Tag Archives: Jesus

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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Life in the Name of Jesus, the Son of God

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This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because … He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. John 5:18 ESV1

Read John 5:1-18

This next healing is an account only recorded in the Gospel of John. It is a story of desperation alleviated by power, belief distorted by condemnation, and reaction based on fear; it includes warnings, obedience, testing, teaching, truth, persecution, and revelation. It is one man’s story of suffering, healing, and the hope of sanctification. But it is also a story that can open the reader’s eyes to the identity and authority of Jesus, and it is an account filled with instruction on how to live a life of victory in His Name.

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For the Audience of One

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And all spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from His mouth … [but it wasn’t long before] all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove Him out of town and brought Him to the brow of the hill … so that they could throw Him down the cliff.                                         Luke 4:22 & 28b-29 ESV1

Read Luke 4: 16-30, Matthew 13:53-58 & Mark 6:1-6

People are fickle. They like it when you encourage them and tell them what they want to hear. But when you confront them on some issue, they are usually not so friendly. Though it likely didn’t surprise Jesus, because “He knew what was in a man” (John 2:25), and He had seen Israel “kill the prophets and stone those sent to” her (Matthew 23:37), Jesus Himself experienced this truth, you might say, a little too close to home in Nazareth, from his own relatives, friends, and neighbors.

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Tackling Temptation

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Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. Matthew 4:1 ESV1

Read Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, & Luke 4:1-13

Temptation is bad, isn’t it? Why then was Jesus led by the Spirit into temptation (see Matthew 4:1, Mark 1:12, and Luke 4:1)? We are supposed to plead with God not to lead us into temptation (see Matthew 6:13). And the Scriptures tell us God “tempts no one” (James 1:13b). Yet, God, through the Holy Spirit, led Jesus right into it. Why?

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Removing Obstacles

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As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” Luke 3:4-6 ESV1

Read Matthew 3:1-12, Mark 1:1-8, Luke 3:1-18, and John 1:6-28

All four Gospels begin their accounts of Jesus’ ministry with the ministry of John the Baptist. Luke goes as far as to identify the exact timing of John’s appearance on the ministry scene through the reign of a king, a governor, three tetrarchs, and two high priests (see Luke 3:1-2). Scholars far more knowledgeable than I have used that information to pinpoint John’s ministry as having taken place between the winter and spring of AD 26. Why was it so important to start explaining Jesus’ purpose for coming with the relatively short ministry of another?

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