June 1, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

In John 5 Jesus heals a man who has been crippled for 38 years at the pool of Bethesda.  The day this occurs on happens to be the Sabbath and the religious leaders are furious at Jesus.  His response is to make His boldest public statements yet about His identity which just further infuriates them.  Let’s look at the passage in John 5 together today.  

16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 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. 24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

There are times in life where it is important to follow the Biblical mandate, to as much as possible do your best to live at peace with everyone.  There are other times, such as this one in the life of Jesus, where it is important to be bold for God.  Often I find that we have a tendency to get these times confused and backwards.  We often boldly and aggressively defend our positions on our opinions.  Issues where people that also love Jesus disagree about how to worship, politics, opinions about how to best live in our short time on earth etc.  can often lead to dissension and division.  Yet on issues that matter for eternity often we remain silent.  This is the opposite of what Jesus and the Bible tell us.  Jesus boldly confronted the Pharisees and religious leaders because He knew that the path they were heading down and leading other to actually led them away from a relationship with God.  Interestingly enough He doesn’t seem to tell them that the law is bad or wrong.  In fact in the sermon on the mount He makes the standards tougher.  He points people to a need for a relationship with God through Him instead of religious rules.  He does this boldly just as He calls us to do.  There are times when we are called to be bold for Jesus.  I pray that we would all be granted the wisdom to be bold when we need to be bold and meek when we should be meek.

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave


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