One In Jesus

(John 11:47-48 ESV)  ⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.  ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

After the raising of Lazarus, the Jewish leaders are now less concerned with the penalty for blasphemy and more with the survival of their nation. After all, if Jesus were to lead a rebellion against Rome (what else would a Messiah do?), the Romans would crush them ruthlessly. Continue reading →

(John 11:17-19 ESV)  ¹⁷ Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.  ¹⁸ Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off,  ¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.

“The Jews” seems to refer to residents of Judea, the province that included both Bethany and Jerusalem. Continue reading →

(John 11:1-3 ESV) Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.  ² It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.  ³ So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

We know from the Synoptics that Lazarus, Mary, and Martha were great friends of Jesus. Here we’re told that Mary anointed Jesus’ feet — which John will cover in more detail in chapter 12. Continue reading →

Have you noticed this pattern?

Jesus speaks with a Samaritan woman — an immoral woman at that. Jews hate Samaritans.

Jesus heals a man lame for 38 years.

(John 5:7 ESV)  ⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”

This man had not a single friend or family member willing to help him into the pool — for 38 years! Continue reading →

So what does all this mean for, you know, shepherds … as in shepherds of a local church?

As I mentioned in part 1 of this series, I’ve posted extensively on that question back in the fall. The links are there. I have just a couple of stray thoughts to toss into the mix.

First, it’s just beyond comprehension that God would call the elders of a local church “shepherds.” In the Old Testament, that term is used of God himself or for his king. In the New Testament, the term refers to Jesus. It’s just unbelievable that any congregation could ordain some men to wear that title. Not a one of us deserves it. Continue reading →

The path to the abundant life is not better economic policies and a new chairman of the Fed. It’s the expansion of the Kingdom. It’s serving Jesus as King.

So, if that’s right, how do we relate to the secular authorities? Well, Jeremiah — a contemporary of Ezekiel, writing from Judah — explains —

(Jer 29:4-7 ESV)  4 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God  of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem  to Babylon:  5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat  their produce.  6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for  your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons  and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.  7 But seek the  welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the  LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

Continue reading →

How did God decide to solve the world’s problems?

(Eze 34:23-24 ESV)  ²³ And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.  ²⁴ And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken.

“My servant David” is, of course, the Messiah: Jesus of Nazareth, God himself, reigning as King and Shepherd.

The solution to corrupt, idolatrous government is not a better king sitting on an earthly throne. The solution is God as King, sitting on his heavenly throne. Continue reading →

John 10 is based on Ezekiel 34, in which God condemns the “shepherds” of Judah shortly before he allowed Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem and the Temple.

(Eze 34:2-5 ESV)  ² “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?  ³ You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.  ⁴ The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.  ⁵ So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.”

He is not speaking to the counselors of the Jews; he is speaking to their religious and political leaders — the king, the aristocracy, the chief priest — all those who “rule” over Judah. Continue reading →

Jesus concludes his discourse with “the Jews,” that is, the Jewish religious leaders, saying,

(John 10:30 ESV) ³⁰ “I and the Father are one.”

That was, in reality, more than a little gratuitous. Jesus is again leaning into the punch. After refusing to say, “I’m the Messiah,” he very nearly says, “I am God”! Continue reading →