Lent 4. 2016 12th March - miracles and teachings were not enough

12th March

(C)Br Luke Efo 2010

Scripture John 7: 40-52

40 Many of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, “This is truly the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some said, “What, does the Messiah come out of Galilee? 42 Hasn’t the Scripture said that the Messiah comes of the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So a division arose in the multitude because of him. 44 Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him. 45 The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him?”
46 The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!”
47 The Pharisees therefore answered them, “You aren’t also led astray, are you? 48 Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees? 49 But this multitude that doesn’t know the Torah is cursed.”
50 Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them, 51 “Does our Torah judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?”
52 They answered him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search, and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”


Reflection:

The miracles and teachings were not enough, they needed proof that fitted with their expectations, their knowledge of the “law” or their painstaking studies. When they did not find what they expected to see, they judged and ultimately condemned him. When one sticks rigidly to one’s expectations, one will often miss what is all around. The people knew, but the people were treated with contempt. What about you? Do you stick rigidly to your expectations, or can you see beyond – into the mystery that is God?

Your thoughts:

Lent 4. 2016 11th March -They sought therefore to take him

11th March

Scripture John 7: 25-30

25 Therefore some of them of Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this he whom they seek to kill? 26 Behold, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is truly the Messiah? 27 However we know where this man comes from, but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he comes from.”
28 Yeshua therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don’t know. 29 I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
30 They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.


Reflection:

"They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come." His listeners did not want to believe what they were hearing. They had set their minds on another course of action and so were deaf to the message being proclaimed to them. They actively looked for reasons not to believe. We can be like this, but when we do, we are not listening to the message but to the voices that want to drown it. Be diligent and look and listen to Jesus, not the loud competing, earthly voices.

Your thoughts:

Lent 4 2016 10th March- You search the Scriptures

10th March

(C)Br. Luke Efo 2010

Scripture John 5: 31-47

31 “If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid. 32 It is another who testifies about me. I know that the testimony which he testifies about me is true. 33 You have sent to Yochanan, and he has testified to the truth. 34 But the testimony which I receive is not from man. However, I say these things that you may be saved. 35 He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony which I have is greater than that of Yochanan, for the works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the very works that I do, testify about me, that the Father has sent me. 37 The Father himself, who sent me, has testified about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form. 38 You don’t have his word living in you; because you don’t believe him whom he sent.
39 “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me. 40 Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life. 41 I don’t receive glory from men. 42 But I know you, that you don’t have God’s love in yourselves. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and you don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God?
45 “Don’t think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me. 47 But if you don’t believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”


Reflection:
"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me". The words we find in scripture can enlighten, teach, guide and strengthen us. They can open for us, help us understand, that which was for centuries, hidden. But for some they do a lot more. For some they show us, invite us to enter into, the essence of faith, of belief – they show us the path which enables us to experience the Divine. But we have to be willing to walk that path, to take the words and believe them. For many today this seems impossible. What about you?

Your thoughts:

Lent 4, 2016 9th March- to believe “him who sent me"

(C)Br Luke Efo 2010

Scripture John 5: 17-30

17 But Yeshua answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.” 18 For this cause therefore the Judeans sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19 Yeshua therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise. 20 For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires. 22 For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgement to the Son, 23 that all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He who doesn’t honour the Son doesn’t honour the Father who sent him.

24 “Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgement, but has passed out of death into life. 25 Most certainly I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself. 27 He also gave him authority to execute judgement, because he is a son of man. 28 Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, 29 and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgement. 30 I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgement is righteous; because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.





Reflection:

Notice that in hearing Jesus we can make a choice to also believe “him who sent me”. It’s a choice. Jesus is speaking about his relationship with the Father. There are, I suspect, some people who, today, will be as uncomfortable with what Jesus claims, as perhaps the people of Jesus’s day were. There are some who will hear and not believe, and others who will believe regardless. Some will explain the relationship away and others who will simply say the relationship is no longer relevant. Yet Jesus’s words serve as both an explanation and as a warning. Jesus makes it clear the relationship of him to the Father, is also a connection to judgement and eternal life. Do you agree?


What do you think

Lent4. 2016 8th March-The sick man answered him

8^th March

(C)Br. Luke Efo 2010

Scripture John 5: 1-16

¹ After these things, there was a Jewish festival, and Yeshua went up to Jerusalem. ² Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, there is a pool, which is called in Hebrew, “Bethesda”, having five porches. ³ In these lay a great multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, or paralysed, waiting for the moving of the water; ⁴ for an angel went down at certain times into the pool and stirred up the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had. ⁵ A certain man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Yeshua saw him lying there, and knew that he had been sick for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be made well?”

⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, another steps down before me.”

⁸ Yeshua said to him, “Arise, take up your mat, and walk.”

⁹ Immediately, the man was made well, and took up his mat and walked.

Now it was the Sabbath on that day. ¹⁰ So the Judeans said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry the mat.”

¹¹ He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’”

¹² Then they asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your mat and walk’?”

¹³ But he who was healed didn’t know who it was, for Yeshua had withdrawn, a crowd being in the place.

¹⁴ Afterward Yeshua found him in the temple, and said to him, “Behold, you are made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”

¹⁵ The man went away, and told the Judeans that it was Yeshua who had made him well. ¹⁶ For this cause the Judeans persecuted Yeshua, and sought to kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath.

Reflection:

“⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, another steps down before me.” (Verse 7) Imagine how you would feel if each time you tried to do something that would heal you, someone pushed you aside and took your healing. Imagine, if you will for a moment, the frustration and hopelessness he must have felt. We could say that we would help him, and not push him aside, but would we?  If we were there for another, would we really help him or those we were with?

Your thoughts:

Lent 4.2016 7th March-Jesus had healed his son

7^th March

(C)Br. Luke Efo 2010

Scripture John 4: 43-54

⁴³ After the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee. ⁴⁴ For Yeshua himself testified that a prophet has no honour in his own country. ⁴⁵ So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went to the feast. ⁴⁶ Yeshua came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Yeshua had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸ Yeshua therefore said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe.”

⁴⁹ The nobleman said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” ⁵⁰ Yeshua said to him, “Go your way. Your son lives.” The man believed the word that Yeshua spoke to him, and he went his way. ⁵¹ As he was now going down, his servants met him and reported, saying “Your child lives!” ⁵² So he enquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him.” ⁵³ So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Yeshua said to him, “Your son lives.” He believed, as did his whole house. ⁵⁴ This is again the second sign that Yeshua did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.

Reflection:

John tells us that the nobleman believed Jesus had healed his son, and started his journey home.  To trust that what we ask for, we will receive, can be hard to do. We, like the people of Jesus' day, want proof. We look for some sign (in many ways like a receipt for an item purchased) to show us that we will get it. When we don’t (or it doesn't come fast enough) then, we are tempted to think asking is waste of time, or that it is not coming. When you think like this, remember the nobleman and his son.

Your thoughts:

Lent 4. 2016 6th March-The prodigal son eventually realised

6^th March

(C)Br. Luke Efo 2010

Scripture: Luke 15:11-32

¹¹ He said, “A certain man had two sons. ¹²  The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ He divided his livelihood between them. ¹³  Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and travelled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living. ¹⁴  When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵  He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶  He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any. ¹⁷  But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! ¹⁸  I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. ¹⁹  I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.” ’

²⁰  “He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. ²¹  The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²²  “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. ²³  Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat, and celebrate; ²⁴  for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.

²⁵  “Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶  He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on. ²⁷  He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.’ ²⁸  But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him. ²⁹  But he answered his father, ‘Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. ³⁰  But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’

³¹  “He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³²  But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ ”

Reflection:

The prodigal son eventually realised that he had lost a lot more than just money and he returned home.  He no doubt expected that his father to react the way his brother did.  His angry brother did not expect their father’s compassion and forgiveness.  Which reaction do you practice: the elder brother’s or the father’s

Your thoughts: