Monday, January 30, 2017

109. Mixed Reactions



Many of the crowd, when they heard these words, said, “This is truly the prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “What? Does the Christ come out of Galilee? Hasn’t Scripture said the Christ comes from David, and from Bethlehem, David’s village?” So there arose a division in the crowd because of him. Some wanted to arrest him, but no one did. The officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!”

The Pharisees answered them, “You aren’t also led astray, are you? Have any of the rulers believed in him, or any of the Pharisees? This crowd is ignorant of the law and is accursed.”

Nicodemus (the one who came to Jesus by night) said to them, “Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?”

They answered him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search, and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”

Reflection


Some were convinced Jesus was the Messiah, while others thought he was an imposter because he didn’t fit in with what they had always been told the Messiah would be. What has shaped your view of Jesus? Have you simply accepted everything you’ve been taught? How do you know if what you’ve been taught is true? 

Prayer: Open my mind, Lord, to accept new ideas and to see you as you are and not simply as others have imagined you to be.
 

Friday, January 27, 2017

108. Teaching in the Temple



In the middle of the feast, Jesus went to the temple and taught. The Jews marveled, saying, “How does he know all of this, having never been educated?”

Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. Anyone who desires to do God’s will knows whether my teaching is from God or if I am speaking for myself. Whoever speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of God is true, and no fault is in him. Didn’t Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me?”

The multitude answered, “You are crazy! Who seeks to kill you?”

Jesus answered them, “I did one sign, and you all marvel because of it. Moses gave you circumcision, and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy. If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath to observe the law of Moses, are you angry with me because I healed a man on the Sabbath? Don’t judge superficially, but judge rightly.”

Some from Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this the one our leaders seek to kill? He speaks openly, and yet they say nothing to him. Can it be that the rulers know this is truly the Christ? On the other hand, we know where this man comes from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.”

Jesus spoke out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but God who sent me is true. You don’t know him, but I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”

They wanted to take him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. Within the crowd, many believed in him. They said, “When the Christ comes, he won’t do more signs than what this man has done, will he?” The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.

Then Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer, then I go to him who sent me. You will seek me, and won’t find me; and where I am, you can’t come.”

The Jews said among themselves, “Where will this man go that we won’t find him? Will he go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? What is this word that he said, ‘You will seek me, and won’t find me; and where I am, you can’t come’?”

Now on the last and biggest day of the feast, Jesus stood and proclaimed, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! If you believe in me, as the Scripture has said, from within you will flow rivers of living water.” He said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified.

Reflection

Some of the people who listened to Jesus had a hard time making sense of what he said because it was at odds with their preconceived ideas. How open are you to new ideas? Do you latch onto the latest thing you’ve heard or resist anything that conflicts with what you’ve always believed? How do you recognize truth? 


Prayer: Guide me, Lord, when new ways of thinking leave me uncertain whether to move forward or hold back.