Dec 19, 2019
At the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah) in late December, Jesus is walking in the temple when a crowd surrounds Him and demands that he tell them if He is in fact the Christ. Jesus counters by pointing to the signs/miracles He has done, which they witnessed and lets that be His answer. The angry reaction leads Jesus to...
Dec 19, 2019
The theme of shepherd and sheep is a familiar one in the Hebrew Bible. “Shepherd” is a Messianic title. Jesus states that He is the Good Shepherd who gathers His sheep and safeguards them, and they in turn will hear His voice and follow Him. All others are thieves and robbers and do not care for the sheep. Thieves...
Dec 19, 2019
The religious authorities confront the now seeing man and attempt to get him to renounce Jesus. They insist that Jesus is a sinner since He worked on the Sabbath, but the healed man reacts to this and refuses to speak ill of Jesus. He reasons, how could a sinner do such a miracle? The parents of the man are also...
Dec 19, 2019
Here is the ancient idea that past sin of a person or the parents, etc. results in misfortune down the line. Jesus heals a man born blind, makes clay, puts on the man’s eyes, tells him to go to the Pool of Siloam to wash the mud off. The blind man sees. Trouble arises for both the healed man and the Healer, since...
Nov 30, 2019
Being a descendant of Abraham was a claim to special position and authority for the religious leaders. Jesus now, and using the term, “I Am” to refer to Himself, is thus making a direct claim to deity. He even says that before Abraham was “I Am,” meaning He is and always has been. This so infuriated His hearers...