Tag Archives: Jesus

Baptising

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BAPTISING

“After this, Jesus and His disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where He spent some time with them, and baptised. Now John was also baptising at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptised, (This was before John was put in prison).” John 3:22-24.

What was all this baptising about? Who were Jesus and John baptising and why? Were they sprinkling water on people’s heads or were they dunking them under the water?

Baptism, or ritual washing, was an ancient and common practice in Israel. It was carried out in obedience to the Law of Moses for many different reasons. It was also the way of ritual cleansing and initiation into an office e.g., the priesthood, or a movement.

John was a rabbi who had a following of disciples and a “yoke”, an interpretation of the Torah and a lifestyle that he adhered to and placed upon his followers as did Jesus. As he taught about the Messiah, preparing the way for His coming, people wanted to show that they accepted and identified with what John was teaching and the way to do it publicly was through ritual washing.

It would seem that Jesus was initiating His own disciples into Himself and His teaching as well, so that they would become different people while John was baptising people who were willing to change their minds and accept what John was teaching them about the Messiah. The act of washing in running water was symbolic of washing away who they were and giving them a new beginning in a new understanding and way of life according to what their rabbi had taught them.

Were John and Jesus in competition, each drawing a following and initiating their disciples into their teaching and way of life? For a while they were both teaching and baptising, but John in no way acted like a rival. In fact, John, the author of this gospel, records John the Baptist’s purpose, more than once, of pointing people to Jesus. He did not object when some of his disciples left him to follow Jesus.

“The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God.’ When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.” John 1:35-37.

When his disciples questioned John about Jesus’ popularity, he responded that he was only the friend of the bridegroom, not the bridegroom. His job was to attend to bridegroom and announce His arrival. He concluded, “He must become greater; I must become less.” John 3:30.

God had a drastic and unusual way of solving this problem. John did not disappear back into the wilderness. He was forcefully removed by Herod who had him thrown in prison at the instigation of his unscrupulous wife, Herodias. Why did God allow that to happen?

I cannot presume to understand all God’s ways, but it seems to me that John’s work was done. It was his task to prepare the way for Messiah, to announce His arrival and to point out who He was to those who heard him. Did he fulfil his calling? Yes, he did. There was no reason for him to continue because he would actually be in Jesus’ way.

His removal seems cruel but we have to ask, “Would it have been better for him to languish in a dungeon for years, never seeing the light of day and living in a hope that was never fulfilled?” It was through God’s mercy that he was taken out suddenly and drastically, leaving Jesus to fulfil His mission without a rival. The people no longer needed John’s message or John’s baptism because the Messiah was among them. John’s work was preparatory and complete.

We cannot always discern the wisdom and ways of the Lord. We know that He is good and always does what is best for us. His ways, Paul said, are “past finding out”. He asks us to trust Him when we cannot see the way ahead.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Faith Comes By Hearing

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FAITH COMES BY HEARING

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

“But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” Romans 10:14-17.

What a gem of a chapter is Romans 10!

Paul, in this one chapter, sweeps away all the complicated arguments and explanations about religion, even the religion of the Jews, and reveals the simplicity of the message about Jesus. It’s all about believing – not just giving intellectual assent to, but entrusting oneself to the truth that Jesus is Lord, and He is the way to the Father.

You don’t have to search for Him. He is right here – wherever you are – as close as your breath and the words of your mouth. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Jew or a Gentile. There is no longer any distinction because the door is wide open for anyone who believes in Him to enter the kingdom of God and receive the gift of righteousness and eternal life.

To receive this gift and the assurance of eternal life takes nothing more that listening to  the message about Jesus and believing the good news that He has done everything to clear the way for us to return to the Father and be reconciled and restored to Him as His sons and daughters.

But, in order to receive the message, people have to hear it; and in order to hear it, someone must preach it; and in order to preach it, someone must be sent; and that means all of us. To His disciples Jesus gave the commission: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” John 20:21.

Who are His disciples? Surely not only those who physically followed Him during the three years of His public ministry? He commissioned them to go and make disciples – followers who would make more disciples, who would make more disciples…right down to today. If you are a follower, the instruction is for you and for me to tell the message so that others can believe and tell the message.

But hearing the message is not enough. How many times did the Israelites hear the message in the Old Testament era? How many times did the Jews hear the message from the lips of Jesus and from the lips of the apostles and the early Christians, yet they still rejected it? Paul prayed for them and grieved over their stubborn unbelief but nothing would persuade the majority of them of the truth that is in the message about Jesus. But while they refuse to believe, there are many millions that have believed and have experienced the truth of the message.

In verse 17 Paul gives us a little gem about faith. What is the origin of faith? It doesn’t just drop out of the sky. Faith must have a foundation, a substance, some truth that generates confidence and gives us something stable to stand on. What is that foundation, that substance upon which we can pin our hope? It’s the message about Jesus. Every time we read or hear something more about Him, our confidence in Him can grow.

Like patience and all the other virtues we long to possess, faith can be cultivated by exposing ourselves to the message. The more we can discover about Jesus, the more we will be able to trust Him, not only with our eternal destiny but with the nitty-gritty of our everyday lives.

There is no one who cannot respond to the message in faith. It takes nothing more than hearing and believing. No ritual, performance, ceremony, offering, sacrifice or even a pastor or counsellor is necessary to facilitate believing. Just believe and Jesus Christ is yours.

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Just Like Old Times!

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JUST LIKE OLD TIMES!

“Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ None of the disciples dared ask Him, ‘Who are you?’ They knew it was the Lord.

“Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.” John 21:12-14

Jesus and His disciples on the beach; the ripples on the lake sparkling in the early morning sunlight; the boats on the shore nearby dripping water from their latest fishing trip; the nets full of writhing fish; it was all so familiar, just like old times. Was it possible that so much had happened in between?

Only one thing was radically different. Jesus had been dead and buried, and yet, here He was, serving breakfast to them as though nothing had happened. They knew it was Jesus, but they still longed to be sure. Nothing like this had ever happened before in the history of humankind. They were too afraid to ask Him if it was really He. What if their imagination was playing tricks on them and it wasn’t Jesus after all? Was it possible that they could all be fooled at the same time?

Then they heard the same familiar invitation, ‘Come and eat,’ and saw the same familiar gesture, breaking the piping hot flat loaves of bread and handing the pieces out to them, and they were reassured. Twice before in the past few days He had appeared out of nowhere. Closed doors did not deter Him. He even heard their whispered conversation in His absence.

Thomas, at least, had no more doubts about Him. He had had an in-your-face encounter with Him and an opportunity to finger the wounds of His recent horrifying death, not that he needed to push his finger into the wounds that still appeared raw and painful, the only visible remnants of His ordeal. He was convinced, once and for all and would never forget his faith-exploding meeting with Jesus.

Every time Jesus appeared to them, He had something meaningful to achieve. When He was no longer personally on earth, they would be so bound to Him in the confidence that He was alive that they would go to the ends of the earth, face the worst that their unbelieving fellow men could throw at them, endure suffering and even lay down their lives for Him because they had seen Him.

These men had not joined a movement or subscribed to a cause. They had not signed a decision card or answered an altar call. They had not “accepted Jesus as their personal Saviour” in order to go to heaven. They did not connect with Him because He could solve their problems, meet all their needs, keep them healthy and happy and make them rich.

They had spent three years in His company. They had watched Him die and seen Him alive. They were convinced that He was the Son of God, the Messiah. They had not yet understood the implications of His teaching and miracles, His life and death, His resurrection and appearances to them, but they remembered His words, ‘When the Holy Spirit comes, He will lead you into all truth,’ and they would go to the ends of the earth for Him. They would follow Him, no matter what.

They were standing in the threshold of something new and big and beyond their imagination but they did not yet know it. At that moment they were overjoyed to be with Jesus, content to know that He was alive, and to share a meal with Him like old times. He would give them instructions about the next step when the time came; of that they were sure. They knew Him well enough to be assured that He knew what He was doing even if they did not.

Why did He eat a meal with them? It was the Jewish was of saying, ‘Guys, I have forgiven you. There are no issues between you and me. We are reconciled and we can share this meal in harmony. I have put everything that has happened behind me. This is a new start.’ Can you imagine their relief and joy that their Master was alive, that He had forgiven them, that they were still very much His disciples and that He would lead them on from there.

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

 

Breakfast On The Beach

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BREAKFAST ON THE BEACH

“As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, ‘It is the Lord,’ he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.”  John 21:7b-8.

How predictable of Peter! He was the first to respond. Unlike Judas, who had slunk away in his remorse and committed suicide, Peter yearned for another chance. Another chance to do what? To prove to Jesus that he was no coward, after all? That he could and would make good on his promise to stick with Him through thick and thin?

But now everything had changed. They were no longer trudging all over Israel with an itinerant rabbi. He was alive, yes, but He was different. He came and went in a flash. It was impossible to follow Him as they did before He died. The only thing Peter knew at that moment was that Jesus was on the beach and he wanted to get to Him as quickly as he could.

Why did Peter grab his cloak? The others could have given it to him when they reached the shore. To be uncovered above the ankles was regarded as nakedness. He couldn’t work with the encumbrance of his cloak so he took it off in the company of his fellow disciples, but in the presence of his Master he needed to be appropriately dressed, wet or not!

Was this Peter’s first encounter with Jesus after His resurrection? No, it wasn’t. He had been with the other disciples in the upper room when Jesus appeared to them the first time. Why was this occasion so special? I think Jesus planned a leisurely breakfast on the beach around a fire to trigger something in Peter he would never forget.

“When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish you have just caught.’ So Simon climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn.” John 21:9-11,

Can you picture the scene? Fish cooking slowly over a fire of hot coals. Jesus waiting for a few more fish from their catch. The other disciples sitting around the fire, warming their cold hands. Why was Jesus here?  He never did anything without a reason. Every detail of this little scene had meaning.

For Peter, everything was happening at a maddeningly slow pace. Had Jesus showed up on the beach just to have a picnic breakfast with them? Why bread and fish? As he stood watching the fish cooking over the fire, many thoughts flooded his mind. Bread and fish triggered the memory of crowds of people sitting on the grass while he and the other disciples distributed pieces that miraculously multiplied in their hands. Who was this man who could do that?

He could hardly bear to look at the coals. The memory of his failure almost suffocated him. He would never forget the look in the eyes of his Master as He turned and looked at him; not “I told you so,” or “Why did you do it?” but “Oh Peter, my heart breaks for you.” Perhaps this was the meaning of the scene he could not escape. Did the Master want him to feel the terrible pain of his denial so that he would never step across that boundary again?

I have a sense that Jesus took him back to that moment — He could not be with Peter when it happened — so that He could walk with him through it again, not to condemn but to reinterpret it with him so that Peter could feel His forgiveness and never again be overwhelmed by guilt and shame. Peter had a job to do, and there was no sense in living in the past.

From Jesus’ perspective, Peter’s past had ceased to exist, washed clean by the blood He had shed on the cross. Only the His words could erase the guilt from Peter’s soul and set him free to live for his future and not from his past. The message he was to proclaim was one he had to experience so that he could preach it with passion.

Never again would the sound of a cock crowing or the sight of a fire of coals trigger the feelings of guilt and shame that had imprisoned him until that moment. Yes, Jesus had a reason for every detail of his little breakfast on the beach. He had a beloved brother who needed the reassurance that he was free from his emotional prison and recommissioned to do what he had been called to do. His failure had not disqualified him, only refined him so that he would know himself and his Master a little better.

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Jesus Grieves

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JESUS GRIEVES 

“After He had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, ‘Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.’ His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which one of them He meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to Him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, ‘Ask Him which one he means.’ Leaning back against Jesus, he asked Him, ‘Lord, who is it?’

“Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ Then, dipping the piece of bread, He gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot…'” John 13:21-26 NIV.

Why was Jesus troubled in spirit? Was He thinking about all the suffering He was about to endure because of Judas’ treachery? I hardly think so because it did not fit with His disposition.

He was supremely un-preoccupied with Himself. It was either His Father and the kingdom of God or people in need that took His attention. Even on the occasion when He had taken His disciples to a deserted place so that He could spend time with them away from the people who were always clamouring for His attention, He was not annoyed when they arrived en mass to spoil their day. Instead, His heart went out to them in compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

On His way to the cross, the women en route were wailing because of Him. In the midst of His weakness and pain He turned to them and said, “Don’t weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children.’ He was more concerned about the suffering that was coming upon them when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem than He was for Himself.

As formidable as the next few hours were going to be, Jesus was grieved because of what Judas was bringing upon himself by his choice to sell Him out for a few pieces of silver. Psalm 7:11 (KJV) says, “God judgeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day.”

Why is God angry? There are several reasons why He is angry; the wicked have disregarded and trampled His glory under foot; they have ignored His laws and set up their own rules; they have worshipped themselves as gods; but most of all they have wasted their potential to become what God created them to be — sons of the Most High God.

God is love. His passionate love for everything He has created is the outflow of who He is. He created the universe to be the home of the creatures He had made in His own image and placed them on the earth, a tiny planet spinning in the vastness of space in a cosmos held together by His powerful word so that He could lavish His love on us. To live as we like without any regard for the God whose goodness towards us, is the worst possible insult we can throw at Him.

Judas could have enjoyed all the bounty of God’s love, revealed to Him in Jesus whom he had followed for three and half years, had he only submitted his heart to Him instead of choosing his own way. But Judas judged himself by choosing his way. His “reward” was pathetically miniscule and short-lived because he judged himself unworthy of God’s love and forgiveness. And Jesus grieved because He knew what could have been.

I think Jesus was disturbed because of Judas’ fall for the devil’s deception. Satan lured him with the reward of a few pieces of glittering silver or the hope of a place in an earthly government under Jesus, free from Roman oppression. But what was that compared with a conscience free from guilt and a place of authority in God’s eternal kingdom?

How He must grieve over us when we exchange the vast treasure of what He has promised us if we follow Him for the miserable trinkets of the world that are as transient as this life. Yes, we choose our own reward, be it a place in God’s eternal kingdom with Christ on His throne, or an eternity of loss and regret because we refused to believe the truth and fell for the devil’s deception because we thought we knew better.