Jesus said, “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.” John 14:24
Thought for the Day: What is the Bible and Why do we Call it Holy?
The Bible is not a collection of human thoughts about God through history, because that would not make it holy. Rather, the Bible is holy because it is God’s revelation to humans. In the Bible we find a progressive revelation from God to humanity, culminating in Jesus himself, God’s fullest revelation. This is why Jesus spent time teaching his disciples how the Old Testament writings predicted his life, death, and resurrection. In doing this Jesus taught we must read the Old Testament writings through the lens of New Testament revelation. Even though we use the words Old and New to describe two distinct sections of the Bible, it is still one whole witness from God to humanity with Jesus as the focal point.
The Bible tells a story about the actions of God in history for the salvation of humanity. From beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible sets forth the gulf that separates humanity from its Creator. Interestingly, it has no concern to prove that God exists. Scripture assumes there is a personal and powerful God who created the universe and humanity, and that he desires a relationship with his creatures. God’s overriding concern in this relationship is to overcome the disruption in the relationship caused by human sin that leads to human death. The Bible, then, is a record of God’s concern for human beings and his divine interventions of redemption to restore them to relationship with him. The biblical record describes and interprets these divine acts within history that seek humanity’s redemption, climaxing in the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, who ultimately bridges the gulf.
The greatest act of divine redemption in the Old Testament is Israel’s exodus from Egypt. Through the exodus God revealed himself to his people who had been in bondage for over four hundred years. God explains his purposes to Moses in Exodus 6:5-7. I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” God reveals himself personally to Israel.
The greatest act of divine redemption for all time is the crucifixion. The New Testament contains an account of revelation that is totally new. This revelation reveals how sinful man can come into relationship with the living God. The way was opened by God himself, outside the walls of Jerusalem when the Son of God was sacrificed for the sins of the whole world. To this event the gospels look forward and the other New Testament writings explain. According to the Bible, salvation is not something we are to find. It has already happened. The Bible is holy not because it records Christian ideas that we might find in other religions, but because it narrates the event which brought light and life into the world through the eternal Son. Jesus speaks about the meaning of his death in today’s reading from John, explaining to his followers what is going to happen and how it is in accord with the plans of God the Father. Jesus himself ties his coming crucifixion into the divine record of redemption at the Passover. However, he calls his death “true food” as opposed to the manna the Israelites received in the wilderness, for they ate it and died.
In Jesus, God has fulfilled the divine, holy story of deliverance. The truth is that God has acted in the death and resurrection of Jesus. We can say that “He loved us and gave himself for us.” That is faith. This truth lies at the heart of our faith and is the core message of the Bible. This message totally transformed the lives of men and woman not by appealing to their wills, but by telling the story of the greatest event. The lives of women and men are transformed by this news. This is the news Paul called “the foolishness of the message. It was foolish to many in the ancient world and is so today to many. But it is this message that is at the center of God’s divine revelation we call “the Bible.”
Self-examination, repentance, prayer, and worship:
Before you pray, take some time to reflect on your sins. Perhaps there is one in particular about which you are concerned. Tell the Lord you are sorry, ask him to help you stop this sin, and then pray a prayer like the following:
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may receive from you, the God of mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Spend further time in prayer and worship before studying the Gospel of John below.
Study: John 6:22-59, I Am the Bread of Life
22On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
25When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" 26Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." 28Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" 29Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." 30So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" 32Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."
35Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
41So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 43Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. 44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
52The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." 59Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
Reflection Questions:
1) Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." Great teachers of the faith point to God when they teach. Jesus points to himself. What does this tell us about Jesus?
2) No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. According to the words of Jesus, why are you a Christian?
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