Ethos, logos, and pathos are three Greek words that the ancient philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC) taught his students to use when presenting a convincing argument.  Aristotle taught that speakers first must establish their ethos, character, credibility, or authority to speak on a subject for their words to persuade others. Second, the speaker must reveal the logos, meaning the content of their words, to the listeners.  Finally, the speaker must have pathos or emotion to share the ideas through moving stories.  Jesus was not a student of Aristotle; he did not need to be. Jesus was the Son of God and certainly conveyed his message on the journey to the resurrection with ethos, logos, and pathos.

          Jesus’ supreme character, credibility, and authority were displayed through miraculous healing. Jesus’ words, commands, and touch healed people who were desperately ill or demon-possessed.  Even members of the Jewish ruling authority who were suspicious, resentful, and disliked Jesus had to admit that Jesus did things that never happened in Israel. Jesus had the attention of friend and foe alike.  Everyone wanted to hear what Jesus had to say.

          Jesus’s logos, his message, was simple.  God fulfilled his promise of a new covenant through His Messiah, His Son.  Anyone who believed in Jesus would not perish but have eternal life.  Jesus described the transformation of a sinner into a saint as a second birth, a canceling of sin, a life fed by Jesus, and a thirst for righteousness quenched by Jesus.  Some believed that Jesus had the words of life.  Others could not accept what Jesus said.

          When it came to pathos or emotion, Jesus again displayed a range from righteous anger in clearing the temple to compassionate care in raising a child from the dead. Jesus taught with emotionally charged stories or parables and elicited his listeners' excitement, conviction, anger, and joy.

          Today, on our journey with Jesus to His resurrection, we will witness Jesus’ ethos, logos, and pathos. Today’s moment with Jesus is pivotal, occurring in the Temple. It began with a request that Jesus plainly state whether He was the Messiah and ended with searing anger and murderous rage from His detractors. Through this moment, we are left with the choice of who Jesus is and whether Jesus has the words of eternal life.

          We come into this moment at the time of the Feast of Dedication.  This celebration's current and common name is Hanukkah, which means “to dedicate.”  The Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah, was established to celebrate the revolutionary conquest of Jerusalem by Judas Maccabeus in 164 BC from the power of Antiochus Epiphanes.  Upon the conquest of Jerusalem, Maccabeus cleansed the Temple of all pagan worship and re-dedicated it to the worship of Yahweh.  Maccabeus relit the menorah in the Temple, and instead of burning for just one day, the menorah burned for eight days.  The Feast of Dedication, Hanukkah, also called the Festival of Lights, celebrates the deliverance from pagan rulers and the restoration of rule under God.  The festival carried with it an excited sense that God would send His Messiah as a person like Judas Maccabeus.  The Messiah would be a warrior-king, leading Israel to new conquests and freeing it from the Romans.

          With this backdrop, John tells us, “22 Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly’” (John 10:22-24).  The Jews, meaning the Jewish ruling authorities, felt the pathos or emotion of suspense.  The Jews were nervous, anxious, uneasy, and edgy, wanting to know the answer to this timeless question, “Who is Jesus?”  The Jews had seen Jesus's power to heal, inspire the crowds, and teach with authority.  The Jews were captivated by Jesus’ ethos and his character.  What confounded the Jews was Jesus’ logos, His message. The Jews could not accept what Jesus was saying.  Jesus challenged the Jews’ understanding of God, righteousness, rituals, the Law, sin, heaven, hell, and eternal life.  Jesus challenged the Jews’ understanding of the Messiah.  The Jews were amazed at Jesus’ teachings and yet wanted to kill him because of what the Jews saw as Jesus’ disregard for their beliefs and practices.  Jesus frustrated the Jews because the Jews could not write off Jesus as just another misguided religious zealot.

          Understanding the conflict of the Jews at this point, we should pause for a moment and acknowledge that not everyone here believes in Jesus Christ in the same way.  Some people here today may not believe Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, Lord, or Savior.  Why do people not believe in Jesus?  There are a few reasons for us to consider.

          First, people do not believe the evidence.  They see the Bible as unreliable.  This should not surprise us.  We have seen and will see again that some people who saw Jesus refused to believe the evidence of Jesus’ claims.

          Second, people have had negative experiences with Christians or a church.  They cannot believe in Christ because of the behaviors of Christ’s followers.

          Third, and I think this is the biggest reason today, people disagree with Jesus’ teachings and His logos because Jesus’ teachings conflict with their sense of autonomy. What do I mean by that?  Autonomy is the idea of each person deciding what is right and best for them.  It is a sense that I must stand apart from anything that might control me.  The concept of bodily autonomy has become a big part of American life.  Arguments of bodily autonomy are central to abortion rights advocates with such slogans as “My body, my choice.”  This is an argument from autonomy.  People opposed to all vaccinations desire bodily autonomy, with the right to refuse any vaccination required or recommended by the government.  This is an argument from autonomy.  How does that autonomy play in believing in Christ? Jesus said a lot of things that conflict with autonomy.  Jesus said:

• “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).  You must be part of Jesus; otherwise, with autonomy, you accomplish nothing.
• “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and be following Me” (Matthew 16:24).  You must deny yourself; that is, denying your autonomy.

People today are unwilling to deny themselves anything or believe they cannot accomplish anything apart from Jesus.  They will not give up their autonomy.

Finally, personal pain prevents acceptance of Christ.  People blame God for their suffering and, by extension, blame Jesus for their suffering.  They emotionally refuse to consider doing anything that ends their separation from God, whom they have come to hate.  The longer they hate, the more they will feel justified by their hate, and the less likely they will ever turn to God.

Everyone here knows and loves someone who denies Christ for one or more reasons.  But it does not need to be that way with you.  You are here because God moved you here.  God wants you to receive Jesus fully.  This is why we spend time exploring the ethos, logos, and pathos of Jesus so that we will believe and be saved.  This is the situation Jesus was facing in the Temple during the Feast of Dedication, Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights when the Jews who struggled to believe Jesus said to Him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly” (John 10:24b).

Jesus said, “25 ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one’” (John 10:25-30).  What did Jesus reveal here?

First, Jesus revealed plainly that He had told the Jews He was the Messiah.  Jesus said, “I did tell you and you can see that I am the Messiah by the works I do in my Father’s name, which prove who I am.”  Jesus said openly he was the Messiah to some people, said it indirectly to others, and did miracles only God could do.  The prophecies of the Old Testament foretold the things Jesus said and did.  There were no surprises.

Second, Jesus revealed the Jews were not hearing what Jesus said because they had not been given to Christ by God.  They were not his sheep.  Jesus then said that the distinguishing characteristic of Jesus’ sheep is that they know and listen to his voice.  The point here is that Jesus’ disciples saw Jesus’ ethos, Jesus’ character, they heard Jesus’ logos, Jesus’ words, and they had pathos, a shared passionate belief in Jesus.  Because the disciples have accepted Jesus, they were under Jesus' care as their shepherd. In that care, the disciples would enjoy eternal life that could not be taken from them.  The Jews could have been part of Jesus’ flock, but they did not believe; they refused to accept Jesus’ ethos, logos, and pathos. The Jews refused to believe the evidence of Jesus’ claims out of a combination of pride and arrogance.  As a result, the Jews would not experience the shepherding care of Jesus, including eternal life.  Jesus then said that because the Jews were not part of his flock, the Jews also had no part with God because Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.”

At this, John wrote, “31 Again his [Jesus’] Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”  33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God” (John 10:31-33).  Jesus had answered the Jewish authority’s plea, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly” (John 10:24).  Jesus answered plainly, “I and the Father are one.”  The Jews plainly understood Jesus’ words, “You claim to be God.”  Yes, friends, that is the gospel truth.  Jesus is God.

Amid the beautiful columns of the Temple, Jesus made clear who He was, is, and always will be. Jesus was God living among the people, and here, at the Feast of Dedication, He brought God's glory back to the Temple. This was a key moment in Jesus’ journey to His resurrection. People could not deny Jesus’ identity except by closing their eyes and minds and refusing to believe.

We then must ask ourselves what this pivotal moment means to us. If you are here and believe in Jesus’ plainly stated claims that He is the Messiah and that He and the Father are one, then you are open-minded.  You have approached the truth and accepted it.  In that truth, Jesus became your shepherd, and you are under his protection and care.  You cannot be snatched out of His hand.  Like all people, you will have moments of struggle in this life, but you do not struggle alone.  Jesus is with you in the struggle.  Most importantly, you have eternal life with God because you believe and follow God in this life.

We are called to share the good news of Jesus with others who are not here today.  We want to encourage them to come and see, hear, and believe in the truth that they, too, could become part of Jesus’ flock.  Some will come if you ask them.  However, the world is also full of closed-minded people who will reject your encouragement.  Closed-minded people will reject Jesus and likely will reject you.  That’s OK.  Closed-minded people rejected Jesus to His face.  As we will see in the weeks ahead, closed-minded people killed Jesus.

Why did closed-minded people kill Jesus?  I think the reason can be illustrated by today’s pivotal moment from the Feast of Dedication, Hanukkah, the Festival of the Lights. The celebration centered on the clearing of the Temple, so that the glory of God could be revealed again. The lights miraculously burned bright for days.  Now, Jesus had entered that Temple, declaring the glory of God was present.  But closed-minded people would not accept Jesus’ claim.  Why is that? John explained,  “19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God” (John 3:19-21).  Closed-minded people scream to put out the light and remain in darkness.

You’re here today because you are open-minded, desiring to be part of the flock under the care of Jesus.  Welcome.  Let’s enjoy the light of Christ together.  Amen and Amen.

          The ever-favorite Christian hymn, Amazing Grace, has a phrase appropriate to today’s message, “I once was blind, but now I see.”  Blindness is a peculiar condition.  About 1 million people in the United States are considered blind.  Blindness comes in many forms.  There is congenital blindness, that is, someone is blind from birth. Others are born with sight but lose sight due to illness or injury.  I was blind in my left eye for a few days in 2011 when I experienced a detached retina.  None of the light striking my eye could be received by my brain. Following a procedure in the doctor's office, vision was restored, albeit with some minor decline.

          Being born blind at birth is now rare. In 2023, 3.6 million babies were born in the United States.  About 50 of those 3.6 million babies were born blind. In our journey today with Jesus to His resurrection, Jesus encountered a man born blind.  The encounter was chronicled in Chapter 9 of John’s Gospel.

The encounter between Jesus and the blind man came just after members of the Jewish ruling council had sought to stone Jesus to death. Jesus slipped away from the council members but remained within the Temple complex in Jerusalem.  John wrote, “1 As he [Jesus] went along, he [Jesus] saw a man blind from birth. 2 His [Jesus’] disciples asked him [Jesus], ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” (Jesus 9:1-2).  We do not know how Jesus and his disciples knew that man was blind from birth, but they knew.  Ancient people believed there was a direct connection between sin and bodily illnesses. Therefore, the disciples ask Jesus whether the party responsible for the man’s blindness was the man or the man’s parents sinned.  In Jesus’ time, the idea of whether an unborn baby could sin was a hotly debated question among the rabbis.  Either way, Jesus’ disciples wanted to know who was the sinner of record that caused the man’s blindness.  Even though Jesus’ disciples posed this question to Jesus with the words, “Rabbi, who sinned?” it was telling that they asked Jesus this question.  Doing so suggests Jesus’ disciples now believed Jesus knew the mind of God.  “Jesus, who was the sinner here?”

Jesus replied, “’3 Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this [blindness] happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him [the blind man]” (John 9:3).  Even though the man and his parents were sinners, Jesus said those sins did not lead to this man’s blindness.  But this man’s blindness would be used so that the works of God might be displayed in Jesus.  Said another way, “The man’s life began in blindness, but it will not end in blindness. Instead, the man’s blindness would end with the glory of God brought through His Son whom God will glorify” (cf. John 11:4).  The man’s blindness was never about sin, but instead the blindness would be healed for the glory of God the Father and God the Son.  While brief, this dialogue between Jesus and his disciples is very important to our reading of the Bible.  When we read the Bible, we should not find faults or wonder how we might have responded to the story.  Our purpose should be to understand how God revealed Himself through the Bible. Jesus pointed out that the disciples should not focus on the sin of the blind man or his parents but on the glory of God being revealed.

Jesus then explained further that there was an urgency to do the work God had called Jesus to do, the glory of God to show.  Jesus said, “4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:4-5). Jesus is the light of the world. The relationship between Jesus’ statement and the man’s blindness was unmistakable.  The blind man could see no light but Jesus had in mind to heal the man’s blindness and let him not just see the physical world but also see the “light of the world.”

The encounter between Jesus and the blind man came just after Jesus had been to the Temple for the Feast of the Tabernacles.  On the festival's last day, the prayers and expectations for God’s Messiah were at their highest.  In front of the high priest, the Pharisees, and the crowds of common people, Jesus stood and shouted, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (Jesus 7:27b-38).  It was Jesus’ clearest public statement that He was the Messiah.  Now, Jesus stood before a blind man, declared himself the “light of the world,” and was preparing to restore his sight.  This, too, would be a declaration of the coming of the Messiah, for in the Book of Isaiah, we would read that the Messiah, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners” (Isaiah 61:1) and “to open eyes that are blind” (Isaiah 42:7).  Jesus was fulfilling the scriptures, not just with words but with actions.

John wrote, “6 After saying this, he [Jesus] spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it [the mud] on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he [Jesus] told him [the blind man], “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing” (John 9:6-7).  Jesus had cured this man of blindness from birth.  I cannot imagine the man’s joy at seeing and trying to take in everything that he was now seeing.  It must have been difficult to see objects, people, and animals and understand everything.  This man was now a new man, a new creation.  Everything about the way he previously lived had been changed in the instant he encountered Jesus, the light of the world, the Messiah.  What a joyous day indeed.

But to understand what came next, we need to look at the miracle. John said that as part of the healing, Jesus spit on the ground, made mud, and put it on the man’s eyes.  This seems a little strange, but there was a purpose in Jesus’ actions. 

First, Jesus spit.  This is not the only time Jesus used spit in healing.  In the Gospel of Mark, we would read, “33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly” (Mark 7:33-35).  Also, from the Gospel of  Mark, a blind man was brought to Jesus, “22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him” (Mark 8:22-23). In at least three instances, Jesus used spit as part of the act of healing.  It is difficult to know the reason for using spit because, generally, spit was then considered by religious authorities as dirty and unclean.  Spit was used as a sign of great disrespect.  Jesus had prophesied that the religious leaders would spit on him and condemn him to death, and they did.  During the crucifixion process, the Romans also spit on Jesus.  Not much has changed in 2,000 years.  Spit is treated as unclean or dirt, and to spit on someone is still a sign of disrespect. But Jesus used His spit to heal, perhaps demonstrating His authority to reverse any human convention or belief was absolute.

Second, in this circumstance, Jesus spit on the ground, mixed it with dirt, and made mud. We will see in a few moments that this healing happened on the Sabbath and that healing and kneading materials together, here spit and dirt mixed to make mud, were judged by the Jewish ruling council as work and thus against their Sabbath rules.  Again, it seems Jesus demonstrated His authority over human conventions and rules.

As we return our attention to the formerly blind man, we discover that he shared the good news with his neighbors but could not tell them who healed him.  The neighbors brought the man to the Pharisees to share so that the religious leaders could learn of this miracle.  And that is when things went from good to bad.

Upon hearing Jesus’ actions, “16 Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man [Jesus] is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath’” (John 9:16).  But other Pharisees wondered, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” And so, the Jewish ruling council members were divided among themselves.  The Pharisees sought to heal their divide by concluding that man had never been blind.  If the Pharisees denied the miracle, then the Pharisees would again be united and would not have to deal with the reality of Jesus.  And so, the Pharisees concluded the miracle had never happened, and they demanded the man’s parents appear before them to confirm the man had never been blind.  The parents appeared and confirmed the son’s blindness, but still, the Pharisees were not satisfied.  The Pharisees demanded the man appear before them again.

To the man, the Pharisees said, “Give glory to God by telling the truth.  We know this man is a sinner” (John 9:24).  In essence, the Pharisees were saying, “Before God, own up and admit the truth, you were never blind and this man who claims to have healed you is a sinner.”   The Pharisees desperately wanted the miracle not to be true.  The same is true today.  People want to deny Jesus’ miracles.  Why?  If you deny Jesus’ miracles, then you can deny Jesus’ claims of divinity, of being God. If you deny Jesus’ claims, you do not need to listen to anything Jesus says.  You can continue to do as you do.  However, if you accept Jesus’ miracles as true, then you must deal with what Jesus said about himself.  “I am the light of the world.”  “I am the bread of heaven.”  And, of course, the most offensive of all statements Jesus ever made, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).  To avoid dealing with the reality that Jesus is the way to God, it is best to begin by denying the miracles of Jesus.  This is what is done today and by the Pharisees 2,000 years ago.  The former blind man would not change his story, so the Pharisees kicked the man out of the synagogue, meaning other Jews could no longer engage in conversation with this man.

It would once again seem as though the story would end here. But as we read further, “35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him [the former blind man] out, and when he [Jesus] found him [the man], he [Jesus] said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’  36 ‘Who is he, sir?’ the man asked. ‘Tell me so that I may believe in him.’  37 Jesus said, ‘You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.’  38 Then the man said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped him [Jesus]. 39 Jesus said, ‘For  judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.’ 40 Some Pharisees who were with him [Jesus] heard him say this and asked, ‘What? Are we blind too?’ 41 Jesus said, ‘If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” (John 9:35-41).  Jesus concluded the story with a strong warning.  “If you, Pharisee, were ignorant, God would forgive your sins because you did not know the truth.  But you are not ignorant, and yet you still sin.  God will not forgive your sins because you choose actions knowing they were sin.”

What, then, do we take away from this stop on Jesus’ journey to the resurrection?  I think there is one thing for us to consider.  First, Jesus was making it clearer that He is the Messiah.  He suggested that to Nicodemus at their meeting at night. To a Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus said he was the Messiah.  When Jesus healed the man crippled for 38 years, he made known his power to cure and cancel sin.  This, again, was a sign of Jesus anointing from God.  When Jesus said he was the bread of life that came down from heaven, Jesus affirmed God sent him and that he and the Father were one.  Here, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world,” and then Jesus made the blind to see just as had been foretold by the prophets. The evidence of Jesus’ identity was mounting.  The resistance to the truth was strong, but there were now some doubts creeping into the ranks of the Pharisees.  Some of the Pharisees were beginning to question the idea that Jesus was a sinner and not from God.  The high priest and his people could not afford doubt to enter their ranks.  More dynamic action would be required.  Jesus knew this was so because Jesus kept telling his disciples, “He must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed” (Mark 8:31).  Jesus knew His journey would require death.

The key point here is that the longer we spend on the journey with Jesus to his resurrection, the more we understand the truth about Jesus. Near the end of John’s Gospel, John wrote, “30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).  The purpose of each stop on this journey to Jesus’ resurrection is to come to believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that we may have life in his name. To believe in Jesus is not taking a weight upon ourselves.  It is taking a weight off ourselves.  Thank you, God, for knowing you love me and how you have provided for me.  Now I see that all I need to do is accept and follow Jesus.

Choose this day to no longer be blind but to see Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God.  Have Jesus change everything about your life, allowing you to leave behind your old ways and worship with a new vision granted to you through the “light of the world.”  Let us each be like the former blind man and face Jesus and say, “Lord, I believe.” Amen and Amen.

I want to begin today by discussing children blowing out candles on a birthday cake.  I know that is a strange place to start a sermon.  So I ask you to bear with me.  But kids, candles, and birthday cakes are something everyone has in common. The scene I want you to visualize is the moment the candles are all lit, the wish has been made, and the kid has drawn in that mighty breath of air to blow across the candles.  Just then, an older brother moves closer to the cake and blows out the candles before the birthday child can do so.  You have the scene in mind.  The birthday child’s joyful moment in the spotlight is gone.  Joy is replaced with anger.  I want you to keep that sort of emotional experience in mind. We are going to see and understand how anger from that sort of experience became a blinding rage that kept some from believing in Jesus as Christ and turning others into murderers. Welcome to our next stop on Jesus’ journey to the resurrection.  It is a journey that will change your life.

We begin today’s segment of Jesus’ journey to the resurrection; we find Jesus at home with his brothers, James, Joses, Judas, and Simon.  It was time for the Festival of Tabernacles.  The festival was a seven-day celebration, remembering the exodus from Egypt.  This festival was one of three festivals that many Jews celebrated in Jerusalem.  Jesus’ brothers, who did not then believe in Jesus’ ministry, said to Jesus, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” (John 7:3-4).  Jesus, who was already being sought by the Jewish ruling authority that they might kill him for blasphemy, said to his brothers, “8 You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival because my time has not yet fully come” (John 7:8).  Jesus’ brothers left for Jerusalem, but Jesus remained in Galilee.

Over the centuries, the Festival of Tabernacles became a popular celebration for the people.  The high point of the Festival came near the end of the week when the high priest poured water from the pool of Siloam into a golden cup on the altar.  The Jews saw this part of the worship as a plea from God for rainfall of the coming year and a symbolic request for God to send His Messiah, His chosen person, to restore Israel.  One time, about 100 years before the celebration we are discussing, the high priest, who was also the king of Israel, poured the water from the pool onto his own feet.  This outraged the worshippers, who thought the high priest and king’s action was disrespectful of God and the ceremony.  In their anger, the worshippers threw citrus fruit at the man.  The king and high priest angrily sent his troops into the crowd with drawn swords.  Soon, 6,000 worshippers lay dead.  The moment of pouring out the water was an emotionally charged event.

Sometime after Jesus’ brothers left for the festival in Jerusalem with its emotionally charged outpouring of water, Jesus went to Jerusalem secretly.  Jesus entered the Temple courts and began teaching on the fourth day of the seven-day festival.  “15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, ‘How did this man get such learning without having been taught?’” (John 7:15).  Jesus explained that His teaching was not of his own but was God’s, the one who sent him. 25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they [the ruling council] are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from” (John 7:25-27).  The people had become confused.  Was Jesus the Messiah?  Was Jesus a dangerous man the rulers wanted to kill?  People’s questions about Jesus persist today.  Jesus forces no one to believe in Him.  As in Jesus’ day, so it is true today, each person must answer this question: "Who is Jesus?”

“32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him [Jesus]. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him [Jesus]” (John 7:32).  But the guards were not able to arrest Jesus as it was not his time.

 A few days passed, and It was the festival's last day.  The last day would conclude with pouring the water from the Pool of Siloam into the golden cup.  The final prayer was for rain to come and a petition that God would send his Messiah.  It was the chief priest's cherished and emotionally charged moment.  It was, if you will, the moment for the birthday child to blow out the candles on the cake.  John wrote, “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.’”  It was to the high priest the moment the older brother blew out his candles on the birthday cake.  Against the backdrop of water pouring out and the high priest’s prayers for rain and the Messiah, Jesus said loudly, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.”  This was the most straightforward public sign that Jesus was making known He was the Messiah. Jesus’ words angered the high priest and the Pharisees, but they no longer controlled troops, just a few Temple guards.  This must have been an electrifying moment where everyone’s attention was captured. It must have been one of those moments where you hold your breath and wonder what will happen next.   The water that came from God as a blessing of hope was now being proclaimed by Jesus to be Him.  Jesus was saying, “I am the hope that you seek.”  Only Jesus would satisfy the thirst and the needs of the people. Before people could react, Jesus continued, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

“40 On hearing his [Jesus] words, some of the people said, ‘Surely this man is the Prophet.’  41 Others said, ‘He [Jesus] is the Messiah’” (John 7:40). Still others did not believe someone from Galilee could be the Messiah as the Messiah was to come from Bethlehem of Judea.  “43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him” (John 7:43-44).

Anger consumed the chief priest, a man named Caiaphas.  Jesus had upstaged Caiaphas and had declared himself God’s Messiah.  Temple guards were dispatched to arrest Jesus.  “45 Finally, the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why didn’t you bring him in?’  46 ‘No one ever spoke the way this man does,’ the guards replied.  47 ‘You mean he has deceived you also?’ the Pharisees retorted. 48 ‘Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them’” (John 7:45-49).  As plainly as Jesus expressed his identity as Messiah, the Jewish ruling council just as plainly rejected Jesus and his claim.

We see here that belief in Jesus as God’s Son, God’s Messiah, was rejected the moment Jesus said He was.  Those who rejected Jesus called those who believed Jesus an uneducated mob and cursed them.  Not much has changed in 2,000 years.  If you are a Christian, meaning you believe Jesus is the Son of God, then to many people, you are an ignorant person who should be cursed.  If you are a Christian, then many people find you and your beliefs offensive.

Why do people find Christ, Christianity, and you offensive?  In Jesus’ case, Jesus offended the religious leaders by declaring that salvation would be found in Him, not in religious practices.  The chief priests, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees believed that strict adherence to their rules and practices made them righteous.  Standing before God, they could say, “We are Abraham’s children, and we have worshipped God through faithful sacrifice and rituals. We must now accept us.”

But Jesus stood in the Temple, the place of rituals, and while the chief priest was celebrating his great moment, Jesus said, “This is not the way to God.  If you thirst for God, come to Me.  Whoever believes in Me shall have eternal life.”  Jesus' words overturned the idea of ritual and said the truth rests in Christ. That Jesus would say there is only one way to God, Him, is offensive.  If there is only one right answer, all other answers are necessarily wrong.  To accept Jesus means you cannot say, “My truth is…”  There is only “the truth.”  To accept Jesus means you cannot say, “I deserve to be in heaven because I am a good person.”  Only God is good.  People reject Christ because they want to live their lives their way and then demand God accept them for the way they are.  Jesus said, “If you want God, come to Me; there is no other way.”

Understanding that Jesus is the way to God is central to Jesus’ journey to the resurrection.  In these past few weeks, we have seen that Jesus told Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council, to move from the realm of the world to the realm of God you must be born again.  That second birth is a spiritual birth, a gift from God.  We then saw that Jesus healed a man paralyzed for 38 years. There, we learned that Jesus has the power to heal and the power to cancel sin.  When challenged, Jesus said He was the Son of God.  The ruling Jewish Council was outraged and wanted to kill Jesus. Last week, we saw Jesus say that he was the bread of life and that to know God, one must eat of Jesus’ flesh and drink of his blood.  The idea here was that Jesus sustains life now and eternal.  Followers left Jesus, and the Jewish ruling council wanted to kill Jesus all the more.  And now, Jesus said if you thirst for God, come to Him and drink, for whoever believes in Him shall have living water within them for all eternity.  The Jewish ruling council now actively sought to arrest Jesus so that they could kill him.

Jesus’ journey to the resurrection is a combination of the good news of God and the desire of men to kill Jesus.  We can understand this conflict because God chooses to show His power by giving life, and humanity chooses to show its power by taking life.

The good news shared by Jesus was that anyone could enter the realm of God if they were born again by the Spirit of God. Anyone could have their sins canceled not by works but by the power of Christ.  Anyone could have a life sustained and preserved for eternity if they only came to Christ for nourishment.  Anyone could have their thirst for God quenched if they only came to Christ for living water.  This is the good news of Jesus.  That news was so radical to what the people of Israel had been taught that conflict with the teachers of Israel was not only likely, it was necessary.  We read elsewhere in Scripture, “He (Jesus) then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31). The conflict between the good news of Jesus and the beliefs of the Jewish ruling council would end with Jesus’ resurrection.  But there can be no resurrection unless there is first a death.  Jesus said this means the Jewish rulers must reject him, and they must kill Jesus.  As strange as it may sound, Jesus’ death was part of God’s plan to show the truth of Jesus’ words and the wrongness of the Jewish council.  Jesus’ death was necessary to cancel sin and demonstrate the power of God to bring forth life from death.

Because of the resurrection, belief in Jesus of Nazareth would forever change the believer.  The change would be inward and expressed outwardly.  There is an indwelling of his spirit, which flows out to others.  The believer's heart is changed, and from them “flows rivers of living water.” 

Jesus challenged and changed the sacred moment of water pouring out, claiming, “God has met your thirst; follow me.”  His words needed a response.  On that day, “On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”  Others said, “He is the Messiah.”  Still others doubted.  You see, Jesus’ words compel us to make a choice.  Either we must believe his words and receive him as the water of life, or we must reject him.  There is no middle ground.  When we accept and act on Jesus’ words, when we accept and act on the purpose He has for our lives, we move from the world into God’s kingdom.  Some, even our brothers and sisters, will not believe in what we hold as truth.  They will seek to distract us in their own ways and certainly will not support us. That is one reason we come together each week: to have the support of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We have to ask ourselves today, “Where am I? Do I believe Jesus’ words that my thirst for true life is met in him?  Have I accepted him wholeheartedly such that I know His Spirit is within me and the waters of life flow from me?  Or do I sit in the darkness of the world?”  Only you can answer those questions.

 This day, in this setting, let’s receive again the outpouring of God’s grace through Jesus Christ.  Let us thirst no more.  Amen and Amen.

We are on a journey with Jesus to His resurrection.  Along the way, we met a Pharisee, a man, Nicodemus, a ruling council member.  Nicodemus stepped from the darkness of night into the light of Christ’s presence.  In the light, Nicodemus learned that unless we are born again, we shall not see the kingdom of God.  We also met an unnamed man lying beside the Pool of Bethesda. The man was paralyzed for 38 years. Jesus told the man to “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!”  The man learned that we must choose to be made well by Jesus and be freed from sin.  This is what happens when we are born again.

Today, we are moving with Jesus towards His resurrection as He told friend and foe alike that to be bound for glory in the realm of God required eating Jesus’ body and drinking his blood.  Jesus’ words were difficult for his followers to hear and repulsive to his detractors.  When Jesus’ followers heard Jesus’ words, many left him and never returned.  Jesus’ foes declared Him insane or demon-possessed. What in the world was Jesus talking about when He said that you must eat of his body and drink of his blood? Let’s pick up our journey today in Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, where Jesus taught through dialogue with the people of a synagogue in Capernaum, the hometown of several of Jesus’ disciples.

“35 Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:35-38).

Just before this teaching, Jesus had fed 5,000 men plus their accompanying families.  The people were excited by what Jesus had done.  The people were so excited that they had in mind to force Jesus to become their king.  Jesus left the crowd's presence, but the crowd followed, looking for Jesus to fill their stomachs.  Jesus shocked the crowd when, rather than miraculously producing more food to eat, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life that has come down from heaven.” 

To Jesus’ audience, which was overwhelmingly Jewish, the idea of bread coming down from heaven was understood as the manna God provided to the Hebrew people escaping Egypt.  The Book of Exodus records, “4 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day’” (Exodus 16:4).  “31 The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey” (Exodus 16:31).  Manna, bread from heaven, nourished the ancient Hebrews and gave them life.  Manna was seen as a life-saving gift from God.

But Jesus declared himself the bread of life that came from heaven.  John wrote, “41 At this the Jews [likely the ruling Council members] there began to grumble about him [Jesus] because he [Jesus] said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ 42 They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?’” (John 6:41-42).  The ruling Council members again focused on the physical world and relied upon what they thought they knew.  The Jews thought Jesus was the son of a common laborer.  Jesus was a nobody born of a nobody.  Jesus, the Jews believed, was talking nonsense about having come down from heaven, as though Jesus was somehow superior to them.  The Jews were displaying arrogance.

Arrogance is believing foremost in yourself, not in a self-confident manner but in a way of self-importance. It is a belief that you are beyond learning.  Arrogance breeds a sense of entitlement.  The Jews defensively dismissed Jesus because he was a nobody.  In rejecting the person Jesus, the Jews did not need to deal with Jesus’ message.

          Jesus, undeterred by the Jews’ arrogance, continued to bring the message God sent Him to speak. “48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:48-51).  Jesus made His message so stark as to end the grumbling about His parents.  Jesus said He was the bread of life and that to live forever, to move from the realm of the world to the realm of God, was only possible if you ate the bread Jesus offered.  Jesus said that bread was His own body, his flesh.

          Jesus’ words broke through the first layer of the Jews’ arrogance.  “52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’” (John 6:52). The Jews were still thinking in the worldly realm, but instead of speaking of Jesus’ parents, they were talking about Jesus offering his flesh for people to eat.  They were thinking like cannibals, not as spiritual leaders.  The scene with these Jews differs from when Jesus taught Nicodemus at night.  But the central problem is the same.  Jesus said to Nicodemus, “12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?” (John 3:12).  Nicodemus struggled, the Jews here struggle, and many people today struggle to understand the spiritual things of Jesus because they do not understand essential earthly things.

          What are those essential earthly things?  It all begins with God.  God calls all things into being and gives them their nature and place in an ordered creation.  Plants and animals, even such things as rocks and rivers, follow the patterns of their nature.  Humans, because they are made in the image of God, were designed to follow the pattern of God’s nature with creativity and reason.  But sin marred that image, and humans no longer followed the precise pattern of God.  These are the essential earthly things.

God gave the Law, the commandments of Scripture, of the heavenly things to humanity through the Hebrew nation as a mirror to see that marred image.  But now the Hebrew nation, the Jews, were trying to use the mirror, the Law, as a tool to clean themselves of unrighteousness.  I do not know anyone who successfully used a mirror to make themselves clean.  A mirror only reflects the light; in this case, the mirror, the Law could only show the sin, and the Law could not heal people from sin.

  To redeem and cleanse humanity and heal people from sin, God sent Jesus to become the pathway to righteousness.  Jesus was and is an answer to prayer.  Jesus said the way to the restored image of God, to live forever, was by believing in Him and accepting without hesitation the life He would offer through His flesh and blood.   Jesus was again speaking of his journey to the resurrection.  But profound arrogance blinded the Jews.  They could only conceive of spiritual things through the mirror of the Law and not through the Lawgiver standing before them.  Arrogance about sin remains with us today.

Despite the profound arrogance of the Jews, Jesus' purpose compelled Him to speak of spiritual things.  “53 Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them’” (John 6:53-56).  Jesus’ message never wavered.  Jesus had come to give eternal life and that life required the presence of Jesus to be found in each person.  Salvation was not about the Law because no matter how someone lived, that mirror of the Law would only show their sin, not cure it.  But with Christ, a sinless person living within the believer, the mirror, when used by the believer, would reflect the image of the sinless Christ.

Jesus then spoke the words the Jews could not accept, but Jesus’ disciples needed to hear.  “57 ‘Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever’” (John 6:57-58).  This was Jesus’ teaching on spiritual things.  Jesus gives life.  Activities in the flesh, such as doing earthly things to achieve righteousness, lead to death.

I can only imagine how quiet the synagogue became that day.  The Jews’ grumbling stopped.  The disciples sat motionless.  All eyes were fixed on Jesus.  Then, somewhere in the back of the synagogue, Jesus’ followers began looking at each other and saying, “60 ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?’’ (John 6:60).  “61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, ‘Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.’  66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (John 6:61-66).  The quietness of the synagogue remained.  The voices heard earlier were replaced by the shuffling of feet as people left and went home.  It was one thing to take Jesus’ free meal, but it was something entirely different to follow Jesus without hesitation or reservation.

Finally, perhaps with just Jesus and his twelve apostles remaining in the synagogue, Jesus said to them, “67 ‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’  68 Simon Peter answered him [Jesus], ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God’” (John 6:67-68).

What, then, do we make of this profound spiritual teaching from Jesus? I think there are just two things I want to emphasize today.  First, Jesus made an outrageous claim.  Jesus claimed to be one with the Father, making Himself God.  The Jews reacted with anger, believing they should kill Jesus for His claim. The Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, had spoken of such a day for Jewish people.  Isaiah wrote, “13 All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace” (Isaiah 54:13).  Now, Jesus claimed God was teaching the people, but significant was their distress, not their peace.  Why were the people, especially the Jewish ruling council, in distress about Jesus’ teachings?  The Jews were distressed because they believed Jesus was a rabbi from Nazareth, not God’s Son from heaven.  The Jews were distressed because Jesus’ words conflicted with the sense of God they had created for themselves.  The Jews were distressed because to accept Jesus meant their lives would have to change, and they did not want to change.  Because the Jews distressed themselves, they did not receive the peace by being taught by God as promised in Isaiah’s prophecy.

How about you?  Does Jesus’ teaching distress you or bring you peace?  Jesus’ teachings distress the world, even though many nonbelievers think Jesus was a great moral teacher.  But Jesus was not a great moral teacher.  Jesus was and is God.  I want to share a quote from the atheist-turned-Christian writer C. S. Lewis. ““I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”  Our first point is that we must decide who this Jesus is making his way to the cross and resurrection.  Is Jesus God, or is he only a man?  Your answer determines your life.  If Jesus was just a man, Jesus points out clearly that your life will be like the ancient Hebrews.  You will eat manna, bread if you will, and will die.  If Jesus was and is God, He offers Himself that you may have abundant life now and forever.  But you must choose.

If you follow Jesus as God, then Jesus has some stern words for you. You must eat his flesh and drink his blood.  What does Jesus mean?  Jesus must provide us with the strength of faith and spiritual life on our journey through life.  This is the second point.

Jesus was clear. He did not come to fill our stomachs with perishable bread. His mission was not to end the suffering of world hunger but to end the suffering of separation from God. To end such suffering, Jesus would go to the cross, and God would demonstrate His power over death, our most feared enemy, by raising Jesus to life on resurrection day.  The resurrection of Jesus would prove Jesus’ claim that to live, we must never be separated from Him.  Perhaps today, we should think differently about the words of the Lord’s prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  Give us this day, not our daily ration of manna, but Jesus, the bread of life, for this day we may live.

I have met many distressed people and counseled a fair number. Every one of them wanted peace. Many of those people have not received peace because they choose to eat manna.  They do not genuinely accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  Sadly, they will live in distress and die separated from God.  Others who were distressed now live in peace because they received Jesus as their bread of life.  Do they struggle with difficulties and illness?  Of course, they do.  We all do. But we can still be at peace if we allow ourselves to consume and take up the bread of life fully.  Peter said it well.  “[Jesus] You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68b-69).  Can you say this about Jesus?  If so, then be at peace and live.  Let us pray.

We are on a journey with Jesus to His resurrection.  Are we taking this journey because Easter is coming?  I suppose, in part, that is true.  However, the most significant reason for this journey is that Jesus’ resurrection changes everything about your life.  You and I were born into this world at different times and places.  But Jesus’ resurrection erases all the differences between us because Jesus offers us a common second birth.  Our second birth is through the Spirit of God, making us children of God, meaning we become brothers and sisters of the same family.  That was what we learned last week when Nicodemus came out of the darkness of the night and into the light of Christ.  We must be born again.

          This week, we continue Jesus’ journey from the surrounds of Jerusalem back to the heart of Judaic practices: the Temple. Most scenes in the Gospel of John focus on Jesus in the Temple and surrounding areas. Those scenes often alternate between Jesus’ dialogue with people, some named and some unnamed, and a confrontation with the ruling council. Today will be no different.

          As we enter the scene, we find Jesus came to Jerusalem during one of the major feasts of the year.  Jerusalem was swollen with people.  The Temple complex was crowded.  Jesus approached the Temple from the east through what is known as the Sheep’s Gate, the gate through which shepherds brought sheep to be sacrificed.  A short distance from that gate within the Temple complex stood a water feature called the Pools of Bethesda.  John said when Jesus entered the pools that day, “3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4]  5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years” (John 5:3, 5).  Let’s address a couple of points with our opening Scripture. 

First, we notice the text omits verse number 4.  Bibles did not have verse numbers until the 1200s.  At that time, verse 4 read was included and read, “4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had” (KJV).  However, archeological discoveries in the 1800s and 1900s found early manuscripts of the Bible did not contain the words of verse 4.  Editors of modern Bible translations, such as the New International Version, concluded the words of verse 4 were not original to John’s writing, so the editors removed the words of verse 4 but retained the verse numbering.  There was no angel involved in the stirring of the waters.

Second, during that feast, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, there were many ill and disabled people present at the Pools of Bethesda.  The area was crowded, but Jesus’ eyes fell upon just one person, a man invalid for 38 years.  John offered no reason for Jesus’ focus on this man, except we discover that the man proved to be the perfect person to draw out the message of Christ.  We need to keep that latter point in mind because, at any given moment, each of us may be the perfect person to share the message of Christ with another person.  It is a sobering thought that at just the right moment, you may be the closest person to Christ your family, a friend, or a stranger has ever met and that Jesus wants you to make Him known at that moment.

On Jesus’ journey, He entered the Sheep’s Gate and went to the Pools of Bethesda and saw many disabled people, including one who was invalid for thirty-eight years. “6b Jesus asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’” (John 5:6b). Jesus’ question seems strange because we would expect anyone who has been disabled for so long to want relief. For his part, the disabled man seemed confused by Jesus’ question, as evidenced by his response, “7 ‘Sir,’ the invalid replied, ‘I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me’” (John 5:7).  We learn two things.  First, we know the man believed, and as did others, that whenever the waters of the pool stirred, there was a chance for miraculous healing, but only for those who could get into the pool while the waters stirred.  The man believed he was in a cruel competition that favored healing only for the strongest or best supported of the disabled people.  Mercy was not a consideration.  Second, we learn that the man does not know Jesus or of Jesus’ reputation as a healer.

“8 Then Jesus said to him [the disabled man], ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked” (John 5:8-9a).  What just happened here?  We need to visualize this scene.  The area around the Pools of Bethesda was crowded with people who were blind, lame, and paralyzed.  They waited for some unpredictable moment for the pool water to stir so they could dash into the water to be made well.  Among all those people, this abled body stranger, Jesus, stopped to speak to just one man among them, a man known to be paralyzed for 38 years.  The stranger commanded the invalid to get up, take his mat, and walk, and the stranger’s words cured the man.  Jesus cured the man.  We know that if we are ill and lay in bed for a few days, our limbs, joints, and muscles become sore and hurt when we get up.  This man lay on a mat for 38 years and got up immediately.  That was a miracle.  Others present must have gasped in shock to see this man walk.  And then, before anyone could speak, this stranger who commanded a cure melded into the crowds and was gone.  Those around the pool must have wondered what happened and why it did not happen to them.  John’s first readers and we wonder what happened and its meaning.

The meaning began to show with John’s following words, “The day on which this [cure] took place was a Sabbath” (John 5:9b).  Meaning will be found in the combination of Jesus’ journey to the resurrection, his commands to the invalid at the Pool of Bethesda, and the Sabbath. We are beginning to understand something about Jesus’ journey to the resurrection.  We learned something about the invalid and the Pools of Bethesda. What must we know about the Sabbath?

In the Book of Exodus, God said of the Sabbath, “8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11).  God created the Sabbath so humanity could rest and keep the day holy to God.  By Jesus’ time, the Jewish ruling council had developed rules and regulations that defined what was work and what was permissible on the Sabbath.  These rules meant no plowing, reaping, grinding, baking, threshing, or binding sheaves.  There was to be no building, demolishing, trapping, shearing, slaughtering, or skinning. The rule prohibited physical activity like burning, writing, cooking, sewing, or carrying things.

To that final point, John wrote, “10 And so the Jewish leaders [ruling council] said to the man who had been healed, ‘It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.’ 11 But he [the healed man] replied, ‘The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’’  12 So they [Jewish leaders] asked him [the healed man], ‘Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?’” (John 5:10-12). Again, we learn two things. First, the man caught the ruling council’s attention because the man violated their Sabbath rules by carrying a mat. Who did this man think he was violating the ruling council’s Sabbath regulations?  Second, we learn the Council had no interest in the man’s cure. Telling the Council a stranger cured him and told him to carry his mat only shifted the Council’s inquiry into the stranger’s identity.  Who did this man who cured the invalid think he was telling people to violate their Sabbath regulations?  The miracle of healing was of no concern to the Jewish ruling council.  But the man did not know the stranger who healed him. We learn from this encounter that the Council was more interested in acts that violated their methods of following the Sabbath than mercy.  The Council took Jesus’ words to man not as a merciful rebuke of lifelong paralysis but as a challenge to the Council’s authority, and a challenge to authority must be defended.  In its rightful role of guiding the people's religious faith, the Council had forgotten God’s command, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6).  It appeared the story would end here.

But “14 Later Jesus found him [the healed man] at the temple and said to him, ‘See, you are well again. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.’ 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that Jesus had made him well” (John 5:14-15).  Here, we learn three things.  First, Jesus found the man in the Temple.  This was cause for celebration because the paralyzed and seriously ill were not allowed in the Temple, another Jewish ruling Council regulation.  Disabled people were not permitted to worship in the Temple.  Now healed, the man wanted everything that had been denied him. Second, Jesus said that continual sin brings something worse than 38 years of paralysis.  Continual sin brings hell.  And so, Jesus told the man, “Stop sinning.”  Finally, the healed man wanted people to know about Jesus and Jesus' authority to command healing, an authority known only to God.  Now, John’s readers and we might think this will be an excellent day for the Council.  They will meet someone whose spoken words can heal.

But alas, “16 Because Jesus was doing these things [healing] on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him” (John 5:16).  Persecute here means to harass, mistreat, to be hostile toward.  The ruling Council was only interested in Jesus submitting himself to their authority. John said, “17 In his defense Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.’ 18 For this reason, they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:17-18).  Jesus had done it.  Jesus said even on the Sabbath, God was at work.  The ruling Council would have agreed.  But for Jesus to call God His Father and that He was working on the Sabbath as His Father worked on the Sabbath was Jesus making Himself equal to God. Suddenly, the violation of the Sabbath was pale in comparison to the blasphemy of Jesus making himself equal to God. Violating the Sabbath brought persecution.  Blasphemy required death.

We now can understand the combination of Jesus’ journey to the resurrection, his commands to the invalid at the Pool of Bethesda, and the Sabbath.  Jesus was deliberately going to the resurrection, where salvation would be offered.  Along the way to the resurrection, Jesus wanted people to know that salvation was not a cruel competition among people.  Salvation was not about who was most physically fit or able to help themselves to achieve perfection.  Salvation was not about the work you did, the clothing worn, or the position of authority held.  Salvation was not and is not a cruel competition.

   Instead, salvation is granted to us by mercy.  God’s mercy that gifts us salvation we call grace.  And our access to that grace is determined based upon our answer to just one question, “Do you want to be well?”

What is meant by that question?  We see the meaning through the man at the pool.  The man was bound to live a life of doing the same thing.  The man could not change his circumstances or find a friend strong enough to change the man’s life for him.  The man was without hope. 

The imagery of the man bound at the pool is the picture of a life, our life, bound by sin. We are confined to doing the same thing over and over.  We cannot break sin on our own and do not have friends strong enough to break our sin for us.  Sin is cruel.

Then along came a man, a stranger at first, who asked the man at the pool, “Do you want to be well?”  Then the stranger said to the man, “Get up and walk; you are no longer bound. But sin no more.”  Mercy had been given, and mercy received.  The man who had been bound was now free to share with everyone the identity of the man who freed him.  The imagery of the man freed to walk is the picture of a life saved by Jesus.  The scene at the pool showed us that the man who could make the lame walk had the power to cancel sin.  And the only one who can cancel sin is God.

But the message of grace is not readily accepted by those who live their life based upon cruel competition, nor is it readily accepted by those who want to remain in sin. The ruling council set the rules and procedures for the cruel competition over who could enjoy God’s grace. Anyone who challenged them must be opposed to God and be condemned.  Jesus’ journey to the resurrection would require the ruling council to condemn him. Why?  So that the power of the resurrection, the authority of Jesus, and the wrongness of the competition would be evident.

But to live in the power of the resurrection, we sinners must answer one question: “Do you want to be well?”  Let us pray.

          I recently purchased a book entitled “On the Resurrection: Evidences.” It is a hefty 1054 pages and is marked as Volume 1. It will take me a while to read that book.  The author intends to prove through evidence within the Bible and external to the Bible that Jesus was resurrected from the dead.  The reason for this is that the resurrection of Jesus is the moment that the history of the world was forever changed.  Without Jesus’ resurrection, we would not be here today.  There would be no New Testament.  There would be no hope.  And so, for the next 11 weeks, I would like us to journey together to the world-changing event of Jesus’ resurrection.  Along the way, we will meet some named characters like Nicodemus, Lazarus, Mary, Martha, Caiaphas, Pontius Pilate, and Mary Magdelene.  Some are loving and kind people while others are nasty and villainous.  We will also meet some unnamed people who were crippled, blind, scared, and hungry. Each, in their way, brings greater depth to the story of Jesus’ resurrection.  Our journey’s aim is not to become historians of Jesus’ resurrection. The aim is to allow the Holy Spirit to excite and renew our faith, confidence, hope, and joy that Jesus is the Son of God who lived, died, and arose from the grave conquering death and giving life to all who would believe in Him.  To accept Jesus' resurrection without reservation or hesitation is to change your life forever.

          We begin our journey to Jesus’ resurrection in a quiet setting of total darkness.  It is dark, except where Jesus sat in the light with his disciples.  The Gospel of John described the scene this way, “1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night” (John 3:1-2a).  Our journey to Jesus’ resurrection has begun and it begins with a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, a member of the ruling council of Jerusalem, and it starts at night.

          Some significant events had already occurred by the time of this nighttime encounter.  Jesus, who had lived in obscurity doing manual labor, had been baptized in the River Jordan by his kinsman, John.  As Jesus arose from the water, John “saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him [Jesus]. 33 And [John said] I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this [man Jesus] is God’s Chosen One” (John 1:32b-34).  Jesus, upon his baptism and anointing by the Holy Spirit, began his journey to the resurrection moving from the anonymity of a small town in Galilee to notoriety in the heart of Judaism of Jerusalem.  Jesus’ baptism gives us a visible image of transformation.  Baptism is that chief moment when believers say publicly, I am a new creation because of the work of God.  My old life, whether lived quietly or loudly, is over.  My new life, focused upon God as my greatest good, has begun.

          Jesus left behind his old life and went into the center of Jerusalem.  It was Passover, and “14 In the temple courts he [Jesus] found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he [Jesus] made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he [Jesus] said, ‘Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!’ 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me’” (John 2:14-17).  Jesus demonstrated that his life would be focused on doing the work of God until his life itself had been consumed.

Jesus had caught the attention of the people and the ruling council, comprised of Pharisees, Sadducees, and the Chief Priests.  Council members confronted Jesus and said, “‘What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’  19 Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’  20 They replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ 21 But the temple he [Jesus] had spoken of was his body. 22 After he [Jesus] was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he [Jesus] had said. Then they [Jesus’ disciples] believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken” (John 2:18b-22). From the beginning of Jesus’ transformation from unknown to known, Jesus began speaking of his death and resurrection. There was nothing secretive about Jesus’ behavior.  Jesus cleansed the Temple, responded to the challenge from the Council, and healed the sick within the Temple openly and in broad daylight.

“1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.  For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:1-2).  What do we learn here?  First, a Pharisee emerged from the darkness into the light of Jesus’ presence.  The Pharisees were one of the two major religious groups that guided the Jewish people in the ways of God.  Pharisees were recognizable by their dress and careful follow of religious practices, some Biblical and some they created.  Second, John reminds us that this Pharisee is a man who had a name, Nicodemus.  To point out that Nicodemus is a man seems like an unnecessary detail.  But that Nicodemus is a man reminds us of his humanity. It reminds us that Nicodemus, as well as you and me, were born and that before God we stand not by the strength of any title of life but as man or woman made in God’s image.  Third, Nicodemus is part of the power structure of the Temple that opposed Jesus' cleansing of the Temple and immediately challenged Jesus’ authority.  The Council’s challenge to Jesus’ authority was immediate and relentless, and their resistance to Jesus grew into a murderous rage that ended in Jesus’ death on the cross. Finally, Nicodemus said he came to Jesus because “we know you are a teacher who has come from God.”  We will soon discover that Nicodemus’ statement is not true.  The Council did not know Jesus and did not believe Jesus was from God.  In Nicodemus’ opening statement, we do not learn why he came out of the dark and into the light to meet with Jesus.

But Jesus’ decided to accept Nicodemus’ visit and began to teach the man named Nicodemus. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Very truly I tell you, no one [man or woman] can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3).  Jesus had introduced a central teaching of Christianity.  To move from one realm, the world, into which we were all born, and enter the realm of God, each man and woman must be born a second time. There is no natural birthright that entitles anyone, man, woman, Pharisee, or Council member the right to the realm of God.  No set of prayers or rituals can create a right to the realm of God.  To see and enter the realm of God requires a second birth.

Nicodemus was stunned, confused, and misunderstood Jesus’ words.  4 “‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!’” (John 3:4).  Nicodemus had perhaps witnessed Jesus heal someone or heard reports of healing but had not listened to Jesus teach about God.  Nicodemus heard Jesus’ words now as nonsensical thoughts about the physical realm and not words about the realm of God.  Born again, how can that be?  We benefit from Nicodemus’ misunderstanding because Jesus goes deeper into God’s truth.

“5 Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:5-6).  Jesus addressed Nicodemus’ misunderstanding about a second birth.  Jesus was not speaking of a second physical birth. Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is closed unless a person is born a second time supernaturally. A person must be born of water and then of the Spirit or said differently a person must be born of the flesh and then the Spirit.  There is no alternative for moving from the realm of the world to the realm of God. The second birth must be given to each man or woman as a gift from God.

Jesus continued Nicodemus, “7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:7-8).  The wind follows the path of its choice.  That choice cannot be altered by human intervention.  Likewise, a person born of the Spirit follows the path of the Spirit’s choice.  Human voices no longer control that person's movements as they move from the realm of this world to the realm of God.  A person born of the Spirit is no longer the same as when they were only born of the flesh.

9 “‘How can this be?’ Nicodemus asked.”  How can it be that one must be born supernaturally to enter the realm of God?  For Nicodemus, his entire life was about rituals and sacrifices to please God. His whole life was about being a child of Abraham and worshiping in the Temple of Jerusalem.  Nicodemus’ status among the people was based on being seen as holy in the way he dressed and what he ate.  Jesus no said none of that mattered.  To be in the realm of God, Nicodemus must be born again and start life afresh being led by the Spirit.  “How can this be?”

Jesus said, “10 ‘You are Israel’s teacher, and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people [Pharisees, Council members] do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” (John 3:10-15). Nicodemus may not have understood much of what Jesus said.  But Nicodemus would have understood the reference to Moses lifting up the snake in the wilderness.  This was done to save the sinful people of Israel from death caused by snake bites. The lifting up of the snake upon a pole was God’s way of moving people from physical death to physical life. Jesus said it will be in a similar way that when the Son of Man (Jesus) is lifted up, when He is crucified and then glorified, then those who believe in Him shall have eternal life.  Jesus was equating the belief in Him to a spiritual second birth.

Again, Jesus was speaking of the necessity and the power of his death and resurrection for people to move from the realm of the world and into the realm of God.  The second birth will be one of faith, not of work. The second birth will be marked by accepting Jesus as God’s anointed One.  This thought would be emphasized again a few verses later with the most favorite verse of all Christianity, “16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  Unless a person is born again, they will not see the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5) and that birth comes in the form of belief in atoning sacrifice of Jesus as Savior (John 3:16).

Nicodemus said nothing and faded back into the darkness.  What was Nicodemus’ reason for coming into the light of Jesus’ presence? We do not know.  What was Nicodemus’ report to his fellow Pharisees and other Council members?  We do not know.  We do know that after Jesus was lifted up, crucified, and glorified, Nicodemus was born a second time.  Nicodemus would help bury Jesus’ lifeless body.  Nicodemus became a believer and receiver of the salvation offered by Jesus and Nicodemus moved from the realm of this world to the realm of God. Nicodemus did so not by ritual or animal sacrifice but by the movement of the Holy Spirit within him.

Where does Nicodemus’ story leave us on our journey to the resurrection?  We need to see that Jesus was forthright about what lay ahead.  He was moving from His baptism to his death and resurrection for the sake of His disciples as well as you and me.  We need to see that Jesus’ desire was for everyone to believe in Him and be born again, only this time by His Spirit.  The outward symbol of belief in Him of that second birth would be baptism. Jesus’ message was loving and blunt. You will not see the kingdom of God unless you are born again.

We must ask ourselves, “Have I been born again?”  If our answer is “No” or “I am not sure,” then we are like Nicodemus, we stand in the dark and watch Jesus, who is in the light.  “7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his [God’s] Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).  Do not let the day go by without coming out of the darkness and joining Jesus for His journey to the resurrection and your eternal salvation.  Amen and Amen.  

          This is our third week looking at the cornerstones of Biblical inner peace.  Two weeks ago, we saw that worship was the first cornerstone to having a inner peace.  We are able through worship to give of ourselves to God and to receive from Him the transforming grace of His word.  Last week, we saw that prayers offered with thanksgiving for all that God has done, returns to us with a peace that surpasses all understanding.  Today, I would like to look at the third cornerstone which called fellowship.  And I would like to begin our time looking at this cornerstone with a short story about my childhood.

I come from a family of four children.  I was the youngest of the four.  The oldest of the four children was my sister Marie.  She was fourteen years older than me.  One of the earliest memories I have of my sister, Marie, was her sitting at the kitchen table with a group of her friends.  It was not uncommon for Marie to have friends over at our house to enjoy some time together but there was something about their gathering this time that was different.

          What struck me the most about this gathering was that they all had Bibles in front of them and they were reading them.  We were raised Roman Catholic.  This was the mid-1960’s and one of the things Roman Catholics in the mid-1960’s did not do was read the Bible.  We were never encouraged to read the Bible, and, in fact, I had a sense we were discouraged from reading the Bible.  At this gathering, it appeared to me that my sister, Marie, was leading the conversation. I do not recall what they were talking about, but I knew it was from the Bible.  I was probably 5 or 6 at this time.  Having never seen this before I asked my mother whether what Marie and her friends were doing was allowed.  My mother said it was fine.  Satisfied with my mother’s assurances, I probably grew bored of watching my sister and her friends and went to find something else to do.  It seems like a silly story to me now, but it was a very uncommon experience in the mid-1960’s.

          We might think for a moment that what I witness that day was my sister and her friends engaged in Bible study.  That was true.  But the more I have thought about that moment, what I did not realize then, but now I understand is that in watching my sister and her friends at the kitchen table, I had witnessed the Bible playing out in front of me.  I witnessed something more than a Bible study, what I witnessed was what the New Testament writers called, in Greek, koinonia, which is often translated into English as fellowship.  Too often, in church settings, we associate the idea of fellowship to simply being the sharing of a meal after a worship service.  Certainly, sharing a meal after worship is a facet of fellowship but doing just that, sharing a meal, would leave us short of what God’s Word intends for us to understand in the practice of koinonia. Why does it matter that we understand koinonia?  It matters because koinonia is one of the pillars of Biblical inner peace.

          The first time the word koinonia was used in the New Testament was in the Book of Acts, Chapter 2. Luke was writing about the formation of the early Christian church, in and around Jerusalem.  Luke described the early church this way, “42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42-47).

          The early Christian church had begun, and the church began with some very unexpected developments. Let’s focus on the beginning of Luke’s description.  Luke wrote, ““42 They [The church] devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42-47).  We see here that there were four things emphasized in the early church and all of them were undertaken with a sense of devotion, that is a sense of unforced priority.

          First, the early church was devoted to the apostles’ teaching.  The apostles were not religious scholars.  The apostles were fishermen and at least one tax collector. The apostles, as well as the members of the early church, would have been thought of as common people, ordinary people, nothing special.  And yet, the apostles were able to teach with authority not found among the professional teachers of the Scriptures.  How were these common people transformed into uncommon teachers?  There could be only one explanation.  The transformation occurred by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had told the apostles this would happen.  In the Gospel of John, Chapter 14, Jesus told his apostles, “26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).  And so, we see that the Holy Spirit was involved in the empowerment of the apostles to become teachers of God’s Word and to remind the apostles of what Jesus had said and taught.  The people were devoted to hear more of what the apostles had to say because the more they heard the more peaceful their lives became.

          Second, the early church was devoted to fellowship.  We will cover what that meant in a moment.

          Third, the early church was devoted to breaking the bread.  The use of the term “breaking the bread” carried with it two obvious meanings. The first is sharing a meal.  The second being to share in the Lord’s Supper. Here, though I believe breaking the bread is most likely related to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Biblical scholars believe that one of the teachings from the earliest days of the Christian church was recorded and shared by the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.  In that letter, Paul said to the Corinthian church, “23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).  This teaching is believed to have originated immediately after Jesus’ ascension into heaven and was carried forward to each new group of Christians, all the way up to and including us.  Devotion to the celebration of the breaking of the bread is an act of worship of God through Jesus’ Christ.  It is both solemn in the sense of the moment of Christ’s sacrifice and it is hopeful in the establishment of a new covenant.  And people devoted themselves to the breaking of the bread because it too brought them peace.

          Fourth, the early church was devoted to prayer.  We spoke about prayer last week and saw the power there is in prayer to bring God’s peace into our lives.  Prayer was fundamental to the early church because the strong connection prayer makes between believers and God.  Prayer is an interesting thing to contemplate.  Prayer is the only thing we will ever create that here on earth that we will be found in heaven.  The Book of Revelation speaks of the twenty-four elders in heaven, “Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people” (Revelation 5:8b).  So, when we pray those prayers do not disappear.  They have left the bonds of earth and are received in heaven.  And so, prayer brought peace to the people.

          This leaves us with the topic of fellowship.  Let’s go back to that second devotion of the early church, namely fellowship coming from the Greek word koinonia.  What is koinonia?  It is not entirely clear from the way Luke used the word here and it is, for me, somewhat surprisingly, Luke never uses the word koinonia again.  Our primary source of understanding then comes from the Apostles Paul and John.  And the principal way Paul and John used the word koinonia was to represent a deep spiritual connection between a believer and God through Jesus Christ and between believers in Jesus Christ.  Let’s look at just a couple of examples.

• “9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship [koinonia] with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9).  Paul was emphasizing the koinonia means a strong connection to Christ.
• “14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship [koinonia] of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14).  Paul ended his second letter to the Corinthians encouraging them to keep and enjoy their deep spiritual connection with the Holy Spirit.
• “And our fellowship [koinonia] is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3b).  John emphasized again that the deep spiritual connection with Father through the Son.
• “7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship [koinonia] with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).  John was emphasizing that koinonia a deep spiritual relationship with God through Jesus Christ that is empowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit naturally leads to a coupling and connection with other believers.

So, koinonia has very little to do with the physical world, very little to do with casseroles and potato salad, but has everything to do with spiritual relationships with God through Jesus Christ and between believers. And Luke said the early church devoted itself to such divine and believers’ fellowship.  The idea here is that believers intentionally sought out each other and because there was an excitement of finding and being in the presence of another believer.  The sense of the power of the Holy Spirit and the sense of connectedness to Christ, to God, grows when believers encounter each other.

          Let me illustrate that point in a couple of ways.  When I worked for the federal government, I would travel frequently by air by myself. Onboard the aircraft, you would always be meeting someone new.  In my experience, whenever I was seated next to a believer, the time passed quickly and was refreshing as we shared in each other’s life.  There was fellowship at 30,000 feet because it was the interaction of two beings each possessing the Holy Spirit.

          In ancient times of the early Christian church, the primary symbol of Christians was not the cross but the fish, the ichthys, (ick’-thy-us).  According to one ancient story, when a Christian met a stranger in the road, the Christian sometimes drew one arc of the simple fish outline in the dirt. If the stranger drew the other arc, completing the image of the fish, both believers knew they were in good company.  The company of believers was something that early Christians sought at every opportunity because it brought about the sense of greater empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

          So, koinonia, fellowship as we might translate it, has to do with the ever-greater experience of togetherness with Christ and believers possessing the Holy Spirit. The early church devoted themselves to this drawing of themselves together bask in the sense of spiritual unity. This is what I now believe I saw back when I was a child observing my sister, Marie, and her friends surrounding the kitchen table.  It was perhaps the first time I had seen believers gather in an unforced manner and basking in a sense of spiritual unity, koinonia.  Researchers tell us that our earliest memories become our earliest memories because there was a strong sense of emotion associated with that recalled event.  In my case, this every early childhood memory is recalled because of the strong sense of spiritual unity and a sense of peace.

          Our life should be at peace.  We were not designed for turmoil.  Medical professionals will tell you the more chaos and turmoil you experienced as a child, the more illness prone and the shorter your life will be.  We were not designed for turmoil.  We were designed for peace.

The Garden of Eden was peaceful and balanced.  Sin changed all that.  But time and time again, God has called us out of the world of turmoil that we have created and brought us back into peace.  Jesus came to bring us peace.  Jesus came to love us.  Jesus came to reconcile us from the turmoil of sin to the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.  Jesus gave believers the Holy Spirit to enable them to do the things He called believers to do and to bind believers together.  That binding together of believers to Christ and to each other is koinonia. Be devoted then to koinonia and let us be together brothers and sisters in Christ.  Amen and Amen.