John – God Speaks!
As we get ready to walk with Jesus to the end of life as John tells it, we wonder, given today’s standards and thinking, how could such a short life of only thirty-three years on earth revolutionize what the word believed about God, life and eternal destiny?
One man changed everything on earth. One man shook the religious Jewish world to the core. One man took a small band of young men and walked all over the countryside changing people’s lives. One man knew all hearts. One man knew all the thoughts of those He encountered. One man knew The Word for He was The Word made flesh. One man knew exactly what God wanted him to do and say. One man brought many back to what God intended from the beginning, a relationship with Him. One man saved many.
This man is the Son of God, Emmanuel, “God with us”, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, made the lame to walk and even had power over death! How could they dismiss all He could do? They didn’t know this One Man. They didn’t want to know this Man.
The anxious question is asked by the fearful religious community, “What are we going to do?”
HOLY PAUSE…It is still a pertinent, thought provoking question for us today. What are we going to do with Jesus? Do we want Him to rock our world? Change our lives? Transform our thinking?
BACK TO THE STORY…Caiaphas, the high priest, had the answer and prophesied without knowing it with hate in his heart for the Son of God; “You don’t realize that it’s better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.”
The religious elite, who bargained almost daily to stay alive as Jews in a Roman oppressed world, are thinking only of survival of their self proclaimed power. This One Man has come to rattle their traditions and revolutionize their thinking. What they really “don’t realize” is that they are about to crucify the ONE MAN sent from God to save the world…the ONE they have read about and said they are waiting for…the Messiah. The One and Only who will do what they said, “die for the people”. This One Man, Son of God, will also rise again in three days!
33 years. One Man. His name is Jesus Christ, Savior, Lord.
John 11, New Living Translation
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45 Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen. 46 But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. 48 If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”
49 Caiaphas, who was high priest at that time, said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about! 50 You don’t realize that it’s better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.”
51 He did not say this on his own; as high priest at that time he was led to prophesy that Jesus would die for the entire nation. 52 And not only for that nation, but to bring together and unite all the children of God scattered around the world.
53 So from that time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus’ death. 54 As a result, Jesus stopped his public ministry among the people and left Jerusalem. He went to a place near the wilderness, to the village of Ephraim, and stayed there with his disciples.55 It was now almost time for the Jewish Passover celebration, and many people from all over the country arrived in Jerusalem several days early so they could go through the purification ceremony before Passover began. 56 They kept looking for Jesus, but as they stood around in the Temple, they said to each other, “What do you think? He won’t come for Passover, will he?” 57 Meanwhile, the leading priests and Pharisees had publicly ordered that anyone seeing Jesus must report it immediately so they could arrest him.
Dear Heavenly Father,In our busyness of living life on earth may we never forget what you have done to save us for eternity. There are not enough words to tell you how grateful I am. May Your Holy Spirit speak words of worship and praise to you this morning and every morning like I cannot think of to express. I love you with all that is in me. I cannot take for granted what You did for me and the rest of the believing world. I pray that my life reflects you. I pray for my lost family members and friends to find and follow you before it is too late. Your love is amazing! Thank you for saving my soul.
In Jesus Name, Amen
