Confrontation, initiative and purpose
During our time in Minas Gerais a couple of weeks ago, I not only taught on Saturday and Sunday, but we stayed an extra day to rest up before our all-day drive home. On Monday night, we attended a class in the congregation in Contagem, taught by brother Alexandre Magalhães, about the life of Christ. The text of the hour was John 5. The teaching was truthful and engaging.
I wrote down some ideas, separately from the class, about the chapter.
(1) The Jews wanted to kill Jesus for violating their traditions, John 5.16-18. Jesus, however, does not sugarcoat the situation. All of his teaching is accusatory and confrontational. An example is John 5.42: “you do not have the love of God within you.” He speaks the truth, always emphatically. His words intensify the conflict with the religious authorities. The Lord states that they had never heard the voice of God and that his word did not dwell in them, John 5.37-40.
(2) Jesus states some of the conditions for receiving eternal life and shows that before hearing and believing, he had given his word, John 5.24: “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life.” The initiative always lies with God. He speaks and acts before we can respond to him. I have emphasized this truth a great deal in recent years. In the chapter on God in my new book: As Palavras da Fé (The Words of the Faith), I dedicated a section to this subject. This teaching is found throughout the Bible.
(3) The Lord never lost sight of the purpose of his coming, his teaching, and his death, John 5.34: “I say this so that you may be saved.” Strong resistance from the authorities required strong measures, strong words from the Lord. For someone who had the slightest conscience, the Lord’s words could wake up, reorient, and save. He paid for his words with his life. And by his death he saved some.
(4) In this chapter we also find the Lord’s famous statement about the Scriptures, John 5.39-40:
You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me, but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.
In the Bible we find Jesus, and in Jesus we find eternal life. But many people do not want Jesus; therefore, they will not have life. (Does this phrase describe you?)
In these and many other points, Jesus invites us to find him and he calls us to follow him. What may seem like harshness is in fact love seeking to save.
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