Scripture: John 5 (vs 39-44)
A teacher gave her class of second graders a lesson
on the “MAGNET” and what it does. The next day in a written test, she included
this question: "My full name has six letters. The first
one is M. I pick up things. What am I?" When the test papers were
turned in, the teacher was astonished to find that almost 50 percent of the
students answered the question with the word Mother. (picture of a magnet MAGNET on screen then
add MOTHER under MAGNET picture of a mother picking things up)
A 5th grade teacher asked this question: "Suppose your mother baked a pie and there were seven of you--your
parents and five children. What part of the pie would you get?"
A boy replied "A sixth." "I'm afraid you don't
know your fractions," said the teacher. "Remember, there are seven of you." The boy said,
"Yes,
teacher, but you don't know my mother. Mother would say she didn't want any
pie."
MOTHERS AND
TEACHER SEEM TO GO HAND IN HAND
My mom:
She felt that in the era and circumstances she grew up in she had two occupational
choices - Nurse or Teacher. Taught Health
and phys ed. Directed the HS plays at Pleasantview and the faculty plays at
Westland where she taught OWE. The most
important thing my mother taught me was that getting along with people is
more valuable than knowledge or skills. By her life she taught me to be
the best me I can be. My mom had no issues with people knowing who
she was. I don’t either.
Verneta
Wisecaver’s mother and grandmother were teachers. She told Teresa that her mom and my mom were
teachers and divorced single moms - we had that in common. I asked what was the
most important thing your mom taught you? After much thought, the most
important thing her mother taught her was to be “sassy” and “duty”
Of the four things
taught by our mother/teachers 3 of them are Christian values: 1) getting along
with others 2) being the best version of ourselves 3) living out our duty (not
sure about the sassy part)
Getting along with others to Jesus was most important
- Matt 22:34-40 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got
together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment
in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind.' This is the first and greatest
commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these
two commandments."
Duty
- Come follow me! Go out two by two.
Be
the best you that you can be.
That is the questioning Jesus was answering in John 5 - He claimed to be
God and the Pharisees couldn’t grasp that concept so Jesus taught them.
John the Baptist was teaching Jews to be the best Jews they could be:
Luke 3:9-17
The ax is
already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good
fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." 10 "What should we do then?" the crowd asked. 11 John answered, "The man with two
tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do
the same." 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher, what should we do?"
"Don't collect any more than you are required
to," he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely — be
content with your pay." 15
The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if
John might possibly be the Christ. John
answered them all, "I baptize you with water.
But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not
worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
17 His winnowing fork is in his hand
to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will
burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
He took the law of
Moses and said put in into practice.
4) Sassy - 1 Peter 2:9 KJV says we are a peculiar people. Matt
10:16
I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.
Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
John 5:1-47 (vs 1-16 paraphrased)
Invalid for 38
years at the healing pools of Bethesda. Jesus showed up and healed him on the
spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.
That day happened to be the Sabbath. The Jews stopped the healed man and
said, "It's the Sabbath. You can't carry your bedroll around. It's against the
rules." That is why the Jews were out to get Jesus — because he did
this kind of thing on the Sabbath.
17 But Jesus
defended himself. "My Father is working straight through, even on the
Sabbath. So am I. (Faithful
doing his duty)" Now they wanted to kill him for claiming to be
God.
So Jesus
explained himself at length. "I'm telling you this
straight. The Son can't independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father
doing. What the Father does, the Son does. The Father loves the Son and
includes him in everything he is doing. "But
you haven't seen the half of it yet, for in the same way that the Father raises
the dead and creates life, so does
the Son. The Son gives life to anyone
he chooses. Neither he nor the Father shuts anyone out. The Father handed all
authority to judge over to the Son so that the Son will be honored equally with
the Father. Anyone who dishonors the Son, dishonors the Father, for it was the
Father's decision to put the Son in the place of honor.
24 "It's urgent that you listen carefully to this:
Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the
Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer
condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world
of the dead to the world of the living.
"It's urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived — I mean right
now! — when dead men and women will hear the voice of the Son of God and,
hearing, will come alive. Just as the
Father has life in himself, he has
conferred on the Son life in himself.
And he has given him the authority, simply because he is the Son of Man, to
decide and carry out matters of Judgment.
28 "Don't act so surprised at all this. The time is coming
when everyone dead and buried will hear his voice. Those who have lived the
right way will walk out into a
resurrection Life; those who have lived the wrong way, into a resurrection
Judgment. "I can't do a solitary thing on my own: I listen, then I decide.
You can trust my decision because I'm not out to get my own way but only to
carry out orders. (DUTY) 31 If I were simply speaking on my own account, it would be an
empty, self-serving witness. But an independent witness confirms me, the most
reliable Witness of all. Furthermore, you all saw and heard John, and he gave
expert and reliable testimony about me, didn't he? "But my purpose is not
to get your vote, and not to appeal to mere human testimony. I'm speaking to
you this way so that you will be saved.
John was a torch, blazing and bright, (his best self) and you were glad
enough to dance for an hour or so in his bright light. But the witness that
really confirms me far exceeds John's witness. It's the work the Father gave me
to complete. These very tasks, as I go about completing them, confirm that the
Father, in fact, sent me. The Father who sent me, confirmed me. And you missed
it. You never heard his voice, you never saw his appearance. There is nothing
left in your memory of his Message because you do not take his Messenger
seriously.
39 "You have your heads in your Bibles
constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But you miss the
forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and
you aren't willing to receive
from me
the life you say you want. "I'm
not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and
your crowds. I know that love, especially God's love, is not on your working
agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or
avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with
open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your
time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring
God?
45 "But don't think I'm going to accuse you before my
Father. Moses, in whom you put so much stock, is your accuser. If you believed,
really believed, what Moses said, you would believe me. He wrote of me. If you
won't take seriously what he taught, how can I expect you to take seriously
what I teach?"
Jesus is a teacher - My
mom was a teacher. It is good to learn
to get along with others, to do our duty and to be the best version of our
selves. But because the Father loves His
children so much, through the life, death, resurrection, ascension and imminent
return of Jesus in John chapter 5 he has taught us how much he loves us and
that His love has everything to do with us going from death to life - a life
that is what life was meant to be a life that will never ever end!
So, what should we
teach others? Life! How should we teach
it? Through love! This is our duty, as
we get along with others, to show people our best selves in Christ!
Matt 28:19-20
“Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very
end of the age.”
When Robert Ingersoll, the notorious skeptic, was in
his heyday, two college students went to hear him teach at a lecture. As they
walked down the street after the lecture, one said to the other, “Well, I guess
he knocked the props out from under Christianity, didn’t he?” The other
said, “No, I don’t think he did. Ingersoll did not
explain my mother’s life, and until he can explain my mother’s life I will
stand by my mother’s God.”
No comments:
Post a Comment