Monthly Archives: October 2018

All In Love

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And Jesus said …, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” … And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. Luke 18:42 & 43b ESV1

Read Matthew 20:29-34, Mark 10:46-52 & Luke 18:35-43

In the autumn, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths (see John 7:10). In the winter, He was in Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (see John 10:22-23). But, in Jerusalem, His life was in danger, so “He went away again across the Jordan … and there He remained” (John 10:40) until He heard that His friend Lazarus from Bethany needed help. Against the advice of His disciples, He, to revive Lazarus, went dangerously close to Jerusalem again (see John 11:18).

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Because He Loved

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Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was. John 11:5-6 ESV1

Read John 11:1-45

After Jesus averted the attempt of the angered religious leaders of Jerusalem to seize Him (see John10:39) and stone Him (see John 10:31), “He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there He remained” (John 10:40). He stayed there with His disciples for a while until He was alerted of a friend in need. Out of love, He left His place of safety, and entered dangerous territory, to help this one whom He loved.

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To See or Not to See

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Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” John 9:39 ESV1

Read John 9:1-41

“After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea [where Jerusalem was], because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. [But] the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand” (John 7:1-2). The Feast of Booths, also known as The Feast of Tabernacles, is a time of remembering the LORD’s faithfulness toward His people, the Israelites, during the forty years they wandered in the wilderness after being freed from slavery to Egypt. It is an eight-day feast with the first and last days being Sabbath days. It is immediately followed by an additional Sabbath day which marks the beginning of the year’s cycle of Torah readings. This Feast was one of the three mandated Feasts which all able-bodied Jewish men were commanded to journey to Jerusalem to attend.

Because His life was in danger, Jesus considered not attending the Feast (see John 7:8). When He did decide to go, He tried to remain out of the public eye (see John 7:10). But He did not remain hidden for long. “About the middle of the Feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching” (John 7:14). I believe, at that point, He realized there was more work that needed to be done (see John 9:4-5), and that even though threats abounded, He was in no real danger, “because His hour had not yet come” (John 8:20b). It wasn’t yet time for Him to give up His earthly life, and God’s plan would trump the plans of man.

This truth was evidenced by the fact that during the Feast week, there were five unsuccessful attempts to arrest Him (see John 7:30, 32, 44-46 & John 8:5-6, 20), and one failed undertaking to kill Him (see John 8:59). Jesus remained safe as He boldly proclaimed the truth. In the process, “many of the people [listening] believed in Him” (John 7:31a, also see John 8:30). Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem was a special blessing for one man in particular; because of Jesus, the whole trajectory of this man’s life was changed for time and eternity.

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