R.P. Nettelhorst's Blog, page 23

Man Fishing

Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed.

A dozen yards or so down the beach, he saw the brothers James and John, Zebedee’s sons. They were in the boat, mending their fishnets. Right off, he made the same offer. Immediately, they left their father Zebedee, the boat, and the hired hands, and followed.

Then they entered Capernaum. When the Sabbath arrived, Jesus lost no time in getting to the meeting place. He spent the day there teaching. They were surprised at his teaching—so forthright, so confident—not quibbling and quoting like the religion scholars. (Mark 1:16-22)

Jesus was not a hypnotist. Jesus already had a relationship with those he finally called to be his disciples. They had heard John the Baptist proclaim him the Messiah, and they had heard him speak. Certainly they were leaving behind their businesses, their jobs, their livelihood, but they believed they were making a good choice. In their minds, they believed they were joining up with the future king of Israel—of the world—and that they were getting in on the ground floor. For them, it was a no-brainer. Certainly, as fishermen, they were prosperous and comfortable. But being part of the future royal house would be far better in the long run. They knew the story of David, and how those who had followed him early when he was still on the run from Saul, later gained status and immense wealth.

They did not believe they were sacrificing anything by becoming Jesus’ disciples. After Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit, they understood that Jesus had not come to establish the physical kingdom they had expected. But they realized that the deal they had made was even better than what they had thought. They had joined not a temporary, earthly position of authority and wealth. Instead, they had joined the household of God himself for all eternity. Following Jesus is the best decision you can ever make. You’re not sacrificing anything at all: you’re gaining everything.

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One Way to Pay Taxes

Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful.

When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?”

He said, “Yes.”

And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?”

Peter said to Him, “From strangers.”

Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.” (Matthew 17:22-27)

Going fishing rarely pays the bills. But once, that’s just what Jesus had Peter do. But when he told Peter to go fishing to find the money to pay for the temple tax, he was not giving Peter a universal pattern on how to solve our tax or financial woes.

Does that mean there is no universal principal at work in the passage? Of course not. We learn that when God does tell us to do something, we can be confident that it will work out. And we learn, too, that, like Peter, we are sons of the kingdom. We are not just servants. We are not just citizens of the heavenly kingdom. We are members of its royal family, with all the privileges and blessings that are a part of that.

We also learn that Jesus picked his battles. Sometimes he was happy to offend the religious establishment. But over this tax, he wasn’t willing. How come? Because of the principle of love. The temple tax supported those who worked in the temple: it paid the priests, it paid those who did maintenance, it paid small businessmen who kept the temple supplied with ink and paper and oil. The livelihood and welfare of ordinary people were dependent upon the tax.

Therefore, though Jesus and the disciples were technically exempt, it was better to pay than to not. The needs of others sometimes take precedence over our own.

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Family

“He says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So will it be also with this evil generation.”

While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” But to the one who had told him this, Jesus replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:44-50)

Permanent solutions rarely are. Jesus compared the state of the people of Israel in his generation to the state of a man who’d been freed from a demon who would get that demon back, plus an additional seven. How did the Jewish people of Jesus’ day fit that picture?

Their Messiah had arrived to free them from their sins. But they could only think about getting freed from the Roman Empire. Within less than forty years the Jewish people would launch a rebellion against the Romans. But the rebellion would fail. Their situation was bad before the rebellion. It would become far worse afterwards. Jerusalem would be leveled, the temple burned to the ground, and the population scattered across the Empire. They would be even more oppressed by the Roman government than they were before.

The Jewish people, like the man cleansed of a demon, could choose to turn to God. They could have accepted what God’s kingdom actually was: God in their hearts. Or they could reject that, turn to their own devices, and suffer for their poor choices. Unfortunately, they chose poorly.

God’s way doesn’t always seem to be what we really want. But God knows our hearts, and our needs more thoroughly than we know them ourselves. Don’t be reluctant to do what God wants. Don’t imagine that what he wants is bad for you. It isn’t.

Become a part of God’s family; he loves you more than your real family ever can.

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SpaceX Launch You Up Uptown Funk Parody

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SpaceX Successfully Lands The 1st Stage of Their Falcon 9

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Mercy

As Jesus left the house, he was followed by two blind men crying out, “Mercy, Son of David! Mercy on us!” When Jesus got home, the blind men went in with him. Jesus said to them, “Do you really believe I can do this?” They said, “Why, yes, Master!”

He touched their eyes and said, “Become what you believe.” It happened. They saw. Then Jesus became very stern. “Don’t let a soul know how this happened.” But they were hardly out the door before they started blabbing it to everyone they met.

Right after that, as the blind men were leaving, a man who had been struck speechless by an evil spirit was brought to Jesus. As soon as Jesus threw the evil tormenting spirit out, the man talked away just as if he’d been talking all his life. The people were up on their feet applauding: “There’s never been anything like this in Israel!”

The Pharisees were left sputtering, “Hocus-pocus. It’s nothing but hocus-pocus. He’s probably made a pact with the Devil.”

Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. “What a huge harvest!” he said to his disciples. “How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!” (Matthew 9:27-38)

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. One size does not fit all. Jesus adapted how he worked with people according to their individual needs. When the two blind men asked Jesus for mercy, he questioned them about their faith. With their affirmation of faith, he healed them. Then he ordered them to keep silent.

When Jesus saw a man who was unable to speak, he simply healed him. Those who witnessed the act were astonished. Jesus did not tell the formerly speechless man to keep silent, nor did he demand silence of the audience who witnessed it.

There is not a cookie-cutter approach to human relationships, nor to our relationship with God. Relationships between persons are dynamic and changing. Not only does each individual need to be approached in a unique way, even how to handle the same individual will change depending on circumstances and the passage of time. Jesus listened, he watched, and he acted as was necessary in unique ways with each person. The only thing that didn’t change was Jesus’ love and concern for those he met.

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Crazy

At this point the Jews him, “Now we know you’re crazy. Abraham died. The prophets died. And you show up saying, ‘If you practice what I’m telling you, you’ll never have to face death, not even a taste.’ Are you greater than Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you think you are!”

Jesus said, “If I turned the spotlight on myself, it wouldn’t amount to anything. But my Father, the same One you say is your Father, put me here at this time and place of splendor. You haven’t recognized him in this. But I have. If I, in false modesty, said I didn’t know what was going on, I would be as much of a liar as you are. But I do know, and I am doing what he says. Abraham—your ‘father’—with jubilant faith looked down the corridors of history and saw my day coming. He saw it and cheered.”

The Jews said, “You’re not even fifty years old—and Abraham saw you?”

“Believe me,” said Jesus, “I am who I am long before Abraham was anything.”

That did it—pushed them over the edge. They picked up rocks to throw at him. But Jesus slipped away, getting out of the Temple. (John 8:52-59)

Jesus is not just a man.

The phrase that Jesus used and applied to himself, “I am who I am,” was a quotation of Exodus 3:14. In using it, Jesus claimed to be the God who spoke to Abraham, who met Moses at the burning bush, and who led the Jewish people out of Egyptian bondage. Moses, belonged to a polytheistic society where many gods were worshiped. When he asked God for a name, he did it so he could let the people of Israel know which god had sent him. God responded by announcing that “I am who I am.” He didn’t need a name since he was the only God.

In Hebrew, the name Yahweh simply means “He is.” God told Moses “I am.” So Moses went back to the Israelites and told them that “He is” sent me. Jewish people later decided to stop using God’s name for fear of “taking it in vain.” In place of his name, they used the word “Lord.” So when Jesus’ disciples and the authors of the New Testament call Jesus “Lord” they are identifying him as the God of the Old Testament.

The religious leaders reacted to Jesus’ claim of being their God by picking up stones to kill him as a blasphemer. In their eyes, Jesus could only be a man. But we know better.

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Hide and Seek

He said to them again, “I’m going away; you will look for Me, and you will die in your sin. Where I’m going, you cannot come.”

So the Jews said again, “He won’t kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I’m going, you cannot come’?”

“You are from below,” He told them, “I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

“Who are You?” they questioned.

“Precisely what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them. “I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the One who sent Me is true, and what I have heard from Him—these things I tell the world.”

They did not know He was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on My own. But just as the Father taught Me, I say these things. The One who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, because I always do what pleases Him.”

As He was saying these things, many believed in Him. (John 8:21-30)

The reason we don’t understand some of what Jesus tells us isn’t because he’s not clear. It’s because we can’t hear him over the shouts of our own ideas. Jesus’ words were often enigmatic for those who first heard him. But from our perspective, his words are perfectly clear.

Jesus told his critics that he was going to be crucified, die, and return to his Father in Heaven. They did not share his destiny in heaven since they had refused to believe him. When John writes “the Jews” he does not mean the Jewish people as a whole, but rather some of their religious leaders. Sadly, the Gospel of John has been frequently twisted by anti-Semites who attempt to blame the Jews for Jesus’ death and the world’s problems. John was Jewish, the disciples were Jewish, and the overwhelming majority of early Christians were Jewish. Jesus directed his criticism at the religious leadership of Israel, not the Jewish people as a whole.

Quiet your mind, lay aside the concerns and questions you have, and try to hear Jesus on his own terms. Discover his questions and his concerns and make them your own. Find out what matters to Jesus, not just what matters to you.

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Breakers of the Law

When it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach.

The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?”

So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?”

The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?”

Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” (John 7:14-24)

Jesus had no credentials. He was not the student of a famous rabbi. The “Jews” listening to him were struck with the contradiction: how could he know so much when he’d never had a formal education?

When the gospel writer John uses the term “Jews” he generally does not mean the ordinary people of Israel, but rather the religious establishment who had rejected Jesus. They were the educated elite. They claimed to know it all. So, after they questioned his credentials, Jesus questioned theirs. If they were so educated, then why they were planning on violating one of the more obvious of the Ten Commandments, the one that forbid murder?

Why did they want to kill him? Because they thought they knew how the Messiah should act and it wasn’t the way Jesus acted.

Too easily do human beings believe they know everything. When that happens, it’s no longer possible for them to learn anything. People don’t look for an answer if they believe they’ve already found it.

Jesus had no formal education and he turned out okay. The religious leaders had a lot and it hadn’t done them any good. True education leads to humility, rather than arrogance; a desire to hear more than a desire to speak.

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Like Father, Like Son

For this reason the Jewish leaders persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.

But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”

Therefore the Jewish leaders sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

“For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” (John 5:16-23)

A diplomat is described as someone who can tell you to go to Hell in such a way that you look forward to the trip. Jesus was no diplomat. When the crowd got angry with him, he just poured more gasoline on the fire. Jesus justified his service for humanity on the Sabbath by pointing out that his Father didn’t take the day off. The already angry crowd grew angrier still. Not only was Jesus a Sabbath-breaker, now he was blaspheming.

How so? By calling God his Father, they understood that Jesus had claimed to be God. Why? Because the son of a man is, like his father, a man. But since there is but one God, God’s Son must simply be God.

The crowd did not like that at all, but Jesus didn’t back down. He hammered the point home. His critics were right: he was claiming equality with God. Everything Jesus knew, everything he did, he’d gotten from his Father. He also told them that if they didn’t accept him as God then they were the ones guilty of the blasphemy.

Jesus was not concerned with making himself likable. He was only concerned with making sure people understood what he meant, even if they didn’t like it. It’s not always possible, or even necessarily a good idea, to calm your critics.

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