incarnation” comes from the Latin in caro (in flesh) and it means “to make
flesh” or “to embody in flesh.” Theologically the incarnation is the embodiment of God in the hu-
 man form of Jesus, the act whereby the second person of the Triune God was embodied perma-
nently in human nature, flesh and form.

The incarnation is a foundational doctrine of the Bible and it rests on an even more fundamental
doctrine, namely the Trinity. There could be no incarnation without the Trinity, and without the
incarnation there could be no salvation from sin. What’s at stake:

(Slide #6) 1 John 4:2-3 – “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that ac-
knowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not ac-
knowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is
coming and even now is already in the world.”

(Slide #7) The Nicene Creed (325 A.D.): “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son
of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very
God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by Whom all things were
made: Who for us men and for our salvation came down from Heaven, and was incarnate by the
Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.”

(Slide #8) 1 Timothy 3:16 - “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was
manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”

(Slide #9) The theology in the second stanza of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”

Christ, by highest Heav’n adored;

Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time, behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel

Matthew 1:20-24 – “But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to
him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that
which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name
Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had
spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his
name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).”

Robert Stein writes, “The essence of Christmas is that God’s Son came into the world in human
form and dwelt among us. It is the fact of the incarnation that is the key to Christmas.”

B. The Changes Involved in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.

 1. (Slide #10) A change in his dwelling place – from heaven to earth. John 1:14 – “The Word
became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the
One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

2. (Slide #11) A change in his possessions – from riches to poverty. 2 Corinthians 8:9 – “For
you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

3. (Slide #12) A change in his glory – from glory to obscurity. John 17:5 – “And now, Father,
glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”

4. (Slide #13) A change in his position – from equality with God to being a servant. Philippi-
ans 2:6-7 – “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something
to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made
in human likeness.”

Notice how the apostle Paul details the full circle of Jesus’ existence. He begins with the
PREEXISTENCE of Jesus Christ (“Who, being in very nature God”), followed by the INCAR -
NATION (“being made in human likeness”). The ultimate purpose of the incarnation was
Jesus’ HUMILIATION and CRUCIFIXION (“even death on a cross”). Having provided the
substitutionary atonement for mankind’s sin, God the Father completed the EXALTATION
of the Son back to his previous glorious position in heaven.

5. (Slide #14) A change in his form – from the form of God to the likeness of men.

Important Point: All the changes were temporary except for his change in form, which is
permanent. He ascended back to heaven which is now his dwelling place; he received
back all his riches; he is again clothed with the glory of God; he is seated at the Father’s
right hand and is no longer a servant. But his human form is retained. He ascended
back to heaven in bodily form and he will return in bodily form.

C. The Purposes in the Incarnation.

1. (Slide #15) God became incarnate in Jesus Christ so that he might die for sinners, and
thus save them from their sins. The Bible tells us that all of us are sinners and that the
wages of sin is death. And we know that the experience of death involves the separation
of the soul from the body. And because God is pure spirit, it is impossible for Him to die.
Therefore, in order that God might experience the reality of death in all its fullness, He
had to become incarnate, and in doing so, experience death and die for our sins.

2. (Slide #16) God became incarnate in Jesus Christ so that he might share with men his own
eternal life. John 10:10 – “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Only an incarnate God could give his flesh in atoning death for the world. Without a God
made flesh there is no eternal life for sinners.

John Piper states, “The incarnation of the Son of God is necessary because the life we
have through the new birth is life in union with the incarnate Christ. Jesus said, “I am the
 living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for-
ever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51). That
life that we have in union with Christ is the life that Jesus obtained for us by the life he
lived and the death he died in the flesh.

3. (Slide #17) God became incarnate in Jesus Christ so that he might know human life from
the inside by personal experience. Even an omniscient God could not know the human
experience until He experienced the human experience. Now, let’s be clear, the need
was on our part, not on God’s part. Hebrews 2:17-18 – “For this reason he had to be
made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful
high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the peo -
ple. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are
being tempted.”

4. (Slide #18) God became incarnate in Jesus Christ so that he might reveal in himself the
ideal humanity. The Son of God incarnate reveals what we ought to be. 1 John 2:5-6 –
“But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we
know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

Michael Spencer writes, “without the incarnation, Christianity isn't even a very good
story, and most sadly, it means nothing. “Be nice to one another” is not a message that
can give my life meaning, assure me of love beyond brokenness, and break open the dark
doors of death with the key of hope.”

5. (Slide #19) God became incarnate in Jesus Christ so that he might provide for us an ever-
lasting revelation of himself in human form.

“IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME”

Sunday, January 18, 2015

(Slide #1) INTRODUCTION: Last Sunday I quoted a statement the Apostle Paul made concerning the in-
carnation and the timing of the birth of Jesus Christ, the entrance of the second person of the Trinity
into human history. Galatians 4:4-5 – “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son,
born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive
adoption as sons.”

(Slide #2) Timothy George, in his commentary on the book of Galatians, writes, “Early Christian
apologists pointed to the fact that the birth of the Messiah occurred during the Pax Romana, a period of
relative peace and stability. Others have pointed to the development of a common language, favorable
means of travel, the emergence of an urban civilization that made possible the rapid spread of the
Christian message, and so forth. It is sufficient to say with Calvin that ‘the time which had been ordained
by the providence of God was seasonable and fit. Therefore the right time for the Son of God to be
revealed to the world was for God alone to judge and determine.’”

A. The Political Setting.

(Slide #3) When Jesus was born in the small village of Bethlehem, the Jewish people had lived for
hundreds of years under foreign rule, with only a brief period of independence during the time of
the Maccabees (167-63 B.C.). The Babylonian captivity had been followed by the Persian Empire,
which had been followed by the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great. And now, since 63
B.C. the Roman Empire controlled the land of Palestine to the irritation of the Jewish people.

Even though the religious leaders boasted to Jesus, “we are the offspring of Abraham and have
never been enslaved to anyone” (John 8:33), it was a ludicrous claim. In the first century the Ro-
man Empire ruled the known world, including the Mediterranean region known as Palestine,
where Jesus was born and where he lived his life. In the hierarchy of power, Rome allowed the
Jews a certain amount of self-government in the form of the Jewish Sanhedrin, but the Jewish
people reported to the authority of the local Roman government (first King Herod, later the Ro-
man governor Pontius Pilate), which reported to Rome (Emperor Caesar).

(Slide #4) The Jews held much distrust and often hatred for the Roman Empire, which made
them unwilling subjects. Because of this animosity, Palestine was designated as an imperial prov-
ince with a Roman legion stationed in the country because it was politically unstable. When the
Hasmonean dynasty collapsed in 63 B.C., the Romans appointed Herod to rule as king of the
Jews. Herod was a strange mix of an efficient ruler and a cruel tyrant. On the one hand, he ap-
peared as the protector of Judaism and sought to gain the favor of the Jews. He encouraged the
development of the synagogues and in time of calamity remitted taxes and supplied the people
with free grain. He was also a great builder, a role that earned him the title “the Great.” His
greatest project was the building and beautification of the temple in Jerusalem, restoring it to
the splendor of the time of Solomon. The Gospels provide a commentary on the magnificent
complex. “And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher,
what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” (Mark 13:1).

At the same time, Herod was distrustful, jealous, and cruel, ruthlessly crushing any potential op-
position. Herod was also responsible for placing forbidden idols within the Jewish temple. Such
actions added more reasons for Jewish resentment of the foreign Roman government.

(Slide #5) The Roman Empire overshadowed the Jews' daily lives from 63 B.C. through 70 A.D.
After Herod's death, the territory was divided among his three sons, but Palestine was actually
under Roman authority. This occupation led to waves of revolt, often led by two of the sects
mentioned by Josephus: the Zealots who sought Jewish independence and the Sicarii, an extrem-
ist Zealot group whose name means assassin (from the Latin for "dagger" [sica]).

(Slide #6) Acts 5:34-37 – “But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held
in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while.
And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For be -
fore these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four
hundred, joined him. (Slide #7) He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and
came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away
some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.”
 (Slide #8) Everything about Roman occupation was hateful to the Jews, from oppressive taxes to
physical abuse by Roman soldiers to the repugnant idea that the Roman leader was a god. Re-
peated efforts at gaining political independence ensued to no avail.

This political conflict was reflected in a question posed to Jesus. (Slide #9) “And they sent to him
some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. And they came and
said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For
you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to
Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” (Slide #10) But, knowing their
hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.”
And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said
to him, “Caesar's.” Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to
God the things that are God's.” And they marveled at him.” (Mark 12:13-17)

B. The Economic Setting.

(Slide #11) The economy of first century Israel was supported by three key segments: (1) agricul-
ture, (2) trade fostered by Israel’s key location on the Mediterranean Sea, and (3) large govern-
ment building projects sponsored by King Herod. Herod the Great’s gigantic building projects,
both public and private, required enormous financial resources. His riches were so vast that he
could spend an incredible fortune not only on buildings in his own domain, but also on showy
structures abroad.

We know of at least twenty of his projects in the land of Israel, many of which were massive and
opulent. (Slide #12) Among them were the Temple complex, built on a vast artificial platform
that was the largest of its kind in antiquity; the Royal Portico of the Temple, the longest building
then in existence; (Slide #13) Herodium, then the largest palace in the world; (Slide #14) the har-
bor of Caesarea, the most technologically advanced harbor in antiquity; the citadels and palace in
Jerusalem; (Slide 15) and the citadel and palaces at Masada.

There was a very large disparity between rich and poor. The upper class was made up of the
temple priests and priestly aristocracy, controlled by the Sadducees. The middle class was com-
prised of traders and merchants, artisans, and craftsman. The Pharisees, scribes, and teachers of
the law were also a part of the middle class. The lower class was made of laborers (weavers,
stone carriers, slaves, and the unemployable (lepers, blind, insane, handicapped).

(Slide #16) This economic disparity is seen in the following narrative recorded by Mark: “And he
sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.
Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins,
which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this
poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all
contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all
she had to live on” (12:41-44).

(Slide #17) The Roman government required heavy taxation of its people. Tax collectors were lo-
cal employees considered to be outcasts and traitors. The system of taxation was very unique in
Jesus' day. Regular imperial officers collected direct taxes, such as land and poll taxes, as part of
 their official duty. But the collection of tolls on exports and imports, and on goods transported
by merchants within the country was sold to the highest bidders (Levi is sitting in a booth near
the lake). This system of taxation, known as tax-farming, was borrowed from ancient Greece.
Under this system, wealthy individuals, usually foreigners, would purchase the contracts to col-
lect taxes for the state. These contract holders would then employ others from the area to be re-
sponsible for the tax collections in their own areas (Zacchaeus was a “chief tax collector”).

C. The Cultural Setting.

(Slide #18) The common language in the Roman Empire was Greek. However, at the time it was
common for Jews to also use Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin. Jesus’ every day language was Ara -
maic. This is demonstrated in the crucifixion narrative. (Slide #19) John 19:19-20 – “Pilate also
wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city,
and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek.”

(Slide #20) The average Jewish man was a farmer, holding a small plot of land. He rose early be -
fore the sun, dressed in a simple woolen or linen tunic and leather sandals, and tilled the fields
for several hours before returning home for his morning meal of vegetables and bread. The hub
of a village was the marketplace and shops. And for a Jewish village, the synagogue was a central
meeting place, and the seat of the local Jewish government.

The average Jewish woman was married off by her father in an arranged marriage, often as a
teenage girl. As a married woman, her life consisted of preparing food for her family. She would
grind grain, bake bread, milk the animals, and make cheese. Dinner was a large meal with
cheese, wine, vegetables and fruits, and eggs. Fish was most common meat, followed by chicken
or fowl. Beef and lamb was served only on special occasions, and pork was absolutely forbidden.
Most foods were boiled or stewed in a big pot and seasoned with salt, onions, garlic, cumin, co -
riander, mint, dill, and mustard. Food was generally served in a common bowl and eaten by dip-
ping in with the fingers.

(Slide #21) Houses were all purpose 1-2 room squares, with dirt floors, flat roofs, low and narrow
doorways, and front wooden doors. Often people would sleep on flat roofs during hot nights.
Water was carried in from a public well and stored in a courtyard cistern. Lighting was provided
by earthenware oil lamps. People slept on mats, and owned limited personal goods.

(Slide #22) Mark 2:1-4 – “And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported
that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not
even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a
paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they
removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on
which the paralytic lay.”

(Slide #23) As for clothing, the undergarment was called a tunic. The outer garment was called a
mantle, which was loose fitting with fringes, bound by blue ribbon. Men wore a leather belt or
cloth girdle. If one was wearing only an undergarment, then he was said to be naked or stripped.
John 21:8 states, “When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for
 he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.” If one was wearing only an undergar-
ment (tunic) and belt, they were said to be wearing a “loincloth.” The KJV phrase “to gird your
loins” meant that the tunic was pulled up between the legs and tucked into the belt.

D. The Religious Setting.

(Slide #24) A main source for information about the lives of first-century Jews is the Jewish histo-
rian Flavius Josephus, author of “The Antiquities of the Jews,” an account of a century of Jewish
revolts against Rome. Josephus claimed there were five sects of Jews at the time of Jesus: Phar-
isees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots and Sicarii. The Jewish religious and governing system was di -
vided between two parties. The Pharisees were the people’s party and they taught the law and
traditions of Israel’s patriarchs, and were strictly conforming to Jewish law. The Sadducees were
the wealthy and conservative leaders who controlled the high priest’s office and who rejected
the traditions in favor of political and religious cooperation with the Romans.

Jewish leaders fought for the purity of their belief in one God in the face of the conflicting Roman
worship of many gods. Yet at the same time, they fragmented into sects divided over variations
of the Jewish law.

(Slide #25) Jewish tradition was centered on the Sabbath Day. The day began on Friday at sun -
down and ended at Saturday sundown. Sabbath was started with prayer, the lighting of the can-
dles by the wife of the household, followed by a joyful Friday supper. Sabbath was considered to
be a day of rest and worship, where everything one did was in honor of God.

(Slide #26) The major religious holiday during the Jewish year was the Passover feast celebrating
the deliverance of the Jewish people from their slavery in Egypt. During the Passover, many Jews
would travel to Jerusalem in order to celebrate in the holy city. This is why Jesus and his disciples
traveled to Jerusalem for their last supper together. They were celebrating the Passover. This is
also the tradition that caused so many Jews to be present in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ ar -
rest, trial, and crucifixion.

The Jewish people were seeking a “Messiah.” They were waiting for the leader God had
promised who, according to their understanding, would bring them spiritual renewal and political
freedom from centuries of foreign oppression, currently from the Roman Empire.

(Slide #27) Matthew 2:1-6 – “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of
Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who
has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship
him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; (Slide #28)
and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the
Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

CONCLUSION: Even though the Jewish people were looking for Messiah, Jesus proved to be a disap-
pointment to them, and in the end, the majority of the nation rejected him.
(Slide #29) John 1:10-11 – “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did
not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

(Slide #30) Mark 8:31 – “And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and
be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise
again.”

(Slide #31) John 6:66-67 – “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”

While working on the sermon my mind was directed toward a book on my shelves. John Piper wrote a
book entitled, “What Jesus Demands of the World.” In the opening chapter he comments on the misun-
derstanding the Jewish people had toward the person of Jesus Christ. But he also notes the confusion
even his own disciples had to what Jesus was demanding of them when it comes to the concept of disci -
pleship. Jesus not only spoke abrasively to his adversaries. He also spoke abrasively to his disciples.

“THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST”

Sunday, January 25, 2015

(Slides #1-7) The reading of the narrative by Sandon Stepp

(Slide #8) INTRODUCTION: Last Sunday we talked about the first century world of Palestine and how the
political setting, the economic setting, the cultural setting, and the religious setting impacted the Jewish
response to the presentation of Jesus Christ. Each of these four settings are featured in the narrative of
the baptism of Jesus Christ by his older cousin, the prophet John the Baptist.

A. The Messenger.

The timing of the baptism of Jesus is expressed with the phrase, “In those days John the Baptist
came preaching in the wilderness of Judea” (3:1). The Jewish people were languishing under Ro-
man occupation with the three sons of Herod the Great ruling over their father’s empire with
Rome’s close watch over their actions. Luke’s Gospel account connects the beginning of Jesus’
public ministry with the political and religious leaders who were ruling in first century Palestine.
(Slide #9) “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of
Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea
and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Ca-
iaphas” (3:1-2). (Slide #10) Both the land and the leaders would encounter the Messiah and
have to answer for their rejection of him.

(Slide #11) In the midst of this volatile environment a unique personality came into the southern
region of the Judean wilderness and his demeanor and his message attracted large crowds to his
desert location. Most conservative biblical scholars place the beginning of John’s ministry in A.D.
27 or 28. The location of John’s baptizing ministry was in the southern region of the Jordan River
in the Judean Wilderness. “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of
Judea” (3:1). The individuals who came out to the wilderness to hear his message were primarily
from the region of Judea. “Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan
were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”
 John’s appearance was reminiscent of the prophet Elijah. “Now John wore a garment of camel's
hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey” (3:4). John
was ascetic in both his dress and his diet. The Old Testament historian describes the prophet Eli -
jah similarly. “They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his
waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite” (2 Kings 1:8). There was a prophecy within Judaism
that the prophet Elijah would return one day. Malachi closes the Old Testament revelation with
the promise, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the
Lord comes” (4:5), and John’s appearance created more speculation.

After the transfiguration Jesus would later acknowledge to his disciples that John in fact did fulfill
the role of the returning Elijah. (Slide #12) Mark 9:11-13 – “And they asked him, “Why do the
scribes say that first Elijah must come?” And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore
all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be
treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they
pleased, as it is written of him.”

Luke lets his readers know that John would pay a price for his boldness with a hint of what was to
come. (Slide #13) “But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his
brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all, that he
locked up John in prison” (3:19-20).

B. The Message.

(Slide #14) As the three Synoptic Gospel writers described John’s ministry, both his message and
his manner were reminiscent of the Old Testament prophets and they connected his main theme
to that of the prophet Isaiah. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who
was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight’” (3:3). John himself saw this connection
and commented on it when the religious leaders questioned his identify. He said, “I am the voice
of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah
said” (John 1:23).

John’s temperament was bold and blunt. It did not matter to him who was in his audience. He
was able to read people accurately and was able to see through their hypocritical motives. “But
when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You
brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with re-
pentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell
you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to
the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown
into the fire” (3:7-10).

He attacked religious hypocrisy and racial security. He attacked the religious leaders of his day
for they were using their position to teach the people a dead orthodoxy that did not create a per-
sonal relationship with the God they were supposedly worshiping. He demanded genuine repen-
tance that would be demonstrated in outward and tangible forms. He sought to remove the se-
curity of a people who took comfort in their race and who felt superiority in their religion. He re -
 jected religious and self-righteousness and preached about divine wrath and genuine repen-
tance.

Luke’s account elaborates on the makeup of the audience that came out to hear John’s message.
In addition to the religious leaders who were held in high esteem (3:7-9), Luke also mentions two
groups of individuals who were hated. “And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?”
And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and who -
ever has food is to do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him,
“Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to
do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort
money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.” (3:10-
14).

Luke informs his readers that John’s message should not be viewed as solely doom and gloom.
Rightly seen, John’s message was actually good news. “So with many other exhortations he
preached good news to the people” (3:18).

C. The Means.

(Slide #15) But along with John’s boldness toward people was a genuine humility when it came
to the person of Jesus, his younger cousin. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who
is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing
floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire”
(3:11-12). This humility was seen in his initial hesitation to baptize Jesus. “Then Jesus came from
Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I
need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (3:13-14).

Jesus’ decision to be baptized by John was to publicly identify with this movement that de-
manded radical change in one’s relationship with God. By getting baptized, Jesus was publicly
approving of John’s ministry. This public act also launched Jesus’ ministry, begun by John, among
the Jewish people of announcing his Messianic work. “But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so
now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented” (3:15).

God the Father also publicly proclaimed His approval of the ministry of the Son. “And when Je-
sus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were
opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him;
and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased”
(3:16-17).

CONCLUSION: Some thoughts on religion from this narrative:

A meaningful faith demands a radical change of heart and a new way of thinking about life. That is what
repentance is all about.

A meaningful faith requires a public demonstration of one’s identification with God and His plan for the
world. Baptism by immersion is a great starting point. Sharing one’s faith is also important.
A meaningful faith will eliminate any religious hypocrisy that would tempt the practictioner to perform
one’s religion for the sake of others, when God knows your true motivation.

A meaningful faith produces a related change of ethics and behavior toward one’s fellow man.

A meaningful faith is a balanced approach of good news and bad news. While the Christian life produces
joy and happiness, there has to be an undercurrent of the approaching judgment of God in the back of
our minds as we go about life.

“THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST”

Sunday, February 1, 2015

(Slides #1-5) Pictures from Stas of the latest MTC session in the city of Kirovograd.

(Slide #6) INTRODUCTION: Mark’s account of the temptation is very brief and the main aspect that is
unique to him is the mention of the presence of wild animals in the wilderness. Mark also uses the dra -
matic verb “drove” () to describe the Spirit’s direction of Jesus to go to the wilderness.
Matthew and Luke use different verbs to describe the direction of the Spirit. Luke uses the passive verb
“was led by” () while Matthew uses the passive verb “was led by” (). Matthew’s account of
the temptation has a different arrangement of the three temptations. His order is the temptation to
make bread from stones, followed by the temptation to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, with the
offer of the kingdoms of the world as the third. Luke reverses the order of the second and third tempta-
tions. John does not have an account of this encounter.

One commentator notes three levels to this narrative: (1) Jesus is the pious Son who has unswerving al -
legiance to God as he begins his public ministry; (2) the battle between Satan and Jesus, which is initi -
ated by the Holy Spirit, will run through the entire Gospel; and (3) the success of Jesus in the wilderness
recalls Israel’s failure there. This last level is reinforced by the quotations of the Book of Deuteronomy
as Jesus responds to the temptations.

A. The Characters in the Temptation Narrative.

(Slide #7) The Gospel writers connect the baptism and temptation as related incidents. “And Je-
sus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilder-
ness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.” The significance of these two related events is
seen in the launching of Jesus’ public ministry, he needed to confront his chief adversary and de-
fine what type of Messiah he would be. At the baptism the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus and in
the related narrative, the Spirit is directing Jesus to confront Satan in his domain.

(Slide #8) The location appears to have been in the Judean wilderness to the west of the Dead
Sea. The physical fast that Jesus endured prepared him for the temptation, but it also acerbated
the temptation. “And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended,  he was
hungry.”

Medically speaking, most doctors agree that healthy humans can go up to eight weeks without
food as long as they have water. People have gone longer and been fine, and people have
 starved to death in less time. Being strong and in good physical shape can help you survive
longer, but so does having extra body fat. The body stores energy needed to live in the form of
fat, carbohydrates and proteins. The carbs are the first thing to be used up without more food
coming in. The fat goes next, which explains why people with more of it can survive longer.
Then the proteins go. If you get to the point that your body is using up proteins, basically the
body itself, then you're in bad shape.

The Bible portrays Satan as an inquisitor in the heavenly courts, as an accuser, and as a tempter.

(Slides #9-11) Job 1:6-11 – “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present them-
selves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where
have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and
from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant
Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and
turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no rea-
son? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You
have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch
out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”

B. The Character of the Temptations.

1. The First Temptation (Luke 4:3-4). (Slide #12)

Satan’s first temptation addressed Jesus’ most immediate need which was food. “The
devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” The
conditional sentence does not imply that Satan doubted the fact that Jesus was the Son of
God. The fact that he is tempting Jesus implies that he believes this to be true.

Based upon Jesus’ quotation of Deuteronomy 8:3, the nature of the temptation was that
Satan wanted Jesus to doubt the goodness of God in seeing his physical need and in
meeting that need. The nation of Israel was confronted with the same doubt, and suc-
cumbed to the temptation and took it upon themselves to meet their own need indepen-
dent of God’s provision. Satan wanted Jesus to focus on his physical hunger and conclude
that God had abandoned him. Surely God is treating you poorly. That is the original
temptation Satan presented to Eve.

Jesus responded to the temptation with a quotation of Deuteronomy 8:3. And Jesus an-
swered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” 

(Slides #13-14) Deuteronomy 8:1-3 – “The whole commandment that I command you to-
day you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the
land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers.  And you shall remember the whole way
that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might
humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his
commandments or not.  And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with
manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you
 know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes
from the mouth of the LORD.”

Moses does a brief walk memory lane (“you shall remember the whole way”) with the
people to remind them that their forty years of wandering in the wilderness was precisely
because their parents had been negligent to obey the same commandments that Moses
was rehearsing with them now. Everything that had happened the past forty years was
part of a test from God to reveal what was truly in their hearts. And what was truly in
their hearts was revealed by their obedience or disobedience to the requirements of the
law. And the primary means of testing was done in the form of withholding certain basic
necessities of life to find out if the people would rely on God or rely on themselves to ful -
fill that need. The primary reference was the miraculous provision of manna.

2. The Second Temptation (Luke 4:5-7).

(Slide #15) The second temptation appears to have been visionary. “And the devil took
him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to
him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me,
and I give it to whom I will.  If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” The second
temptation addressed the worldwide authority that Jesus would one day possess.

(Slide #16) Philippians 2:9-11 – “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on
him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

It is interesting that Jesus does not debate Satan’s claim concerning his current posses-
sion of the domain of this world. The apostle Paul asserts the same claim in 2 Corinthians
4:3-4, (Slide #17) “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them
from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

While Satan is accurately described as the god of this world, his offer to Jesus may have
been exaggerated. Later in the Gospel of Luke he shares several narratives that demon-
strate Jesus’ authority over the domain of Satan. (Slide #18) The most dramatic demon-
stration was the healing of the demon-possessed man in the Gentile side of the lake (Luke
8:26-39). The nature of this temptation concerning the means whereby Jesus would re-
ceive the kingdoms of the world. The Father had promised him these kingdoms, but it
would involve suffering and death.

Jesus responded to this temptation with another quotation from the book of Deuteron-
omy. And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.’” The original passage read, “It is the LORD your God you
shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.”

3. The Third Temptation (Luke 4:9-12).

 (Slide #19) The third temptation has Satan taking Jesus from the wilderness to the city of
Jerusalem and it may have involved a vision as well. “And he took him to Jerusalem and
set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are  the Son of God, throw
yourself down from here, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to guard you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against
a stone.’” Most commentators suggest the Royal Porch on the SE corner of the temple
which loomed over a cliff and the Kidron Valley, creating a drop of some 450 feet.

Satan takes a new approach with this temptation. The first two temptations were re-
sponded to with the statement of Scripture. So, Satan does his own quotation of Scrip-
ture from Psalm 91. In this wisdom psalm the writer talks about the peace that comes
from “dwelling in the shelter of the Most High.” To dwell with God means to spend time
in his presence, to live with him, and to walk in his righteous ways. Time spent with God
will naturally limit the individual’s exposure to sin and the harmful consequences that
come from iniquity. The individual who will make the effort to spend time with God will
experience the protection of the Most High.

In response to this third temptation, Jesus, for the third time quoted from the book of
Deuteronomy. And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God
to the test’” (6:16).

And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an oppor-
tune time.

(Slide #20) APPLICATION: Some scholars argue that these tests were unique to Jesus and therefore we
cannot draw any principles from them. While the nature of the tests were unique to Jesus, the issues at
stake are fundamental to every child of God. Every believer will be faced with the temptation to go
one’s own way. Will we trust in the faithfulness of God even when we are faced with unpleasant cir -
cumstances? Will we worship God and God alone? And will we refuse to create a test of God’s good -
ness to us? Being a child of God requires the believer to do the will of God and walking in His way, even
when it requires suffering and self-denial.

Darrell Bock writes, “Satan tries to subvert our walk with God by offering shortcuts to spirituality, which
are really dead ends. In response, we must rely on God and, in some cases, walk the hard road with him.
Anything we do independent of the Lord expresses a lack of connection to him. Just as Jesus shows loy-
alty as the Son, we must show loyalty as God’s children.”

Jesus’ quotation of Scripture when confronted with temptation is a focal point of the narrative. Rather
than being a magical mantra that is quoted for good luck, it was Jesus’ belief in the power of God’s Word
that made the difference.

(Slide #21) Ephesians 6:10, 11, 17 – “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put
on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. And take
the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Jesus response to the temptations reveals his understanding of God’s purpose for his life. He was dedi-
cated to God’s purpose for his life, not his own purposes, desires, or comfort.
(Slide #22) The writer of Hebrews sees a benefit for the tempted believer because of the temptation of
Jesus. “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a mer-
ciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For be-
cause he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (2:17f)

“THE CALLING OF THE FIRST DISCIPLES”

Sunday, February 8, 2015

INTRODUCTION: John’s account of the calling of the disciples:

(Slide #1) 35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as
he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”  37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they fol-
lowed Jesus.  38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?”  And
they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”  (Slide #2) 39 He said to
them, “Come and you will see.”  So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him
that day, for it was about the tenth hour.  40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Je-
sus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.  41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We
have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).  42 He brought him to Jesus. (Slide #3) Jesus looked at
him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).
43 
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”
44 
Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to
him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, (Slide #4) Jesus of
Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Philip said to him, “Come and see.”  47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Be-
hold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”  48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?”
(Slide #5) Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
49 
Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”  50 Jesus an-
swered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater
things than these.”

A. The Initial Invitation.

(Slide #6) After the baptism at the hands of John, and after the temptation where Jesus con-
fronted his adversary, Jesus began his public ministry by traveling north where John had moved
his ministry of baptism. It was at this time that Jesus began to invite a group of individuals to be-
come his followers. While the three Synoptic Gospels have the well-known narrative where Je-
sus invites the fishermen on the shore of Galilee with the summons, “Follow me, and I will make
you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17; Luke 5:10), John records an earlier encounter
with some of the men who would become the twelve disciples. Therefore, when Jesus issued his
famous summons and the fishermen immediately left their nets, we need to realize they had
known Jesus for a year.

(Slide #7) A number of Jesus’ disciples were men from the northern region of Galilee who had
first been attracted to the ministry and message of John the Baptist that began in the southern
region of Judea. When this unique person began to boldly preach in the wilderness of Judea and
 confront people with their sin, John’s blunt message that demanded personal repentance caught
the attention of a group of men from Galilee. John’s message was so different from the standard
religious message of the orthodox Pharisees and the wealthy and political Sadducees. And so,
when John moved his base of operations north to the region east of Galilee, they had made the
journey to hear John’s message. Some of them became disciples of John, and he in turn, pointed
them to Jesus Christ. Of John’s disciples, Andrew was identified as one of them.

B. The Quizzical Question.

(Slides #8-12) Jesus’ question to Andrew and the unnamed disciple, “What are you seeking?” be-
gins a reoccurring theme in this section of sight, or better, spiritual insight.

The question, “What are you seeking?” can be taken on two levels. On the simple level, their cu-
riosity concerning the person of Jesus prompted Jesus to ask them what they were looking for.
But on a greater level, Jesus could have asked them what they were looking for in life. Did they
want a greater purpose to their lives than what they were presently experiencing? The fact that
they had been attracted to the ministry and message of John, and had apparently been baptized
by him, indicated they were looking for something more significant in life than what they had
previously experienced while living in the religious climate of first century Palestine. And then, as
we jump forward to Jesus’ encounter with Nathanael, Jesus promised even greater experiences.
Jesus made the bold statement to Nathanael, “You will see greater things than these.”

Now, let’s think about some of the amazing things the disciples saw in the three years they spent
with Jesus: (Slide #13) the miraculous feeding of the 5000, (Slide #14) Jesus walking on the water
at night, (Slide #15) dramatic healings of the deaf, blind, lame, and demon-possessed, (Slide #16)
numerous confrontations with the religious leaders, (Slide #17) the Triumphal Entry, (Slide #18)
the crucifixion, (Slide #19) resurrection, and (Slide #20) ascension.

(Slide #21) But, we also need to remember what the disciples had to experience so they could
see these dramatic events. They would have to leave their previous occupations behind and
commit themselves to this new person and his cause. “If anyone would come after me, let him
deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

They would have to be repeatedly humbled by Jesus’ words of rebuke when they yet again failed
to trust him. We see this after the Transfiguration when the nine disciples left behind were
asked by a father to heal his son. “I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” Je -
sus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with
you?” (Luke 9:40-41)

They would have to learn how to set their own needs aside and learn to minister to needy peo-
ple. We see this in the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 when the disciples had come back from
their first preaching tour and they were tired and in need of a vacation. We also see this when
Jesus rebuked the disciples for driving away the children who were brought by their parents to
be blessed by Jesus (Luke 18:15-17).
 They would have to learn to accept one another and stop vying for places of honor. We see this
in the calling of the tax collector Levi to join the group. We see this in their argument concerning
over who was the most important disciple to Jesus (Luke 9:46-48).

They would have to go from sitting on the sidelines and watching Jesus minister, to getting in-
volved in the ministry themselves.

They would hear Jesus say shocking statements like, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in
the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will
deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before gov -
ernors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.” (Matt 10:16-18)

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those
who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27-28)

“And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowl-
edge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the
angels of God.” (Luke 12:8-9)

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and
brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26)

They would experience personal disappointment when Jesus announced his death and they
would have to adjust their expectations of what God was going to do. “And taking the twelve, he
said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of
Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will
be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and
on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things.” (Luke 18:31-34)

And then they would have to be radically transformed from hiding from the authorities, to bold-
ing proclaiming the gospel of a risen Lord.

C. The Process of Becoming a Disciple.

(Slide #22) The term disciple “always implies the existence of a personal attachment which
shapes the whole life of the one described as and which in it particularity leaves no
doubt as to who is deploying the formative power.” Brooks says, "The idea is that of responding
to a summons, attachment to a person, acceptance of authority, and imitation of example."

Illustration: Aaron Janse, Dorothy DeLay (Itzak Perlman), Ivan Galamian, Konstantin Mostras,
Leopold Auer, Joseph Joachim, Johannes Brahms.

The response of Andrew to the person of Jesus shows the process of becoming a disciple.

1. First, it requires spending an extended time with Jesus to truly get to know him as a per-
son.
 2. Second, it requires a careful listening to Jesus’ voice so that his message is clearly under-
stood.

3. And third, it necessitates the seeking after other individuals to also become disciples of
Jesus.

“THE WEDDING MIRACLE AT CANA”

Sunday, February 15, 2015

INTRODUCTION: (Slide #1) On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of
Jesus was there.  2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the
mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have
to do with me?  My hour has not yet come.”  5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells
you.” (Slide #2) 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each
holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.”  And they filled
them up to the brim.  8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the
feast.”  So they took it. (Slide #3) 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine,
and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master
of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when
people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”  (Slide #4)
11 
This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples be-
lieved in him.

(Slide #5) Why Jesus Went To Parties! by Max Lucado. Why would Jesus, on his first journey, take his
followers to a party? Didn't they have work to do? Didn't he have principles to teach? Wasn't his time
limited? How could a wedding fit with his purpose on earth? Why did Jesus go to the wedding? The an-
swer? It's found in the second verse of John 2. "Jesus and his followers were also invited to the wed -
ding." Why did they invite him? I suppose they liked him. Big deal? I think so. I think it's significant
that common folk in a little town enjoyed being with Jesus. I think it's noteworthy that the Almighty
didn't act high and mighty. The Holy One wasn't holier-than-thou. You just don't get the impression
that his neighbors grew sick of his haughtiness and asked, "Well, who do you think made you God?" His
faith made him likable, not detestable. Would that ours would do the same!

May I state an opinion that may raise an eyebrow? May I tell you why I think Jesus went to the wed-
ding? I think he went to the wedding to-now hold on, hear me out, let me say it before you heat the tar
and pluck the feathers-I think Jesus went to the wedding to have fun. Maybe these thoughts catch you
by surprise. They do me. It's been awhile since I pegged Jesus as a party-lover. But he was. His foes ac-
cused him of eating too much, drinking too much, and hanging out with the wrong people! (See
Matthew 11:19 which states, “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A
glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’) I must confess: It's been awhile since I've
been accused of having too much fun. How about you? We used to be good at it. What has happened
to us? What happened to clean joy and loud laughter? Is it our neckties that choke us? Is it our diplo-
mas that dignify us? Is it the pew that stiffens us? Jesus took time for a party. . .shouldn't we?

Here is an alternative reading for those who do not believe in the historicity of this miracle: The wine
runs out. Water is served. Why, that’s the best joke of all! They lift their wine cups, as we do in fun
when we shout, ‘Adam’s ale is the best of all.” The bridegroom is congratulated by the master of cere-
monies, who carries the joke farther still. ‘Why you’ve kept the best wine until now. It requires only a
servant going through the room into the kitchen for a wonderful rumor to start.

Others blame Jesus and his disciples for the fact that the wine ran out because they were either poor gift
givers or they drank too much.

The other danger is over-theologizing the narrative: (1) the setting of a wedding represents the marriage
supper of the Lamb of Revelation 19; (2) the lack of wine and Jesus’ replacement with superior wine rep -
resents the failure of the Judaism of the Pharisees (new wine in old wineskins); (3) Mary’s role of influ -
encing Jesus supports the doctrine of Mariology; (4) the choice wine at Cana represents the Eucharist.

A. Jewish Wedding Customs.

(Slide #6) It is most likely that the wedding feast was to celebrate the marriage of a relative or
close friend of Mary and her family. Jesus’ mother was there, but Joseph is not mentioned,
which causes most scholars to assume he had died by this time. Because Jesus was back in re-
gion, he and his small band of disciples were invited to attend the weeklong celebration. John
also tells us that Nathanael was from the village of Cana (21:2). There are possible locations for
the village of Cana. Cana of Galilee is a ruin some nine miles north of Nazareth. The other possi-
ble location was about four miles NE of Nazareth on the road to Tiberius. Both sites have Roman
and Byzantine period ruins.

According to the Mishnah the wedding would take place on a Wednesday if the bride was a virgin
and on Thursday if she was a widow. The bridegroom and his friends made a procession to the
bride’s house. This procession was often done at night when there could be a spectacular torch-
light procession (Parable of the Ten Virgins). There were expressions of goodwill before the
bride and groom went in procession to the groom’s house where the wedding feast was held.

The wedding banquet was presided over by the “master of the feast” (John 2:8-9). It was his
duty to take care of the preparations, and during the feast he would get around among the
guests, and see to it that they lacked nothing. He instructed servants in carrying out all the nec-
essary details. The master of the feast returned thanks at the dinner and pronounced benedic-
tions at appointed times. He also blessed the wine.

Soon after the grape vintage, all wine would contain some alcohol (neither refrigeration nor her-
metic sealing existed). But the alcohol level of the wine was not increased artificially (distillation
was not in use); rather, the wine was watered down, with two to three parts water to one part
wine. Sometimes at Greek parties drunkenness was induced through less dilution or the addition
of herbal toxins, but Jewish teachers disapproved of such practices; that drunkenness is part of
the celebration at Cana is unlikely. Yet one would normally serve the better wine first because,
drunk or not, guests’ senses would become more dulled as the seven days of banqueting pro-
ceeded.

(Slide #) There was no religious ceremony at the feast. In place of this were the benedictions of
relatives and friends. “May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like
Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah
and be renowned in Bethlehem” (Ruth 4:11). It corresponds to the well wishing of Western wed-
 ding guests. These wedding festivities with relatives and friends lasted for a whole week (Judges
14:17), but the entire number of what was called "the days of the marriage" was thirty.

In the Middle East there was a strong sense of reciprocity when it came to weddings and the obli-
gation to serve one’s guests. When the supply of wine ran out, it would have been a social em-
barrassment for the bridegroom and his family.

(Slide #8) Matthew 22:1-4 – “And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of
heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to
call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other
servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my
fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’

(Slide #9) Luke 14:8-10 – “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down
in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who in-
vited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin
with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so
that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be hon-
ored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.”

B. The Miracle.

(Slide #10) The water in the six stone water jars (of 20 to 30 gallons each) was used for Jewish
purification rites before and after meals. (Slide #11) Mark 7:1-4 – “Now when the Pharisees
gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of
his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the
Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and
when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.”

Probably the water jars were outside. The master of the banquet, in charge of the festivities,
would not know he was drinking from the purification jars. For a Jew this would be unthinkable.
The servants dipped out the water, which had become wine. As the master of the banquet
tasted the wine, he found it to be superior to what they had been drinking. In contrast with a
common custom in which the best wine was served first and the lesser quality later, he affirmed
that this wine, served last, was the best.

C. The Meaning of the Miracle.

(Slide #12) John is the only one of the four Gospel writers to record this event and it makes sense
since he was one of first disciples to spend time with Jesus in the first year of his public ministry.
Of the four Gospel writers only John was there. Jesus’ first miracle in the Gospel of John was a
private one, known only to His disciples, some servants, and probably Jesus’ mother. John used
the word “signs” (sēmeiōn, v. 11) because he was seeking to draw attention away from the mira-
cles as such and to point up their significance. A sign is a miracle that points to something far
more significant than the miracle itself. This turning water into wine was the first of 35 recorded
miracles Jesus performed.
When the supply of wine was used up, Mary turned to Jesus in hope that He could solve the
problem. Did Mary expect a miracle? The word “woman” applied to His mother may seem
strange to a modern reader, but it was a polite, kind expression. Jesus used it later in John while
he was on the cross. “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing
nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” (19:26).

However, the clause, “What does this have to do with me?” was a common expression in Greek
that referred to a difference in realms or relations. Demons spoke these words when they were
confronted by Christ (Mark 1:24; 5:7). Mary had to learn a painful lesson (Luke 2:35), namely,
that Jesus was committed to God the Father’s will and the time for His manifestation was in the
Father’s hand. Mary’s response to the servants (“Do whatever He tells you”) revealed her sub-
mission to her Son. Even though she did not fully understand, she trusted Him.

“My hour has not yet come” or similar words is a significant theme in John’s Gospel and in Jesus’
awareness of his life and ministry.

(Slide #13) John 7:30 – “So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, be-
cause his hour had not yet come.”

(Slide #14) John 8:20 – “These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no
one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.”

(Slide #15) John 13:1 – “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour
had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world,
he loved them to the end.”

(Slide #16) Mark 14:32-41 – “And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his
disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to
be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to
death. Remain here and watch.” And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed
that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. (Slide #17) And he said, “Abba, Father, all
things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you
not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed
is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Slide #18) And again he went away and prayed, saying the
same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and
they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you
still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed
into the hands of sinners.”

(Slide #19) The significance of the miracle was explained by John as a manifestation of Christ’s
glory. The 120 gallons of fine wine were His gift to the young couple. The first miracle—a trans-
formation—pointed to the kind of transforming ministry Jesus would have (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17). The
disciples put their faith in Him. This initial faith would be tested and developed by a progressive
revelation of Jesus, the Logos. At this point they did not understand His death and resurrection
(John 20:8–9) but they did know His power.
 “JESUS AND NICODEMUS”
Sunday, February 22, 2015

(Slide #1) INTRODUCTION: Before the creation of the world God summoned all the human souls that
would be breathed into the world into His presence and He asked them, “Am I not your Lord?” and they
replied, “Yes we testify, we bear witness.” Therefore, as we move out of the divine presence and enter
the world, we carry with us a memory of that primordial covenant. According to Islam, this turning to
God is actually a returning. The Quran does not have a concept of repentance. Instead, it has the con -
cept of turning around, or reorienting oneself. Islam sees the spiritual life as a natural, innate human re -
sponse to the fact of our existence. The Reed Flute's Song by Rumi: “Listen to the story told by the reed,
of being separated. "Since I was cut from the reed bed, I have made this crying sound. Anyone apart
from someone he loves understands what I say. Anyone pulled from a source longs to go back.

(Slide #2) In the first year of Jesus’ public ministry, as he was gathering together a group of followers,
and as he began to present his Messianic credentials to the nation of Israel, he traveled south from his
base in Galilee to attend the Jewish holyday of Passover in Jerusalem with his disciples. With the capital
city teeming with Jewish worshipers, Jesus made some bold statements concerning his relationship to
God the Father (“do not make my Father's house a house of trade”) and he demonstrated some miracu -
lous signs that caused some Jews to believe in him. These public acts caught the attention of the Jewish
authorities and John records a night time interview with one curious, but cautious Pharisee.

(Slide #3) Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  2 This man
came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no
one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”  3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (Slide #4) 4 Nicodemus said to him,
“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be
born?”  5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God.  6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit.  (Slide #5) 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  8 The wind blows where it
wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with
everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”  10 Jesus an-
swered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? (Slide #6)
11 
Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen,
but you do not receive our testimony.  12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can
you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended
from heaven, the Son of Man.  (Slide #7) 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must
the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

A. Nicodemus’ Questions (John 3:1-2, 4, 9).

(Slide #8) Nicodemus was a man of religious and political influence within Jewish society in that
he was both a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin (“a ruler of the Jews”). While the New
Testament primarily portrays the Pharisees as the antagonists of Jesus, a study of their history re-
veals a godly origin. During the exile there arose a group of devout individuals who realized they
were being punished for forsaking God and the law. In response, they rededicated themselves to
God and to the law.
“Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard
them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and es-
teemed his name” (Malachi 3:16). These people, known as the Hasidim (“the godly people”),
were characterized by a passionate devotion to the law and an equally passionate hatred for the
corrupting influence of Greek culture, known as hellenization. The Pharisees came from the mid-
dle class and they enjoyed the favor of the common people. They lived in distinct communities,
yet remained a part of Jewish society. Admission into their ranks came after a period of proba-
tion of obeying strict standards. They attended meetings regularly, which included worship, an
intensive study of the law, and communal meals.

The Sanhedrin was the senate and supreme court of the nation, which had jurisdiction in all non-
capital cases. The Sanhedrin consisted of the high priest, who by virtue of this office was presi -
dent, and seventy elders, made up of members of the high priestly families, a few influential per -
sons of various formal ideological allegiances or backgrounds within Judaism, and the profes-
sional experts in the law drawn from both Sadducean and Pharisaic ranks. The Sadducees were
the majority, while the Pharisees were the vocal minority (Gamaliel in Acts 5).

Nicodemus’ night time interview with Jesus reveals several things about this man. While he was
curious and open-minded concerning the validity of Jesus’ ministry, he may have been afraid to
be seen with Jesus in public. While the Pharisees would turn against Jesus as a party later on,
there already was a growing concern with this untrained rabbi who had come upon the religious
scene in Palestine. Nicodemus’ opening statement reveals a respect for this man from Nazareth,
and an acknowledgement that his message and miraculous gifts were legitimately from God. So,
he is acknowledging that Jesus is the messenger of God. But he will need to acknowledge that
Jesus is also the Son of God.

Having said that, we need to look at the three verses that precede this narrative. (Slide #9) John
2:23-25 – “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his
name when they saw the signs that he was doing.  But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to
them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself
knew what was in man.”

(Slide #10) John 7:45-53 – “The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to
them, “Why did you not bring him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!”
The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the
Pharisees believed in him? (Slide #11) But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law
judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are
you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

(Slide #12) John 19:38-40 – “After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus,
but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pi-
late gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had
come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds
in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the
burial custom of the Jews.”
B. Jesus’ Declarations (John 3:3-15).

1. Jesus seems to completely ignore Nicodemus’ flattery and his acknowledgement, not of
his divinity, but of his legitimacy, of having “come from God.” Nicodemus has acknowl-
edged the legitimacy of Jesus’ miraculous signs and he wants to assess who he thinks Je-
sus is. Jesus gets to the heart of the matter for this religious man with a shocking state -
ment that declared the inadequacy of all religious activity as a means of pleasing God. In
effect, he told Nicodemus that without the benefit of the new birth, this religious leader
has no capacity to understand spiritual matters.

Jesus declares (3:3) that just as physical birth is necessary for entrance into the earthly
world, so spiritual rebirth (“born from above”) is necessary for entrance into the heavenly
world. This statement must have been a surprise to Nicodemus for I would assume that
he felt as a Pharisee that he would be a part of God’s kingdom. Don’t you suppose that
most pastors believe they will go to heaven? Why must individuals be born again?

 (Slide #13) Because every individual is spiritually dead. Ephesians 2:1-3 – “And you
were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the
course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is
now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the
passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were
by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

 (Slide #14) Because every individual is not born a child of God. John 8:44 – “You are
of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.”

 (Slide #15) Because every individual is spiritually ignorant. 1 Corinthians 2:14 – “The
natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to
him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually dis-
cerned.”

 (Slide #16) Because individuals are unable to help themselves. Ephesians 2:8-9 –
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own do-
ing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

2. Jesus declares (3:5-8) that just as physical birth is not a personal achievement, but is ac-
complished by our parents, so spiritual rebirth is not a personal achievement, but is ac -
complished by our heavenly Father. Jesus is saying there is a physical birth, but there
must also be a spiritual rebirth.

“Born of water and the Spirit” has several possible interpretations: (1) the reference to
water speaks of physical birth and the reference to the Spirit speaks of spiritual rebirth;
(2) it might be looking back to the baptismal ministry of John the Baptist who demanded
genuine repentance before being baptized. We know that Pharisees came out to see
John (Matthew 3:7); (3) Jesus is speaking of a spiritual pouring out that the prophets
spoke of. “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.”
 In Jesus’ illustration he used a play on words to illustrate the invisible work of the Spirit.
The Greek word is used for both “wind” and “Spirit.” The work of the Spirit is in-
visible and mysterious, like the blowing of wind.

3. Jesus declares (3:10-15) that since Nicodemus could not grasp the basic teaching of re-
generation, which Jesus presented in earthly analogies, how could he understand and be-
lieve the more abstract heavenly matter.

(Slide #17) Jesus then makes a reference to Numbers 21:4-9. In the narrative of the
bronze serpent, the Israelites were guilty of disobedience, with a grumbling and unthank-
ful heart. They were under the condemnation of God and were being punished for their
sin. The object elevated before them was the emblem of their judgment. They were un-
able to rescue themselves. They were urged to look at the serpent in order to receive life.

In both cases, death threatens as a punishment for sin. In both cases, it is God himself
who, in His sovereign grace, provides a remedy. In both cases, this remedy consists of
something which must be lifted up in public view. In both cases, those who, with a believ-
ing heart, look on that which is lifted up, are healed.

John 8:28 – “So Jesus said to them, “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 authority, but speak just as the
Father taught me.”

John 12:32-33 – “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to my-
self.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”

“JESUS AND SAMARITAN WOMAN”

Sunday, March 22, 2015

(Slide #1) INTRODUCTION: There are numerous ways this narrative can be examined.

1. We could examine the narrative from a cultural perspective and marvel at the cultural norms Je-
sus violated to talk to this woman:

(Slide #2) Read John 4:7-10

a. (Slide #3) She was a woman and in that Middle Eastern culture men did talk to strange
women.

b. She was a Samaritan woman, which we will explain about later.

c. She was an immoral woman, which Jesus revealed with his question, but which the narra-
tive revealed by the timing of the story.

2. We could study the narrative from a theological perspective:

(Slides #4-5) Read John 4:19-26

 a. (Slide #6) The Samaritans erected a rival temple on Mount Gerizim around the time of
Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.). Mount Gerizim became the main point of divergence
between the Samaritans and the Jews. "At what point can the Samaritans be accepted
into Judaism? When they reject their belief in Mt. Gerizim."

b. The theological priority of the Jews (4:22). Paul demonstrated this priority in his mission-
ary work (Acts 18:5-6) and in his letters. Romans 9:4-5 – “They are Israelites, and to them
belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the
promises.  To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is
the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”

c. The Samaritan anticipation of the Coming One known as the Taheb, the Restorer.

3. We could study the narrative from an evangelistic perspective and see the creative way Jesus in-
teracted with this woman to make her aware of her true need:

(Slides #7-8) Read John 4:11-15

a. (Slide #9) Jesus first pique her curiosity by talking about living water as she was drawing
water, a routine she did her entire life.

b. Jesus then explored her moral life to reveal a spiritual vacuum in her life.

c. Jesus did not allow a religious question to distract him from her true spiritual need.

TRANSITION: While each of these approaches is biblically valid, I want us to examine the narrative from
another perspective this morning. But, before I present my approach, let’s take a look at the back -
ground to this narrative.

A. The Background to the Narrative (John 4:1-6).

Chronologically, John places the encounter of Jesus and the Samaritan woman on the return trip
north to Galilee after Jesus had spent time in Jerusalem for the Passover. After the holyday, Je-
sus and his disciples had spent an extended time in the province of Judea engaged in their own
ministry of baptism. (Slide #10) Read John 3:22-24.

(Slide 11) John was now baptizing disciples at a location known as Aenon which John tells us was
near Salim, which biblical scholars say is south of Beth-Shan. When the Pharisees began to focus
their attention even further on Jesus, he decided it was time to head back north and continue his
ministry of proclaiming his Messianic identity throughout the entire country, but without their
particular scrutiny. With his small band of disciples, Jesus traveled north on the Central Ridge
Route through the region of Samaria. (Slide #12) The travelers came to the village of Sychar, and
while the disciples went into the village to buy food, Jesus sat down near the well that was at the
outskirts of the village. Thirsty from travel, and because it was noon, Jesus was looking for an op-
portunity to quench his thirst.
 (Slide #13) Read John 4:1-6

B. The History of Hostility (John 4:7-26).

1. (Slide #14) The history of hostility began in 931 B.C. when Solomon died and the kingdom
divided with the 10 northern tribes rejecting Rehoboam and following Jeroboam. And in-
terestingly, this rejection took place at Shechem (1 Kings 12).

2. The hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans became racially fixed with Sargon’s
destruction of Samaria in 722 B.C. and the Assyrian policy of deportation and racial inte-
gration (2 Kings 17:24). In accordance with Assyrian policy, the population of Samaria
was deported to various places throughout the Assyrian Empire. Other conquered peo-
ples were transferred into Samaria. The purpose of these population transfers was to de-
stroy any sense of nationalism among the conquered people.

3. The hostility was intensified by the Samaritans’ opposition to the rebuilding of the walls
around Jerusalem in the fifth century B.C. (Nehemiah 4:1-2).

4. The rivalry continued with the Samaritans’ erection of a rival temple on Mount Gerizim
around the time of Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.).

5. The racial hatred increased when the Samaritans joined with the Seleucids, the successors
to the empire of Alexander the Great, against the Jews in the conflict of 167-164 B.C. Ju-
das Maccabeus led a band of Jews in defending Jewish culture and religion against its Hel-
lenization of Antiochus.

6. The hatred was sealed for the Samaritans by John Hyrcanus’ destruction of the Gerizim
temple and the city of Samaria in 127 B.C. However, it remained a holy site for the
Samaritans, and all religious acts were performed "in the name of Mt. Gerizim."

7. (Slide #15) The conflict was illustrated by Jesus in the telling of the Parable of the Good
Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).

C. The Discipleship of the Disciples (John 4:27-38).

(Slide #16) Notice the behavior of the disciples. They apparently had no aversion to traveling
through Samaritan country to get back to Galilee. And they apparently had no problem buying
food from Samaritan shopkeepers (4:8). But it appears at this stage in their discipleship training
that the idea of interacting with a Samaritan on spiritual matters had not crossed their minds. In
fact, when the disciples came back from the village with the food they had purchased, they were
amazed to see Jesus talking to this Samaritan woman. “Just then his disciples came back. They
marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are
you talking with her?” (4:27). Setting aside the racial bias of the day, the disciples may have
thought that talking to a woman about spiritual matters was a waste of time. As Jesus would
demonstrate time and again, he regularly engaged woman in spiritual matters (Mary and Martha,
woman taken in adultery, Mary Magdalene).
But, despite their curiosity, the disciples lacked the courage to ask Jesus what he was doing talk -
ing to her. And having missed the conversation that took place between Jesus and the woman,
when she headed back to town, the only thing they were interested in was in eating. “Mean-
while the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”  But he said to them, “I have food to eat
that you do not know about.”  So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him
something to eat?” (4:31-33). And when Jesus told them that he had had his needs satisfied,
they mistakenly thought someone had fed Jesus while they had been in town. Jesus used the oc-
casion to teach the disciples about his priorities during his lifetime, and what their priorities
needed to become.

Jesus responded to the first temptation with a quotation of Deuteronomy 8:3. And Jesus an-
swered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” 

Illustration: My first experience with this feeling was the night I came home after witnessing to
two friends in high school.

Talking points:

 Jesus wanted to teach the disciples that meeting people’s spiritual needs is far more impor-
tant and far more fulfilling than satisfying their own physical needs. Jesus would have to
remind them of this truth at the feeding of the 5000. I learned this lesson after my fa-
ther’s death when I had to be the dean at Camp Shiloh. I remind myself of this every
Wednesday night when I come to minister to the kids.

 Jesus wanted the disciples to realize that God had placed a greater call on their lives than
what they were currently engaged in, and that there was something meaningful they
could accomplish in this lifetime.

 Jesus wanted to teach the disciples that there was an urgency and an immediacy to the spiri-
tual harvest that was taking place around them.

 Jesus wanted to teach the disciples that sowing and reaping are equally important parts of
evangelism and that engaging in the effort brings true joy.

 Jesus wanted to teach the disciples that being a part of someone experiencing eternal life
would give their lives the greatest sense of purpose to their lives.

 That it would take the disciples awhile to learn this lesson is demonstrated later in the
Gospels. James and John requested the supernatural destruction of Samaritans because
they would not receive Jesus. Luke 9:51-54 – “When the days drew near for him to be
taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who
went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the peo-
ple did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disci-
ples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down
from heaven and consume them?”
  Peter and John later experienced this joy when they traveled north to Samaria to confirm the
ministry of Philip among the Samaritans (Acts 8).

“HOMETOWN HERO”
Sunday, March 29, 2015

(Slide #1) TEXT: “16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he
went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isa-
iah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are op-
pressed, (Slide #2) 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it
back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he
began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all spoke well of
him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not
this Joseph's son?” 23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, (Slide #3)
‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as
well.”24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell
you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years
and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but
only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. (Slide #4) 27 And there were many
lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the
Syrian.” 28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up
and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so
that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away.

A. The Synagogue Service.

(Slide #5) The synagogue came into existence during the Babylonian captivity after the temple in
Jerusalem had been destroyed. Living in the land of Babylon, with no temple remaining in
Jerusalem, there was a vacuum created in the lives of the devoutly religious Jews. They felt the
need to have a place of worship where they could gather for instruction and prayer. And even
after their return to Palestine, and after the temple had been rebuilt, the synagogue continued to
flourish in Jewish society as a place for the Pentateuch and the Prophets to be read and studied.

The building was usually built on the highest spot of land near or in the town. Although the rec-
tangular size could vary, the building must be facing the temple in Jerusalem. It was considered a
great act of piety to finance the construction of a synagogue. Luke records a narrative where a
Roman centurion was praised by the Jewish elders to Jesus, “for he loves our nation, and he is
the one who built us our synagogue” (Luke 7:5). In the interior of the synagogue at the upper
end stood the ark in which the scrolls of the Law and the Prophets were stored. Up there were
the most important seats that the Pharisees vied for (Luke 11:43). Toward the middle was a
raised platform large enough for several people to stand. In the middle was a raised pulpit
where the Reader read the lesson or was seated to teach. The congregation was divided down
the middle with a partition, five or six feet high, separating the men from the women. One syna-
gogue had a balcony where the women and children could sit.
The chief officer was the ruler (or rulers) of the synagogue who had the responsibility for taking
care of the public worship of the synagogue. Mark records the narrative of a ruler of the syna -
gogue name Jairus who asked Jesus to heal his daughter (Mark 5:21-43).

His duties included selecting suitable people to read the Scriptures and to lead in prayer, picking
qualified speakers to preach, and overseeing the building. In Acts 13:15 Luke writes of Paul and
Barnabas’ visit to a synagogue in Antioch, “After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the
rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of en-
couragement for the people, say it.”

Another officer was the attendant of the synagogue. His job was to care for the sacred scrolls, to
blow the trumpet to announce the beginning of the Sabbath, and to perform any corporate pun-
ishment deemed necessary. He was in charge of the building and during the service he per-
formed functions somewhat like those of an usher in a modern church. This individual is fea -
tured in our narrative this morning. Luke writes, “And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to
the attendant and sat down” (Luke 4:20).

For the Sabbath morning service some ten or eleven individuals were required. First, there was
the “messenger of the congregation” who read the prayers. Second were the readers of the law,
seven in number. Third was the reader of the prophets (Luke 4:17). Fourth, when the biblical
Hebrew was not understood by the congregation, an “interpreter” was required, whose duty it
was after each verse of the law, and after each three verses of the prophets, to translate the He-
brew into the language which the congregation understood. Fifth was the preacher, also se -
lected from the congregation. As time went on the tendency was more and more to assign all
these duties to one person, who also became a permanent officer, and in the modern synagogue,
the rabbi, as in the modern Christian church the pastor, has absorbed nearly all the functions of
all the above offices. But in the time of Jesus, as the New Testament itself shows, the custom
was still substantially as we have described it.

The two elements of the ancient service were, speaking broadly, worship and instruction, with in-
struction taking the dominant role. The worship aspect was represented by the prayers which
were read, with responses by the congregation. The service of song, in the form of hymns seems
to have had no place in the ancient synagogue. The prayers, however, have been from very an -
cient times chanted or intoned. The “music” of this intonation has been handed down only by
tradition, and its precise antiquity cannot now be determined. Of these prayers there have come
down to us from ancient times nineteen so called eulogies, and four benedictions. The element
of instruction was represented by the reading of the law and the prophets, and by the sermon,
which though not an essential or uniform part of the service, was, as the New Testament itself
shows, a well-recognized and frequent element of it. Preaching very much in our modern sense
of the term was a well-developed art among the Jews of the post-exilic period. The recital of the
Shema combined the elements of instruction and worship.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 – “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that
I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children,
and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you
lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as
 frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your
gates.”

B. The Sabbath in Nazareth.

(Slide #6) Following his baptism, the temptation in the wilderness, and the ministry in Judea, Je-
sus eventually traveled north to his home region of Galilee by passing through the territory of
Samaria. As he ministered in the cities of lower Galilee his reputation and popularity grew
steadily larger. His ministry in the synagogues was received positively (“being glorified by all”).

Having generalized Jesus’ itinerant teaching ministry in the synagogues of Lower Galilee, Luke se-
lected a specific occasion where Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth. Situated inside a
bowl atop the Nazareth ridge north of the Jezreel Valley, Nazareth was a relatively isolated vil-
lage in the time of Jesus with a population less than two hundred. It had no trade routes and
was of little economic importance. Archaeological excavations have confirmed that Nazareth
was only a small agricultural village during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Nazareth was a
small Jewish village where people knew one another, and where they gathered in the synagogue.

(Slide #7) Since it was the Sabbath, according to his custom, Jesus went to the synagogue to wor-
ship. Because he was recognized as a teacher, the ruler of the synagogue invited Jesus to read
from the Prophets and to deliver the sermon. The portion of Scripture Jesus read was Isaiah
61:1-2. Having concluded the reading, Jesus rolled up the scroll, handed it to the attendant, and
sat down to begin his sermon. Luke says “the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.”
The inhabitants of this little village had observed Jesus for thirty years as he grew to adulthood.
During those days he had not performed any miracles nor openly proclaimed his Messiahship.
Now that he had returned to his hometown, his fame of miracles and messages had preceded
him. The hometown people were waiting with great anticipation to hear from their famous son.

Jesus began his explanation of the messianic passage with these words, “Today this Scripture has
been fulfilled in your hearing.” After many chapters of delivering bad news to a disobedient peo -
ple, Isaiah now tells the nation that a future day is coming when God will once again show favor
to his people. He will end their captivity and reverse their fortunes. The ancient city of
Jerusalem that lay in ruins for years will be rebuilt and returned to a condition of splendor. Once
Israel addresses its spiritual poverty God will address its financial poverty. God will establish a
permanent covenant with his people and justice will prevail. The nation will be clothed in right-
eousness and characterized by joy.

The implication was quite unmistakable: Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah who could bring
the kingdom of God which had been promised for hundreds of years. The initial reaction of the
people was a fascination with his kind and wise manner of speech. But their question, “Is not
this Joseph’s son?” reveals their perplexity and a growing irritation at this man who had grown
up in their village and who was now making some outlandish claims. As Jesus sensed their grow-
ing skepticism, he made a series of statements which irritated them even more. In their disbelief
they asked him to show them a miraculous sign, similar to what they had heard about his min-
istry in Capernaum. Jesus realized their rejection of his ministry was simply in keeping with their
rejection of the ministries of God’s prophets down through Israel’s history. Jesus cited two fa-
mous prophets, Elijah and Elisha, who had more effective ministries outside the country. When
 they understood the implications of his words, the same people who had welcomed, now tried to
kill him.

C. The Response to the Sermon.

(Slide #8) Jesus attended the synagogue service on the Sabbath and made it a custom. Regular
worship is a great custom for an individual and a family to develop. Getting your children to the
point where not going to church is considered highly unusual is a great goal to reach. But, regu-
lar church attendance also has its dangers.

While we could commend these people for taking the time to attend the synagogue that day, we
can also question why they bothered to do so. What were they expecting would happen that
day? It appears that they were expecting their hometown son to make them feel proud that
their little community had produced a well-known rabbi. They were expecting Jesus to do some
miracles like they had heard he had performed in Capernaum. It seems they wanted a show, not
a sermon.

And the Word of God, which had been read in their services for decades, did not suit their fancy
when it was delivered to them by Jesus. What is the point of reading and studying Scripture if
you are not going to let it change the way to think and behave?

When it dawned on the congregation that the speaker was about them, they told him to mind his
own business. The proverb “Physician, heal yourself” means mind your own business. It is simi-
lar to my Dad’s irritation with a doctor who advised him to lose some weight.

(Slide #9) Hebrews 10:24-25 – “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good
works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another,
and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

(Slide #10) James 1:22-25 – “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your-
selves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently
at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he
was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no
hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

“THE FIRST FISHING LESSON”

Sunday, April 5, 2015

INTRODUCTION: As I contemplated what to preach on for Easter, I also wanted to continue my sermon
series on the life of Christ. And so, as I was reading through the narratives in the Synoptic Gospels of the
launching of Jesus’ public ministry in the region around Galilee, I began to see some interesting parallels
between the message of the resurrection and the events that took place around the lake.

A. Matthew’s Account (4:12-25).

According to Matthew, Jesus left his hometown of Nazareth and moved his base of operation to
the fishing village of Capernaum which was located on the NW corner of Galilee. In the Bible Ge -
 ography series, we learned that Jesus made this strategic move for several reasons: (1) Galilee
was heavily populated in the first century, especially around the sea; (2) it was a very religious re-
gion based on the many synagogues discovered in the towns; (3) the international trade route,
the Via Maris, ran through this area near the city of Capernaum, which brought the world to Je-
sus’ doorstep; and (4) the eastern side of the lake was the territory of the Decapolis, a federation
of ten Gentile cities, that would have exposed the disciples to the pagan people.

Writing to Jewish audience, Matthew saw within this geographical move a prophetic connection.
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of
the Gentiles—the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in
the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” Matthew quoted Isaiah 9:1-2
which prophesied of the entrance of light into a once darkened land. “But there will be no gloom
for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun
and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land
beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great
light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”

Even though the immediate future promised doom for the northern kingdom of Israel, Isaiah
prophesied a distant glorious future for the northern region that encompassed the territory of
Galilee. Light would once again pierce this dark land and the nation that once rejected God
would rejoice in his presence. God will remove the punishment of an oppressor and will give
them a ruler who will govern with justice and righteousness. A child will be born who will sit on
the throne of David and establish a permanent kingdom. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is
given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonder-
ful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Jesus could offer those who
were living in the shadow of death the only chance at life. And for them to experience true life,
they would have to repent of their sin and acknowledge him as their Messiah.

In addition to the proclamation of the Gospel, Jesus began to call a small group of individuals to
leave their previous lives behind and become fishers of men. Since Peter, and his brother An-
drew, and their business partners, James, and his brother John, had had a year to contemplate
this decision, they were ready to accept this challenge. As Jesus began his discipleship course for
these men, he took them on a preaching tour throughout the region of Galilee where he pro-
claimed the Gospel in their synagogues and where he engaged in a healing ministry.

B. Mark’s Account (1:14-39).

Mark coordinates the beginning of Jesus' public ministry with the conclusion of John's public min-
istry. “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and
saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the
gospel.” Jesus began to proclaim the message of the “kingdom of God” throughout the region of
Galilee because as their Messiah, he had now arrived. Mark presents the first Peter portrait with
the calling of the fishermen to become his disciples. “Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he
saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Andrew and
Peter had met Jesus a year earlier, down in the region of Judea, when John the Baptist pointed
out Jesus to two of his disciples with the statement, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
 Mark then records a day in the life of Capernaum (1:21-34). Because it was the Sabbath, Jesus
and his disciples attended the synagogue service. Because Jesus was a recognized teacher, the
leader of the synagogue extended an invitation to him to address the congregation. In addition
to amazing the people with his authoritative speaking, in the audience was a man who was suf-
fering from demon-possession. Jesus' authoritative use of God's Word incited the demon to
speak because it recognized the true identity of “Jesus of Nazareth” to be, in fact, “the Holy One
of God!” Jesus sternly rebuked the demon and commanded it to come out of the man. The ex -
citement of what happened in the synagogue that morning spread around the region by word of
mouth, and as the Sabbath came to an end, a line of people afflicted by the miseries of life
formed outside the home of Peter.

C. Luke’s Account (4:31-5:11).

In Luke’s account, following the rejection of his hometown, Jesus left Nazareth and came to the
village of Capernaum. In that synagogue Jesus’ teaching had a different reception and the people
“were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.” Luke also recorded Jesus’
encounter with the demonic world where he cast an evil spirit out of a man in the audience. In
the confrontation, the demon acknowledged Jesus’ identity and his purpose for coming into the
world, which was to destroy the power of the Devil. Jesus had repeated encounters with the de -
monic world in Capernaum and in the various villages that were scattered around the lake. As he
performed more miracles, his fame and popularity continued to grow.

Luke provides a more extensive account of the formal calling of four fishermen to be his disci -
ples. In the midst of a large crowd, Jesus sought to distance himself from the pressing crowd so
he could communicate more effectively. Peter and Andrew were cleaning their nets nearby on
the shore after a night of failed fishing and Jesus asked the men if he could use their boat. Once
away from shore, Jesus used the natural acoustics of the lake to more effectively communicate
with the crowd. When the sermon had ended, Jesus sought to give the brothers a fishing lesson.
Peter told Jesus he was willing to give it a try even though they had had no success through the
night. To demonstrate his power over nature, Jesus caused the men to catch such a large school
of fish that they nets began to break. They signaled for help from their partners and James and
John brought their boat nearby and the two boats began to sink from the weight of the fish. This
miracle revealed to Peter that he was in the presence of the divine, and he naturally confessed
his sinfulness and manifested it as well as he fell on his knees in the boat. Jesus responded to his
confession by conscripting him and the other fishermen into his band of disciples.

CONCLUSION: The connections between these narratives and the resurrection:

 Like Matthew, you need to realize there is something bigger and eternal that is going on than just
your individual life. That doesn’t mean your life is unimportant. But what gives your life eternal
importance is your understanding that God is accomplishing His plan for His world and that you
can be a part of it if you align your life with God’s plan.

 The awareness of the need for personal repentance and the forgiveness of sins. Repentance is the
changing of one’s mind about one’s standing before God. For the most part, the religious estab-
lishment was offended by the message of repentance, and as Jesus predicted, it was the out -
 siders and sinners who saw their need of salvation. One of the famous statements of the Passion
narrative is Jesus’ words, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

 The encounter between Jesus and the people who were suffering the effects of living in a fallen
world and his desire to alleviate human suffering so he could address their spiritual suffering.
Human suffering, in the form of life-threatening diseases, physical pain, and demon possession,
reminds me that we are living in a fallen world. God can use these ailments to remind us of our
need of Him and that each one of us headed for eternity. “He will wipe away every tear from
their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any-
more, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

 The two fishing lessons Jesus gave Peter to teach him about discipleship and the disciple’s task of
making more disciples. We already looked at the first fishing lesson that Jesus gave Peter when
called him to be fishers of men. The second fishing lesson took place after the resurrection.
“After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed
himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the
sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am
going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but
that night they caught nothing. 4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the dis-
ciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They
answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will
find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of
fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter
heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw
himself into the sea. 8 The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they
were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.
15 
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love
me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to
him, “Feed my lambs.”

“THE POOL OF BETHESDA”

Sunday, April 12, 2015

[Slide #1] INTRODUCTION: During the Galilean ministry recorded by the three Synoptic Gospel writers,
Jesus headed south to Judea to attend an unnamed “feast of the Jews,” a visit that is only recorded by
John. It appears from the miracle and the interaction with the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, that the pri-
mary purpose of this trip was to present his Messianic credentials, first with the performance of an un -
deniable public miracle, followed by a series of public statements where he proclaimed his unique rela-
tionship with God the Father. It seems that by making this trip, Jesus sought to engage (and enrage) the
Jewish religious leaders.

[Slide #2] TEXT: “After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is
in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colon-
nades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.  5 One man was there who had
been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 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?” 
[Slide #3] 7 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.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up
your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that
day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is
not lawful for you to take up your bed.”

[Slide #4] 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed,
and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now
the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd
in the place.14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no
more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 

[Slide #5] 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was
why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus an-
swered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

[Slide #6] As Jesus walked through the ancient city of Jerusalem he came to a pool called Bethesda
(“house of mercy”). John described the pool as having five roofed colonnades which is a puzzling fea-
ture suggesting an unusual five-sided pool. Most scholars dismissed this description as an unhistorical
literary creation. The Bethesda Pool was excavated in the late 19th century, but it took more than 100
years for archaeologists to accurately identify and interpret the site. The Pool of Bethesda was located
on the eastern side of the city near the Fortress of Antonia. The water source was a nearby spring. Ar -
chaeologists at Bethesda unearthed two large water reservoirs separated by a broad rock dike. They
were rectangular in shape, with four colonnaded porticos around the sides and one across the central
dike. The purpose of the reservoirs was to collect rainwater, principally for Temple use.

[Slide #7] Today the location of the Pools of Bethesda, which are actually a series of reservoirs and
medicinal pools, is in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City, north of the Temple Mount and about
55 yards inside St. Stephen’s or Lions’ Gate. At the time of John’s narrative, the gate was called the
Sheep Gate, because this was where sheep were brought to the Temple for sacrifice.

Lying in these covered colonnades were many invalids, people who were blind, lame and paralyzed. The
waters were believed to have had healing powers. Although older manuscripts do not support the read -
ing, the KJV reads, “waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season
into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in
was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.”

[Slide #8] Evidence of a pagan healing sanctuary has been found east of the pools, including marble rep-
resentations of healed organs, such as feet and ears. Roman medicinal baths constructed at the
Bethesda Pool only a century or two later reflect this continued tradition. When Christians controlled
Jerusalem in the Byzantine and Crusader periods, they liked to mark the sites of Jesus’ miracles and
other important events in his life, so they added a chapel and churches that now cover the Bethesda
Pool complex. The Church of St Anne (according to tradition she was Jesus’ maternal grandmother),
built around 1140, stands nearby. The compound containing the pools and the church is owned by the
French government and administered by a religious order known as the White Fathers. I went to their
website and found the following statement: “In antiquity, because of the scarcity of rain in this region,
water was usually collected in big cisterns and pools. Even now, there are several underground cisterns
on our property. There was also a system of pools which supplied the Temple with water; there was a
great need for it because of the sacrifices.”

[Slide #9] So, why a pool with two basins? The archaeological evidence shows that the southern basin
had broad steps with landings, indicating that it was a mikveh. The northern basin provided a reservoir
to continually replenish and repurify the mikveh with fresh water flowing south through the dam be -
tween them. Jerusalem’s pilgrims would flock to the Bethesda Pool and Siloam Pool to purify them-
selves in these public mikva’ot and, at times, to seek healing.

A. The Interaction between Jesus and the Invalid (John 5:1-15).

[Slide #10] Jesus’ interaction with man who was healed is different from other encounters.
Many of the healings took place because the individual sought Jesus out for healing (like the
leper of Luke 5 who, when he saw Jesus, said, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean”) or a
group of family or friends sought Jesus’ help (like the men who lowered their paralyzed friend
through the roof in Luke 5). The invalid at the Pool of Bethesda does not initiate the contact, nor
does he respond to Jesus in faith.

When Jesus first encountered the man and asked him if he would like to be healed, he did not re-
spond in the affirmative or with faith. Instead, he explained why he had been unable to get into
the healing waters throughout the years he had been lying in the covered colonnade.

And when Jesus took the initiative to heal the man, he did not respond with gratitude and attach
himself to Jesus. In fact, when he was later confronted by the religious leaders for his violation of
the Sabbath, he did not even know the identity of the individual who had healed him. It appears
from the narrative that Jesus had wanted to remain anonymous and had blended into the crowd
after the healing.

And later, when Jesus finally identified himself to the healed man, instead of expressing any
gratitude or faith, he went back to the religious leaders and informed on Jesus.

B. The Interaction between Jesus and the Religious Leaders (5:16-47).

1. The Works of Jesus (5:19-29).

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. 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.
 “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. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is
coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have
done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of
judgment.

a. The giving of life. [Slides #11-13]

b. The passing of judgment. [Slides #14-16]

2. The Witnesses to Jesus (5:30-47).

a. [Slide #17] John the Baptist (5:32-35). “There is another who bears witness about
me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to
John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive
is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning
and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.”

[Slide #18] John 1:6-8 – “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe
through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.”

[Slide #19] John 1:19-24 – “And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent
priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and
did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What
then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he an-
swered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to
those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of
one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the
prophet Isaiah said.” (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.)

b. [Slide #20] The miracles of Jesus (5:36). “But the testimony that I have is greater
than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the
very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.”

c. [Slide #21] God the Father (5:37). “And the Father who sent me has himself borne
witness about me.” This could refer to the utterance of the Father’s approval at
the baptism or it refers to the internal witness the Father places in people’s
hearts.

Matthew 16:17 – “And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah!

For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
 d. [Slide #22] The Old Testament Scriptures (5:39-40). “You search the Scriptures
because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear wit-
ness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

[Slide #23] Isaiah 9:6-7 – “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the
government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonder-
ful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of
his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and
over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteous-
ness from this time forth and forevermore.”

e. [Slide #24] Moses (5:45-47). “There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom
you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he
wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my
words?”

[Slide #25] Deuteronomy 18:15 – “The Lord your God will raise up for you a
prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall lis-
ten.”

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER”

[Slide #1] INTRODUCTION: When you read the Synoptic Gospel accounts of the Parable of the Sower
there is a heavy emphasis on the hectic nature of Jesus’ Galilean ministry when he delivered this memo -
rable parable.

Matthew’s account emphasizes the house in Capernaum which was the scene of great crowds and activ-
ity for Jesus during his Galilean ministry. “That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the
sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole
crowd stood on the beach.  And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to
sow” (13:1-3). The mention of the house points us back to the conclusion of the previous chapter where
Jesus’ mother and his brothers tried to get an audience with him because they were concerned about
his mental welfare.

Mark also elaborates on the hectic time of the Galilean ministry by detailing the regions from which Je -
sus drew his crowds. [Slide #2] “Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd fol -
lowed, from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around
Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. And he told his
disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, for he had healed
many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him” (3:7-10). The demands on Jesus
created a concern for his family. “Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could
not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out
of his mind” (3:20-21).

The great crowds were an indication of the popularity of his ministry at this time. But the use of the
parable was one of the means that Jesus used to reduce the size of the crowds, of which he will explain
to the disciples in his private meeting with them after the parable. Try imaging the various responses to
the parable without the extra explanation to the disciples.

A. The Parable Proper (Mark 4:3-9).

[Slide #3] “Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about
him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea
on the land.  2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to
them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.  4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the
path, and the birds came and devoured it.  

[Slide #4] 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it
sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it
had no root, it withered away.  7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and
choked it, and it yielded no grain.  8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, grow-
ing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”  

[Slide #5] 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

[Slide #6] Israel was predominantly an agricultural society and the plain of Gennesaret in particu-
lar was noted for its production of wheat. The cycle of grain production began in October/No -
vember when the early rains came and softened the soil so it could be plowed for the first time.
The rains continued intermittently and heavily throughout the winter. Joel calls these the “au-
tumn and spring rains” (2:23).

With a bag around his neck and shoulders, the farmer would walk through his field, scattering
the seed. The seed would then be plowed under to insure germination, and to prevent birds
from eating the seed. Because of the broadcast method, the farmer could not guarantee where
the seed would land. Notice the four types of soil:

[Slide #7] The first soil is described as “along the path” (4:4). Because Palestine had few roads,
public travel would create a pathway between towns. The farmer preserved these paths for pub-
lic use. If such a path ran across a farmer's land, he would plow the soil to the edge of the nar -
row path, leaving the path intact. When the farmer scattered his seed, some of the kernels were
apt to land on the road. Since he did not plow that area the birds would eat the seeds.

[Slide #8] The second soil is identified as “rocky places” (4:5). In some areas of Palestine the soil
is extremely shallow were limestone juts out of the earth. Because a thin layer of soil covers this
ledge of rock, germination quickly occurs. But since growth only involves an upward direction,
for lack of a root system from which to draw water from the soil, the plant withers away in the
hot sun.

[Slide #9] The third soil is in the midst of “thorns” (4:7). Just like the previous soil, this seed also
germinates quickly. But, because the ground has room for only so many plants, when the sum-
mer sun activates the dormant thorns and thistles, their rapid growth overtakes the grain and
chokes it to death.
 [Slide #10] The fourth soil is characterized as being “good” (4:8). This ground has not been
packed by the tread of travelers, nor does it lack depth, nor is it infested with weeds. Instead, its
rich soil is able to produce a bumper crop of grain.

B. The Purpose for Parables.

[Slide #11] “And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the
parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for
those outside everything is in parables, so that “they may indeed see but not perceive, and may
indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.” (Mark 4:10-12)

Isaiah returns to an earlier time chronologically to describe his call by God to the prophetic min-
istry. The godly king of Judah, Uzziah, had been dead for six years and his son Jotham was ruling
the southern kingdom. Despite the righteous reign of these two rulers, the people of Judah were
already slipping into the idolatrous practices of their northern relatives, Israel. The call to the
ministry was prompted by a vision Isaiah had where he saw God in all his glory inside the temple.
This exposure to the divine presence where Isaiah saw and heard the holy nature of God also re-
vealed to the prophet his own sinful nature and the sin of his nation. When Isaiah confessed his
sin he received forgiveness. Following his consecration Isaiah responded to God’s invitation and
was commissioned to the prophetic ministry. But from the outset of his ministry Isaiah was told
that his audience would be spiritually unresponsive to his appeals and warnings. When Isaiah
asked how long this apathy would exist in the nation God told him until the cities of Judah were
devastated and the majority of the population was deported. But in the midst of this devastation
there was the promise of a holy seed that would emerge from a burned out stump.

[Slide #12] Isaiah 6:8-10 – “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and
who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”  And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’  Make the heart
of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Normally the prophet’s job was to clearly communicate a message of God to His people. Here
Isaiah is told to do the opposite. His task was to make sure the people did not understand the
message of God and he was to produce hardened hearts and spiritual blindness.

C. The Point of the Parable.

The disciples understood the particulars of the story, but they failed to grasp the point of the
parable. Jesus identifies four different responses to God's Word:

The soil along the path was represented by the religious leaders who came to hear Jesus with an
antagonistic attitude and who rejected his message outright. A good illustration of this hard-
heartedness is a narrative from Mark 3:1-6.

[Slide #13] “Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And
they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse
him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it
lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.
[Slide #14] And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said
to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Phar -
isees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy
him.”

The soil of the rocky places was represented by the majority of the people who made up the
large crowds that followed Jesus during his Galilean ministry. While they found Jesus to be a fas -
cinating teacher and they enjoyed the miracles, they were not in it for the long haul. Jesus real -
ized their superficial interest in his ministry and he used the parables and the hard sayings to
drive them away.

John 6 presents an interesting narrative that illustrates the superficiality of these followers. Fol-
lowing the feeding of the 5000 the people tried to take Jesus by force and make him their king.
Jesus withdrew from the crowds and when they found him later he accused them of being super -
ficial, saying, “I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate
your fill of the loaves” (6:26). The people then asked Jesus what they needed to do to do the
works of God and he told them that they needed to believe in him. The people then asked for
another miraculous sign and Jesus launched into the “I Am the Bread of Life” discourse. The peo-
ple began to grumble about Jesus’ claim of divinity by citing his human parentage of Joseph and
Mary. Jesus complicated things with the hard saying, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (6:53). Jesus charged them with unbelief and John
closes the narrative with this statement, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no
longer walked with him” (6:66).

The soil among the thorns was represented by well-intentioned disciples who got distracted from
genuine discipleship by three related things, namely, “the cares of the world and the deceitful-
ness of riches and the desires for other things.”

The rich young ruler would be the poster boy for the soil among the thorns. Mark tells this narra-
tive. [Slide #15] “And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him
and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him,
“Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments:
‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud,
Honor your father and mother.’” [Slide #16] And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept
from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go,
sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, fol -
low me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions”
(Mark 10:17-22).

The good soil is represented by the disciples, who, though they did not get the point of the para-
ble, at least they had the inquisitive nature to go back in the house and ask Jesus what he was
trying to communicate. Over the course of Jesus’ public ministry the disciples will repeatedly fail
to grasp the lessons Jesus was trying to teach them. But they were committed to him and his
teaching.
 [Slide #17] John 6:66-69 - “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with
him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”  Simon Peter answered him,
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have
come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

CONCLUSION [Slide #18] My thoughts while watching the young people walk across the stage at the
grand march.

“Jesus Calms a Storm”

INTRODUCTION: Play two videos of storms on Galilee

[Slide #1] TEXT: 35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other
side.”  36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats
were with him.  37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the
boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said
to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” [Slide #2] 39 And he awoke and rebuked the
wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!”  And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.  40 He said
to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”  41 And they were filled with great fear and
said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

A. The Setting (Mark 4:35-36).

[Slide #3] There are several themes in this passage that connect it with the Parable of the Sower
which we looked at last week. First, there is the theme of the crowds that followed Jesus
throughout the Galilean ministry. The crowds had been attracted to Jesus because of the mira -
cles he performed and the sermons and parables he told. While the disciples were still fasci-
nated with the large crowds, Jesus was already distancing himself from them because he knew
the intentions of the people. This explains a passage in the Gospel of John. “ Now when he was
in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he
was doing.  But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and
needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man” (2:23-25).
That was one of the reasons that Jesus began to use parables so that those who did not have an
ear to hear would reject his message and stop following him so he could focus his attention on
the disciples and their preparation for ministry. And the calming of the storm was for the spiri -
tual development of the disciples.

[Slide #4] The second theme was the use of the boat. To get some separation from the pressing
crowds Jesus had used a boat from which to deliver his message to the people on the shore.
Now Jesus was going to this same boat to become a school room in which he could deliver this
powerful lesson about his divine power and their lack of faith in that power. Also, because it was
the end of the day and they were getting away from the crowds, the disciples may have thought
that the work was done for the day.

C. The Storm (Mark 4:37).

 [Slide #5] The mountains of Upper Galilee rise NW of the lake to the height of about 4000 feet
above sea level, while the hills immediately east and west of the lake ascend abruptly to heights
of about 2000 feet above sea level. This creates a sharp drop of approximately 2650 feet from
the mountaintops to the lake’s surface. The position of the lake in the Jordan Rift Valley below
sea level with the high hills to the east and west creates a natural condition for storms. The cool
air masses from the mountain heights rush down the steep slopes with great force causing vio-
lent eruptions of the lake.

The Sea of Galilee lies roughly 700 feet below sea level, the second lowest point on the earth's
surface after the Dead Sea. The Kinneret (the OT & modern name) is 13 miles long, 7 miles wide,
32 miles in circumference, and covers 64 square miles. At its deepest point the lake is 150 feet
deep.

The surrounding mountains (Mount Arbel on the west) and plateaus fall off sharply, forming a
bowl, which is the result of ancient volcanic action. The lake is known for its violent storms,
which can come up suddenly and be life-threatening for any on its waters. These tempests are
caused by the situation of the lake in the Jordan Rift Valley with steep hills on all sides. The
cooler air masses from the surrounding mountains collide with the warm air in the lake’s basin.
Winds sometimes funnel through the E-W-oriented valleys in the Galilean hill country and rush
down the western hillsides of the lake.

C. The Schooling (Mark 4:38-41).

Since Jesus is divine and omniscient, he knew there would be a storm on the lake that evening
and he deliberately put the disciples in harms way to teach them a lesson about faith. We need
to remember this fact when the storm comes into our lives.

[Slide #6] Psalm 139:1-4 – “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit
down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my ly -
ing down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O
Lord, you know it altogether.”

Jesus’ ability to sleep through the storm gave the disciples the perception that he was unaware,
or even worse, did not care about their precarious situation. It is ironic that they same disciples
with go to sleep on Jesus in his hour of need.

[Slide #7] Job 23:2-5 – “Today also my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy on account of my
groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat! I would lay
my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know what he would answer me
and understand what he would say to me.”

This was the frustration of Richard in Philip Yancey’s book “Disappointment With God.”

Later in his life, one of these terrified disciples would be able to sleep the night before his death.
Acts 12:6 – “Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping
between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the
prison.”
[Slide #8] Psalm 121 – “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help
comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who
keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The
LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by
day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The
LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”

Your relationship with God has a direct impact on your everyday life. How you relate to the
LORD will determine how you react to the challenges of life. Because each life has its share of
troubles, it is important to whom one turns for help. God needs to be the first One we turn to
for assistance. The wise believer also avails himself of the spiritual resources God has made
available (Ephesians 6:10-18). We need to have an active prayer life and a meaningful devotional
routine. We also need to have a habitual and healthy church attendance where we have Chris-
tian friends who hold us accountable and where we can minister to the needs of others (Hebrews
10:24-25). But there is also a caution about this psalm. This psalm does not guarantee that our
lives will be trouble-free and that God will spare us from the painful experiences of life. What
God does promise is that if we include Him in our lives, we will avoid the mistakes that result in
painful experiences. Also, God promises to assist us as we go through the painful experiences in
life. The apostle Peter writes, “Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust
their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Peter 4:19).

[Slide #9] Psalm 107:23-32 – “Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great
waters; they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. For he commanded
and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven;
they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight; they reeled and
staggered like drunken men and were at their wits' end. [Slide #10] Then they cried to the Lord
in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the
waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought
them to their desired haven. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous
works to the children of man! Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise
him in the assembly of the elders.”

[Slide #11] By rebuking the wind, Jesus demonstrated his authority over nature, which was a les-
son the disciples would have to relearn later at his crucifixion.

The disciples’ focus on their physical welfare is understandable and typical of all human beings.

One of the lessons Jesus was trying to teach these disciples was that there is something more im-
portant in our lives than our physical wellbeing.

Jesus questioning their faith is reminiscent of the definition of faith written by the writer of He-
brews when he wrote, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw
near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (11:6).

“Swine Flew Fever”

[Slide #4] INTRODUCTION: When the storm on the lake came to an end, the disciples may have mistak-
enly thought that their nighttime boat lesson had come to an end. They were about to learn that it had
only just begun. Once the storm abated, the boat made its way to the eastern side of the lake and the
disciples were about to encounter another terrifying incident.

[Slide #5] TEXT: They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when Je-
sus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean
spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain,  4 for he
had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the
shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him.

[Slide #6] 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting
himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7 And crying
out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure
you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

[Slide #7] 9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are
many.” 10 And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of pigs
was feeding there on the hillside, 12 and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter
them.” 13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the
herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

[Slide #8] 14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it
was that had happened. 15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had
had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 16 And those who had
seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs.  17 And they
began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.

[Slide #9] 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him
that he might be with him. 19 And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends
and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 And he went
away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone mar-
veled.

A. The Location of the Miracle.

[Slide #10] Due to manuscript differences the miracle location is disputed. In Matthew’s account
the reading is “the Gadarenes” (8:28), where elsewhere it reads “the Gergesenes.” The location
of Gerasa was questioned because the town was located 30 miles SE of Galilee. But even Gadara
is six miles away from the lake. The solution is found in the expression “the region of the
Gerasenes” which could have included the entire district extending down from the city to the
lake. The ancient Arab ruins of Kersa have the steep hills and cave-tombs that are mentioned in
the narrative.

The region on the eastern shore of Galilee, known as the Decapolis, was a loose confederation of
ten essentially independent Hellenistic (Greek culture) towns located in the Transjordan SE of
Galilee. In the 3rd century B.C. Greek Hellenists migrated to Palestine where they established
 their own communities. In the 2nd century B.C. rising nationalism among the Jews resulted in
hostility between the Jews and their Greek neighbors to the east. In 63 B.C. Jewish indepen-
dence was brought to an end by Rome and the cities on the eastern shore of Galilee were given
their independence and attached to the province of Syria. Once freed, this predominately Gen -
tile population promoted their Greco-Roman traditions and enjoyed a great sense of political in-
dependence. This Gentile influence explains the presence of swine, animals that were consid-
ered unclean by the Jews.

B. The Legion of Demons.

[Slide #11] As Jesus went ashore, he was confronted by a deranged man who came out of the
hills which surrounded the eastern side of the lake. The man’s demonic disorder was quite obvi-
ous, from his naked condition, to his preference to live among the dead rather than among the
living, in the caves and hewn tombs in the hillside. As he roamed the countryside, his hideous
cries could be heard at any hour of the day or night. In an attempt to rid him of the demons, the
man mutilated his body with sharp stones. This demonic possession had existed for some time,
and motivated by fear, the townspeople had tried to restrain him with chains and shackles.
When the demons would exert their power, the man would easily break his bonds and flee into
the surrounding country.

“Mark 5:1-13 relates an incredible story wherein Jesus casts out the “devils” from an unfortunate
man. He then causes the devils to enter, instead, a herd of swine, and the swine, thus bedeviled,
race over a cliff, fall into the sea and drown. Fundamentalists would have us believe that this is a
true story. That tells us a lot about fundamentalists. Belief in demons and fairies and goblins and
dragons ended, for most people, ages ago, and is remembered only in some Fairy Tales. Such
primeval superstitions should be left behind, in our colorful past, where they belong (Hayes).

William Barclay wrote, “We need not argue whether demons were realities or not. One thing
certain is that in the time of Jesus people believed in them with terrified intensity. If a man be -
lieves he is ill, he will be ill. If a man believed that he was demon-possessed, then, illusion or no,
he was definitely ill in mind and body.

The man who came to my office to tell his disconnected story for 45 minutes

C. The Lesson for the Disciples.

[Slide #9] Consider the discomfort of the disciples. They had been in a boat most of the night
and had just survived a life-threatening storm. As they were still trying to process what had just
happened, their fear of the storm had been replaced with their fear of Jesus and his power. As
they made their way to the south-eastern corner of the lake, they were entering Gentile territory
which would have made a devout Jew uncomfortable. The fact that they were in Gentile land
was indicated by the large pig herd that was grazing nearby. As their boat beached itself on the
shore, a naked, scarred and bloody, deranged man comes running down to the shore, shouting at
Jesus in an eerie voice.
 My encounter with Bob Gideon who was dying from AIDS, living with his Buddhist lover in a bad
neighborhood of north Minneapolis and his fundamentalist Baptist parents were at the house
and still living in denial of their son’s lifestyle.

That’s the way God has always worked in my life. The things I don’t want to do, those are often
the very things God wants me to do. Going to India was the same experience.

There are individuals God wants you to talk to about your faith. There are places and people God
wants to send you to. There are things God wants you to do that will make you feel uncomfort-
able.

Jesus did not allow the symptoms of this man’s problems to distract him from addressing the
root cause. The townspeople, by trying to shackle the demon-possessed man, were only ad-
dressing the symptoms of his problem. As a result, it was only a temporary solution that pro -
vided no lasting cure. In contrast, by exorcising the demons, Jesus dealt with the root cause. Je-
sus knew that an encounter with the powerful presence of God could change the most sinful of
lives.

The issue for the disciples is the same issue most of us face. Many of us lack a confidence in the
power of the Gospel and the power of God to change a person’s life.

EPILOGUE: At the request of the nervous townspeople, Jesus headed back to the boat for the return trip
to the Jewish side of Galilee. As he entered the boat, the grateful man asked Jesus if he could come
along. Up until this moment, Jesus had granted everyone’s request in the narrative. He had granted the
request of the demons to enter the pigs. He had granted the request of the townspeople to leave their
district. Now, for the first time, Jesus denied the request of His only follower. Instead, Jesus instructed
him to return to his home and bear witness of what wonderful things God had done for him.

Notice the impact of a personal testimony.

First, the before-and-after differences are undeniable. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new cre -
ation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ rec-
onciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).

Second, the witness already has an established history with his audience. Windows of opportunity are
available to insiders that may be closed to outsiders (i.e. cultural, religious, gender, generational differ -
ences). Heidi and Brian’s desire to witness to their brother-in-law.

Third, a simple, personal testimony of salvation is often more effective than a complex, theologically cor -
rect explanation. “He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that
though I was blind, now I see.” (John 9:25).

“Feeding the 5000”

[Slide #1] INTRODUCTION: On Thursday I was driving to the Cities in the morning to attend a concert at
Orchestra Hall with the Minnesota Orchestra. As I was driving down 35 I had MPR on the radio to listen
to some classical music while I had my prayer time. MPR was having its spring membership drive and
two of its announcers were urging the listeners to make a donation to become a member. I was struck
by a phrase: Stop being a passive listener and become an active member. The sentence caught my at -
tention because of my meditation on the sermon throughout the week.

This morning we are going to consider three related narratives that were designed by Jesus to move the
disciples from being passive listeners to active ministers.

A. Sending Out the Twelve (Mark 6:7-13).

[Slide #2] And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them au-
thority over the unclean spirits.  He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff
—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts—but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.  And
he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there.  [Slide #3]
And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the
dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”  So they went out and proclaimed that
people should repent.  And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were
sick and healed them.

[Slide #4] Following their selection as His disciples, Jesus had devoted much time to their train-
ing. Their education encompassed: (1) extensive lectures which established the theological foun-
dation of the kingdom (the Sermon on the Mount); (2) well-crafted parables that forcefully drove
home their points (the Parable of the Sower); (3) object lessons that stretched their faith (calm-
ing the storm); and (4) field trips that allowed them to be eyewitnesses to Jesus’ divine power
(the feeding of the 5000).

Sending the disciples out at this time is interesting, because, up to this point, the twelve men had
not shown a lot of promise as effective ministers. In many of the Gospel narratives the disciples
appear to be clueless about the true nature of the message of the kingdom. They had fixated on
the size of the crowd and failed to see within the crowds the lack of genuine faith in the person
of Jesus Christ. There was a spirit of rivalry within the group that would only grow worse as Jesus
neared the end. Although their education was far from complete, it was time for Jesus to involve
the disciples personally in the ministry. In preparation for their preaching tour, Jesus gathered
them together to properly equip them. First, he gave them his authority over demons (“evil spir -
its”) and disease (“anointed many sick people”).

The disciples’ ministry was to focus on two objectives, the preaching of the unpopular message
“that people should repent” (6:12), and the authenticity of that message with miraculous heal-
ings. In order for the disciples to maintain their focus, Jesus instructed them to forgo normal
travel supplies and money. Those individuals who responded to their message would support
their brief ministry. Those who rejected their message would be judged. With these instruc-
tions, the disciples departed for their preaching tour throughout the northern region of Galilee.

Matthew’s Gospel adds additional instructions.

[Slide #5] “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven
is at hand’” (10:6-7).
 [Slide #6] “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents
and innocent as doves” (10:16).

[Slide #7] “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who
can destroy both soul and body in hell” (10:28).

[Slide #8] “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my
Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father
who is in heaven” (10:32-33).

 The disciples would learn that success in the ministry has less to do with the merits of the
missionaries and more to do with the authority of the sender.
 The disciples would also have to begin to personally believe in the message as they heard it
on their lips. Teaching others helps the teacher come to terms with what he believes.
 The disciples would continue to fail, and through their failure, learn valuable lessons that
would serve them well in the future.
 The disciples needed to get some skin in the game. It’s one thing to sit in the back of the boat
while Jesus ministers to a deranged person. It’s another matter to get personally involved.
 The disciples also needed to realize that the cause of Christ would not be embraced by the
majority of people and they needed to learn to accept that rejection. Back in Matthew 10 Je -
sus warned them, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is
enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.  If they have
called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his
household” (10:24-25).
 They also needed to learn to experience some suffering to find out whether their faith was
worth suffering for. And the next narrative demonstrated the price that had to be paid.

B. The Death of John the Baptist (6:14-29).

[Slide #9] King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some said, “John the Bap-
tist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” But
others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” But
when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” For it was Herod
who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother
Philip's wife, [Slide #10] because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, “It is
not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.” And Herodias had a grudge against him and
wanted to put him to death. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a
righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed,
and yet he heard him gladly. [Slide #11] But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday
gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. For
when Herodias's daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king
said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” And he vowed to her,
“Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” And she went out and said to
her mother, “For what should I ask?” [Slide #12] And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.”
And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at
once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because
 of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. [Slide #13] And immediately
the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the
prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.
When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

[Slide #14] Herod Antipas (this is the portrayal of him in The Passion of the Christ) was one of the
sons of Herod the Great. He was also the full brother of Archelaus (Matthew 2:22), whom he
helped depose in A.D. 6 when he accompanied a delegation that complained of Archelaus’ rule
to Tiberius. He was born about 20 B.C. and ruled from his father's death in 4 B.C. until his exile in
A.D. 39. He was the tetrarch (“ruler of the fourth part”) over Galilee and Perea, the territories
where John and Jesus conducted much of their ministries. He was originally married to the
daughter of King Aretas IV, the Nabataean ruler whose territory was to the east of Perea. This
political marriage ended in divorce so he could marry Herodias, whom he had fallen in love with
on a trip to Rome in A.D. 29. Herod later paid for this insult in A.D. 36 when Aretas IV attacked
him and he had to be rescued by the governor of Syria.

Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus, another son of Herod the Great, and the niece of
Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas' downfall came in A.D. 39 when Herodias persuaded him to ask
the emperor Caligula for the title of king. She had become jealous when her brother Herod
Agrippa I had been given part of Palestine along with the title of king. Herod Agrippa I was the
ruler who had James killed and he tried to have Peter killed as well. When he was frustrated in
this attempt, God judged him with a painful death in Acts 12. Suspecting Herod's desire for inde-
pendence, Antipas was deposed, exiled, and followed by Herodias.

[Slide #15] Mark devotes more space to the death of John the Baptist than he does to his life and
ministry (1:4-8). Note the similarities to the deaths: (1) both men died at the hands of a secular
ruler; (2) both rulers resisted the execution until pressured by others; (3) both bodies were taken
away for burial by their followers.

According to Josephus, John was placed in protective custody at Machaerus, the fortress located
in Perea, on the east side of the Dead Sea (Ant. XVIII, 119). This imprisonment was prompted by
John’s denunciation of Herod’s adulterous marriage to Herodias. John was initially protected
from Herodias’ murderous revenge because Herod was both intrigued (“greatly puzzled”) and in-
timidated (“feared”) by John's preaching. Josephus identifies the dancer as Salome (Richard
Strauss’ “Dance of the Seven Veils”).

C. The Feeding of the 5000 (6:30-44). [Slide #16] The only miracle recorded by all four Gospels
(Matthew 14; Mark 6 Luke 9; John 6).

When the “apostles” (used the first time by Mark) returned to Capernaum from their preaching
tour, they reported to Jesus the various responses they had encountered to their kingdom mes-
sage. Because their journey had been tiring, and because it was impossible to have any privacy
due to the continual flow of people, Jesus took the disciples on a retreat to a “solitary place.”

[Slide #17] The group made its getaway by boat across the lake. Their destination was Bethsaida
(Luke 9:10), located on the NE shore of Galilee. Outside the village Jesus knew of an isolated
place away from the pressing crowds, where the disciples could rest. The disciples’ departure
 was observed and their destination was anticipated. As their boat ran aground, the disciples’ va-
cation plans were ruined. One can almost hear the groans of irritation as the exhausted disciples
saw the large crowd that awaited their arrival.

The verb “had compassion” () describes an internal sense of pity and the corre-
sponding spontaneous outpouring of love that Jesus felt toward people in need. Jesus’ emo-
tional response to people was due to his perception of them. He saw them as “sheep without a
shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). Because they had no guidance in their lives, there was an aimless
character about how they lived their lives.

Their irritation was subtly masked by their suggestion to Jesus that he send the people away
since it was getting late. When Jesus challenged them to meet the people's need, they could re -
strain themselves no longer. Although the people were an inconvenience to Jesus as well as the
disciples, the disciples saw them as a nuisance, rather than see their needs.

John includes the following information about this miracle that is unique to him. Jesus directed
his challenge to the disciples to meet this need by first speaking to Philip who was from Beth -
saida (John 1:44). He asked Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”
and John adds that he was testing Philip because he already knew what he was going to do. John
also adds that the source of the meager meal was a young boy who was in the crowd that day.
John further adds that the response of the crowd to this miracle was to acclaim that Jesus was
the long-awaited Prophet that Moses had spoken of prior to his death. And because of this mis-
understanding, the people were going to take Jesus by force and make him their king.

The Greek actually reads “two hundred denarii worth of bread.” A denarius was a day’s wage for
an agricultural worker (Matthew 20:2). The three excuses of the disciples can be summarized as:
(1) the time of the day was late (6:35); (2) the location was lonely (6:35); (3) the resources were
little (6:38).

“Searching for Jesus”

[Slide #1] INTRODUCTION: Let’s follow the boat activity as it relates to the miracle of the feeding of the
5000, which we looked at last week, and the discourse of “I Am the Bread of Life,” which is our focus to -
day. The disciples returned to the village of Capernaum after their first preaching tour of the region of
Galilee. From there the group headed north-east across the lake to the village of Bethsaida to give the
disciples some downtime. When the disciples’ boat reached the shore, a large crowd was waiting for Je-
sus to arrive.

[Slide #2] Following the day of ministry and the miraculous feeding at the end of the day, Jesus with-
drew from the crowd and sent the disciples back across to the lake to Capernaum. During their return
trip, Jesus walked on the water as a sign to the disciples of his divinity (6:16-21).

[Slide #3] The crowd that had experienced the miraculous feeding had seen the disciples depart, but had
noted that Jesus had not been in the boat. They were joined by more boats that brought more curiosity
seekers from the town of Tiberius.
[Slide #4] When they were unable to locate Jesus, a group of boats made the journey back to Caper-
naum where they found Jesus in the synagogue of this small village.

The “I Am the Bread of Life” discourse was delivered in the aftermath of the miracle of the feeding of
the 5000. Even though this was a great miracle that dramatically manifested Jesus’ divinity to the Jewish
people, the vast majority of the participants that day failed to comprehend the significance of this mira-
cle. As the following narrative demonstrates, the crowd merely got a dinner and a show, which only left
them wanting more. Not more of Jesus, but more of what they mistakenly thought he could offer them.
At the end of John’s account of the miracle he adds this comment. “Perceiving then that they were
about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by him -
self” (John 6:15). All the crowd could contemplate was that Jesus could become their king and rid them
of Rome’s domineering presence in their lives. The fact that Jesus could save them from their sins and
offer them eternal life seemed insignificant that day.

There are several themes that run throughout this passage.

A. The Use and Abuse of Signs.

One theme is that of miraculous signs. It was the performance of miraculous signs that attracted
the large crowds to Jesus in the first place. [Slide #5] “After this Jesus went away to the other
side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, be-
cause they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick” (6:1-2).

At the end of the meal, John informed his readers, [Slide #6] “When the people saw the sign that
he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” (6:14). This
comment is a reference to the prophet that Moses prophesied of before his death and their en-
try into the land. [Slide #7] “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from
among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen” (Deuteronomy 18:15).

The third time miraculous signs occur in the narrative is when Jesus rebuked the crowd for its
misplaced curiosity. [Slide #8] “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” (6:25-26).

The last time signs appears in the narrative is when the crowd, having just witnesses one of Je-
sus’ greatest signs, asked for another sign and then they would believe. [Slide #9] “So they said
to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you per-
form?” (6:30).

B. The Identity of Jesus.

Throughout the narrative there is this confusion concerning the true identity of Jesus. We have
already seen where, at the conclusion of the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 that the people
see Jesus as the Prophet that Moses had predicted from the Old Testament (6:14). Closely re-
lated to this Prophet, the people address Jesus with the respectful, “Rabbi, when did you come
here?” (6:25).
 But when Jesus begins to make a series of statements where he claims to be the Son of Man who
has come down from heaven to bring life, and who will return to heaven to reclaim the glory he
had with the Father in heaven, the Jews stumble at this identity.

Notice the claims Jesus made concerning his divine identity:

[Slide #10] John 6:27 – “Do not work 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.”

[Slide #11] John 6:29 – “Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him
whom he has sent.”

[Slide #12] John 6:32-33 – “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.”

[Slide #13] John 6:35-36 – “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. But I said to you that you have
seen me and yet do not believe.”

[Slide #14] John 6:40 – “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.”

Then, notice the reaction of the Jews:

[Slide #15] John 6:41-42 – “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’?”

C. The Bread of Life. [Slide #16] Another theme running through the narrative and the discourse is
that of bread. It began with the feeding of the crowd by the miraculous multiplication of the
loaves and the fish. Jesus refers to the bread when the crowd finds him the following day in Ca -
pernaum.

Jesus rebukes their misplaced emphasis on the satisfaction of their physical needs. “Do not work
for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will
give to you” (6:27). The theme of bread continues when the crowd responds to Jesus’ rebuke
with a reference to their historical past. “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is
written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat’” (6:31).

Jesus used this historical reference to launch into his “I Am the Bread of Life” discourse. “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” (6:32-35).
D. The Matter of Belief. This passage first of all defines what belief is NOT:

[Slide #17] Belief is NOT curiosity. John 6:25-27 – “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 work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give to you.”

[Slide #18] Belief is NOT religious activity. John 6:28-29 – “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 be-
lieve in him whom he has sent.”

[Slide #19] Belief is NOT generally produced by miracles. John 6:35-36 – “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. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.”

[Slide #20] Belief is in the person and work of Jesus Christ. John 6:40 – “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.”

[Slide #21] Belief can only be produced by God’s election. John 6:44 – “No one can come to me
unless the Father who sent me draws him.” John 6:65 – “This is why I told you that no one can
come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

[Slide #22] Belief is demonstrated by perseverance. John 6:64-65 – “But there are some of you
who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe,
and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can
come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

“Feeding the Dogs”

[Slide #1] INTRODUCTION: It has been two weeks since we last looked at our series on the Life of Christ,
so it would be wise to do some review. Lately we have been focusing on the Galilean ministry as Jesus
established his base of operations in the village of Capernaum. As Jesus traveled with his disciples
throughout the northern region that surrounded the lake, he attracted large crowds and to them he
demonstrated his Messianic power with numerous miraculous healings. And to them he declared the
need for personal repentance for the forgiveness of their sin. The turning point in this time of great pop-
ularity was the feeding of the 5000, a mighty miracle that was experienced by a huge crowd, but whose
meaning was grasped by very few. In the discourse entitled “I Am the Bread of Life” which Jesus deliv -
ered to the crowd the following day, Jesus revealed the spiritual problem of his audience.

[Slide #2] John 6:26-27 – “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 work for the food that perishes, but for the food that en-
dures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

And later, in the same discourse Jesus admitted, “There are some of you who do not believe.” And John
informed his audience that “Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and
who it was who would betray him” (6:64). And as a result of these hard sayings, “After this many of his
disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (6:66).

This spiritual blindness seems to be the final nail in the coffin for the nation of Israel, and Jesus begins to
change his ministry strategy to prepare his disciples for his approaching death and their taking over the
ministry of proclaiming the Gospel, even though the following narrative demonstrates they were far
from ready to take on this responsibility.

Mark 7:24-30

[Slide #3] 24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a
house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman whose
little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman
was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daugh-
ter. [Slide #4] 27 And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's
bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table
eat the children's crumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon
has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

THE BIG IDEA: This narrative once again addresses the matter of discipleship and the focus is on the
Twelve and their spiritual development and their capacity for ministry. Discipleship takes place when
the cause of Christ and the proclamation of the Gospel begin to take on a greater importance in the dis-
ciple’s life. For me, this process intensified as I left home after high school graduation and as I made the
transition from living off my parents’ faith to defining my faith, and to what degree I would take my faith
seriously. The main area of struggle for me was the sharing of my faith and dealing with the excuses of
why I could not do it.

Let’s make a few observations:

 [Slide #5] Jesus is going to start to withdraw from Galilee and the land of Israel for awhile and spend
more time outside the country, in the regions of Phoenician and the Decapolis.

Jesus' private Galilean ministry covered a period of about six months, the first half of the last year of
his life on earth. It was the summer between Passover and Tabernacles. For these six months Jesus
sought seclusion in order to teach his disciples privately, that he would suffer, die and rise from the
dead. During the six-month training of the Twelve period, Jesus made two journeys into northern
districts with his disciples. As he sought privacy, both journeys went into predominantly Gentile
lands. During the first of the journeys Jesus and his apostles traveled to Tyre and Sidon in Phoenicia,
and then swung through the Decapolis back to the Sea of Galilee.

Seeking a respite from ministry, Jesus traveled north to modern day Lebanon in which the city of
Tyre was located. Although he wanted to keep his presence secret, Jesus’ fame as a miracle worker
preceded him. Once again, people interrupted Jesus’ rest in need.

 Jesus will continue to perform miracles, but they will be now done in private and he will ask for se -
crecy.
 [Slide #6] Mark 8:22-26 – “And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind
man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the
village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see any-
thing?”  And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”  Then Jesus laid
his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything
clearly.  And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

 Jesus will turn his attention from the crowds and the proclamation of the Gospel and the kingdom
message to the preparation of the disciples for his death and their ministry.

 Having gone to the nation of Israel, Jesus will minister to individual Jews and Gentiles who were
seekers of truth.

[Slide #7] Mark 10:46-52 – “And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disci-
ples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.
And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David,
have mercy on me!” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more,
“Son of David, have mercy on me!”  

[Slide #8] And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”  And they called the blind man, saying to
him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to
Jesus. And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?”  And the blind man said to him,
“Rabbi, let me recover my sight.”  And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you
well.”  And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.”

A Gentile woman heard about Jesus and pleaded for help for her demon-possessed daughter. This
woman had, from a Jewish perspective, every negative ethnic trait that was possible to package into
one person. First, she was Greek, the people who had desecrated the temple and tried to wipe out
Judaism in 165 B.C. Second, she was Syrophoenician, the people from whom Jezebel came, the cor-
rupter of Israelite worship with Baalism. Finally she was Canaanite, the ancient people that Joshua
and the Israelites were instructed to disinherit. Yet, the woman knew her place and she knew that
the king from the House of David would be a blessing for Gentiles, too.

The parabolic exchange between Jesus and the woman developed a comparison between children
and their household pets. Theological speaking, the “children” of the household who eat “first” are
the Jews, while the little “dogs” are the Gentiles who have to wait their turn. This agrees with Paul’s
statement that the gospel was “first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Romans 1:16). Jesus is de -
scribing a domestic scene where the children are eating their meal. It would be inappropriate to in-
terrupt the meal to feed the dogs. This interpretation cites the context of Jesus’ motivation to come
to Tyre for rest. Using great wit and wisdom, the woman responded that while this was true, even
dogs eventually get some of the crumbs.

 [Slide #9] Through all of these events Jesus will continue to reveal to the disciples their character
flaws that currently prevent them from having effective ministry.
 That the men were outside the land of Israel and among the Canaanites may have caused them to
think that they were off the clock. Perhaps that mentality was reflected in Jesus’ comment to the
woman. “He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

You can tell by their reaction to this woman that they had certain prejudices toward people that neg-
atively affected their ability to engage in ministry. Matthew’s account reveals their attitude toward
her. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”
Illustration: Our Baptist Buffet dinner guest.

We know that some of the disciples were more focused on what Jesus could do for their nation po-
litically than spiritually. And I think that some American Christians are hindered by the same misun-
derstanding of what the Gospel offers.

The Gospels do not tell us what was going on in the disciples’ personal lives that kept them from be -
ing effective ministers. Perhaps they suffered from a common malady among Christians today called
Eternity Amnesia. We do know that there were personality conflicts within the group. Perhaps the
disciples suffered from self-doubt. Perhaps they believed in the power of Jesus to perform a miracle,
but they doubted whether they would personally experience it.

“Stop Me If I’ve Told You This Story Before”

[Slide #4] INTRODUCTION: Some commentators feel that the episode of the feeding of the 4000 was a
doublet or a variant account of the earlier feeding of the 5000 (6:31-44). For example, there are some
similarities:

1. Both incidents take place in a desolate place

2. The question of the number of loaves is asked in both accounts
3. The command for the people to recline is made in both narratives
4. In both accounts the meal is begun with prayer
5. In both feedings the people eat to the fill
6. The fragments are gathered up in both miracles
7. And, in both narratives, the people are dismissed and Jesus departs in a boat ride.

But significant differences exist to hold to two separate feedings:

1. [Slide #5] The feeding of the 4000 occurred “in those days” (Mark 8:1) which connects this narra-
tive to the previous one that took place in the Decapolis. “Then he returned from the region of
Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis” (Mark 7:31).
The feeding of the 5000 occurred in Galilee.

2. The feeding of the 4000 occurred after the crowd had been with Jesus for “three days” (8:2),
while the feeding of the 5000 took place the same night of the crowd’s arrival.

3. In the feeding of the 4000 Jesus recognized the crowd’s need for food (8:2), while in the feeding
of the 5000 the disciples called Jesus’ attention to the need.
4. [Slide #6] The feeding of the 4000 consisted of a meal of “seven loaves” (8:6) and a “few small
fish” (8:7), while the feeding of the 5000 had a menu of five loaves and two fish. Also, what is
wrong about the front cover of the bulletin?

5. [Slide #7] The feeding of the 4000 ended with “broken pieces left over, seven baskets full” (8:8),
while the feeding of the 5000 had twelve baskets of leftovers. Also, both accounts used different
Greek words to designate the baskets used. In the feeding of the 5000 the term is kofinos that
identifies a wicker basket in which traveling Jews carried their food. In the feeding of the 4000
the term spuris is a large basket. This second term was used by Luke in Acts 9:25 to describe the
size of basket that was used to smuggle Paul out of Damascus.

6. [Slide #8] Jesus himself identified two separate feedings.

“Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?
When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did
you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And the seven for the four thousand, how many bas -
kets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” And he said to them,
“Do you not yet understand?” (8:18-21).

[Slide #9] Possible explanations for the disciples’ failure to learn from the feeding of the 5000. The over-
all portrayal of the disciples throughout the Gospels is that they were both privileged and perplexed.
One of main characteristics of the Gospel of Mark is to portray the disciples in an honest light. John
Mark was particularly connected to the apostle Peter, and yet his account shows all their flaws. But this
is one of the purposes of the Gospel which is to help the modern disciple realize the hard work and disci-
pline that is necessary to grow in his knowledge of the person of Jesus Christ and to participate in his
ministry. Also, the fact that they were in Gentile territory may have led them to feel no obligation for
these foreign people. It is obvious that the disciples had not yet developed a natural feel for ministry
and an expectation of the power of God.

Verses on forgetfulness:

[Slide #10] Deuteronomy 4:9 – “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things
that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.   Make them
known to your children and your children's children.”

[Slide #11] Psalm 103:1-2 – “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”

[Slide #12] Hosea 4:6 – “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected
knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I
also will forget your children.”

[Slide #13] Philippians 3:1 – “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is
no trouble to me and is safe for you.”

The repetition nature of the Christian life:

[Slide #14] Read your Bible daily – Joshua 1:8 – “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth,
but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is writ -
ten in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

[Slide #15] Hebrews 5:14 – “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discern-
ment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

[Slide #16] Pray daily – Colossians 4:2 – “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanks-
giving.”

[Slide #17] Attend church weekly – Hebrews 10:24-25 – “And let us consider how to stir up one another
to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

[Slide #18] 1 Timothy 4:13-15 – “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to ex-
hortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the
council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all
may see your progress.”

“Peter’s Confession”

INTRODUCTION: Let’s retrace the steps of Jesus and his disciples at this turning point in his ministry:

 [Slide #1] Most of Jesus’ ministry had been confined to the Sea of Galilee region and the Plain of
Gennesaret. Mark 4:1 – “Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gath-
ered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was be-
side the sea on the land.”

 [Slide #2] Following the miracle of the feeding of the 5000, which took place at Bethsaida, Jesus be-
gan to withdraw from the crowds and turn his attention to the disciples.

 [Slide #3] As part of their training Jesus took the disciples on a journey to the region of Tyre and
Sidon. Mark 7:24 – “And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden.”

 [Slide #4] He came back to the lake but spent time in the region of the Decapolis where he fed the
4000. Mark 7:41 – “Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea
of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.”

 [Slide #5] After spending some time back in Galilee, Jesus took the disciples on another journey
north to the region of Caesarea Philippi.

TEXT: Matthew 16:13-20 – [Slide #6] “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he
asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the
Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do
you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
[Slide #7] And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not re-
vealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom
of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.”

A. The Location of the Question (Matthew 16:13a).

[Slide #8] Situated 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee and at the base of Mount Hermon, Cae-
sarea Philippi is the location of one of the largest springs feeding the Jordan River. This abundant
water supply has made the area very fertile and attractive for religious worship.  Numerous tem-
ples were built at this city in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

[Slides #9-11] In the days of Jesus, Caesarea Philippi was a city dominated by multiple pagan
temples built near a powerful spring of water at the foot of Mount Hermon. There was a temple
there for the centaur nature-god Pan for whom the site was formerly named (Panias). Herod
Philip made the place his regional capital, added a temple for worship of Augustus Caesar, and
named the city Caesarea Philippi.

Although Jesus probably did not come into the city, he came into this region to find solitude with
his disciples. And in the midst of all of this paganism, Jesus asked the disciples the central ques -
tion every person has to answer: Who is Jesus?

B. The Question and Confession (16:13b-20).

[Slide #12] “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” While the various opinions are compli-
mentary and demonstrate the popularity Jesus enjoyed at this time, they are also inferior opin-
ions existed in Palestine concerning the identity of Jesus:

 John the Baptist reincarnate. This was Herod Antipas’ opinion (Mark 6:14).
 Elijah was a popular opinion in Jesus’ day because of his unique departure from this world
and because of the prophecy of Malachi. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before
the great and awesome day of the LORD comes” (4:5).
 Jeremiah.
 “One of the prophets” was the opinion of Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night. Matthew
21:46 – “And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they
held him to be a prophet.”

On-line article: Who is Jesus Christ? It’s a question as controversial as it is ancient. Even in his
own day Jesus’ identity was a subject laced with controversy. So much so that Jesus posed the
question to his disciples, who do people say I am? Their responses varied, "Some say John the
Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." So then, who is Jesus
Christ? Even in his own time and culture, Jesus was an enigma. His culture didn’t quite know
what to make of him. Some called him a gifted teacher while others labeled him a rebel and rev -
olutionist. Some declared him to be a great prophet while others said he was a demon-pos-
sessed lunatic. Some honored him, others worshipped him while many scoffed and walked away
in disbelief. One thing is certain; Jesus didn’t quite fit anyone’s mold. Who was Jesus has been a
 question with which generations of cultures have wrestled. Isn’t it interesting how some things
just never seem to change? So, who is Jesus to you personally? Whatever history says about Je-
sus, whatever Jesus said about himself, whatever our culture says is true of him, it’s ultimately a
question we must each answer for ourselves. And, how we answer this question will impact how
we interpret life and respond to our daily circumstances.

Jesus asked the disciples "but who do you say that I am?" Peter proclaimed, "You are the Christ
(Messiah), the Son of the living God."

Jesus commends Peter for his answer and pronounces that he is truly fortunate for he know who
Jesus truly is. But he goes on to say that this knowledge is not due to being clever. Rather it can
only come by means of divine revelation.

[Slide #13] Matthew 11:25-27 – “At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and re-
vealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been
handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one
knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

C. The Examination of the Confession.

Even though Peter answered the question correctly, his belief in this confession would be put to
the test in the days ahead.

[Slide #14] Matthew 16:21-23 – “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must
go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be
killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying,
“Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get
behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of
God, but on the things of man.”

While Peter’s rebuke was done in private, Jesus’ rebuke was public. This was necessary for the
disciples shared the same misconception of Israel’s Messiah as their spokesman. This rebuke
does not contradict Peter’s prior confession. It merely reveals his limited perspective that saw a
political and national deliverer, more than a spiritual deliverer.

[Slide #15] Matthew 26:69-75 – “Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant
girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before
them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And when he went out to the entrance, an-
other servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of
Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” [Slide #16] After a lit-
tle while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your
accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know
the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Be-
fore the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”  And he went out and wept bitterly.”
 [Slide #17] John 21:15-19 – “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Si-
mon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”  He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I
love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John,
do you love me?”  He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to
him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  Pe-
ter was grieved because he said to him the third time, [Slide #18] “Do you love me?” and he said
to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my
sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk
wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will
dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of
death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

“The Festival of Booths (Sukkot)”

[Slide #1] INTRODUCTION: Let’s try to reconstruction the chronology of our current focus on the life of
Christ. Jesus spent the bulk of his ministry in the northern region of Galilee, in and around the many vil-
lages that populate the lake. With the miracle of the feeding of the 5000, when Jesus manifested his
Messianic credentials to a huge crowd and the primary response was simply to enjoy the show and the
meal, Jesus withdrew from the crowds to focus his time and energies on the disciples in preparation for
his coming death and their taking over the ministry. If a miracle was performed, it was generally done in
private and Jesus enjoined secrecy on the part of the healed individual. Jesus took the disciples on two
teaching tours north out of the country, first to Tyre, and then to Caesarea Philippi where Peter uttered
his correct theological statement concerning the divine person of Christ. Last week we looked at the
Transfiguration, which likely took place on Mount Hermon, also outside the land of Israel, in modern day
Lebanon. After the Transfiguration, Jesus and the disciples traveled privately throughout Galilee, and
then he turned his attention to the southern region of Judea and what awaited him in Jerusalem. Jesus
focused the last six months of his life in Judea and the region of Perea, which is on the eastern side of
the Jordan.

The chronology of today’s narrative is about six months after the feeding of the 5000, for according to
Matthew’s account, the Passover was at hand (6:4). Matthew places the feeding of the 5000 shortly be -
fore the Passover, that is, in April, and the Feast of Tabernacles (in October) was now near (7:2).

A. The Feast of Booths.

[Slide #2] The Feast of Booths, sometimes called the Feast of Tabernacles, is known in Hebrew as
“Sukkot” ("Sue COAT"). The festival begins on the 15 th of Tishri (September-October), the fifth
day after Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. The joyous mood of the Feast of Booths is much
different from the solemn ceremony of the Day of Atonement. Sukkot is so unreservedly joyful
that it is commonly referred to in Jewish prayer and literature as the Season of our Rejoicing.
Sukkot is the last of the three pilgrimage festivals. Like Passover and the Feast of Weeks, Sukkot
has a dual significance: historical and agricultural. Historically, Sukkot commemorates the forty-
year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert, living in temporary
shelters. Agriculturally, Sukkot is a harvest festival and is sometimes referred to as the Festival of
Ingathering. This harvest was that of grapes and olives, as the grain had been reaped between
April and June.
 The Feast of Sukkot lasts for seven days. The festival of Sukkot was instituted in Leviticus 23:33-
36. [Slide #3] “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On
the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the Lord. On
the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. For seven days you
shall present food offerings to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and
present a food offering to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work.”

[Slide #4] “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of
the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn
rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. And you shall take on the first day the fruit of
splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and
you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. [Slide #5] You shall celebrate it as a feast
to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you
shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Is-
raelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel
dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

[Slide #6] I found the following instructions on a Jewish website. In honor of the holiday's histor-
ical significance, we are commanded to dwell in temporary shelters, as our ancestors did in the
wilderness. The temporary shelter is referred to as a sukkah (Sue-KAH which is the singular form
of the plural word "sukkot"). The sukkah is great fun for the children. Building the sukkah each
year satisfies the common childhood fantasy of building a fort, and dwelling in the sukkah satis -
fies a child's desire to camp out in the backyard. The commandment to "dwell" in a sukkah can
be fulfilled by simply eating all of one's meals there; however, if the weather, climate, and one's
health permit, one should spend as much time in the sukkah as possible, including sleeping in it.
Many Jews today celebrate this holiday by building their own booth, or sukkah, a four-sided,
temporary structure; with palm branches for the open roof, through which the night sky is visi-
ble, and sometimes canvas for the walls. For the seven days of this holiday, many observant fam-
ilies eat their meals there, and others go so far as to sleep in it, too.

On the first day of the holiday, people would pick their best fruits, branches, and palm leaves.
It’s customary for Jews today to carry and display a reminder of that. The first is called a citrus
fruit looking much like an oversized lemon. The second is called an unopened branch from the
date palm tree. Holding the fruit and branch on Sukkot is a reminder of the harvest God pro -
vided for our ancestors, as well as the materials He gave them to build the sukkah, or booth.

B. The Themes of the Narrative.

1. Murder on their Minds. “After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in
Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him” (7:1). This goes back to the last time Je-
sus had been in Jerusalem when he performed the healing at the Pool of Bethesda. “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”
(5:18).
 “Why do you seek to kill me?”  The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking
to kill you?” (7:19b-20). “Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the
man whom they seek to kill?” (7:25).

2. [Slide #7] Confusion concerning Christ. “So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go
to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.  For no one works in
secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the
world.”  For not even his brothers believed in him” (7:3-5).

“And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a
good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” Yet for fear of the Jews no
one spoke openly of him” (7:12-13).

“About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The
Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never
studied?” (7:14-15).

“Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where this
man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from”
(7:26b-27).

“Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do
more signs than this man has done?” (7:31).

“The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find
him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?
What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I
am you cannot come’?” (7:35-36).

“When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.”
Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has
not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from
Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So there was a division among the people over
him” (7:40-43).

“The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did
you not bring him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” The Phar -
isees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?” (7:45-47).

3. The Mosaic Law. “Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand” (7:2). “Has not Moses
given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law” (7:19). “Moses gave you circumcision
(not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sab-
bath” (7:22).

CONCLUSION: [Slide #8] “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If
anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of
his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in
him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

Not far from the Temple, the people would hear the sounds of rams and goats and lambs being pre-
pared for the morning sacrifice. It was at this time that the Temple priest would lead his own parade.
He would exit the Temple through the Water Gate holding a golden pitcher, and he would walk several
hundred yards to the pool of Siloam to fill the pitcher with water. With musicians in tow, the priest
would gather the water; all would march back to the temple, and the priest would take the water from
the pitcher and spill it on the altar where the animals were sacrificed. As he would do this, he would
say, “Please, Lord, save us, hear our prayers.” Prayers would be recited, as would the Psalms.

[Slide #9] “Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our
law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”  They replied, “Are you
from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

“The Light of the World”

[Slide #5] INTRODUCTION: Last week we learned about the Jewish Feast of Booths known as Sukkot.
The eight-day Feast of Sukkot commemorated the end of the 40 years of wandering and living in tempo -
rary dwellings. Families would build temporary booths known as Sukkah and sleep in them and eat their
meals to relive the years of the wilderness wanderings. Jesus traveled south from Galilee to Jerusalem
half way through the week and began to engage the Jewish pilgrims and the religious leaders in debate.

[Slide #6] “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let
him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow
rivers of living water.’”

[Slide #7] Every day of the festival, the priests descended down to the Pool of Siloam, accompanied by
the congregation assembled in the Temple (the black line uses the first century model of Jerusalem to
show the route from the temple to the pool). There, the priests filled a golden flask with water from the
pool. Ascending back up, carrying the flask with song, the assembly entered back into the Temple
through the Water Gate, one of the gates on the southern side of the court. As they entered the gate,
their steps were greeted by the sound of trumpets and shofar-blasts, in fulfillment of the prophet Isa -
iah's words, "With joy you shall draw water out of the wells of salvation" (12:3).

[Slide #8] John 4:13-14 – “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.”

[Slide #9] Another major feature of the Feast of Sukkot was the lighting of giant lamps in the court of the
women in the temple. Huge lamps were erected in the Women's Court to illuminate the Festival of the
Water Libation. These lamps consisted of four containers of oil mounted on a huge pole. Young priests-
in-training were given the task of filling these lamps by climbing up to them on ladders while carrying
great jugs of oil, and pouring them into the containers at the top. The wicks for these lights were made
from the old and worn pants and belts of the priests. The lamps towered over the court and shone forth
with a light so bright that "there was not a single courtyard in all of Jerusalem that was not illuminated
by the light of the Festival of the Water Libation." The light illuminated the temple area and the people
gathered to sing praises and dance. The light reminded the Jewish people of how God was with them in
their wanderings in the wilderness in a pillar of cloud which turned to fire at night. 

[Slide #10] Numbers 9:15-17 - On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the taberna-
cle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until
morning. So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. And when-
ever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where
the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped.”

This imagery may explain Jesus’ pronouncement to the Jewish pilgrims at the Feast of Sukkot:

[Slide #11] “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will
not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Jesus’ statement makes four theological truths:

1. The world is living in darkness and in need of light outside itself.

[Slide #12] Matthew 4:16 – “The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for
those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” Jesus left his
hometown of Nazareth and moved his base of operation to the fishing village of Capernaum
which was located on the NW corner of Galilee. Writing to Jewish audience, Matthew saw within
this geographical move a prophetic connection and he quoted Isaiah 9:1-2.

[Slide #13] Luke 1:76-79 – “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you
will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the
forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit
us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide
our feet into the way of peace.”

2. If an individual is not following Jesus, he is walking in darkness.

[Slide #14] John 3:19 – “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people
loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

[Slide #15] John 12:35-36 – “So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while
longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the
darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that
you may become sons of light.”

3. To be a follower of Jesus requires obedience.

[Slide #16] Ephesians 5:8 – “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the
Lord.  Walk as children of light.”

[Slide #17] 1 John 1:5-7 – “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that
God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk
 in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

4. Light equals life.

[Slide #18] Colossians 1:13-14 – “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and trans-
ferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of
sins.”

[Slide #19] John 1:1-5 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and with-
out him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of
men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

“Sight for the Blind and Blindness for the Sighted”

[Slide #4] INTRODUCTION: The narrative in John 9 appears to be in the same context as the Feast of
Sukkot that began in John 7 and continued on in John 8. It is possible that the healing took place after
the Feast of Sukkot and before the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah; John 10:22). There are a number of
themes in this chapter that connect the narrative to the two previous chapters.

[Slide #5] First, there is the restatement of Jesus’ pronouncement, “I am the light of the world” (9:5)
that was first made in 8:12. This statement was made in the context of the Feast of Sukkot that featured
the lighting of the large lamps that were in the Court of the Women. We had noted last week that h uge
lamps were erected in the Women's Court to illuminate the Festival of the Water Libation. These lamps
consisted of four containers of oil mounted on a huge pole. Young priests-in-training were given the
task of filling these lamps by climbing up to them on ladders while carrying great jugs of oil, and pouring
them into the containers at the top. The wicks for these lights were made from the old and worn pants
and belts of the priests. The light illuminated the temple area and the people gathered to sing praises
and dance. The light reminded the Jewish people of how God was with them in their wanderings in the
wilderness in a pillar of cloud which turned to fire at night. 

[Slide #6] The second theme that runs through the passages involves the washing in the Pool of Siloam.
When Jesus anointed the blind man’s eyes, he instructed him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. Ev-
ery day of the Feast of Sukkot, the priests descended down to the Pool of Siloam, accompanied by the
congregation assembled in the Temple (the black line uses the first century model of Jerusalem to show
the route from the temple to the pool). There, the priests filled a golden flask with water from the pool.
Ascending back up, carrying the flask with song, the assembly entered back into the Temple through the
Water Gate, one of the gates on the southern side of the court. As they entered the gate, their steps
were greeted by the sound of trumpets and shofar-blasts, in fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah's words,
"With joy you shall draw water out of the wells of salvation" (12:3).

[Slide #7] The third theme is the ongoing conflict with the religious leaders concerning the true identity
of Jesus. While the people are hard pressed to explain away the obvious miracles of Jesus, the religious
leaders use threats to keep the people in line.

A. The Miracle Proper (9:1-7).

 It is possible that Jesus and his disciples encountered the blind man sitting outside the temple
area as it is likely that he was there asking alms of the temple worshipers. The man’s physical
condition caused the disciples to ask Jesus a theological question. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man
or his parents, that he was born blind?” Perhaps like the friends of Job, the disciples associated
physical suffering with a sin issue. One rabbi famously said, “There is no death without sin, and
there is no suffering without iniquity.” Jesus replied that the blindness was not associated with
sin, either on the man’s part, or on his parents’ part. But Jesus did see this particular disability as
an opportunity to display the works of God. Jesus then used the present situation to exhort the
disciples to engage in people’s lives, and in so doing, to participate in the works of God.

Rather than healing the blindness through the spoken word, Jesus spit on the ground and made
mud with the saliva. Just for the fun of it, can you name the other two miracles of Jesus that in-
volved spitting ()? Fun with Greek (onomatopoeia)

[Slide #8] First, there was the healing of the deaf man in the Decapolis (Mark 7:31-33). “Then he
returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of
the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and
they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put
his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue.”

[Slide #9] Second, there was the healing of the blind man in Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-23). “And they
came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.
And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on
his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”

[Slide #10] Unlike other miracles that were initiated by the individual’s faith in Jesus, Jesus took
the initiative and healed the man. The faith in the person of Jesus will take place at the end of
the narrative. The use of Jesus’ spit has generated a lot of suggestions, which I will ignore. It is
interesting that the spit of an individual could render one unclean under the Mosaic Law (Leviti -
cus 15:8). We do know that the Pharisees were overly curious about the process of the man’s
healing. After Jesus applied the mud to the man’s eyes, he instructed him to wash himself in the
Pool of Siloam. The command to go to Siloam may have simply been a test of obedience. When
the man came back to the temple he could see.

B. The Intercourse with the Neighbors (9:8-12).

While Jesus is physically removed from the narrative, and will not appear again until the end, his
identity is front and center in the ensuing conversations. This healing set off a string of conversa-
tions and confrontations. And the conversations began with the man’s identity, but it concluded
with a discussion about Jesus’ identity. The first conversation took place among the man’s neigh -
bors who were confused to see this former beggar now able to see. The man must have gone
home after the healing. They were so used to seeing him blind and supporting himself by beg-
ging that it was easier for them to believe he was someone else even though he looked familiar.
When they asked for an explanation for his ability to see, he identified Jesus as the healer, but he
did not know where Jesus currently was, now that he had returned to the scene of the healing.
C. The First Interrogation with the Pharisees (9:13-17).

[Slide #11] The neighbors next took the man to the Pharisees to get to the bottom of the matter.
No doubt, Jesus’ involvement in the healing and the ongoing conflict between him and the reli-
gious leaders motivated this move. The Pharisees were the second group to ask the man to de -
scribe the healing and his response was simple and straightforward, “He put mud on my eyes,
and I washed, and I see.” This information created a division within their ranks, with some Phar-
isees condemning Jesus because he healed on the Sabbath, while others did not know how to as-
sociate Jesus with being a sinner since he was able to perform an obvious miraculous sign. So
the Pharisees asked the man his opinion of Jesus and his response was, “He is a prophet.”

D. The Interrogation of the Parents (9:18-23).

Unsatisfied with the answers so far, and not willing to admit that a miracle had taken place, the
Pharisees next called in the man’s elderly parents to vouch for his identity and his current condi -
tion. The parents wanted nothing to do with the controversy for they were afraid of being ex-
pelled from the synagogue. The religious leaders were trying to intimidate anyone who was seri-
ously considering the claims of Jesus with the threat of expulsion from the synagogue. The par-
ents acknowledged the man as being their son and that he had been born blind. But beyond
that, their son could answer for himself.

E. The Second Interrogation of the Pharisees (9:24-34).

So, the Pharisees once again turned their attention back to the man and tried to get him to publi-
cally discredit Jesus as being a sinner. The man refused to be intimidated and put the religious
leaders on the defensive. In fact, the Pharisees’ intimidation, instead of shaking the man, solidi -
fied his position. When they asked him to account for the healing, the man refused, telling them
they did not listen the first time and so why should he repeat himself. The Pharisees then at -
tacked the man as being a disciple of Jesus, while they claimed Moses as their spiritual guide. In
words that dripped with scorn, the man used their own theological logic to show their inconsis -
tency. Religious Jews would admit that God does not listen to sinners and that only a true wor-
shiper of God could perform the type of miraculous sign that Jesus had performed. The man’s
logic concluded that Jesus had to have been of God to do this miracle. When the Pharisees could
not answer his logic, they once again resorted to insults, intimidation and expelled him from
membership in the synagogue.

F. The Epilogue (9:35-41).

Where Jesus was during this controversy John does not say, but Jesus found the man later in the
day and their second conversation moved from addressing his physical condition to the more im-
portant spiritual condition. Using the title, “the Son of Man,” Jesus asked the healed man if he
believed in that person. When the man asked to know the Son of Man’s identity, Jesus revealed
his true identity. The man expressed his faith in the person of Jesus and worshiped him. Jesus
then made a pronouncement about his purpose for coming into the world to give sight to the
spiritually blind and to blind those who are religious. There were some Pharisees who had eaves-
dropped on this exchange and they suspected Jesus was talking about them.
APPLICATION:

 Just as the man was born blind, people are spiritually blind from birth.
 The most meaningful thing you can do with your life is to participate in the works of God, which de-
mands you get involved in people’s lives. The key words are “we” and “must.”
 One of the tests of discipleship is the public confession of Jesus as Christ. The parents do not want to
get involved.
 God only listens to those who are godly and they demonstrate their godliness by doing God’s will.
 Addressing the man’s physical condition was not the end of the narrative. The narrative concluded
with the spiritual condition which is the greatest need.

“I Am the Good Shepherd”

[Slide #1] INTRODUCTION: The discourse “I Am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:1-21) and the events at
the Feast of Dedication (10:22-42) are connected to the preceding chapters. John writes that following
the discourse an argument broke out among the listeners concerning the sanity of Jesus and those who
favored Jesus pointed out the recent healing of the blind man (10:21) which had taken place between
the Feast of Sukkot and the Feast of Dedication. Also, at the conclusion of the healing of the man born
blind, Jesus made a pointed comment about the blindness of the Pharisees to which they took offense
(9:39-41). Jesus continued this attack on the religious leaders in the discourse on the Good Shepherd by
comparing them to the hired hand. The Pharisees had bullied the man who had been healed and had
expelled him from the local synagogue. In the discourse on the Good Shepherd detailed the abuse of
these false shepherds in Jerusalem. And in the conversation that took place between Jesus and the Jew-
ish people in the temple precinct Jesus returned to the sheep/shepherd metaphor (10:25-30).

Name some of the famous passages in the Bible that use the sheep/shepherd metaphor:

[Slide #2] Psalm 23:1 – “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

[Slide #3] Isaiah 53:6 – “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own
way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

[Slide #4] Luke 15:3-4 – “So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep,  if he
has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is
lost, until he finds it?”

A. The Figure of Speech (10:1-6).

[Slide #5] In the opening scene of the analogy Jesus described a large stone enclosure that
housed multiple herds overnight for protection from predators. The true shepherd would be rec-
ognized by the gatekeeper for he would approach by means of the door. Furthermore, the valid
owner of the sheep would be recognized by the sheep when they heard his voice. In this open-
ing statement Jesus was criticizing the false shepherds of the nation for several reasons. First,
because they did not recognize him at the true shepherd. And second, for trying to speak on be -
half of God without his approval. Also implied in this analogy was an explanation of why the ma-
jority of the Jewish people failed to respond to Jesus’ voice. Even though they were religious,
they did not belong to God, and as a result, did not respond to His Son. Jesus was describing how
God formed his flock. He calls them and those who recognize God’s voice, follow him.

[Slide #6] Ezekiel 34:1-6 – “The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the
shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the
Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed
the sheep?  You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but
you do not feed the sheep.  The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not
healed, the injured you have not bound up, [Slide #7] the strayed you have not brought back, the
lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.  So they were scat-
tered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.  My sheep
were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were
scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.”

Illustration: the funeral in Waseca for a senior who was killed.

1. The First Application of the Figure of Speech (10:7-10).

[Slide #8] Jesus then adjusted the sheep analogy to make another point. After the sheep
leave the fold with the shepherd he takes them out into the open fields. During the day
the shepherd will put the sheep into a small enclosure for their protection. The shepherd
will place himself in the entrance of the enclosure so that the sheep can safely pass by
him to find food in the pasture, but when predators come to find their own food, the
sheep can retreat passed the shepherd for safety. Jesus was making several points with
this analogy. First, there is the continued criticism of the religious leaders for their at-
tempt to speak on behalf of God when they lacked the divine authority. Second, there is
the clear statement that Jesus is the only means of access to God. Third, there is the offer
of the legitimately abundant life.

[Slide #9] Jeremiah 23:1-4 – “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of
my pasture!” declares the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concern-
ing the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven
them away, and you have not attended to them.  Behold, I will attend to you for your evil
deeds, declares the Lord. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the coun-
tries where I have driven them, [Slide #10] and I will bring them back to their fold, and
they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them,
and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares
the Lord.”

Illustration: the recent story in the news of the doctor who was convicted of giving medi-
cal advice to hundreds of patients.

2. The Second Expansion of the Parable (7:11-15).

Jesus once again changed the analogy to contrast the difference between his care of his
audience’s spiritual needs and that of the religious leaders. A shepherd who is committed
to the welfare of his flock is willing to sacrifice his own safety. A hired hand that is paid to
 guard the sheep will flee at the first sign of danger and leave the defenseless animals at
the mercy of the predators. With just months to go before his crucifixion at Passover, Je-
sus announced that he was voluntarily giving up his life so that he could save the lives of
those individuals who heard and understood the voice of God.

Genesis 31:38-40 – “These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your fe-
male goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks.   What was
torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself.  From my hand you
required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.  There I was: by day the heat con-
sumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.”

[Slide #11] 1 Peter 2:24-25 – “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that
we might die to sin and live to righteousness.  By his wounds you have been
healed.  For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and
Overseer of your souls.”

3. The Third Application (7:16-18).

And then Jesus made one final point with the analogy, which was the inclusion of the
Gentiles into the flock of God. Jesus for the fourth time predicted his crucifixion and then
also announced his resurrection.

B. The Feast of Dedication (10:22-39).

[Slide #12] Hanukkah, which means “dedication” in Hebrew, begins on the 25th of Kislev on the
Hebrew calendar and usually falls in November or December (in 2015 it runs from Sunday, De-
cember 6 to Monday, December 14). The events that inspired the Hanukkah holiday took place
during a particularly turbulent phase of Jewish history. Around 200 B.C., Judea came under the
control of Antiochus III, the Seleucid king of Syria, who allowed the Jews who lived there to con-
tinue practicing their religion. His son, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, proved less benevolent: Ancient
sources recount that he outlawed the Jewish religion and ordered the Jews to worship Greek
gods. In 168 B.C., his soldiers descended upon Jerusalem, massacring thousands of people and
desecrating the city’s holy Second Temple by erecting an altar to Zeus and sacrificing pigs within
its sacred walls.

Led by the Jewish priest Mattathias and his five sons, a large-scale rebellion broke out against An-
tiochus and the Seleucid monarchy. When Matthathias died in 166 B.C., his son Judah, known as
Judah Maccabee (“the Hammer”), took the helm; within two years the Jews had successfully
driven the Syrians out of Jerusalem, relying largely on guerilla warfare tactics. Judah called on his
followers to cleanse the Second Temple, rebuild its altar and light its menorah, the gold cande-
labrum whose seven branches represented knowledge and creation and were meant to be kept
burning every night.

According to the Talmud, one of Judaism’s most central texts, Judah Maccabee and the other
Jews who took part in the rededication of the Second Temple witnessed what they believed to be
a miracle. Even though there was only enough untainted olive oil to keep the menorah’s candles
burning for a single day, the flames continued flickering for eight nights, leaving them time to
 find a fresh supply. This wondrous event inspired the Jewish sages to proclaim a yearly eight-day
festival.

[Slide #13] CONCLUSION: Some concluding thoughts from the passage: (1) that people are compared to
sheep implies we need direction for our lives; (2) that Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd implies
there are bad shepherds that people can follow; (3) the presence of a shepherd means there are preda-
tors that can harm the sheep even though the sheep may be ignorant of the danger; (4) the sheep are
safe when they listen to the shepherd and the main way the Shepherd talks to the sheep is through the
Word of God (Bob F. who has never studied the Bible); (5) Jesus wants his followers to enjoy an abun-
dant life, which he defines, not the sheep (meaningful time in the Word, service, witness, trials, next
generation, some physical and financial blessings).

“Dealing with Death”

[Slide #1] INTRODUCTION: The theme of physical illness and death permeates this narrative. And it is
these two realities that most people, including believers, find distressing and stressful. As I was saying
to someone recently who is dealing with a terminal illness, that I know in the back of my mind that I will
die someday. But all things being equal, I rationalize that this reality is still at least twenty years away.
But if tomorrow I was to learn that I also had a terminal illness, it would be a jolt to my system.

A. Death from the Human Perspective.

Loving Relationships. As John develops the narrative, he emphasizes the deep emotional con-
nections between the characters that make death so tragic and poignant. This trio of siblings
was close to one another and they each had a special connection to Jesus. We don’t know for
sure, but there is no indication that the siblings had more immediate family than each other.
And over the course of Jesus’ pubic ministry, with his occasional trips to Jerusalem, that Jesus
had developed an intimate relationship with these siblings who were sympathetic to his ministry.
John notes the irony that Jesus’ delay was a sign of Jesus’ love for this family. Jesus wanted to
deepen this family’s faith, deepen his disciples’ faith, and develop some new faith.

[Slide #2] Luke 10:38-42 – “Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman
named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the
Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.  But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she
went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell
her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and trou-
bled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which
will not be taken away from her.” This miracle was going to address Martha’s tendency to ne -
glect serious study. John tells us that Mary was the woman who would anoint Jesus’ feet with
costly ointment and wipe his feet with her hair in preparation for his own death (John 12:1-8).

One of the issues that make death so painful for us to endure is that we develop deep and mean-
ingful relationships with people as we go through life, and then death brings these relationships
to an end. The very people that enrich our lives are painfully removed from our lives by death.
Illustration: the death of Grandpa Holland
Not Now. While we know that death is inevitable for all of us, we hope to avoid it at the present
time. This thought is reflected in the sister’s message to Jesus (11:3) and in the disciples’ concern
for Jesus when he announced a return trip to Judea (11:8). The sisters must have known the risk
to Jesus’ life if he came to Bethany. The actions of the sisters to notify Jesus of Lazarus’ illness
also reflect the common human reaction to a life-threatening illness. We always think we have
some options to avoid death and most people will go to some extreme steps to avoid the in-
evitable. The sisters truly believed that Jesus could have done something to spare Lazarus’ life.
“Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died’” (11:21).
And Mary said the same thing in verse 32.

It is human nature to want more time. Remember the reaction of King Hezekiah when the
prophet Isaiah told him to get his house in order for he was to die?

[Slide #3] 2 Kings 20:1-3 – “In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death.
And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Set
your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” Then Hezekiah turned his face to
the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, “Now, O LORD, please remember how I have walked be-
fore you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.”  And
Hezekiah wept bitterly.”

We also are more accepting of death if the individual died at an advanced age, having lived a long
and productive life. We feel cheated when an individual dies unexpectedly or too soon.

Or, we hope that our relationship with God will somehow spare us of this painful experience
(11:21, 32). And even those who do not particularly believe in God think that God could have or
should have done something to intervene. “But some of them said, “Could not he who opened
the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” (11:37).

Funeral Rituals. Death is a sad time of separation for those who lose a loved one and we try to
fill the void by surrounding ourselves with family and friends who feel our pain (11:19).

[Slide #4] Because Jewish people found death to be so painful, they had developed some rituals
to help them deal with the pain. They had wrapped Lazarus’ body in strips of cloth soaked in per-
fume to deal with the odor. They also gathered together as a community to collectively deal with
the pain. And they had adopted a theology that believed in life after death known as the final
resurrection.

When a Jewish person died the deceased’s body was laid out and washed with warm water (Acts
9:37). The nails and hair were trimmed, and the body was anointed with ointment in preparation
for burial.

Purportedly, there was great burial ostentation in that era. The more wealthy families competed
with one another as to who could inter their dead most elaborately. Later, the Jewish rabbi
Gamaliel introduced a reform of this extravagance. Subsequently, most Jews were buried in in -
expensive, linen garments. Lazarus’ entire body had been wrapped in linen strips and his face
had been wrapped as well. Burial usually was effected as quickly as possible, frequently the
same day (Acts 5:6). The Jews did not practice cremation, believing that such was paganistic.
 Burial places were located outside of the cities (Matthew 8:28). En route from the home to the
tomb, the deceased was generally carried on a bier (Luke 7:14), which was probably a wooden
slab. Along the way, the bier might be carried by various family members and friends. Hired
mourners, who shrieked and pounded their breasts, along with musicians, might accompany the
funeral trek. “Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a
commotion” (Matthew 9:23).

At the cemetery an oration would be delivered and the body would be deposited in the tomb.
Frequently these were caves or rock-hewn receptacles. Within these were niches, designed to
house several bodies. Usually a tomb could accommodate about eight bodies, sometimes more.
The entrance to the grave was secured by a door or large stone.

B. Death from the Divine Perspective.

[Slide #5] God’s Glory. Jesus looked a death differently because, being eternal, he had a differ-
ent perspective on the human understanding of life. “This illness does not lead to death. It is for
the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (11:4). Reminding humans
of their mortality is a primary way for the glory of God to be demonstrated, either in the healing
of the individual, or in the death of the individual and the reminder to the survivors of the reality
of eternal matters (11:4, 40).

The word "glory" comes from the Hebrew term kabod whose basic meaning is "to be heavy,
weighty." From this the figurative usage was developed. The term was used to describe an indi-
vidual who was weighty in society, that is, a prominent person who was worthy of respect (i.e.
our expression "Her advice carries a lot of weight" or "He has a lot of clout").

God's glory is His self-disclosure to mankind which is meant to indicate His intention to dwell
with them. This revelation is intended to produce in man a sense of awe, wonder, and amaze-
ment that the God of this great glory desires to have a relationship with him. And as this rela -
tionship grows, man is to grant God the weight and reverence that is due Him. God desires that
mankind would recognize His splendor and surpassing greatness. This recognition will occur
when man recognizes the stunning quality of God's holiness and then steps out in faith and obe-
dience to let that character be manifested in them.

Soul Sleep. Jesus also viewed human death as simply falling asleep, only to wake up in eternity
in a far better existence. “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The dis-
ciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his
death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep” (11:11-13).

[Slide #6] 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 – “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about
those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we be-
lieve that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him  those who
have fallen asleep.”

[Slide #7] Defining Faith. Death is an effective way to help an individual define his faith in the
person of Jesus Christ. “Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am
 glad that I was not there, so that you may believe” (11:14-15). Death is the one event that puts
one’s theology to the ultimate test. “Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”  Martha
said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to
her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he
live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (11:23-26).

The reality of death forces us to decide if we really believe our theology or not, and whether it is
worth sharing. When death is a distant thing it is easy to take our faith casually. Death is in-
tended to help the believer live more for the life to come and to emotionally divest oneself of
this corrupt world. Death is one of the means that God uses to help non-believers come to the
grips of the reality of death and to determine whether their belief system has prepared them for
eternity (11:41-42).

“Positions and Positioning”

[Slide #1] INTRODUCTION: There are many curious things about Lazarus’ resurrection that the modern
reader would like to know, but which the Gospel writers do not address. If this miracle had taken place
today, Lazarus’ death experience would have been made into a best-selling book and a made-for-TV
movie. We would like to know what his death experience was like, what happened to his soul after he
had died, and what he said to his family and neighbors. And, did it make dying the second time any eas -
ier? But, the Gospel writers were clearly focused on the person of Jesus Christ and in the narrative of
the completion of his life and ministry to provide a substitutionary atonement of human sin.

A. The Problem for the Jewish Religious Leaders.

[Slide #2] With the raising of Lazarus from the dead in the nearby village of Bethany, the religious
leaders in Jerusalem, just two miles away, had a major problem on their hands in the form of a
walking and talking advertisement of the Messianic claims of Jesus Christ. Plus, let us not forget
the recent healing of the man born blind that had made the Pharisees look bad as they were
forced to use intimidation to silence this man (John 9). Following the resurrection of Lazarus,
John reported, “Some of the Jews went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done”
(11:46). In response to these eyewitness accounts, “the chief priests (Sadducees) and the Phar-
isees gathered the council (Sanhedrin) and said, ‘What are we to do? For this man performs
many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come
and take away both our place and our nation” (11:47-48). “So from that day on they made plans
to put him to death” (11:53).

[Slide #3] The religious leaders had several problems to deal with. They had a political problem
on their hands in the form of their Roman overlords. They knew that they served with the bless-
ing of Rome which allowed Palestine a certain amount of self-rule. Last Sunday Clare Lillis asked
about Caiaphas being the high priest that year (11:51). Caiaphas had been appointed high priest
in A.D. 18 by the Roman prefect Valerius Gratus and he would serve until A.D. 36 when he and
Pontius Pilate were sacked at the same time. But if the majority of the people started believing
that Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah, Rome would put down the uprising and they would
lose their power.
 They also were worried about the Jewish people whom they ruled over religiously and politically.
If the people turned to Jesus as their Messiah, the religious leaders would be rejected by the
people for Jesus had been critical of their religious influence since the beginning of his ministry.
Mark, in his Gospel, tells us, “It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleav-
ened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and
kill him, for they said, ‘Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people’” (14:1-2).

And the Sadducees, the ruling class that controlled the high priest office, had a religious dilemma
to deal with for they did not believe in the supernatural, which Lazarus’ resurrection contra-
dicted. Their rejection of the resurrection will be featured later on during the Passover week
when they ask Jesus the hypothetical question concerning Levirite marriage.

[Slide #4] Luke 20:27-33 – “There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a
resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's
brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring
for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children.
And the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. After-
ward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For
the seven had her as wife.”

B. The Location of Jesus.

[Slide #5] Following the miraculous raising of Lazarus, Jesus once again departed from the capital
city of Jerusalem for the relative safety of a village near Bethel. John tells us, “ Jesus therefore no
longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to
a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples” (11:54). This village is located
some 12 miles NE of Jerusalem on the central ridge route. How long Jesus and the disciples re-
mained in seclusion is not known, but it did heighten the speculation whether he would attend
the Passover celebration in Jerusalem. “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many
went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were
looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, ‘What do you think?
That he will not come to the feast at all?’” (11:55-56).

C. The Healing of the Ten Lepers.

The next time we see Jesus, he had joined a caravan of pilgrim on their way to Jerusalem for the
Passover (Luke 17:11-19).

[Slide #6] “On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as
he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices,
saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’ When he saw them he said to them, ‘Go and show
yourselves to the priests.’  And as they went they were cleansed. [Slide #7] Then one of them,
when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his
face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, ‘Were
not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and  give praise to God ex-
cept this foreigner?’ And he said to him, ‘Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.’”
 [Slide #8] Jesus had gone even further north and was “between Samaria and Galilee” on his way
south to Jerusalem. The route between these two regions passes through the Jezreel and Harod
Valleys. In this region Jesus entered an unidentified village and encountered a group of ten lep-
ers. The term “leprosy” is a general term in Scripture for a wide variety of skin diseases which in -
volved a spreading surface discoloration or flaking. Although this disease was probably not the
same as modern day leprosy (known as Hansen’s disease), it was a repulsive skin disease which
resulted in physical, social, and psychological isolation. These men, because of their disease,
conscientiously isolated themselves from healthy people. So, they lived in isolation from their
families, could not worship in the temple, and they had to publically warn people about their
condition. When they saw Jesus in their village, and recognized him, they loudly called to him in
an effort to gain his attention. They identified Jesus by name and addressed with a title of re-
spect.

Moved by their hopeless condition and motivated by the exercise of their faith, Jesus instructed
the ten diseased men to traveled on to Jerusalem and show themselves to the priests in the tem-
ple, who would declare them ceremonially clean again.

As they stepped out on faith, somewhere along their journey, then ten men were cured of their
leprosy. When the lepers realized they had been healed, nine of them continued on their joyous
journey to Jerusalem. Because the lepers were considered unclean they would need to be seen
by the priest to be declared clean. In order to become ceremonially clan they had to participate
in a complicated ritual. The ritual, described in Leviticus 13 and 14 involved offering sacrifices,
shaving the entire body, washing one’s body and clothes, and waiting for a period of days, after
which the procedure would be repeated. Only one of them turned around to thank Jesus for his
miraculous healing. Luke identified him as a Samaritan (a double social outcast). Since he was a
Samaritan, it is possible that they had gone to the temple on Mount Gerizim.

The man, once again raised his voice, but this time it was to glorify God for His goodness. He
raised his voice while he lowered himself to the ground. The man prostrated himself at Jesus’
feet in a sign of humble adoration.

In order to point out something obvious, Jesus asked the man where his nine former companions
were. While all ten men were excited about their healing, only one expressed his gratitude to Je-
sus for what he had done for him.

“So Close and Yet So Far”

[Slide #10] INTRODUCTION: While the Gospels were not written to be a precise chronology of the life of
Christ, it is possible to piece the accounts together to get somewhat of a chronological order of the
events of his life, especially as Jesus made his last journey to Jerusalem. The Gospel of Mark, which is
considered the first Gospel written, gives a geographical marker for the setting of the encounter of Jesus
with the rich young ruler. In Mark 10:1 he tells his readers that Jesus “left there (Capernaum; 9:33) and
went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan.” The region “beyond the Jordan” was known as
Perea and it was on the eastern side of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. The region of Perea was gov -
erned by Herod Antipas, the ruler responsible for the beheading of John the Baptist. The next geo -
graphic marker in the Gospel of Mark will be the entrance into the city of Jericho (10:46).
Matthew’s Gospel, which also has the narrative of the rich young ruler, tells us, “Now when Jesus had
finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan”
(19:1). You may recall from last week’s sermon that after the raising of Lazarus from the dead in the vil-
lage of Bethany that Jesus withdrew from Judea for a time and went to the village of Ephraim which was
12 miles north of Jerusalem (John 10:54). The next time we see Jesus, he is in a caravan of pilgrims on
their way to Jerusalem for the Passover. “On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between
Samaria and Galilee” (Luke 17:11). So, getting back to Matthew 19:1, the reference to “the region of
Judea beyond the Jordan” might be a loose way of including the region of Perea in the territory of Judea.

In Luke’s Gospel he puts the encounter with the rich young ruler (18:18-30) after the healing of the ten
lepers (17:11-19). Again, the healing of the ten lepers took place “on the way to Jerusalem” as Jesus
“was passing along between Samaria and Galilee” (17:11). During this journey to Jerusalem Luke
records the parable of the persistent widow, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, and the
blessing of the children. So, it is possible to suggest a scenario where Jesus and his disciples are travel -
ing south to Jerusalem in a caravan of travelers, and as they travel, Jesus engages in a series of debates
with the Pharisees where he tells parables to make his point, and as they journey, people are coming up
to Jesus as they recognize him.

[Slide #11] MARK’S NARRATIVE: “And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt be-
fore him and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him,
‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not
murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your fa -
ther and mother.’ And he said to him, ‘Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.’ [Slide #12] And
Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give
to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ Disheartened by the saying, he
went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

A. The Question of the Would-be Disciple.

[Slide #13] In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ encounter with the man he emphasized the youth of
the ruler and his earnest quest to possess eternal life. His earnest search for eternal life was
demonstrated by his lifelong commitment to the demands of the Mosaic Law as it related to his
treatment of other people. Matthew even summarized Jesus’ survey of the Ten Commandments
with the overarching rule, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).

And it was this earnestness that caused this young man to approach Jesus with his searching
question and his realization that he still lacked what it was to be right with God. In Mark’s ac-
count of the encounter with the rich young ruler he emphasized the reverence the young man
had for Jesus, demonstrated by his prostration before the Good Teacher. Mark also emphasized
Jesus’ affection for this earnest young man.

As Jesus began his final journey to Jerusalem he encountered an interesting individual. Note four
characteristic of this young man. He was unpretentious. He was a sincere seeker of truth. The
young man’s earnestness is revealed by his approach (“ran up to him and knelt before him”), by
his address (“Good teacher”) and by his question (“what must I do to inherit eternal life?”). He
was a pious individual. He had been trained in the Mosaic Law throughout his life (“all these I
have kept from my youth”) and he strove to fulfill his obligations to God and his fellow man. He
 was also a prosperous man who had accumulated wealth. Finally, he was precious to Jesus be -
cause when Jesus looked at him, Mark writes that he “loved him” (10:21).

The young man’s question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”, is both commendable and
misguided. It is commendable because even though he lived a good life, he realized there was a
life beyond this life that he needed to prepare for. And he was rightfully concerned that he
might not be right with God. But his question also revealed a fundamental, but common, flaw in
his thinking. He believed eternal life or entrance into the kingdom came through human achieve-
ment, based on obedience to the requirements of the Mosaic Law. To show him the error of his
thinking, Jesus recited five of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20):

[Slide #14]
 Have no other gods
 No idols
 No misuse of God’s name
 Sabbath day
 Honor father and mother
 No murder
 No adultery
 No stealing + Do not defraud was added wealth was often gained at the expense of the poor
 No lying
 No coveting

When the young man confidently announced his adherence to the demands of the law, Jesus
probed a little deeper to demonstrate the impossibility of obeying the Mosaic Law as a means of
salvation. The apostle Paul wrote the same thing to the Romans, “For by works of the law no hu-
man being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (3:20)

By asking the young man to divest himself of his riches, Jesus was gently exposing the young
man’s failure to obey the first commandment “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus
20:3). The problem of the rich young ruler was not that he had riches, but that his riches had
him. Jesus was also inviting this sincere young man to join his group of disciples and learn to live
by faith on the support of others so that he could experience “treasure in heaven.”

“He went away sad” (10:22) – his decision to hold on to his earthly possessions and walk away
from “treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20) revealed his incomplete obedience to the law. The
inheritance of eternal life is not based on religious piety and human achievement. Eternal life is
complete dependence on God for this life and for the life to come.

[Slide #15] MARK’S NARRATIVE: And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will
be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his
words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is eas-
ier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at
them and said, [Slide #16] “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with
God.” Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I
say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or
lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and
brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come
eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

B. The Question of the Actual Disciples.

[Slide #17] After the young man had departed, Jesus directly looked at his disciples and lamented
how an attachment to earthly things can prevent even the most earnest of seekers to fail to take
hold of eternal life. “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of
God!” This was a teaching moment (“Jesus looked around”) for the disciples because Jesus knew
that the wealth and possessions that prevented one man from following him was an issue for the
men who had been with him for the past two years (Judas Iscariot). As we will see, Peter’s state -
ment revealed that he and the other disciples were also thinking in physical and monetary terms.

“Who then can be saved?” (10:26) – the disciples’ amazed response was due to their misconcep-
tion of financial prosperity. They had always mistakenly believed that wealth was an indication
of divine blessing (Job). Now Jesus was saying that wealth could actually be a barrier to experi-
ence God’s blessing on your life. To their further amazement Jesus proceeded to state that sal -
vation was completely beyond the sphere of human possibility.

“we have left everything and followed you!” (10:28) – as the spokesman for the disciples, Peter’s
statement reveals they were still thinking in terms of material rather than spiritual values.
Matthew’s account adds this question, “What then will we have?” (19:27). This thinking will be
demonstrated in the request of James and John for places of honor (10:35-45).

[Slide #18] Mark 4:18-19 – “And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who
hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for
other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”

[Slide #19] 1 Timothy 6:9-10 – “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare,
into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.  For the
love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered
away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”

Jesus is unapologetic in asking the disciples to make a costly sacrifice to follow him. Anything in
life that is worthwhile requires sacrifice. In response to his statement, Jesus makes a threefold
solemn promise. The believer who will make the sacrifice to become a disciple will receive three
returns on his investment: (1) a hundredfold investment on his loss in his lifetime; (2) the privi-
lege to suffer persecution. “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should
not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” (Philippians 1:29); (3) eternal life in the age
to come.

[Slide #20] CONCLUSION: What is the status of your role as a disciple of Jesus Christ?

Do you have a meaningful devotional life?

Do you have a meaningful prayer life?
Are you in a meaningful Bible study?
Are you confident in the authority of Scripture?
Are you currently responsible for the spiritual welfare of someone else?
Are you working for and praying for the salvation of someone?
Do you have an eternal perspective in your daily decisions?
Do you attend church or are you an active part of the church family?
Do you see a ministry that is neglected and do you feel compelled to get engaged?
How do you respond to the irritations of being a part of a church family?
Do you have the accountability of other Christian friends?
How do you respond when you experience some pushback to being a Christian?
Does your confidence in God’s plan for your life take a hit when you experience adversity?
Are you generous with your time and money when it comes to ministry?

“A Tale of Two Sinners”

[Slide #1] TEXT: As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing
a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he
cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front rebuked him, telling
him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” [Slide #2] And Jesus
stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, “What do
you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover
your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glo-
rifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

[Slide #3] He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus.
He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of
the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a
sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he
looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”
[Slide #4] So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grum -
bled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaeus stood and said to the
Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything,
I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a
son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

INTRODUCTION: The narrative of the healing of the blind man in Jericho is interesting for several rea-
sons. The three Synoptic Gospel writers emphasize different aspects of the healing.

[Slide #5] Note the particulars of Matthew’s narrative:

 Location as Jesus was leaving Jericho

 Great crowds headed to Jerusalem
 Two unnamed roadside blind beggars
 Their plea for mercy to Son of David
 Crowd rebukes the beggars
 Beggars increase their volume
 Jesus’ interaction with the two men
 Their request for sight
 Jesus heals by touch
 They follow Jesus

[Slide #6] Notice the particulars of Luke’s account:

 Location was approaching Jericho

 Traveling with a crowd to Jerusalem
 One unnamed roadside blind beggar
 His plea for mercy to Son of David
 Crowd rebukes the beggar
 Beggar increases his volume
 Jesus’ interaction with the man
 His request for sight
 Jesus heals by command; commends his faith
 Follows Jesus; crowd praises God

[Slide #7] Notice the particulars of Mark’s Gospel:

 Jesus was leaving Jericho

 Traveling with disciples & crowd to Jerusalem
 One roadside blind beggar named Bartimaeus
 His plea for mercy to Son of David
 Crowd rebukes the beggar
 Beggar increases his volume
 Jesus’ interaction with the man
 His request for sight
 Jesus heals by command; commends his faith
 Healed man follows Jesus

[Slide #8] A possible way to harmonize these passages is to understand that at the time of Christ there
actually were two Jerichos. First, there was the Jericho of Old Testament history (Joshua 6). In the first
century, however, that city existed as a small village lying mostly in ruins, and about two miles south of
that site was the new Jericho built by Herod the Great. The Lord, therefore, traveling toward Jerusalem,
would first pass through ancient Jericho, and then, some two miles to the SW, go through Herodian Jeri-
cho. Accordingly, the references of Matthew and Mark to Jesus leaving Jericho would allude to old Jeri -
cho, whereas Luke’s observation of Jesus drawing near to Jericho would refer to the newer city. Hence,
the miracles under consideration may have been performed between the two Jerichos.

Jericho is five miles west of the Jordan River, six miles north of the Dead Sea, and 21 miles NE of
Jerusalem within the rugged hills of Judea. The town is strategically located as the first settlement west
of the Jordan River, which explains why Jericho was the first town captured by Israel during the Con-
quest (Joshua 6). From Jericho ascend several main valleys going up to the central ridge of the country.
The town owed its existence to a perennial spring which created an oasis in the desert. Because of this,
the town was designated “the city of palm trees” in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 34:3). Although
the ancient town had badly deteriorated by the first century, Herod the Great (37-4 B.C.) had built a
magnificent new town to the south that served as his winter palace due to the warm winter climate.
Jericho was also famous for its rose gardens, theater, and hippodrome. As Jesus crossed back over the
Jordan River on his journey to Jerusalem, he arrived at the Judean city of Jericho.

CONTEXT: In Matthew’s Gospel he records the parable of the workers in the vineyard to demonstrate Je-
sus’ closing statement to the disciples about the first being last and the last first (19:30; 20:16). Then he
has Jesus a third time telling the disciples of his impending death in Jerusalem at the hands of the reli -
gious leaders and his resurrection on the third day (20:17-19). He tells the account of the request of the
mother of James and John for places of honor for her two sons which angered the other ten disciples
(20:20-27). Then he tells of the healing of two blind men in Jericho as Jesus and the disciples passed
through on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover (20:29-34).

[Slide #9] Luke is the only Gospel writer to tell the narrative of the conversion of Zacchaeus in the same
town. The two narratives have some interesting similarities and differences.

1. While the two men were on opposite sides of the economic spectrum, they were both despised
members of Jewish society. Bartimaeus was despised for his blindness which reduced him to
begging. And Zacchaeus was despised by the Jewish people for his collaboration with the Ro-
mans to tax his own people. So, in a sense, both men took money from others in somewhat
questionable circumstances.

So insignificant was this individual that he was only known by his father’s name (“the son of
Timaeus”). His social insignificance was due to his blindness and demonstrated by the treatment
he received from the large crowd that accompanied Jesus.

The Roman system of taxation of its provinces was known as tax farming. Under this system
wealthy individuals would purchase tax contracts from the state, and then be responsible to col-
lect these taxes from the people who owed them. Although this system was convenient for
Rome, it had the potential for abuse and corruption. Under this system, to make an adequate
profit, the fax farmer had to impose more taxation on the people than he would pay to the state.
In addition to the ethical issue, tax collectors were also hated because of their collaboration with
Rome and their contamination due to dealing with the Gentiles.

The town of Jericho had trade connection with Damascus, Tyre, and Sidon to the north, Caesarea
and Joppa to the west, and Egypt to the south. Jericho was one of the three main Palestinian tax
offices, the other two being located at Caesarea and Capernaum. In addition to being Herod’s
winter capital, Jericho was known for its rich balsam and palm groves. The balsam tree produces
a fragrant and sticky gum which was used to heal wounds and cure stomach ailments. Due to all
these factors, Jericho provided its chief tax collector with a lucrative position to enjoy.

2. Both men saw something in Jesus that the majority of the crowd did not see. Jesus was passing
through Jericho on his final journey to Jerusalem to attend the Jewish Passover and to be cruci -
fied by the Jewish religious leaders with the help of the Roman authorities. Bartimaeus, while he
had lost his sense of sight, used his sense of hearing to ascertain that Jesus of Nazareth was pass-
ing through his town and he believed that this son of David had the power to heal him. Zaccha-
eus also heard that Jesus was passing through his town and he found a strategic location where
he could look at Jesus, only to find that Jesus was looking for him.
 The title “Jesus of Nazareth” was a personal reference to Jesus, denoted where he had come
from. As the Messianic “Son of David” Jesus was not only a descendant of Israel’s greatest king,
but more importantly, he was the heir who would inherit and fulfill the promises made to David.
The title “Rabbi” () is a strengthened form or the more familiar “rabbi.” Its use demon-
strated the blind man’s reverence for Jesus.

3. Both men illustrated the principle that Jesus had pronounced at the conclusion of his encounter
with the rich young ruler. As the young man walked away Jesus told his astonished disciples,
“But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Mark 10:31). While both men were ig-
nored and despised in their Jewish society, they attracted the attention of Jesus and found spiri-
tual healing for their physical and societal maladies. The conversion of Zacchaeus also demon-
strated the exception to the rule that rich people cannot be saved. “Children, how difficult it is to
enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a
rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

4. The healing of both men elicited very different reactions from the crowd. Even though the crowd
at first tried to intimidate Bartimaeus into being quiet, when Jesus healed him, the crowd gave
praise to God (Luke 18:43). On the other hand, when Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ home the crowd
grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner” (Luke 19:7).

5. Both men immediately demonstrated the genuineness of their conversion with tangible acts.
Bartimaeus, upon having his sight restored, began to follow Jesus as a disciple, giving glory to
God (Luke 18:43). Zacchaeus, without being asked to do so, and unlike the rich young ruler, vol-
unteered to give away half of his goods to the poor, and he also vowed to pursue restitution with
those he had defrauded by going beyond the requirements of the Mosaic Law. According to
Numbers 5:7, there was to be full restitution plus 20%.

CONCLUSION: As I was working yesterday meditation on the passages the following thoughts came to
me. Why did Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus see things in Jesus that the rest of the crowd did not. And the
answer came to me when I remember something Jesus had recently said and something Jeannette said.

[Slide #10] Luke 18:24-27 – “Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those
who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!  For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”  Those who heard it said, “Then who can be
saved?”  But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

“Sitting at the Feet of Jesus”

[Slides #1-17] Pictures of the baptismal service of our sister church

INTRODUCTION: [Slide #18] The last time we saw Jesus he was en route to Jerusalem for the Jewish
Passover. He had passed through the town of Jericho where he had given sight to blind Bartimaeus and
where he had converted the rich chief tax collector Zacchaeus, two great demonstrations of the grace of
God in calling sinners to repentance. After these two miracles, Jesus continued on his journey and
climbed the Jericho to Jerusalem road for the final time. This road had been featured in the well-known
parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).
[Slide #19] Jesus will arrive back in the village of Bethany with six days to go before the start of the
Passover celebration. The last time Jesus had visited his friends in Bethany was after the Feast of Dedi -
cation, known as Hanukkah, which usually falls in November or December. The Jewish leaders had tried
to kill Jesus during the Feast of Dedication and Jesus had left the area. The death of Lazarus had brought
Jesus back to the region and the miraculous raising from the dead had further incensed the religious
leaders.

With the Passover celebration at hand, Jesus returned to the small village of Bethany two miles outside
of Jerusalem and he is once again staying with his friends. And we see the three siblings in their charac -
teristic roles.

[Slide #20] TEXT: “Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was,
whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there.  Martha served, and Lazarus
was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made
from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled
with the fragrance of the perfume.

[Slide #21] But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this
ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared
about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself
to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.
For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

BODY: Let’s take a close look at each of the participants at this dinner which was intended to honor Je-
sus before he went to Jerusalem to attend the Passover.

A. Martha – The Server.

Martha is once again serving because that is what she does.

[Slide #22] Luke 10:38-42 – “Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a
woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat
at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.  But Martha was distracted with much serving.
And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve
alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious
and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion,
which will not be taken away from her.”

While it is hard to criticize a person for being hospitable and being a servant of others, Jesus
pointed out Marta’s flaw and her misplaced priorities. Martha saw more value in serving and
less value in learning if it was at the expense of service. Dad’s comment to Grandma Holland.

Darrell Bock writes, “Discipleship is a balanced combination of two things: service and reflection.
Mary shows the importance of reflecting on what Jesus teaches. Today that translates into time
in the Word and in the church’s instructing of disciples about their role in the world. It may in-
volve moments of silence before God in prayer, listening for his voice. It is a great temptation to
 serve at the expense of being fed spiritually. That is what Jesus’ remark to Martha means. Some
activities can wait. There is a time to work and a time to listen.”

B. Lazarus – The Object Lesson (наглядный урок).

[Slide #23] Lazarus is reclining with Jesus at the table, serving as an irritating object lesson to the
religious leaders to the power of Jesus. John tells his readers, “When the large crowd of the Jews
learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see
Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to
death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Je-
sus.”

C. Mary – The Student.

[Slide #24] And then we see Mary who is featured in the narrative for her spiritual insight into
the person and work of Jesus. “And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and
listened to his teaching.” And we remember Jesus’ defense of her,” Mary has chosen the good
portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Mark’s Gospel provides some additional information about the anointing. “And while he was
at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an
alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over
his head” (John says feet). We don’t know who Simon was. Some have speculated that Simon
was the father of the three siblings. The costly perfume was made of “pure nard” which was aro-
matic oil that was extracted from the root and spike of the nard plant that was native to India. It
was contained in a small stone flask with a long slender neck. John gives the amount of perfume
as being a Roman pound which is a translation of the Greek word litra which was approximately
11 ounces. The purity of the plant, the amount of the perfume, and its origin of being from India
accounted for its value. The critics estimated its value at 300 denarii, or the equivalent of one
year’s wages for a common laborer.

 What others viewed as a financial waste, Mary viewed as a fitting act of worship.
 Mary placed a greater value on her relationship with Jesus than she did on this fragrant
and expensive perfume that had great monetary value to everyone else.
 Mary learned to place a greater value on spiritual and eternal activities than she did on
temporal things. Her values changed when she spent time quietly listening to Jesus.
 Mary’s insight into the value of her relationship with Jesus would have been deficient like
the disciples if she had not spent so much time quietly listening to Jesus talk about his
person and his ministry.
 Mary’s humble service of anointing Jesus’ feet stands in sharp contrast to the disciples’
future unwillingness to wash each other’s feet at the Passover meal later in the week.

D. The Disciples – The Critics.

There were some (John focused on Judas Iscariot) who said to themselves indignantly, ‘Why was
the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hun-
dred denarii and given to the poor.’ And they scolded her. But Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. Why
 do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with
you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She
has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to
you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told  in
memory of her.” While “some” of the disciples were indignant because of this apparent waste of
expensive perfume (Matthew 26:8), John highlighted Judas’ criticism and his motivation of greed.
His offer to the religious leaders was an unexpected surprise that changed their timetable.

CONCLUSION:

[Slide #25] Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
Oh, what words I hear Him say!
Happy place! so near, so precious!
May it find me there each day;
Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
I would look upon the past;
For His love has been so gracious,
It has won my heart at last.
[Slide #27] Bless me, O my Savior, bless me,
As I sit low at Thy feet;
Oh, look down in love upon me,
Let me see Thy face so sweet;
Give me, Lord, the mind of Jesus,
Make me holy as He is;
May I prove I’ve been with Jesus,
Who is all my righteousness.

[Slide #26] Sitting at the feet of Jesus,

Where can mortals be more blest?
There I lay my sins and sorrows,
And, when weary, find sweet rest;
Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
There I love to weep and pray;
While I from His fullness gather
Grace and comfort every day.

“The Triumphal Entry”

Sunday, October 4, 2015

INTRODUCTION: [Slide #1] The Triumphal Entry, which we celebrate as Palm Sunday, marks Jesus’ final
journey to the city of Jerusalem. Jesus will not leave the city until he is crucified seven days later. This fi-
nal period, known as the Passion Week, covers the final week of Jesus’ earthly existence. By reading the
four gospel accounts of Jesus’ triumphal entry, we can piece together the events that preceded, and
then, included Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem.

[Slide #2] Matthew’s Gospel (21):

Village Bethphage and the Mount of Olives
Two disciples are sent for colt and donkey
Fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9 (Jewish audience)
Crowd spreads cloaks and branches
Crowd shouts Hosanna to the Son of David
Jerusalem is stirred
Prophet Jesus from Nazareth
Jesus cleanses the temple
Quotes Isaiah 56:7
Jesus heals blind and lame
Religious leaders complain
Jesus quotes Psalm 8:2

[Slide #3] Mark’s Gospel (11):

Bethphage and Bethany and Mount of Olives

Two disciples are sent for colt
No mention of Zechariah (Greek audience)
Crowd spreads cloaks and branches
Crowd shouts Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”
Jesus enters Jerusalem
Jesus goes to the temple
Jesus goes to Bethany

[Slide #4] Luke’s Gospel (19):

Bethphage and Bethany and Mount of Olives

Two disciples are sent for a colt
No mention of Zechariah (Theophilus)
Crowd spreads cloaks
Crowd shouts Blessed is the king who comes
Pharisees tell Jesus to rebuke his disciples
Stones will cry out
Jesus weeps over Jerusalem
Jesus cleanses the temple
Quotes Isaiah 56:7 “den of robbers”

[Slide #5] John’s Gospel (12):

No villages named
No disciples mentioned, just young donkey
Fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9
Crowd comes from Jerusalem with palms
Crowd shouts “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king
Disciples do not understand the event
Lazarus is featured
Pharisees complain to one another of Jesus

NARRATIVE: By reading the four Gospel accounts of what has been titled Jesus’ triumphal entry, we can
piece together the events which preceded, and then, included Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem for the final
time. As Jesus and his disciple traveled south to Jerusalem, they traveled with a large group of Galileans
who were on a pilgrimage to the temple for the Passover celebration. A strange sense of anticipation
filled the air as other pilgrims who were already in Jerusalem wondered whether Jesus would present
himself as Israel’s Messiah. John tells his readers, “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many
went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for
Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come
to the feast at all?”

Last week we looked at the narrative of Jesus’ stop in Bethany, a small village on the SE slopes of the
Mount of Olives, located two miles from Jerusalem. He arrived on Friday evening, six days before the
Passover. And it was during his weekend stay where Mary anointed Jesus during a public dinner.

[Slide #6] The Mount of Olives is the hill facing the Old City of Jerusalem, on the eastern side of the
Kidron Valley. Its name came from the olive trees that once grew on its hillside from ancient times. Ac -
cording to Jewish tradition, the Messiah will appear here and bring the dead back to life. Therefore, the
hillside became the holiest cemetery, and the hillside is covered by thousands of grave stones.

[Slide #7] The next view is atop the Mount of OIives looking at the Old City of Jerusalem. This summit,
rising over 2600 feet high, is across the Kidron Valley and directly east of Jerusalem. Its western slopes
provide an excellent view of the city. In the Old Testament the Mount of Olives has been designated as
the location of the future eschatological revelation of God's glory.

[Slide #8] Zechariah 14:1-4 - “Behold, a day is coming for the LORD, when the spoil taken from you will be
divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be
taken.  Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that
day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of
Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley.”

On Sunday morning Jesus resumed his journey to Jerusalem. The crowd which accompanied Jesus was
actually composed of two groups. The first group consisted of Jesus’ disciples and some of the Galilean
pilgrims who had stayed the weekend in Bethany. The second group was formed by Passover partici-
pants, already in Jerusalem, who had heard of Jesus’ approach to the city. John tells us that their curios -
ity was peeked by a desire to see the individual who had raised Lazarus from the dead.

[Slide #9] From the village of Bethany Jesus instructed two disciples to journey on ahead to the next vil-
lage where they would find a donkey and her young colt. After giving them specific instruction of what
to look for and what to say, the two disciples accomplished their assigned task. When the young colt
was brought to Jesus, the disciples laid their outer garments on the back of the animal, and Jesus
mounted it for the ride to Jerusalem. Both Matthew and John inform their readers how this fulfilled an
Old Testament prophecy made by Zechariah concerning the Messiah:

[Slide #10] Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

    Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

    righteous and having salvation is he,

humble and mounted on a donkey,

    on a colt, the foal of a donkey

Other than sharing the same time period as Haggai (the second year of King Darius which was 520 B.C.),
the prophecy of Zechariah is completely different in nature than its predecessor. While Haggai delivered
four straightforward messages over a four-month period to the Jewish exiles who had returned to re-
build the temple, Zechariah received a series of eight nighttime visions that were apocalyptic in nature.
One scholar described Haggai as the builder who was responsible for the solid construction of the new
temple, while Zechariah was the artist who designed the colorful windows full of symbolism that graced
this temple. With Zechariah we have the apocalyptic images of red, brown, and white horses in a ravine
of myrtle trees and angelic messengers who talk to the prophet and to one another. In Zechariah we
read about horns and measuring lines, about gold lamp stands and olive trees, and about flying scrolls
and chariots drawn by powerful horses that go throughout the earth. We have a priest in dirty garments
and a woman in a large basket.

Cyrus the Persian king conquered Babylon in 539 B.C., and soon after the monarch gave permission to
the Jews to return to their homeland. Under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua almost 50,000
Jews returned to Palestine and settled in Jerusalem and in the neighboring towns. On their arrival in
Jerusalem they set up the altar of burnt offering and resumed their worship of Jehovah. The foundation
of the temple was laid in the second year of their return. But we also noticed the mixed response of the
Jews to the laying of the foundation. This perception that they were doing something insignificant is ad -
dressed in one of the visions that Zechariah received (4:6-10).

Zechariah exhorted the people to put first their responsibilities to God and to get back to work on the
construction of the temple. The purpose for his prophecies was to combat the apathy and depression
that existed among the people. Zechariah sought to inspire the leadership of the Jews to make God’s
house a greater priority than their houses. He also brought a promise from God that the glory of the
new temple would one day exceed that of the former.

[Slide #11] Along the way the worshipers, caught up on the frenzy of the moment, laid their clothing and
palm tree branches in the road. The scene prompted the pilgrims to recall a portion of Psalm 118, the
last psalm in the collection known at the Egyptian Hallel (113-118). This Messianic psalm was often
quoted by pilgrims as they made their way to Jerusalem for religious celebrations. “HOSANNA! BLESSED
IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD! BLESSED IS THE COMING KINGDOM OF OUR FATHER
DAVID!“ The exclamation of praise “hosanna” literally means “save now.”

John’s Gospel tells us, that along with the supporters of Jesus, there were some Pharisees in the crowd.
These antagonists of Jesus marveled at his popularity. Bothered by the blatant messianic acclaim which
Jesus was receiving, the Pharisees asked him to quiet the crowd. To which, Jesus responded that they
very stones would cry out if the people did not.

[Slide #12] As he reached an overpass which provided him with a panoramic view of the city, Jesus was
moved to tears as he pronounced the impending destruction of the city at the hands of the Romans, a
prophecy which aw fulfilled in A.D. 70.

Luke’s account of Sunday stops here without mentioning Jesus’ actual entry into Jerusalem. For Luke,
the climax was not the joyful entrance into Jerusalem, but the lamentation outside the doomed city.
Matthew and Mark do complete the events of the day. As Jesus and his noisy entourage entered
Jerusalem, the inhabitants of the capital city were curious about the identity of the individual who was
receiving so much acclaim. They were told that it was “the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Mark concludes the day by telling us that Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple, and after
looking all around, he departed for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.
APPLICATION: Observations about the so-call Triumphal Entry:

[Slide #13] The disciples once again did not understand the import of what was taking place that day as
Jesus rode into Jerusalem for the final time. It would not be until later reflection that they would grasp
the events of that day. This goes back to our sermon last week about the importance of developing the
discipline of reflection and meditation.

[Slide #14] This narrative demonstrates the three levels of the story that are taking place in the Gospel
accounts. There is the individual narrative of what was taking place in the lives of the participants that
day. Then there is the next level of what God is doing with His people, first the nation of Israel, and then
the church. Finally, there is the narrative of God’s history of salvation that is the eternal narrative.

[Slide #15] The narrative demonstrates the potential dangers of emotionalism where people get caught
up in the emotion of the moment but do not take the time to weigh the trust cost of discipleship. Some
of the people who welcomed Jesus as he entered the city may have clamored for his crucifixion one
week later. Or they may have sat silently by.

[Slide #16] Those people who quoted Psalm 118 failed to understand the context of the psalm. This
declarative praise psalm is saturated with the celebration of God’s steadfast love as the psalmist begins
and concludes his song with this theme. The psalmist has been severely disciplined by the LORD and it
came in the form of antagonistic enemies who sought to take his life. The author finds solace in the fact
that even though God has disciplined him, it will not result in his death. Because he finally understands
that the divine purpose of misery is his sanctification, the psalmist wants to publicly proclaim the stead-
fast love of the LORD to the nation as he goes up to the temple precincts to offer his sacrifices to God.
While others have rejected him because they misunderstand his misfortune, the author realizes that the
discipline is a sign of divine favor. And so, what others view as misfortune, the psalmist sees as a sign of
divine favor.

“The Passion Week”

Sunday, October 11, 2015

INTRODUCTION: [Slide #1] The Passion Week

A. Monday. [Slide #2] Monday summary:

 The cursing of the fig tree (Matthew 21:18-19; Mark 11:12-14)

 The cleansing of the temple (Matthew 21:12-17; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45-46)
 The reaction of the crowd and the formation of the conspiracy (Mark 11:18; Luke 19:47-
48)
 The return to Bethany (Matthew 21:17; Mark 11:19)

[Slide #3] On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in
the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it,
he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, “May no one
ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
 [Slide #4] The day began with Jesus and the disciples walking the two miles from the village of
Bethany back to the city of Jerusalem. Along the way Jesus spied a fig tree in the distance and it
provided him with an opportunity to give the disciples an acted out parable. Being the Passover
season, it was the middle of the month of Nisan (or April). In the Middle East, fig trees produce a
crop of small edible buds, known as paggim, in March that are followed by the appearance of
large green leaves in early April. These buds eventually drop off when the normal fig crop forms
and ripens in late May and June. When Jesus saw the fig tree with leaves, he expected to find
the small fruit as well. The lack of fruit indicated the tree would produce no figs that year. Jesus’
curse of the barren fig tree prefigured his denunciation of the nation of Israel. The nation flour -
ished with the leaves of religious formalism while it lacked the fruit of genuine godliness.

[Slide #5] And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those
who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-
changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry any-
thing through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My
house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of rob-
bers.”

[Slide #6] Jesus was in the outer court of the temple complex reserved for the Gentiles. The high
priest Caiaphas had authorized the establishment of a market in this area to serve the needs of
the pilgrims (wine, oil, salt, sacrificial animals). Jesus’ anger was aroused when the place desig-
nated for God-fearing Gentiles became a place for money-loving merchants. Money changers
provided a service for Jewish pilgrims who needed Jewish coinage to pay the annual half-shekel
temple tax that was required for all Jewish males over 20 years old. Jesus quoted one of Isaiah’s
prophecies concerning the future role of the temple as a place for even the Gentiles to approach
God when he said, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the na-
tions’? (56:7). The current temple and its practices actually hindered Gentiles from approaching
God, but the future restoration of Israel would change that. The second expression that the tem-
ple had become “a den of robbers” came from the prophecy of Jeremiah (7:9-11).

[Slide #7] “And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him,
for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening
came they went out of the city.”

With the public exposure of the religious leaders’ dead orthodoxy, the Sadducees and scribes be-
gan to plot Jesus’ death. Being politicians, they had to temper their hatred for Jesus with the cur-
rent popularity that he enjoyed with the crowds of pilgrims.

APPLICATION: Having a facility where one’s religion can be practiced does not mean that the
practitioners actually have a real and meaningful relationship with the God they profess to wor-
ship. The facility actually might be a façade that allows the worshipers to unsuccessfully hide.
Jesus condemned the current form of Judaism because it actually prevented people from ap-
proaching God.

B. Tuesday. [Slide #8] Tuesday summary:

 The withered fig tree and prayer (Matthew 21:20-22; Mark 11:20-25)
 Jesus’ authority questioned (Matthew 21:23-27; Mark 11:27-33; Luke 20:1-8)
 The parable of the two sons (Matthew 21:28-32; Luke 19:47-48)
 The parable of the tenants (Matthew 21:33-44; Mark 12:1-11; Luke 20:9-18)
 The parable of the wedding feast (Matthew 22:1-14)
 Paying tribute to Caesar (Matthew 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:19-26)
 Resurrection debate with the Sadducees (Matthew 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-
40)
 The great commandment (Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34)
 [Slide #9] The question about David’s son (Matthew 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke
20:41-44)
 Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23:1-36; Mark 12:38-40; Luke 20:45-47)
 Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37-39)
 The widow’s mite (Mark 12:41-44; Luke 21:1-4)
 The Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24 Mark 13; Luke 21:5-36)
 The parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13)
 The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30)
 The sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46)

[Slide #10] As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.
And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”
And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this moun-
tain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that
what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. [Slide #11] Therefore I tell you, whatever
you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand
praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven
may forgive you your trespasses.”

[Slide #12] As Jesus and the disciples returned to Jerusalem the following day, Peter was amazed
at the withered condition of the fig tree. Jesus used the tree a second time to teach the disciples
several important lessons about prayer. The statement about “this mountain” is probably a ref-
erence to Mount Zion and the temple complex that is the focus of Jesus’ conflicts with the reli -
gious leaders throughout the week.

The “rabbi” gave several conditions for effective prayer. The location of prayer being performed
in the temple would no longer be important. This would contradict the disciples’’ fascination
with the temple (Mark 13:1). The faith must be in God’s omnipotence to do what we ask and in
His goodness to respond to our requests, provided they are in His will. Forgiveness toward oth-
ers is based on God’s forgiveness of the one who is praying.

Matthew 6:14-15 – “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also for-
give you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses.”

Ephesians 4:32 – “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ
forgave you.”
Illustration: Sean Rodriguez wrote on Twitter, “I want to apologize for allowing my emotions to
control my actions in a negative way. I also spoke to the cooler, apologized personally, and he’s
forgiven me as Christ forgives all.”

[Slide #13] And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief
priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, and they said to him, “By what authority are
you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, “I will
ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the
baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.” [Slide #14] And they discussed it with
one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’
But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really
was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will
I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

[Slide #15] As the caretakers of Israel’s religion life, the representatives from the Sanhedrin ques-
tioned the source of Jesus’ authority to do the things he had recently done (the cleansing of the
temple). Instead of directly answering their question, Jesus used a typical rabbinical approach to
answer a question with another question. Jesus posed a question to the members of the San-
hedrin to address the origin of John’s ministry. Was it of divine origin (“from heaven”) or of hu-
man origin (“from men”)? The dilemma the religious leaders found themselves in reflects the
hardness of their heart. They knew both the answers and the consequences of each answer.

[Slide #16] And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a
fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants
and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get
from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away
empty-handed. Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and
treated him shamefully. And he sent another, [Slide #17] and him they killed. And so with many
others: some they beat, and some they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son.  Finally he
sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This
is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed
him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do?  He will come
and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.

[Slide #18] Have you not read this Scripture: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become
the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” And they were
seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable
against them. So they left him and went away.

[Slide #19] The parable of the tenants was just one of the many parables that Jesus employed to
deal with the religious leaders during the Passion Week. Mark chose this particular parable for it
revealed the insincerity of their questions. Identify the points of reference to properly interpret
the story:

 “a man” – God
 “a vineyard” – the nation of Israel. Isaiah 5:1-2 – “Let me sing for my beloved my love
song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it
 and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the
midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it
yielded wild grapes.”
 “some farmers” – the religious leaders of the nation
 “a servant” – the prophets; John the Baptist
 “a son” – Jesus Christ
 “give the vineyard to others” – the Gentiles’ inclusion in the Church

Jesus quoted verbatim Psalm 118:22-23 and reapplied the statement to himself. Peter would
quote this Messianic passage later (Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:4-8). Ironically, this is the same psalm
from which the crowd quoted during the triumphal entry (11:9-10).

“The Last Supper”

Sunday, October 18, 2015

[Slide #1] A. The Synoptic Accounts.

The three Synoptic Gospels say the preparation for the Passover meal began on the first day of
Unleavened Bread. Luke’s account informs the reader that this day was also when the Passover
lamb had to be sacrificed. The celebration of Passover began on the 14 th of the Jewish month of
Nisan and it was followed the next day by the weeklong observance of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread (Leviticus 23:4-8). By Jesus’ day these two feasts had been merged into one eight-day cel-
ebration. Therefore, we are talking about Thursday during the Passion Week.

Jesus directed two disciples, identified by Luke as Peter and John, to travel from the village of
Bethany and to go into the city of Jerusalem to find a certain man whose upper room of his
house would be used by the group for their Passover observance. According to tradition, the
Passover meal had to be eaten within the walls of Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 16:2). The disciples
would know the specific house Jesus was speaking of by following a man that they would see car-
rying a jar of water through the streets of the city. Finding a man carrying a jar of water, even in
a large city, would not have been difficult in an Oriental culture, for transporting water jars was
considered women's work. By following this individual, the disciples would be led to the house
of the homeowner whose guest room was available for Passover pilgrims to use. Since the guest
room was already furnished and ready, the disciples were responsible to organize the meal which
consisted of the unleavened bread, wine, bitter herbs, sauce, and the lamb.

The Passover meal was originally eaten in a standing position. Moses instructed the Israelites to
eat the meal “with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in
your hand” (Exodus 12:11). But, by the time of Jesus, meals were eating in a reclining position.

During the meal Jesus informed his twelve disciples that there was a traitor in their midst, that
one of them was going to betray him to the religious authorities. This betrayal was especially of-
 fensive in an eastern culture which forbade an act of treason toward individuals who shared a
meal. Jesus may have had in mind Psalm 41:9 where the psalmist said, “Even my close friend,
whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted his heel against me.” One by one, each of
the disciples honestly questioned the Lord. Even Judas asked the question, though his was asked
hypocritically (Matthew 26:25). It seems significant that none of the men suspected Judas so his
true character still had not been displayed. Matthew records a personal exchange between Jesus
and Judas where Jesus revealed his knowledge of Judas’ plan. When Judas did leave the upper
room, the other eleven thought he was going to buy more supplies or that he was going to give
some alms to the poor. Luke also records another private conversation in which Jesus informed
Peter of his moral failure that would occur that night. And while Peter refused to believe it, Jesus
informed him that despite his failure, that he would be restored to effective ministry.

During the Passover meal Jesus took a Jewish celebration and repurposed it in such a way that
the early church would find very meaningful after the resurrection. The meal concluded with the
singing of a portion of the Hallel (Psalms 115-118) and then the group left their upper room and
walked out of the city, down the Kidron Valley, and up to the Mount of Olives.

B. John’s Account of the Last Supper.

John’s Gospel is unique in that the details of the Last Supper are not described in great detail to
his readers. Instead, John shares with them the intimate details of what Jesus sought to teach his
disciples on this fateful night.

1. [Slide #2] The Object Lesson (13:1-20).

John records an object lesson in which Jesus sought to teach his shallow and selfish stu -
dents a lesson about genuine service and true humility. We need to read this narrative in
light of Luke’s account of the dispute the disciples had among themselves during the
meal.

[Slide #3] Luke 22:24-27 – “A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to
be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise
lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so
with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as
one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is
it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.”

[Slide #4] Mark 10:45 – “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and
to give his life as a ransom for many.”

[Slide #5] Philippians 2:5-11 – “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ
Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to
be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the like-
ness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every
 knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Bruce Ware stated, There never has been a higher place from which one has stooped;
there never has been a lower position to which one has aspired, and there never has
been a costlier obedience by which one has served.

2. Obedience and Love.

[Slide #6] 13:34-35 – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just
as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that
you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

[Slide #7] 14:15-17 – “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the
Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of
truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You
know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

[Slide #8] 14:23-26 – “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love
him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me
does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who
sent me. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the
Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring
to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

[Slide #9] 15:12-14 – “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have
loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his
friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

3. The Only Way (14:1-6).

[Slide #10] John 14:1-6 – “Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in
me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that  I
go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again
and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to
where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going.
How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The exclusivity of Christ and the Gospel. We live in a prescriptive pluralism that demands
we acknowledge the validity of all religions. The Bible states that Jesus is the only Savior
and that faith in Christ is necessary to be saved.

4. The High Priestly Prayer (17:1-26).

[Slide #11] 17:1-5 – “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven,
and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify
you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you
have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that
you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that
I had with you before the world existed.”

As He turned again to His Father, He prayed first for Himself (John 17:1–5), then for His
apostles (vv. 6–19), and finally for future believers (vv. 20–26).