Wild Hope

So many things yet left to study in chapter 12 and today, it right away, verses 9 and 10  caught my attention.

Does anyone else find it interesting that the chief priests make plans to put Lazarus to death?  The men who were the religious leaders of the day and who zealously held people to following laws and traditions, the ones who were waiting for the Messiah…….  they were the ones who wanted to destroy the evidence of Jesus’ miracle.   Isn’t it incredible that they wanted to kill a man who had just been raised from the dead?    And why?  Well it seems that they were really very concerned that they were losing followers to that troublesome miracle-worker, Jesus.  Job security and power were more important to them than the very convincing evidence of who Jesus was. Power, prestige and crowds are what motivated them.  Hmmmmmm….something to think about.

Little sentences like this shake me up and wake me up to the reality that just because someone is a religious leader, it doesn’t mean that they are really seeking after the truth.  There was the  Word among them, living out what their Scriptures foretold, and they could not see Him because they were blinded by their agenda.  Jesus had incredibly strong words for these religious leaders of His day.  White washed tombs.  Blind guides. Fools.  Hypocrites. Snakes.  Children of the devil.  Evil and adulterous.  If religious leaders, who actually walked and stood in the presence of Jesus were leading people astray,  how important is it then that we learn to be discerning of our religious leaders?  How important is it that we do not blindly follow our teachers?  How important is it that we examine the Scriptures to see if what we are taught is true?

Increasingly, I see how important that I truly know the Scriptures so that my convictions are based on an intimate knowledge of the word of God.  How easy would it be for me to be led into a pit by a blind guide if all I do is trust what I have been told?  Consider for a moment that John 12:15 quotes a Scripture about the king coming sitting on a donkey’s colt. Immediately following, verse 16  says that when this actually happened the disciples did not understand that these things were then unfolding before their eyes.  It was only after Jesus’ resurrection that they remembered that these things had been written about Him and had been done to Him.  Kind of makes me wonder…..were they paying attention in Sunday school?  😉  How did they miss it when it was unfolding before their eyes.  Seriously, though….don’t we so often ask ourselves, why did these guys struggle so much to see the truth of who Jesus was?  How did they not get it?  How did they not see?  And then reluctantly, I realize that I should really point the finger at myself?  What would make me any different?

I sometimes think about how things would be if life as we know it in the US were to suddenly change, similar to how it changed for my parents in Europe when communist rule took over. What if all of a sudden it becomes illegal to own a Bible?  What if they are all confiscated and destroyed?  This is actually what my grandfather experienced in his lifetime. Escaping this kind of government is what brought my parents to the United States.  These is just one of the stories I grew up hearing:  one day, totally unexpectedly, a man walked into my grandfather’s office and removed his Scriptures and a crucifix he had hanging on the wall.  I have to ask myself, if this happened to me today, do I  know the Scriptures well enough that I would be able to recognize Jesus when He returns?  Would I know how to read the signs accompanying His second coming?  Those Jews were waiting for their Messiah.  They were expecting Him. They knew He was coming.  And yet, when He was standing there right in front of them, doing amazing things, they did not recognize Him.

In Matthew 7:15, Jesus warns us to “beware of false prophets, who come to in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves”.  …. He goes on to explain that “they can be recognized by their good fruits.”  Do I even know what is being referred to when the Scripture’s talk about “their good fruits?”  And if I don’t, how can I possibly recognize true or false teachers?  In fact, in  Matthew 24:3-5, the disciples specifically ask Jesus what the end times will look like saying  “what will be the sign of your coming and the close of the age?”  Jesus’ reply:  “See that no one leads you astray.  For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ, ‘ and they will lead many astray.”  How incredibly scary!  What will keep me from being led astray?  Will I follow the crowd? Will I be confused?  Will I know what to look for?

Jesus clearly indicates that the other people that are coming and claiming to be Him, will be very convincing.  They will succeed at leading people astray.  These will be religious leaders, false prophets sounding all spiritual, and maybe off by only that 1 degree Mark talked about this past Sunday.   But if I don’t know God’s teachings, that 1 degree difference is more than enough to carry me way off target.  It sincerely frightens me to see how unfamiliar most professing Christians are with the Scriptures.   Why do so few actually examine the Scriptures to see if what is being taught is really what is in the Scriptures?  Often it seems that people are just content to have someone spoon feed them and read Scripture to them without ever cracking open a Bible. If this is true during worship, then what does that mean when the distractions of life flood us at home?  Each day, I realize to a greater extent how incredibly blessed I am to actually have the Scriptures in my home. They are so accessible and  I dare say we all have several copies in various forms. We may even have it on our phones and our computers.  But how often do we read and study the Word of God – not commentaries and not books about the Bible, but actually the Bible?  This exercise in going through John in a month together with you has been so very good for me.  It has forced me to be disciplined.  It has forced me to not make excuses. It has forced me to think deeply.  It has forced me to have daily spiritual conversations with my family over our meals.   I hope and pray that this will become our daily habit, as much a part of our daily routine as is eating and sleeping.

There is much more that I could share about chapter 12, but I do not want to overwhelm your time or your inboxes.  I wonder, how do you feel about studying the Scriptures like this? I often feel I could go on and on about little treasures I am newly aware of, like something new I learned about the Triumphal entry or a turning point I see in Jesus in this chapter.  It’s like watching a movie and the music changes and we know that something is about to happen……His focus and His tone are noticeably different.  Do you notice it?Have you ever wondered why in a week’s time, Jesus went from being a hailed hero to a condemned prisoner – by the very same people who were shouting Hosanna and fawning over Him?  What is the significance of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem?  What is the significance of the colt?  What was Jesus, who knows the hearts and minds of all men, thinking about the people who were throwing down their cloaks and palm branches in front of.?  All four gospels relay this account.  Why was it so significant that it is recorded four times?

So many things we could discuss, but, I will stop for now.  🙂  Perhaps we can return to this chapter sometime in the future.  On to chapter 13.

It may seem unbelievable, but for two days in a row now, though I have read through chapter 12 in its entirety, I never get past studying out Jesus’ encounter with Mary.  This encounter amazes me.  It cuts me to the core and challenges me.  I know I don’t see or know Jesus the way Mary saw Jesus. But I know this is who I have to become.   This is how I want to see.  This is who I want to be like.

On first reading, I really readily identified with Judas.  If we put the account into modern day terms, it would be like having a woman go up to an itinerant preacher today, fall at his feet and gift him with something worth a year’s wages.  So as I thought through that, I imagined, given what Jesus said about it being used for his burial, that a woman, pulled up in a brand new hearse, purchased with a year’s wages, handed over the keys to the preacher and then plopped herself down at his feet and began massaging them with her hair.  Crazy thought?  I don’t know.  That’s what this encounter makes me think of.  In fact, it reminds me of what happened in church last Sunday evening when a woman came weeping up the aisle and threw herself down on the front pews.  What would that scene have looked like if she had thrown herself at the feet of the pastor?  As it was, we all felt a slight awkwardness.  We care for this woman, but how do we respond to such unabashed emotion?  What would we have felt if she started massaging his feet with costly essential oil and wiping them with her hair?   Is it safe to assume that we would be appalled?

It is so easy for me to just read over accounts like this and miss what was really going on.  What would that scene have looked like and what would I have been feeling?  Probably very much like Judas.  What an outrage!  How improper!  How utterly wasteful.!  A year’s wages.  I don’t know what each household among us earns in a year, but could you honestly see yourself giving up your entire year’s wages on something like this? A year’s wages!

And then, of all things, Jesus says, “leave her alone, let her do this to me.  You won’t always have me around.”   When I read these words, in all honestly, they come across very arrogant.  But I know Jesus isn’t arrogant.  So I know that if He wanted her to do this thing, then it was the right thing to do.  As I tried to reconcile these things in my mind, it finally dawned on me that the reason this is not arrogant, is that Jesus is the only one who deserves this kind of adoration.  In fact, as I thought about it, I realized that Jesus never stopped someone from worshiping Him.  He knew He deserved it and he readily accepted it   There are many times in the Bible where we see people fall down in front of prophets or apostles or even angels, and the response is always, the same…..”get up.”  They did not accept worship.  But with Jesus, it is different.  He never dissuades worship of Him. We saw this just a bit earlier also when the blind man was allowed to worship Jesus.  I think this is so critical for me to understand.  Jesus is worthy of worship and expects my worship.

I feel so incredibly convicted by this account, I really have no idea what it means to worship in spirit and in truth.  My worship pales in comparison to what I see Mary doing here.  I do not let go in wild abandon in the presence of Jesus.  I don’t fall down at His feet.  I don’t give Him my best.  I try to imagine what Mary looked like in this scene.  I really don’t think she cared what she looked like or how others looked at her.  She had her eyes fixed on Jesus and Him alone.  What would each day be like if I lived every moment as worship to my creator?  Even when I try my best  (on Sundays) can I truly say that what I do is worship?  Or am I more concerned with how I look or how others perceive me?  Do I really get it that Jesus demands and expects this kind of reverence and worship that involves my complete abandon?  Do I really get what the Scriptures say when they tell me that there will come a day when every knee will bow?  When I truly see Him in all His glory, I will fall down and I will worship.  Everyone will.  It is recorded in Revelation, that John, who had been a friend of Jesus, “fell down as though dead”  when He saw Jesus in all His glory.  When I truly “see” Jesus for who He is, I won’t have to act a certain way or think about how to worship Him.  No, when I really see Him, I will fall down and worship.  I thought of the analogy of touching a hot oven.  No one has to tell me to pull my hand away.  I don’t think about.  I just do it.  It is natural.  It is a reflex.  It is an automatic response.  When I truly see Jesus for who He is, I won’t need any prodding.  I will fall down on my face and worship Him.  My life will be different.

I think I am so utterly blind to the magnificence of Jesus.  I, like the people written about even later on in this chapter, am often more concerned with human praise than the praise of my God, my heavenly father, my Lord and Savior.

Oh how I long to know Him like this.  I pray that I will grow in my awe and reverence of Him so that I too can worship Jesus as only He deserves.   February 25, 2016

Despite the seriousness of the theme of this account, I do find many of the interactions rather comical.  People seem to be speaking on different levels throughout.    It’s almost as if no one hears what the other is saying.

• Mary and Martha are focused on Lazarus.  The illness and death is all they see and hear
• The disciples are focused on the Pharisees and the fact that they are now targets.
• The Pharisees are focused on Jesus and what His rise to power and fame would mean for them.
• Jesus as always, is focused on doing the Father’s will.  He continues to talk on the spiritual level while all those around Him focus on  the temporal.  Yet nothing the people say around Him changes His course.  In fact, it is because He loves them that He does not deviate.  

Consider the following: “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”  This verse is very reminiscent of the word’s spoken just before the blind man’s healing.  Isn’t this the same answer Jesus gave His disciples when they asked why the man was born blind?  I would think that their curiosity would be peaked when they hear him say the exact same thing again.  I would like to think that what would be going through my mind is,  “I wonder what He is going to do this time…..?”

Think about that statement.  Having lost lots of people I love in the last few years, I understand all too intimately what it is like to see someone sick and dying.  It isn’t easy.  In fact, it is down right the hardest thing we have had to go through.  I can only imagine what I would feel, if my good friend and even more than that – the person I believe to be of God, doesn’t come when I call to them in my distress.  Jesus knew Lazarus was sick.  The sisters had sent for Him.  And what did He do?  He stayed where He was two more days.    Is this what we would expect someone to do if we sent word that our loved one was dying?  I really don’t think so.

Yet again, we

It says Jesus stayed away two more days, because He loved them.  Doesn’t this too go against everything we think and we feel?  Umm,  I’m sad, I ask you to come, but because you love me, you stay away.  It simply doesn’t make sense.

I feel I probably won’t do this chapter justice as I was outside most of today splitting wood.  Our wood racks were about empty and since our wood stove is our only source of heat, I thought today would be a great day to get chopping.  😉   But boy am I now very tired and sore.

In Chapter 10, I want to focus on the teaching of Christ being the good shepherd.  For people, like the Jews, who have experience raising sheep, this teaching is very powerful and potent.  Essentially, Jesus is contrasting himself to the religious leaders of the day.  I was hoping to make a chart, but I am not technologically savvy. and though I made a nice one on paper, I don’t know how to do the same thing in email.

 I don’t know if others know this or not, but shepherds did in fact lie in the opening of the sheep enclosure. They would watch the sheep go in and out.  This way they could inspect individual sheep for cuts, sores,  and recognize problems.  There were times when several flocks had to be kept together in one enclosure and each shepherd would have a call for their own sheep.  The sheep would recognize the call and voice of their shepherd and go to him when it was time to separate out. If you have never researcjed sheep folds or ancient sheep enclosures, it is a fascinating study.  It has actually been shown that if a person used another shepherd’s call, the sheep would ignore it, because they did not recognize the voice.

The good shepherd knows the sheep.  The good shepherd calls the sheep by name.  He leads the sheep.  He provides safety and nourishment to his sheep.  He lays his life down for the sheep.  There is a relationship between the shepherd and the sheep.   There is a bond and a trust.

The alternative,   is a hired hand, in it for the money, but having no vested interest in the sheep.  At the first sign of trouble, the hired hand vanishes.

Jesus is drawing the distinction between a life of giving and serving  verses a life of taking. The first cares more about the interests of the flock.  The second cares about his own interests.

When I read this, I have to remind myself that I have 20-20 hindsight and can more easily understand what Jesus meant when He said that He is the door and that entering through Him leads to salvation.  There is only one door.  There are not many doors.  There is one way in.

I find it interesting to see Jesus’ emphasis in verse 16 on their being only one flock and one shepherd.  Hearing His voice is essential.  It can get confusing having all these various denominations. If it weren’t so sad, it seems almost comical that we have so many “flavors of Christianity” available to us to choose from these days.  The yellow pages are full of choices.  Yet Jesus is clear that there is one flock, led by one shepherd.  His flock follows His voice.  It doesn’t matter what the voices of our parents said, or the voices of our Sunday school teachers, or the voices of……..  It is only His voice that matters. His flock will follow His voice.

v.18 supports the idea I expressed about why Jesus hid when they were previously going to stone Him.  Here we read  that Jesus lays down His life for us.  No one could take it from Him. They wanted to take His life when it was not yet His time.

I think it is also important  to consider from this passage how this extrapolates out to those who shepherd the God’s flock today  In other words, what does this mean for the religious leaders, the pastors and ministers keeping watch over the sheep today?  What are they supposed to be like?

I apologize if this is disjointed.  I’m having a hard time staying away and it is about to become the next day…….Feb 19, 2016

I don’t know how much time you all were able to put into thinking about the questions posed this morning, but I believe that the Scriptures are so much more rich than we can even begin to comprehend.

As we read this story of the healing of the blind man, I imagined what it would have been like being that blind man and hearing people talking about me as if I weren’t there.  Could it have gone something like this?  True, I’m blind, but I’m not deaf.  Stop talking about me as if I’m not here.  What about talking to me?  And what does that guy mean when he says I am this way so I can bring glory to God?  Yeah, right.  All my life I have struggled.  I’m poor.  I’m dirty.  I’m a beggar.  Me, a common beggar –  how can God’s glory possibly be shown through me?

And then I hear someone spit.  I scoot over a bit trying to avoid getting hit.  They’re probably spitting at me.  Disgusted with me like everyone else is – sure, spit on the outcast.  But then, I am touched.  Something cold and wet is smeared on my eyes. I’m startled by the invasion of my privacy.  I recoil at the touch.  And then I am told to walk to the pool of Siloam.  The pool of Siloam!  That’s across town and downhill.  That’s not going to be easy to navigate with no sight.  And what about this goop on my eyes – did he put spit on me? Gross.

Amazingly there is nothing said about his journey to the waters, but I imagine it must have taken some time.  From what I gather from maps, the pool is on the other side of town.  It is the Sabbath and the distance people could walk from their homes was curtailed on the Sabbath.  People must have been watching him or following him through town..  Those who hadn’t experienced that whole interaction with Jesus might have snickered or made fun of the man with mud smeared on his face.  Was this man deliberately asked by Jesus to walk a great distance on the Sabbath to stir up the Pharisees? They were allowed to walk a certain distance on the Sabbath so they could get to the temple, but would going to wash at the pool have been forbidden?  Was that considered work too?  I think it probably was.  What went on in the heart and mind of this man during this time?

What most amazes me about this man is his unquestioning obedience.   He must have known the strict rules surrounding the Sabbath.  Yet he did what Jesus asked, though he hadn’t even been promised healing. It seems Jesus truly knew what He meant when He had said to his disciples that this man was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him.  He was foreshadowing what was about to happen.  Here this man went stumbling through town, drawing attention to himself all along the way.  Jesus didn’t just touch him and heal him on the spot.  He sent him through town so that the work of God might be displayed in him.

And why mud?  Why not just saliva?  Or why not just wave His hands in front of the man’s eyes?  Why not any other number of ways….?  For one, it was forbidden to make mud on the Sabbath.  It was another rule.  Spit, clay and sand could make bricks or pots……  What Jesus did with His spit was also considered work.   It certainly seems to me that  he just deliberately pressed another BIG RED BUTTON!   Walking for leisure forbidden on the Sabbath.  Making mud forbidden on the Sabbath.  Healing, forbidden on the Sabbath.  And not only that, but he smeared it on the man’s face and showed the work to the whole town as the blind man stumbled on his way to the pool and returned back through town rejoicing.

This is the same Jesus that just prior to this event, right after having declared that He is equal with the I Am, went and hid.  Yet now, he is getting the town involved.  Seems to me that Jesus was deliberately doing things that would aggravate the Pharisees. The Pharisees are in an uproar.

And then the man returns seeing.  What was that trip for him like as he returned back to the temple?   He had not only obeyed, but he spoke boldly and apologetically when questioned.  He spoke with courage to the Pharisees.  He gets snarky and challenges them, “what do you want to be His disciple too?” Yet his parents,  who are obviously also witnessing a miracle cower in fear in front of the authorities.  They don’t want to say anything that might get them into trouble.  Anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the temple. “Ask him, he is of age,” they say.  Interesting how different people react so differently to the same event.   And so the Pharisees ask him again and again and again.  Four times they ask him the same thing.  I don’t know if you all have ever been in this situation before, but unfortunately, I have had to testify in court and have an attorney grill me.  The same question over and over again.  It is nerve wracking.  But this man was not shaken.   It was a huge deal to be put out of the temple, but the healed man did not care.  He actually sounds a lot like Jesus.  He even pokes fun at the Pharisees.  He says, in essence, “wow, it is amazing to me that you highly educated religious gurus don’t get it.  He healed me, of course He comes from God.”  Then they throw him out.

I asked the question last night, why did Jesus hide?  This is my best guess at it.  Consider this, Jesus ran from the people when they were going to stone him, but it obviously wasn’t because he was afraid of them. He had no problem right after that incident going out of His way to agitate those around him.  Is it possible that He hid, because when they were going to stone Him, His time had not yet come?  He could have done something amazing to make them drop the stones, He could have glued the stones to their hands.  He could have turned them to dust.  He could have blown something up.  But His time had not yet come and He was not going to let them take His life and He was not going to put on a show.  We know that Jesus says He lays down His life. He gives it freely.  But this was not His time.   Jesus wasn’t interested in creating a scene or being the center of attention.  So He simply hid. Waiting until His time came to be taken.  He was going to give up His life according to God’s will and in God’s perfect time.

But as soon as He had gotten away from that situation, He immediately went about His purpose – continuing to make Himself known and  continuing to show others the truth about themselves.  The biggest lesson for me in this passage is that Jesus consistently does the unexpected.  Everyone around Him had ideas about what He should be like.  But He did not fit into their mold.  He did not fit into their box.  He wasn’t a valiant King who came riding on a mighty steed.  He wasn’t handsome.  He wasn’t tall.  He didn’t care about titles or education.  He didn’t care about rules and traditions.  He wasn’t interested in being the center of attention.  And He consistently used ordinary, mundane things to shame and humiliate the wise and the learned.  If we think about it, this is God’s pattern throughout history.  He had Noah build an ark in the desert.  He used a small shepherd boy to kill Goliath.  He chose a teenage virgin to carry Him.  He was laid in a feeding trough.  His A-team of disciples consisted of uneducated fishermen and despised tax collectors.  He chose the cross over the crown.  He broke the rules.  He spit to heal.  Jesus delighted and still delights to work with in and through the lowly and common things of this world.

Who are we most like in this account?  I think we should all really stop and ponder this point.  When our days are filled with the ordinary and the mundane, do we think God can and wants to work through us?  Do we believe that unquestioning obedience is beautiful to God? Or are we more concerned with seeking titles and recognition.? How important is it to us to feel important or be looked up to by others?    What drives us – God’s standards or the world’s?  Speaking very candidly, I have experienced first hand, that people treat me differently when they hear what schools I have attended.  Isn’t it true that having a diploma from a prestigious school or a bunch of letters after one’s name, gain’s one more respect and recognition?  Isn’t it true, that as Christians, we often times fall into this same trap? Either thinking we have to be a certain way or accumulate some pieces of paper or titles in order to be somebody or treating somebody differently because they have these things?

This thinking is so not like Jesus.  The Pharisees were the most learned, the most esteemed, had the highest credentials of their time.  They studied and knew the Scriptures the best   They held power and authority among the Jews.  To put it into modern day terms, wouldn’t it have been like this healed man was now in the very presence of the President or the Pope? (regardless about how we feel about either of these people, I think we can all recognize that these positions command a certain respect). He was speaking to the best of the best – the creme de la creme.  Yet these things did not concern or impress the man that had been healed.  Nor did they impress Jesus.    God is not impressed by degrees or titles our upbringing or our education.  He is not concerned with our “smarts.”  Rather, He is concerned with our “hearts.”

The blind man had a heart of gold.  Though his eyes were sealed, he saw more clearly than all the wealthy, healthy and highly educated around him.  This is what Jesus valued and used to make God’s glory known.

Good day everyone,

I have some questions I would ask you to consider today as you study chapter 9.  I think the answers to these questions will reveal something about God’s character that we may not have considered thus far.

Looking forward to thinking through these things together!

Jesus is relentless in His focus.

My observations from chapter 5:

Jesus is provocative!  By this I mean, that He was challenging, provoking, disturbing, goading and inciting.  It seems He not only knew what each person’s big, red button was, but he didn’t avoid that big red button at all.  Rather, it seems He deliberately and precisely pushed each person’s Big Red Button.  He didn’t shy away from confrontation.

Consider here, that Jesus is in essence going to a nursing home or a hospital.  Again, just like in Samaria, he didn’t avoid being around the undesirables.  He went to them.  Sheep Gate Pools  was a place filled with invalids, the blind, the lame and the paralyzed.  As our family has cared for our three parents over the last several years, we have spent a great deal of time in hospitals, rehab centers and even nursing homes when our parents needed special services.  I never looked forward to going to those places.  The smells, the sights, the sounds were always so disturbing and distressing.  Yet, here Jesus chooses to go to such a place.  He goes where others are uncomfortable going.

Consider too, what it would be like to walk up to someone who has been lying in a hospital bed for 38 years and saying to them, :Do you want to be healed?”  While we don’t hear Jesus’ tone when he spoke these words, don’t they seem a bit offensive?  Any of us who has had first- hand experience dealing with a sick person knows that it would be rude and an incredibly weird thing to go up to them and ask them if they want to get well.

The man’s answer, I think, reveals the issue in His heart , the issue that Jesus was honing in on.  His response seems kind of silly really.  Ummm.. for 38 years, I have not been able to get into the water because of …….(drumroll)………others.  They are always going in there before me.  Seems to me like he is shifting the blame.  Do you mean, that in 38 years, you could not find anyone to take you down into the water?  You couldn’t sit right at the edge of the water and roll in while it was being stirred up?  Was there really no way in 38 years for you to get into that water?

Jesus’ response is very revealing.  He doesn’t show pity.  He doesn’t go up to the man and wrap Him in a big bear hug and say, “oh, how horrible those people are.   I feel for you.” “What a poor, neglected fellow you are.”  Instead, Jesus tells him to do something:  “Get up, take your bed and walk.”  And He commanded him to “sin no more.”  In expecting him to do something himself, wasn’t He expecting the man to take personal responsibility for His life instead of shifting the blame like he did in his response to Jesus’ initial question.?

And then Jesus presses lots of Big Red Buttons when it comes to the Pharisees:

• He healed on the Sabbath
• He had the man carry something (also considered work) on the Sabbath.  So not only did Jesus work, but He called someone else to work too.
• He says to these men who are students and teachers of God’s Word, that they never heard His voice.  v.37., that they don’t know Him.  Pretty offensive when you spend a lifetime studying and this is your profession.
• He tells them they do not have the love of God in them.  Again, I try to imagine myself going up to a teacher of the Bible.  This time I will use Janie as an example leading a women’s Bible study group, and telling her in the hearing of everyone that she does not have the love of God in her. Pretty strong words, no? Thems  there’s some fightin’ words, don’t you think?
• He called them unbelievers (v.44) because they sought the praises of man, rather than the praise of God.  Wow.  That strikes close to home for me.

These are still more examples to me of Jesus being full of grace and full of truth.  He was not what most paintings depict – a feminine looking man that spent His days cuddling sheep. His grace to His hearers was that He spoke the truth to them.  He did not water down His message.  He did not try to ease the blow of His words.  He wasn’t flowery in His speech.  He loved these people enough to tell them the truth so that they would have opportunity to repent.