Latest / Scripture Central / Matthew 14; Mark 6; John 5–6

Transcript

Matthew 14; Mark 6; John 5–6 · Scripture Central

0:00
Hello everyone. Thanks for listening to come.
0:02
Follow me, insights with Taylor and Tyler, presented by
0:04
scripture Central. We use a lot of visuals in our
0:07
videos. So, if you want to see the
0:08
visuals, we invite you to find us on YouTube.
0:11
Thanks for listening and enjoy. I'm Taylor and I'm Tyler.
0:15
This is scripture Central's. Come follow me insights this
0:18
week, Matthew 14, Mark 6 and John 5 through 6.
0:22
So to begin, let's set the stage for this particular chapter 14
0:29
with There are three parts here. You get the beheading of John,
0:34
the Baptist at the hand of Herod.
0:37
You get the feeding of the 5000 and you get the walking on water
0:42
that middle element. The the feeding of the five
0:45
thousand happens to be one of only a very small handful of
0:50
events in the first roughly 33 years of his life.
0:54
This is before the week of his atoning sacrifice.
0:59
So everything from birth up through two and a half years,
1:03
maybe almost three years of his ministry.
1:06
There's only a small handful of stories that are included in
1:09
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And the feeding of the 5000 is
1:14
probably next to the baptism of Christ.
1:18
Those two events are included in all four.
1:22
And there are, there is a small handful of other minor things
1:25
that are included in John as well as the synoptics.
1:28
But that Is this that this particular event, the feeding of
1:31
the five thousand, it's a defining moment in Jesus
1:36
ministry, it got everybody's attention.
1:38
It's almost like, if you could just map those overlaps of the
1:41
four gospels about the life of Jesus, it's baptism feeding the
1:47
5,000 death and Resurrection, when it's pretty significant,
1:51
like major plot points in his life and it says, a lot about
1:54
what Jesus is trying to do for each of us, so that just already
1:58
gives you A sense for what we should be looking for when we're
2:01
reading the story. Yeah.
2:02
And to take that one step further, the the synoptics
2:06
Matthew Mark and Luke combined with John, they cover a lot of
2:09
events during the last week of the savior's life triumphal
2:15
entry. It's in all for cleansing of the
2:18
temple. You're going to get elements of
2:19
that in all four. John's gospel puts it through
2:23
years earlier. But you get that story of
2:26
cleansing the temple, so we don't want to spend it.
2:28
Ton of time on this beheading story of John the Baptist.
2:33
If you go to the Bible dictionary and look up Herod you
2:39
will see they're a family pedigree chart if you will and
2:46
you'll see that Herod. The we call him Herod the Great,
2:49
he's not great on any level other than he was one of the one
2:53
of History's Greatest. Builders So Herod has multiple
2:59
children with multiple wives, and so, when he dies, his
3:04
kingdom gets split. Well, he has a granddaughter.
3:10
If you look on that chart named herodias, who looks at her her
3:16
uncle's and tries to anticipate, which one's going to end up with
3:20
the most power. So herodias, marries her uncle
3:24
Herod Philip. And he's going to be the one to
3:27
get the biggest chunk of his father's Kingdom.
3:30
It turns out that he doesn't her other Uncle Herod Antipas
3:36
becomes the tetrarch. So what does she do?
3:39
She leaves her husband /, Uncle Herod Philip, and goes, and
3:44
simply moves in with her now. Brother-in-law, Uncle Herod
3:49
Antipas, the tetrarch and it's that relationship that John the
3:54
Baptist comes. And condemns.
3:58
Well that makes John the Baptist a target for herodias.
4:02
She wants him killed and Herod refuses to do that because he
4:08
sees how popular John is among the people.
4:11
And and knows how unjust that execution would end up being so
4:17
on his birthday, when he's invited.
4:19
All of these important people to come celebrate with him.
4:24
Herodias is daughter. Dances for him, pleases him and
4:28
he says, I'll give you anything, you want even up to half the
4:30
kingdom. She goes and asks, her mom, what
4:33
should I say? And she says, ask for the head
4:36
of, John, the Baptist on the charger.
4:38
And so now in front of all of his friends, he, he feels forced
4:42
into doing that. And so John, the Baptist is now
4:46
beheaded When that word makes it to Jesus, when he finds out that
4:55
John the Baptist has has been killed.
4:58
Especially in that manner. You can imagine the effect it
5:02
would have on you if you found out that a close relative of
5:06
yours had been killed. But this isn't just any death
5:11
notification for Jesus. This was John, the Baptist.
5:16
We know what John the Baptist's role is, he is the Forerunner.
5:21
He goes in front of Jesus, just in front of him to prepare the
5:26
way. so, the unspoken message is Jesus, get ready because John
5:35
has now gone to the spirit world to prepare the way.
5:40
I don't imagine that John went into the spirit world and told
5:42
everybody there. Hey, just relax, take your time.
5:46
It's going to be a long while I can picture him, going into the
5:49
spirit world, saying what he said in the Judean Wilderness.
5:53
Repent, make his paths straight prepare the way of the Lord for
5:57
he is coming soon. And at this point, things
6:02
probably become a little more real, a little more locked in as
6:08
far as the mission. What Jesus came to this earth to
6:12
accomplish and now with John in the spirit world, it's as if the
6:18
message is okay, Jesus, prepare yourself because the end for you
6:24
is now very near. At which point look at how Mass
6:29
you words this in verse 13, when Jesus heard of it, he departed
6:34
thence by ship into a desert Place apart.
6:40
I don't know about you, but when I hear of tragedy, or when I'm
6:44
in mourning, or when I'm, when I'm struggling emotionally,
6:48
with, with dealing with grief, I don't usually want to go into a
6:53
social setting and be really filled with conversations with a
6:59
whole bunch of people. I kind of want alone time and I
7:03
love this, this Humanity that is, that is displayed coming to
7:09
us from Jesus that he departed into a desert Place, apart by
7:14
ship now, granted Mark and Luke's account.
7:19
They give the The beheading of John and then some other things,
7:24
like the disciples and apostles coming home from their missions
7:28
and him saying. Yeah, we need, we need some
7:30
downtime basically. So the motivation is a little
7:33
different in Mark and Luke, but I like Matthews version here
7:38
where it's almost as. If Jesus says, let's get on the
7:41
ship, I need to be alone. I need, I need some time.
7:48
But when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on
7:51
foot out of the Cities. Verse 14 is amazing.
7:57
When Jesus went forth, he saw a great multitude and was moved
8:02
with compassion toward them and he healed their sick.
8:07
I don't know about you but if I had gotten on a ship to go to
8:10
the opposite end of the Sea of Galilee or far away to a desert
8:14
Place apart, if I had come into the shoreline and seen a whole
8:17
bunch of people that have followed me on foot out of the
8:20
Cities, I would have been tempted to say, to Peter.
8:24
Let's let's go to the other side and tell people, I'm sorry, I'll
8:28
be back. I just need a little bit of
8:29
time. But Jesus, in that incredible
8:34
moment of of wrestling with possibly what that death of John
8:39
means for him and working through a grieving process,
8:43
whatever that looks like for Jesus.
8:46
He comes ashore and he not just interacts with these people, but
8:52
he had compassion on them and healed them.
8:55
There's no mention in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John of anybody
8:58
asking Jesus, how he's doing, how he's feeling, how he's
9:02
coping with this, but he's able to still bless them.
9:08
I agree with you Tyler. This is a really pointing at
9:10
story that we so often focus on the Divinity of Jesus, we
9:15
sometimes forget, He suffered as we do, he had emotions.
9:20
He was impacted by the loss of friends and family and like a
9:24
typical human. He wanted time to recover.
9:27
And yet we see his divinity shining through, or he takes the
9:30
time to bless other people's lives.
9:33
And what's interesting is all of us, have Divinity within us that
9:37
we also feel that same call The Blessed people, when the
9:41
opportunity arises and then what happens, He blesses them and
9:45
it's Going to become evening time, they're out in the middle
9:48
of a long way away. They don't have boober eats or
9:51
other way of doing delivery of like pizza or whatever, you
9:54
can't drone dropped food in on the sky.
9:58
What do you do these all these people?
10:00
It's amazing to me that they're all of these needs that the
10:04
healings and now the feeding need, it's it's gigantic.
10:09
This load has been placed on him when I was younger.
10:13
I used to. I used to scratch my head.
10:16
In wonder. Why why did Heavenly Father
10:21
allow five thousand men besides the women and children in the
10:27
group come and basically interrupt Jesus desire to have
10:33
some alone time it wouldn't have been hard for heavenly father to
10:37
prevent that from happening. The older I've gotten The more
10:42
I've started to wonder. Was that actually a gift from a
10:48
loving heavenly father to his son who perhaps was hurting
10:53
very, very deeply saying. Oh this is painful and now his
11:02
promise his Covenant to perform an atoning sacrifice for
11:06
everybody. Maybe that's a little more on
11:08
the foreground. And so he needs help.
11:13
I know what to do. I'll send 5,000 who need to be
11:17
healed. Because Jesus is taught that in
11:22
giving you actually receive. And I think this story portrays
11:27
that as beautifully as any other story in all of scripture, for
11:31
Matthews perspective, that Jesus, who was hurting so badly,
11:35
found a way to swallow up his own need temporarily in order to
11:40
bless those whose needs were far less than his own.
11:45
I have watched this on so many levels over so many years with
11:52
moms who meet the needs of youngsters of children, at all
12:00
hours of the day and night when they themselves, maybe don't
12:05
feel great. Maybe they're struggling with
12:08
physical or mental or emotional, or just sheer exhaustion.
12:12
And somewhere, they find a way to meet those needs that are far
12:17
less than the Hertz that are being carried within.
12:20
I've seen it with Ward members with family members, in the
12:23
extended family, who go out of their way to bless the lives of
12:28
others. When most people have no idea
12:32
what hurt and and difficulties and pains, they're carrying in
12:38
their own heart, and yet they still serve and they don't make
12:41
it about. Out them.
12:43
They make it about the people they're serving.
12:46
Jesus is that perfect example and we see it reflected in the
12:50
lives of all these people today. So you can picture this
12:55
scenario. Jesus have been healing them
12:56
teaching them and the sun's getting ready to go.
12:58
Down in the apostles are getting a little panicked.
13:00
Jesus send them away because they're going to have to to eat,
13:04
they're all hungry and his statement, don't send them away,
13:07
feed them knowing perfectly. Well what their response is
13:11
going to be there. How it would take 200, Penny,
13:14
worse, to feed this group, 200-day salary for a common
13:21
laborer to be able to just give everybody a little taste and
13:24
then send them on their way. He's basically asked so what do
13:28
we have and it's in John's account where they say, you
13:31
know, one lad brought five barley Loaves and two fishes.
13:36
So we're not talking big loaves of bread.
13:38
We're talking barley Loaves and two fishes.
13:41
That's sit, I don't know about you, but I feel a lot like that
13:49
lad more often than not in life. When I, when I went into the MTC
13:56
dragging, two pieces of luggage with my carry-on slung, over my
14:02
shoulder and my family with me. I felt like that lad.
14:08
I felt like I had Five Loaves and two fishes of Operation.
14:13
And here was the mission staring me in the face and it was a
14:16
feeling of weight. I don't have what it takes to
14:20
feed all these people. When I went to college, I felt
14:25
like a five love to fish lat when I got my job first
14:30
teaching, seminary first class full time, I felt like a five
14:35
loaf to fish lad. When I got married nearly across
14:39
the altar from my wife, I felt like a five low five.
14:42
Two fish lad, placing it on the altar.
14:46
It looks pretty meager my what I have to offer and quite frankly,
14:54
every time that Taylor and I stand in front of this little
14:56
camera here in the studios of a command Central, I feel like a
15:01
five loaf to fish lat. I can list off a lot of people
15:06
who know a lot more facts and details and figures about
15:09
scriptures and history and and are going to get things just
15:12
right and and I'm not all the time but I love the fact.
15:18
This loud is one of my favorite Heroes and all description.
15:20
We don't even know his name. I love the fact that when the
15:24
apostles come to him and ask for his food, he doesn't respond
15:30
with. Are you kidding me?
15:32
I am the only one who came to this picnic today and remember
15:34
to bring food and now you're going to take it all away.
15:36
From me, that means I'm only going to get a little, maybe a
15:39
crumb back. Looking at the size of the
15:43
crowd, I love the fact that he held nothing back.
15:48
He inspires me to put it all on the altar of the Lord and say, I
15:53
give it all freely as inadequate and insufficient.
15:58
Is it absolutely is. I give it all, and you'll notice
16:03
Jesus didn't go up to the lad and say, I want you to feed
16:06
everybody. He simply asked the lad to give
16:09
him everything that he had, and it was Jesus.
16:13
Who was going to multiply that Harvest?
16:15
It was Jesus, who is going to perform that Miracle fueled by
16:20
that young Lads faith and I love this.
16:23
Then He blesses it, he breaks it and he starts dividing it out.
16:28
And by the way, since it's in all four gospel accounts, you
16:31
get these little teeny details. That are added.
16:33
For instance, John tells us about the lat, Mark tells That
16:38
he commanded them to sit down on the green grass.
16:41
He's the only one to add that qualifier of its green grass.
16:45
It's a pleasant place to sit, it's not dry prickly ground and
16:50
dirt or gravel, it's green grass, it becomes part of the
16:54
miracle. So they're sitting there in
16:56
companies of 50, 100 companies of 50.
17:00
And he starts handing it to the disciples to then spread through
17:04
the crowd and everybody ate. Eight notice verse 20, they did
17:10
all eat. That would be 100% of them, five
17:14
thousand men beside the women and children and they were
17:17
filled. They didn't just get a little
17:20
nibble, they were filled, and they took up the fragments that
17:23
remained twelve baskets full You see the implication who got to
17:32
eat the bread and the fish that day?
17:36
Everybody probably including Jesus but the lad got to eat all
17:43
that he wanted that day. I don't know and this might be
17:49
taking things too far but I can guess.
17:55
The bread and fish, never tasted better to that lad than it did
18:02
on that day. Return to him from the Lord
18:07
Jesus Christ. Because you see that's the kind
18:10
of God. We worship whenever we make an
18:13
offering and put it at the feet of the Savior, or put it on the
18:17
altar of the Lord. He never lets us walk away
18:21
poorer than we were when we walked up he never lets us.
18:25
He never goes into debt to us he never owes us anything.
18:31
He always finds ways to abundantly return.
18:36
Anything that we've sacrificed And if there are twelve baskets
18:41
full leftover, we don't know what happened to those leftovers
18:45
and how they got parsed out. I know.
18:46
And one of the Gospel accounts that says, make sure that there
18:49
would be no waste. They're not going to leave them
18:53
there to rot. They're going to be used.
18:57
I can picture this young lad going home, perhaps to his
19:01
mother saying mom. You're never going to guess what
19:04
happened to the bread and the fish and look, perhaps he Kings
19:09
home an entire basket himself. I don't, I don't know.
19:12
But tenfold return. It's this idea though of That
19:18
bread and that fish. Now had an additional ingredient
19:23
that weren't there when the lad left home and the ingredient
19:29
that was now infused into them by the Savior himself by his
19:34
hands. And by his love, is that gift or
19:39
that ingredient of faith. Faith is now, infused in here
19:45
from this, from this lad, and for the crowd, as it's now
19:49
return to him. So next time you and I are asked
19:54
to sacrifice something for the Lord, perhaps we could look at
19:58
it, not so much as Ono. I can't give that up, I can't
20:03
give that time or that money or that energy or that effort up.
20:06
It's going to cost me too much. Perhaps we could hear a little
20:12
voice in the back of our mind of that lad saying make the
20:16
offering, put it all on the Altar and trust the Lord.
20:21
Magnify and multiply that meager offering that you're making.
20:28
So then we get this interesting transition, where we have this
20:32
John has died. Jesus is distressed.
20:35
He tries to go find solace in the actually does in serving
20:39
other people and multiplying Beyond expectation and then
20:45
we've got this incredible experience out on the water.
20:49
Yeah, so let's pick it up in verse 22, straightway.
20:51
Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship to go before
20:55
him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
21:00
So the ship that brought him here, he sends all of his
21:02
Fossils back to that ship to go home and sends all the people
21:06
who've come on foot, they go away leaving, Jesus, all alone
21:11
in that mountain, look at verse 23 and when he had sent the
21:14
multitudes away he went up into a mountain apart to pray.
21:20
And when the evening was come, he was there alone.
21:26
That's, that's an important principle for us.
21:28
To remember, he wanted some communing time with heavenly
21:34
father. He wanted to be alone.
21:37
That's why he came out earlier in this day and he didn't get it
21:41
perhaps when he wanted it originally.
21:44
But he was willing to swallow up.
21:46
His will in the will of heavenly father and teach and serve and
21:50
bless and feed this multitude, but he does get his alone time.
21:56
I'm later on that evening where he can spend that time in this
22:02
mountain apart from everybody else and it's in one of the
22:06
other gospel accounts when it says that he saw them toiling on
22:11
the water in the middle of the night in the middle of a storm.
22:16
So it's really dark and stormy. But from the mountain, he still
22:21
sees them. Just as as a consideration for
22:29
you here, how hard would it have been for Jesus as he sends those
22:35
Apostles down to the ship and sends the multitudes away?
22:38
How hard would it have been for him to say?
22:42
You know it's been kind of a long draining day on a lot of
22:46
levels. And they're tired.
22:51
I want a gentle wind to blow them perfectly in the direction
22:55
for home so they can have the smoothest.
22:58
Easiest trip home with the least amount of energy expended, how
23:03
hard would that have been Or showing up immediately.
23:08
When the storm hits, what, what time of night is it when he
23:12
finally arrives. Yeah.
23:13
So it talks about the Fourth Watch.
23:17
Is that the first watch of night?
23:19
He waits to the fourth watch. Now, before we jump fully into
23:24
this, I want you to think, Have You Ever Had Any Time of Your
23:28
Life suffering and you wondered why God did not show up in your
23:33
life immediately when you wanted him?
23:35
And when I've had those moments and I've had more than I wish,
23:39
I've had, I remember this story that sometimes, God lets us toil
23:46
in the suffering and yet they're still a Salvation.
23:49
Yeah. So just so we're on the same
23:51
page. There are a variety of possible
23:54
ways you could look at this one is to see that the knights were
23:59
divided into these four watches where the first watch.
24:04
Technically begin. At evening when the sun sets and
24:08
this is going to vary depending on the time of year, whether
24:11
it's in the winter, fall spring or summer.
24:14
But for the averages, let's say, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. the first
24:20
three. Our watch is the evening watch
24:24
when it's dusk the sun has gone down and now it's getting
24:27
darker, darker darker. And then the second watch would
24:30
take you to midnight the middle of the night.
24:35
White is the ending of that second watch.
24:38
And now from Midnight to 3:00 a.m. would be your third watch
24:43
and from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. is your fourth watch.
24:49
It's the sun is getting ready to come up and it's The Darkest
24:53
Hour. This is the darkest time.
24:57
As I say of the day, it's the darkest time of the night.
24:59
So it's interesting. He doesn't show up with her
25:01
struggling here here or here and they would have needed him at
25:04
all these moments. And it's when they seem to be
25:07
most desperate and I again I I just had lunch with a friend
25:11
today and we talked about this very situation, why is it God
25:14
allows people good people to suffer who have tried to do
25:18
everything right? Love their children, family
25:21
prayer, scripture study, going to church serving wherever they
25:25
can, and yet they're still Struggle and there's difficulty
25:29
in questions around situations then I have easy answers to and
25:34
I take solace that God understands where things are
25:38
going and we might find ourselves at 2:30 a.m. thinking.
25:41
I'm ready to be saved right now, and Jesus understands you will
25:46
be saved, but I'm going to let you have a few more experiences
25:50
before we get to that point. So, let's pick up the text here,
25:53
verse 24, but the ship was now in the midst of the sea.
25:57
See. So out there, in the middle of
25:59
the sea tossed with waves for the wind was contrary.
26:05
The wind is blowing in the opposite direction from where
26:08
you're trying to go. And again, this would not have
26:11
been hard for Jesus to prevent that from happening or better
26:15
yet to create a gentle breeze. Blowing them home but he didn't.
26:20
Because you see this life just like that ship Journey that
26:25
night. It's not just about getting to a
26:28
destination. It's about what we're becoming.
26:33
It's about the process of working through trials and
26:38
tribulations with faith and trust in the Lord to stretch and
26:43
grow and become somebody that we weren't when we got on that
26:46
ship. So they're working against this
26:51
contrary wind and it says in the Fourth Watch of the night
26:54
sometime between 3:00 a.m. and 6 a.m. roughly speaking.
26:59
Jesus went unto them walking on the sea and when the disciples
27:05
saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled saying, it is a
27:08
spirit and they cried out for fear.
27:12
How long is the list of Water Walkers?
27:15
At this point in scriptures history?
27:18
I can't think of any can't think of any, this is not normal
27:21
behavior than culturally, there was in their culture.
27:25
The expectation was, if you're going to see a ghost It was
27:29
during that time of night and so already they're predisposed by
27:33
their culture to think. The only thing this could be is
27:35
some kind of ghost or Spirit that's going to torment us know.
27:39
We're going to be a drown. We're going to be scared by a
27:42
ghost while it's happening while we're drowning in this storm.
27:45
So watch the contrast. You notice the last word of
27:51
verse 26, fear, They're crying out for fear, they're afraid
27:58
they're in, they're in over their head, it's dark, they're
28:01
exhausted. Yesterday was a long day and now
28:04
they've been toiling all the night against this.
28:06
Contrary wind in this storm. And now, they see this.
28:10
This thing, this being walking on the water.
28:12
They're convinced. It's a spirit.
28:13
They are clearly afraid, but straightway.
28:18
Jesus. Spake unto them saying, be of
28:20
good cheer. It is I Be not afraid, I love
28:28
that. And if some of you happen to be
28:31
going through a terrible storm in what you think is the force
28:36
watch. Maybe for some of us were still
28:39
only in the second. Watch the okay, shorty he's
28:41
going to come now and maybe we've still got months or years
28:45
or in some cases decades left without toil.
28:48
But eventually, if we put our trust in him, instead of putting
28:53
our trust in Getting to the destination on our own then
28:58
hopefully we can hear this voice be of good cheer.
29:02
It is, I Be not Afraid. And then, I think this has to be
29:07
one of the strangest responses in all of scripture.
29:12
If I were in the boat standing there, hearing that voice, I
29:16
think, oh good, it's Jesus, huh? I don't need to be afraid, he's
29:20
going to come to me. And then you hear Peter say, Say
29:24
Lord, if it be thou bid, me come unto thee on the water, if it's
29:30
really, you then asked me to come to you on the water.
29:35
I don't know about you, but I'd look at Peter and say, what?
29:38
Yeah. What did you just ask?
29:40
Yeah. Were you drinking the the sea
29:43
water here? And Jesus said one word come,
29:49
And when Peter was come down out of the ship, have you noticed
29:53
how we tell these stories with words and we kind of know, the
29:57
end of the story. So we don't stop to actually
29:59
think what it would be like, if you're in the fourth watch, it
30:03
might be the sky, might be grain getting ready for Dawn to break
30:09
at 6 a.m. or somewhere around that time.
30:12
Period, but can you picture what it would feel like?
30:14
And look like, and be like to watch Peter?
30:19
Grab hold of the end, the side of that gunwale and lifts his
30:23
leg to get over again. I don't know about you, but I'd
30:27
be thinking Peter, what are you? What are you doing?
30:31
And then that second leg and then him letting go and walking.
30:35
And remember this is not a glassy surface.
30:38
This is a storm that's contrary with lots of waves.
30:43
It's uneven and now Peter is out there walking on that stormy
30:49
sea. Hmm.
30:53
I wonder if this story is more alive and well today than we've
30:56
given it credit for. I wonder if Jesus is constantly
31:01
calling you and me to get out of our comfort zone and get out on
31:07
a stormy, sea and do things we've never done before and let
31:12
us our list of Water Walkers. Now went to to that, we have
31:16
record of And he's doing things he's never done before,
31:21
sometimes the shortest distance between you and the savior.
31:25
Is over a very stormy, sea doing scary things.
31:31
And I love the fact that Jesus is steadiness, provides this
31:35
anchor to build Peters Faith to the point where he can, he can
31:40
access that level of power coming to him from Christ to
31:44
where he can actually walk on that water and he's doing fine
31:49
until you'll notice. It says, when he saw the wind
31:54
boisterous, Is he was afraid and beginning to sink.
31:57
He cried out, Lord, save me. This is Peter.
32:02
The professional fisherman who spent his life out in that.
32:05
See, this must have been a pretty serious wind and wave
32:10
that set of waves that have kicked up now and he saw them
32:14
boisterous. The implication here is that
32:18
Peter is now looking at the waves and the effects of the
32:22
wind rather than at Jesus And instantly he goes down and his
32:29
knee. Jerk response is Lord.
32:31
Save me. I love those three words.
32:34
And Jesus doesn't stand there on the water.
32:36
Scolding, Peter or waiting for the fifth.
32:39
Watch waiting for the fifth wash, which there wasn't one
32:42
key. He reaches down immediately, I
32:46
love verse 31 and immediately Jesus stretched forth.
32:50
His hand and caught him and said unto him.
32:54
O, thou of Little faith, wherefore didst, thou doubt, did
32:56
you catch that? He didn't go up to Peter,
32:58
treading water in the stormy, sea and say, old a little faith.
33:02
He immediately caught him. And the idea is it seems that he
33:06
would have pulled him back up onto the water, and then I can
33:10
picture. I don't know how it actually
33:11
happened, but in my mind's eye, I can picture Jesus putting that
33:16
steadying powerful arm of love and mercy around Peter.
33:24
And saying O thou of little faith, wherefore didst, thou
33:29
doubt, don't you find that interesting?
33:32
That one of two people who has walked on water was told that he
33:36
had little faith? And he heard those words not
33:42
while he was treading water, but while he was standing on the
33:46
water next to the Lord, and then you'll notice Peter didn't swim
33:53
back to the boat. He walked back to the boat but
33:56
there's no mention of him sinking because now he's walking
34:00
with Christ brothers and sisters.
34:03
When the Lord calls us to do things, to get out of our
34:07
comfort zone to go on a mission going and marriage, go into a
34:11
profession, go into a calling, whatever that may be.
34:16
It can be scary. And at times we can feel like
34:18
we're drowning and we're going to sink and be lost forever.
34:23
But when we're with him, when we're on his errand, doing his
34:27
bidding, we can walk on water. We can do all things through
34:33
Christ, we can't do anything on our own, but through him, we can
34:37
do all things. I love this story for, for
34:41
teaching me to just trust him and do these things that Maybe
34:46
before everybody would have thought you crazy for even
34:49
trying to do, then they that were in the ship came and
34:52
worshipped him saying of a truth, Thou Art, the son of God.
35:00
Did you notice that none of them went up to Peter and said,
35:03
Peter? Wow, that was amazing.
35:06
You are so incredible. It wasn't about Peter, it was
35:11
never about Peter. It was always about coming to
35:15
Christ and they all recognize, there is no way.
35:18
Peter could have done that. It was Jesus who perform that
35:21
Miracle Peter, exercised enough Faith to be able to walk on the
35:25
water but it was all about Jesus and surely he is the Son of God.
35:30
Now, let's jump over to Mark, chapter 6 and pick up a couple
35:34
of verses here in this chapter to conclude this particular
35:39
episode. I sewed, look at the contrast.
35:42
There are people who in verse two are astonished at him saying
35:47
things like from whence hath. This man these things and what
35:50
wisdom is this, which is given unto him that even such Mighty
35:54
works, are wrought by his hands is not this, the carpenter the
35:57
son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph and of Judah
36:01
and Simon and are not his sister's here with us and they
36:05
were offended at him. He was unexpected by the way
36:08
these names. All very, very common names in
36:11
the Galilee region the time of Jesus.
36:13
So they're basically saying he's about as common as they come
36:17
that. By the way, another common name
36:19
is a guy named Joe Smith. Like Joseph Smith is a pretty
36:23
common name and God does uncommon things with what seemed
36:29
to be very common people and people don't seem to understand
36:32
the identity of you. Jesus some episodes ago, we
36:35
encourage people to look for how does Jesus expresses?
36:39
Identity and how do people come to understand who Jesus is, or
36:42
misunderstand him. One of the invitations of the
36:45
gospels is come to know Jesus. And this is one of those
36:49
instances where people seem to not understand their
36:53
preconceived notions of what they think, Jesus is or who,
36:57
they think he should be messes with the reality of who he truly
37:02
is, and it's in our own lives, we were all children of God.
37:07
Do we treat ourselves and others like that or do we?
37:11
Let the world's identity encroach on the Divine identity
37:15
that you inhabit and everybody, you know, also in habits.
37:20
So look at the outcome of that because of the choice, they made
37:25
to be offended Because of him because how could he possibly do
37:31
anything good. We know him.
37:32
He's just the carpenter the tech tone from down the street.
37:36
What is the outcome of that? Verse 5?
37:39
He could there do no Mighty work, save that he laid his
37:43
hands upon a few sick, folk and healed them.
37:47
And he marveled, because of their unbelief and he went round
37:51
about the villages teaching, they won't believe.
37:56
So they Can't receive the Miracles.
38:00
How many times does he say thy faith?
38:02
Hath made thee whole. Well, die.
38:05
Unfaith can make it so that you can't be made whole as well, and
38:11
that's what we see here. So, as we close, this
38:13
particular, particular episode, I think, if our lad from the
38:19
feeding of the 5,000 were here, or if Peter were standing here,
38:26
I think they would say you have to put your full and complete
38:32
trust in the Lord, make the choice to turn your life over to
38:37
him, put it all on the altar, make it so that he doesn't have
38:41
to take things away from you. Because your freely give them of
38:47
your own free. Will your own choice, you're
38:49
placing them on the altar of the Lord knowing that he is going to
38:53
bless them and not hold onto them selfishly but he's going to
38:58
now return them to you. And now as we finish consider
39:03
the bread and the fish one more time, how long would those Five
39:09
Loaves of barley bread and two. Fish have lasted before they
39:15
became unusable maybe a few days at the very most but because
39:21
they were placed as an offering on the altar of the Lord, they
39:25
became not mortal anymore, they became immortal.
39:31
And they will live forever. We're telling their story again
39:35
today, and we're going to keep being reminded of this story
39:41
till the end of time and probably into the eternities
39:45
brothers and sisters. What a great opportunity, it is
39:48
for us to take those mortal things that God has given us,
39:52
our time, our money, our energy, any help that we may have any
39:58
resources that we have and to be able To ask him Lord, what can I
40:04
do to more fully consecrate, all these things and my own heart?
40:09
And my mind to the more today than I've ever done it in the
40:14
past, regardless of how insignificant my Five Loaves and
40:18
two fish may look. The Lord is willing and more
40:22
than able to magnify and multiply those efforts.
40:29
So as we dive into the scriptures today in chapter 5 of
40:34
John, it's almost as if Jesus is gone out of his way to he's in
40:42
Jerusalem. So it's a festival time of the
40:44
year, but it's almost as if he's gone out of his way to go to a
40:48
location where there are lots of sick folk lot of infirmities,
40:55
and they seem to congregate near the pool of Bethesda.
40:59
De which is north of Jerusalem. So we begin in verse 1, Chapter
41:06
5 after this. So, this was the Miracles in
41:12
John chapter 4. After this, there was a feast of
41:16
the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
41:19
He's a good practicing Jew in his day.
41:23
And now, there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Market, a pool,
41:26
which is called in the Hebrew tongue, Bethesda Being five.
41:30
Porches. So for many years archaeologists
41:34
were looking for this Pentagon shaped pool, somewhere up in
41:38
that region, and they couldn't find it what they ended up.
41:41
Finding, however, was a pool with five torches there.
41:46
Four of them, and then you've got a middle porch, dividing the
41:51
two pools. So, there's a pool on the North
41:54
and a pool on the south, the one on the south is a Mikvah.
42:00
A ritual bath. So it would have steps to go
42:05
down into this lower pool. Picture a huge public swimming
42:09
pool where people coming into Jerusalem.
42:14
This is near the road coming in from the north.
42:18
When you come in you need to take a ritual bath to be pure
42:23
and cleansed to go into the city.
42:26
So you can imagine what this Southern pool would have looked
42:29
like After say a few thousand pilgrims have come in at this
42:36
time of year for a festival and they've all taken a ritual bath.
42:41
Well the Northern Pool doesn't have those same steps, it's not
42:45
a Mikvah, it's a collecting pool for the good water.
42:48
The fresh water, the clean water and in the middle between the
42:52
two pools, there's a big sluice gate that they could lift up, or
42:59
somehow raise up. Up and it would allow the fresh
43:02
water from the North Pool to come rushing into the dirty
43:09
mikveh. This ritual bath water of the
43:11
south pool, and all of the sludge in the garbage, that pool
43:19
would get washed out down, the Kidron Valley, and eventually
43:23
down to the Dead Sea. So it kind of refresh that
43:27
ritual bath. So Jesus has purposefully, come
43:29
here, you've got Porticos all around these pools where a lot
43:34
of sick folk would would lay around.
43:37
Yeah, they had this healing tradition because as this sluice
43:40
gate would be opened, it would Royal up the waters and people
43:44
would see this and the common belief was that.
43:46
Well, there's an angel that is treading on the waters that we
43:49
can't see. And whoever is lucky enough to
43:52
get into the waters, right? Me?
43:53
See that happening will be healed.
43:55
And again, I love how Jesus. Jesus, doesn't try to correct or
43:59
update people. Paul's perspective of what was
44:02
going on with the water. He just very simply shows on his
44:06
healing really happened. So if you look at verse 3 in
44:09
these lay a great multitude of impotent folk of blind halt
44:13
withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
44:17
And then we get this interesting verse with the angel in verse 4,
44:21
for an angel, went down at a certain season into the pool and
44:24
troubled the water whosoever. Then first, after the troubling
44:28
of water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease.
44:30
He had. Now if you look in many other
44:36
English translations of the Bible, verse 4 is missing.
44:41
If you go to Bible Hub.com verse 4 is missing, it's not there.
44:46
If you look at our oldest best guess as to what the original
44:51
manuscripts of the Gospel. Of John looked like based on
44:54
early, dating manuscripts, all of these oldest versions of the
44:58
book that we have. Push for is not there.
45:02
It doesn't show up until sometime later all of a sudden.
45:06
It starts appearing in some of the manuscripts and it ends up
45:09
in the manuscript. Family that the King James
45:11
translators used the sits in our scripture.
45:15
But if you read it, you can see that.
45:17
It still makes sense. If you go from there, waiting
45:20
for the moving of the water, realize this, some copyist later
45:23
on thought. Well, what is this?
45:24
Moving the water, and why are they trying to get in?
45:27
And so, somebody made up this tradition And just added it or
45:31
some tradition they had access to.
45:33
It's almost like they had that side commentary if you ever
45:35
written on the side margin of your scriptures and then maybe
45:38
somebody copies that into a future version and takes your
45:41
commentary and inserts it is and that's what we think happened.
45:44
Some Scrabble commentary made itself in as one of the verses
45:48
in scripture. There you go.
45:50
So no angel. We now know this sluice gate
45:53
would cause a very real troubling of the water.
45:57
And here we get verse 5, a certain man was there, which had
46:02
an infirmity Thirty and eight years.
46:06
Now we're getting close to the amount of time that Israel was
46:11
out in the wilderness. With Moses wandering around 39,
46:16
39 and a half years from the time that they have the
46:18
experience with the 12 Spies and what's the, what's the feces and
46:22
going on right now? Likely Passover, probably
46:26
Passover. And when Jesus saw him lie, and
46:29
knew that he had been now a long time, in that case, he said unto
46:33
him wilt thou be made made whole.
46:37
So you've probably heard people come in on this before.
46:40
That this is a very unusual Miracle on a lot of levels.
46:43
Because Jesus comes to this place where there are a lot of
46:48
sick folk, he picks one guy, approaches him and asks him to.
46:55
Do you want a miracle? Do you want to do, want to be
46:56
made to hold? You want to be healed?
46:59
Instead of waiting for somebody to come to Jesus to request the
47:03
miracle, you'll notice most of the previous Miracles that
47:06
you've seen have come as a response to a faith-filled
47:11
request. Either from the sick individual
47:14
or the one in need, or from a loved one to that individual.
47:18
And in this case, there's no sign of that.
47:19
Sign of that, it's just Jesus. Coming up saying, do you want to
47:22
be made whole? And the guy doesn't seem to
47:24
understand. The question is, what house you
47:26
respond? The impotent, man answered sir.
47:28
Of no man when the waters trouble to put me into the pool.
47:32
But while I am coming, another step it down before me.
47:35
So it seems that he believes that what Jesus is offering it
47:39
is. I can carry you into the water
47:41
because you believe the water as it gets World up, those fresh
47:44
water will make you whole. The man doesn't know who Jesus
47:48
is and Jesus does the unexpected basically says to the man.
47:52
I'm not going to help you in the water.
47:53
You can probably help yourself and he says, Rise.
47:58
Take up thy bed and walk. You see verse 9 immediately, the
48:02
man was made whole and took up his bed and walked.
48:07
Part of the miracle here, is that he's been lame.
48:10
He's been in this condition for 38 years, which means he doesn't
48:15
have the muscle structure in his legs.
48:18
He doesn't have the balance between his inner ear, and his
48:22
brain and his all the nerve endings in his feet and legs,
48:25
and his body, too. Be able to.
48:28
But Jesus fixes, all of that immediately with his power, rise
48:34
up, take up thy bed and walk. So he's made a whole, he took up
48:38
his bed and he walked and on the same day was the Sabbath.
48:44
So now, let's jump to this little interchange between the
48:49
leaders of the Jews. And this man carrying his bed on
48:53
the Sabbath day. A big No-No for their oral
48:57
tradition. The Jews.
48:59
Therefore said unto him. That was cured.
49:00
It is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful for thee.
49:03
The character for thee to carry thy bed, he answered them.
49:08
He that made me hold. The same said unto me, take up
49:10
thy bed and walk. The idea here is I wasn't going
49:13
to argue with him. I are you noticing something
49:18
instead of celebrating with this man saying, 38 years, you've
49:21
been dependent on everybody to help you and do everything for
49:25
you. And now you can walk Let's
49:29
celebrate with you and Cara. Help you carry your bread home
49:32
knowing you'll never have to do that again out here.
49:36
Let's find you a place to stay a permanent home instead of doing
49:41
that, they're making him feel bad for having been healed
49:45
because it was the Sabbath day. And so then they asked him who
49:50
told you to do this and he that was healed Wist.
49:54
Not who it was. He knew not who had done it, he
49:56
didn't know. Jesus is named so afterwards.
49:59
You see that Jesus found him in the temple, in verse 14.
50:03
And he said, behold, Thou Art made whole sin, no more lest a
50:07
worse thing, come unto thee. And then, what is our?
50:11
What is our man that was, he'll do he just runs it.
50:15
Sounds like, okay. Now I know who it was.
50:18
So he goes straight to the Pharisees, were straight to the
50:21
chief priests and he says, oh I've got the name for you and he
50:25
tells them that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.
50:29
And so now we begin in the Gospel of John, for the first
50:32
time, this active conflict, this active Pursuit against Jesus,
50:39
the Ian's here in verse 16. Therefore did the Jews persecute
50:43
Jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things
50:48
on the Sabbath day. And so now we open our first
50:53
major confrontation in the Gospel of John in Jerusalem with
50:58
the leaders of the juice. So, Jesus engages with this
51:03
discussion. Look at verse 17, he answered
51:05
them, my father, worketh hitherto and I work.
51:11
So he's saying, look, you've seen the works of my father and
51:14
you're seeing me work now to verse 18, therefore the Jews
51:18
sought them more to kill him because he not only had broken
51:21
the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father making
51:24
himself equal with God. Do you see the theological
51:29
implications here? He made himself the so he's
51:34
declaring himself as the Son of God and their equating that is
51:38
making himself equal with God because Sons grow up to become
51:42
like their fathers. They have their fathers power
51:46
given to them. And they do not love this
51:49
because they see him as a law-breaking reprobate from the
51:55
Galilee who's come into our Center of power.
52:00
And now he's Not just breaking the law himself, he's
52:03
encouraging other people to break the law and they are so
52:06
blinded by their anger at him that they can't see the irony of
52:14
the lawgiver, who gave the law to Moses on Mount Sinai, sitting
52:19
in front of them and they refuse to recognize him.
52:24
So verse 19 is one of the critical verses that shows the
52:29
relationship between Father and Son or in this context between
52:34
son and father. Then answered Jesus and said
52:38
unto them, verily, verily. I say unto you.
52:42
The son can do nothing of himself.
52:46
But what he seeth the father do for what things soever.
52:50
He doeth, these also doeth, the son likewise, I love that or
52:56
Jesus is saying, look, I am not making this up.
53:00
I'm not doing my own stuff. I'm watching what the father,
53:06
Did, and I'm doing those things. I'm following his example and
53:12
what's the outcome? Because Jesus does what the
53:16
father. Does verse 20, the Father
53:20
loveth, the Son and showed him, all things that himself doeth
53:24
and he will show him Greater Works than these that ye may
53:27
Marvel, and it is a Marvel. It's a marvelous work and a
53:31
wonder when we see the works of God, we should Rejoice instead
53:34
of turned in anger. So in these next few verses
53:38
Jesus is going to keep referencing what the father does
53:43
and then subsequently what the son.
53:45
Also doeth following, the father's example, look of her.
53:51
We'll jump down now to verse 24, verily, verily, I say unto you,
53:54
he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me
53:57
hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but
54:01
is passed from Death unto life so he's he's making it very
54:05
clear. I Did not come on my own.
54:07
I was sent by the father. I am on his errand.
54:11
I'm doing his, will, I'm not doing my own and then verse 26,
54:18
for as the father hath life in himself.
54:20
So hath, he given to the son to have life in himself.
54:25
I've inherited that from my father, that capacity and that
54:31
is going to come in. Crucial crucially important.
54:35
When we We get into the the week of the atoning sacrifice.
54:40
You cannot forcefully. Take Jesus life away from him,
54:45
he has life in himself, given to him by God.
54:48
The only way that he dies is, if he willingly gives up his ghost
54:54
if he willingly lays his life down, So he has all this power
55:02
and look at verse 30, I can of mine, own self, do nothing.
55:08
As I hear, I judge and my judgment is just because I seek
55:12
not mine own will, but the will of the Father, which has sent
55:15
me. Do you see the significance of
55:18
this as a precursor to what? We're going to be spending a lot
55:21
of time, talking about during the week of the atoning
55:23
sacrifice because Jesus has that power within himself, At any
55:28
point, at any time, he could freely, give up The Ghost and
55:33
stop the pain, stop the suffering, but he doesn't.
55:38
He chooses to live through all of those horrific events until
55:44
he gets to the very end when he could finally say it is
55:49
finished. The full price is paid and only
55:53
then, is he willing to give up the ghost?
55:56
I love that. Now we come over to chapter 6
56:00
and in this chapter, John tells his version of The Feeding of
56:05
the 5000 story and then the walking on the water and which
56:10
we've covered in the previous episode.
56:12
Now, if you turn the page over begins, one of the most
56:19
interesting and difficult periods of the savior's Ministry
56:25
for this reason, having fed the Thousand having walked on water
56:29
and everybody realizes that he miraculously had gotten home
56:34
because he wasn't on the ship and he didn't walk home with
56:36
them last night so they know something interesting happened
56:39
there. So Jesus has grown in his
56:41
popularity. He's on a pinnacle of
56:45
popularity. And now, the people word has
56:49
spread, hey, guess what happened yesterday.
56:51
We got a free lunch free dinner, he healed people.
56:53
He taught us and he fed us and it didn't cost us anything other
56:57
than a long. A long trip by foot but now he's
57:01
here. So, this huge group starts
57:04
Gathering and notice the sense of entitlement that they lay at
57:10
the savior's feet. Look at verse 31, our father's
57:14
did eat Manna in the desert as it is written.
57:16
He gave them bread from Heaven to eat if they're going to get
57:19
more. Where's our?
57:21
Where's our lunch? We're ready.
57:23
We're all here, then Jesus said unto them.
57:26
Verily, verily, I say unto you. Moses gave you, not that bread
57:30
from heaven, but my father, giveth you, the true bread from
57:34
Heaven. Did you see it?
57:37
They missed it. They thought Moses had fed the
57:40
Manna for 40 years and it was Jesus as Jehovah of the Old
57:45
Testament who had done that miracle for them, he had given
57:48
them bread and they're giving the credit.
57:51
It to Moses. And now Jesus is giving the
57:55
Credit One Step higher to the father.
57:57
He's saying look and the father has given you, the true bread,
58:02
not the Mana. Verse 33, for the bread of God,
58:07
is he, which cometh down from heaven and giveth light unto the
58:09
world? And then they said unto him.
58:12
Lord Evermore, give us this bread, now they're just straight
58:16
out saying, okay, great, we want it, give it to us.
58:19
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.
58:23
He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on
58:27
me shall never thirst. So notice the, the contrast here
58:32
in verse 38 when he Says for I came down from heaven not to do
58:37
mine own will but the will of him that sent me.
58:42
Remember the conversation he had had 75 miles south in Jerusalem
58:46
with the chief Priests of the people back in chapter 5.
58:49
Now he's having the same conversation with his, his
58:53
neighbors and kinsfolk and and people who live around him up in
58:57
the Galilee saying the exact same thing that I am not here to
59:01
do my will, I'm here to do the the, the will of the father,
59:06
what a beautiful pattern for every Church calling you'll ever
59:10
receive You don't get leadership positions or opportunities, to
59:17
do what you want to do, your given Authority.
59:20
You're given power to preside or to lead so that you can figure
59:24
out what the Lord wants you to do.
59:27
And then go forward and do that this pattern fits for all of us
59:32
in any calling and not just in the church but in a home setting
59:36
that's what parents should be praying for more than Help my
59:42
child to change its Lord. What would thou have me do in
59:47
order to help this sun? Or this daughter, learn thy law
59:52
and fill of thy love and fill motivated to do the right
59:56
things. So, then it gets really
1:00:02
difficult for them because he shifts gears verse 41.
1:00:06
It, did you notice first time we saw it was in 35.
1:00:09
I am the bread of life. Look at her. 41, the Jews then
1:00:12
murmured at him because he said, I am the bread of which came
1:00:16
down from heaven. Now they're saying wait isn't
1:00:19
this Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother?
1:00:22
We know how is it? Then that he saith I came down
1:00:25
from heaven. And so he continues on verse 48.
1:00:32
I am the bread of life, so he says it again.
1:00:36
Your father's did eat Manna in the wilderness and are dead.
1:00:43
There's a message there. The bread they ate as
1:00:46
miraculousness life-saving, as it was, is Mana.
1:00:51
They're dead. It's dead bread but I am the
1:00:55
living bread read that Rings life, then it gets a lot
1:01:00
clearer. Unmistakably, clear.
1:01:03
This is the bread, which cometh down from heaven.
1:01:05
That a man may eat thereof and not die.
1:01:08
I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
1:01:11
If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever and the bread
1:01:16
that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life
1:01:20
of the world. Wow, that's a showstopper.
1:01:24
Yeah, the people in that congregation or looking at each
1:01:27
Other saying what? And and they even ask the
1:01:30
question. How can this man?
1:01:32
Give us his flesh to eat? Could you imagine?
1:01:35
You weren't familiar with Jesus or Christian tradition.
1:01:38
And somebody came to church and said, hey man, let you eat my
1:01:41
body and that will save you and these people are really shocked.
1:01:45
They don't understand at all, what's going on?
1:01:47
And it leads to some, it was sad after effects of for the crowd.
1:01:52
Yeah. Now look at verse 53, then.
1:01:54
Jesus said unto them. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
1:01:56
except ye The Flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, ye
1:02:02
have no life in you. He's making all these symbolic
1:02:06
Illusions and foreshadowings for the sacrament that is going to
1:02:10
be introduced in the last week of his life but they don't know
1:02:14
anything about the sacrament at this point.
1:02:15
They know the laws of sacrifice and this this is brand new to
1:02:20
them and then he takes it even further whoso eateth my flesh
1:02:24
and drinketh my blood hath, eternal life and I will raise
1:02:27
him up at the last day. It's almost as if he's trying to
1:02:33
really push them in their discipleship.
1:02:36
Why are you following me? Are you following me?
1:02:39
So, you can eat bread and fish again for free.
1:02:42
Like you did yesterday or you following me because of my
1:02:46
teachings and because of what opportunities for discipleship
1:02:52
and growth and sacrifice, I'm offering to you.
1:02:55
He, he gives verse 86. He that eateth my flesh and
1:02:59
drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him, you'll notice that
1:03:08
same couplet that Jesus is going to use referring to his
1:03:11
relationship with Heavenly Father later on.
1:03:15
He dwells in me and I dwell in him and now he's using it with
1:03:18
these people when you partake of the sacrament.
1:03:20
No, he's not using that word. Then you dwell in me and I dwell
1:03:26
in you. There's room in you, you take a
1:03:28
piece of my body, this bread and it becomes a part of you you
1:03:32
take a cup of wine or water for us today, you drink it.
1:03:38
It becomes a part of you, his blood becomes part of our blood
1:03:42
symbolically and it's this beautiful connected Covenant
1:03:47
relationship with Christ that he's offering them.
1:03:51
But they can't get beyond the symbol to see the beautiful
1:03:54
Covenant will connection metaphor behind the symbol
1:03:59
because it's so jarring to them many therefore of his disciples
1:04:03
when they had heard. This said, this is a hard
1:04:07
saying, who can hear it when Jesus knew in himself that his
1:04:11
disciples murmured at it. He said under them, but this
1:04:15
offend you what? And if you shall see, the son of
1:04:18
man Ascend up, where he was before, It is the spirit that
1:04:22
quickeneth, the flesh, profiteth, nothing the words
1:04:25
that I speak unto you. They are spirit and they are
1:04:29
life. So he gave him a key to
1:04:31
interpreting everything. He's been teaching them right
1:04:33
there, but they are so focused on.
1:04:37
This is a hard saying, who is able to Bear it as if they
1:04:41
can't. They can't listen at that point.
1:04:44
They're so offended by him, so they get up.
1:04:51
And they're going to leave here from that time.
1:04:55
Verse 66, many of his disciples went back and walked no more
1:05:01
with him. They're done, they're it's very
1:05:05
clear. He's not going to feed them
1:05:07
Manna every day as they saw Moses doing for their ancestors
1:05:11
in the wilderness for 40 years. They realize this is this is a
1:05:15
hard saying and we're not able to Bear it.
1:05:18
Do any of you find it? Odd that As this group in mass
1:05:22
is murmuring and complaining and muttering under their breath and
1:05:25
as they're getting up and leaving the synagogue shaking
1:05:29
their head, waving their hands at him saying we're done with
1:05:33
you. That Jesus doesn't say, okay,
1:05:37
time out. Everybody relax.
1:05:40
Take a few deep breaths, sit down.
1:05:42
Let me explain what I meant symbolically.
1:05:46
He doesn't do that. I don't know why he could have
1:05:50
done that very easily, he lets them walk out without explaining
1:05:56
it. And then we get one of the most
1:05:59
in my, from my view. One of the single, most powerful
1:06:03
teaching moments in the entire New Testament.
1:06:06
When he then turns to the 12 apostles who were sitting there
1:06:10
and says, Will ye also go away. Can you picture any of the
1:06:16
twelve sitting there thinking? No, Jesus were not going to
1:06:19
leave you? And by the way, we love that
1:06:21
talk. It was perfect.
1:06:22
We know exactly what you're talking about.
1:06:24
Well done. We would have said it exactly
1:06:26
the same way I I could be wrong but I don't think any of the
1:06:33
twelve fully grasp. What he had just taught to the
1:06:37
people. So, if they didn't grasp the
1:06:42
message, what are they holding onto?
1:06:45
Why are they walking away? Offended right now, Simon Peter
1:06:49
provides a voice for these Twelve Apostles.
1:06:53
Lord to whom, shall we go thou Hast the words of eternal life.
1:07:00
I love Simon Peter's response here because what he's
1:07:03
signifying to us is I may not have all the answers, but I've
1:07:08
been with Jesus enough to know that he has words of eternal
1:07:13
life. And if you'll be patient, and if
1:07:16
you'll stick with him, if you'll stay in that Covenant, till
1:07:19
connection with him, that relationship with him things.
1:07:22
We'll work out, confusion questions, uncertainty Mysteries
1:07:27
will be resolved, you're going to get answers.
1:07:31
It's going to become clear even though right now I may not have
1:07:35
a clue what you just said. I know that, I can't go anywhere
1:07:40
else and find anyone to give me the words of eternal life.
1:07:45
I can find a lot of people to tell me how to live my life, how
1:07:47
to find greater happiness and pleasure.
1:07:51
And and all the decisions to make but it's not going to lead
1:07:55
me to return a life. So I love that.
1:07:58
He then follows it up with and we believe and are sure that
1:08:04
thou art that Christ, the son of the Living.
1:08:08
God So as we conclude this episode this week, I wanted to
1:08:15
share one more thought with you from a talk given by Elder
1:08:20
Robert S would clear back in May of 2003 in a devotional at
1:08:28
BYU-Idaho called be transformed by the renewal of your mind.
1:08:32
In there this is a talk that Elder clerk Gilbert made us
1:08:36
aware of and asked us to study. And it's an amazing talk because
1:08:41
elderwood shares this experience of having this long list of
1:08:46
questions that somebody thought were problems with the Book of
1:08:50
Mormon. And over many years over even
1:08:56
decades. He worked his way through this
1:08:59
list finding answers to all of these problems that somebody had
1:09:04
given to him for the Book of Mormon and I believe he was
1:09:07
liking his 50s. When he finally found the answer
1:09:11
to the last question on his list and his conclusion was what a
1:09:17
difference. It would have made if he had
1:09:19
waited until he had had Add all those answers to them, fully
1:09:24
engage in his covenants discipleship and moving forward
1:09:31
in the gospel. And I would suggest to you that
1:09:35
I don't think he would have ever found the answer to most of
1:09:39
those questions had he disengaged with his
1:09:42
discipleship. It's only by engaging with those
1:09:46
things that we don't know that we can then draw greater
1:09:51
strength from those things that we do know.
1:09:57
And those foundations of testimony can get stronger and
1:10:02
more More steadfast and immovable as we don't run away
1:10:06
from the things that we don't know.
1:10:08
It's okay to be confused. It's okay to not have every
1:10:13
gospel. Question answered right here,
1:10:15
right now, it's okay to have to wrestle for months years, even
1:10:21
decades with difficult trying things.
1:10:26
In this gospel, where you're confused, and you don't know,
1:10:29
you don't know what's right? If we keep going back to To what
1:10:33
we do know rather than putting all of the focus on what we are
1:10:38
struggling to figure out and that can then lead to doubts.
1:10:43
So as we finish this episode today, it's our testimony.
1:10:48
That Jesus is the Christ. The son of the Living God, he
1:10:54
has the words of eternal life. Sometimes we don't know that
1:10:58
language very well. And so we have to practice
1:11:02
speaking the language of eternal life and learn it over time
1:11:07
until we can become fluent enough to get all of those
1:11:10
unclear. Muddy confusing elements of the
1:11:15
Gospel to where they, all of a sudden, make sense.
1:11:20
We know that he lives, we know that he loves you and we leave
1:11:24
that with you in the name of Jesus Christ.
1:11:27
Amen. Know that you're loved and
1:11:30
spread light and goodness.