Thomas answered, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:28-31
Thought for the Day: Worship and the Word
How do we know God? How do we know Jesus? How do we really know divine truth? To help answer these questions, Martin Luther wrote:
God does not want to be know except through Christ; nor can he be known in any other way. Christ is the offspring promised to Abraham; on him God has grounded all his promises. Therefore Christ alone is the means, the life, and the mirror through which we see God and know his will. Through Christ God declares his favor and mercy to us. In Christ we see that God is not an angry master and judge but a gracious and kind father, who blesses us, that is, who delivers us from the law, sin, death, and every evil, and gives us righteousness and eternal life through Christ. This is a certain and true knowledge of God and divine persuasion, which does not fail, but depicts God himself in a specific form, apart from which there is no God.
For Christians, Jesus is the embodiment and self-revelation of God. When we see, when we hear, when we are in the presence of Jesus, we see, hear, and are with God. John’s Gospel makes this very clear. At the heart of the Christian faith stands a living person, not a book. Christianity focuses on Jesus Christ. There is, however, an inextricably intimate connection between the Word of God incarnate and the Word of God in Scripture. Jesus Christ is made known to us through the witness of Scripture, which centers on who he is and what he has done for us. Although Scripture is a bearer of the self-revelation of God in Christ, it is not to be identified directly with that self-revelation. Scripture is not Jesus. Yet the same God who gave us Jesus also gave us Scripture as a witness to him.
Through the written Word we have access to the living Word. It is through Jesus that the truth of God comes to us. And this truth of Jesus is given only in Scripture. The central thought and subject which binds all parts of the Bible together, and in the light of which they are to be understood, is the person and work of Jesus. He gives Scripture its unity, and because he is the fulfillment of its prophecy, his life and teachings confirm Scripture’s authority. Scripture is therefore authoritative for us. As disciples of Jesus, to allow our ideas and values to become controlled by anything or anyone other than the self-revelation of God in Scripture is to adopt an ideology and become controlled by ideas and values that lie outside the Bible. This is why we honor God’s Word written and place it at the center of our worship of God’s Word incarnate.
Self-examination, repentance, prayer, and worship:
Before you pray, take some time to reflect on your faith. Perhaps there are areas of doubt that are bothering you. Speak honestly to the Lord about these doubts and ask him to increase your faith by strengthening you with his truth, and then pray a prayer like the following:
O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, guiding us into all truth, and that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord,. Amen.
Spend further time in prayer and worship before studying the Gospel of John below.
Study: John 7:25-52, Can This Be the Christ?
25Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, "Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from." 28So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, "You know me, and you know where I come from? But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. 29I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me." 30So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, "When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?"
32The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. 33Jesus then said, "I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. 34You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come." 35The Jews said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36What does he mean by saying, 'You will seek me and you will not find me,' and, 'Where I am you cannot come'?"
37On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" 39Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
40When they heard these words, some of the people said, "This really is the Prophet." 41Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?" 43So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you not bring him?" 46The officers answered, "No one ever spoke like this man!" 47The Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived? 48Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed." 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?" 52They replied, "Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee."
Reflection Questions:
1) Jesus faced a lot of opposition from the people and the leaders of the people. Why do you feel he faced so much opposition to his teaching?
2) We first encountered Nicodemus in Chapter 3. What change do you see in him? He will show up again in Chapter 19 for the burial of Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment