Publicity....

Publicity is an attempt, deliberately designed to attract and manage public attention.  It is possible to buy it. I don't do it often, but I have paid lots of money for some of it....

Movie stars and politicians are very stratetic about managing how the public percieves them. They go to great lengths to be at the right place at the right time, wearing the right thing, saying the right thing...

The best kind is free.
The best kind can't be bought. 
The best kind is word of mouth....not managed, not designed, not some strategy.

Jesus' disciples would have been publicists if Jesus had cooperated with them. 

As I continue in my study of John's gospel account, I read in John 7 about Jesus' ministry going forward, and it is again near the festival season. (...think 4th of July when everyone rushes to the lake with hamburger and hotdog supplies..) 

Jesus would have participated in these festivities every year as He grew up.  It would have had great religious meaning but would also have been part of His heritage and something He had shared with His family and friends.

"It was near the time of Tabernacles, a feast observed annually by the Jews.   His brothers said, "Why don't you leave here and go up to the Feast so your disciples can get a good look at the works you do.  No one who intends to be publicly known does everything behind the scenes. If you're serious about what you are doing, come out in the open and show the world."    (John 7:2-4)



Just as the devil had suggested, (Matthew 4:5-6), now Jesus' brothers suggest, "Dazzle them! Show off some of those tricks you can do !! This is a perfect opportunity, all these people in town, everyone receptive to hearing about Messiah, You can take down the house !!"

But....as they should have realized, miracles don't bring about belief.  They had seen, yet demand more miraculous 'proof'. 

Jesus is the most famous person Who ever walked this earth, but His strategy to be in the right place at the right time was not a plan to manage public opinion. 

It was a strategy planned out from eternity past.....

It was a strategy to be in ONLY the right place at the right time....


.......on Calvary's hill, as the Lamb of God, at the time of the final Passover.



Hallelujah.





Devil...

Around Halloween, a devil wears a red suit with a long pointed tail, horns on his head, and a spear in his hand.

I've heard people call a mischievous child a 'little devil'. 

I don't like either.



Jesus faced 'the' devil in the wilderness.

In John 6:70 Jesus spoke of  'a' devil.



 He had been talking to the following crowd  about spiritual food rather than the free fish dinner they had enjoyed previously. In the process, He was exposing false motives.  The real reason they followed Him was not for Who He is, but for what He could do for them. At least in part....

A profound truth I see this morning is that the Word of God brings life, and it divides. 

Some of the people said Jesus' teaching was 'too hard', and left.  They stopped following, stopped seeking Him out, stopped listening.

"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. (John 6:67)


I love Peter's answer.

"Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life.We've already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God." (John 6:69 The Message)

But Jesus' response chills me.....

"Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" (John 6:70)

I purpose before God this morning to not just 'look' like a follower of Jesus.

I purpose before Him to be authentic. 

Difficult....

"On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" (John 6:60)

Acting in obedience to what God instructs is rarely ANYthing other than difficult.

 Making a decision to follow Christ seems only to make life more difficult. 

Choosing to do what HE says is right is much more difficult than just reacting to our life situations in whatever way we feel at the moment.

Often I have repeated this to Jesus. "This is hard !!"   "Who can do this?" (John 6:60)




"I can"....He whispers.





".....the Spirit of truth.......... you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you........

 I will not leave you...." (John 14:17-18)

Teach....

Continuing in John 6...I think about the crowd of Jews following this new Teacher Jesus. 

They had been fed......miraculously.
People had been healed....miraculously.



I feel sure I would have been right where they were.  Questioning. Drawing on my knowledge of scripture. I'm pretty sure I would not have recognized prophecy fulfilled in this carpenter from Nazareth.....no more than they did.

Why did so many not get it?  Why did they not recognize Him for Who He was...immediately?  They had so much knowledge of scripture, prophecy......




In John 6:45, Jesus quotes from Isaiah 54:13 and Jeremiah 31:31-34, telling the critical Jews who questioned His teaching that "...all will be taught by God.." (John 6:45)

To teach it to communicate to another the knowledge of that of which he was before ignorant. (Webster's definition)



I am struck this morning with that phrase, "taught by God". 

I can learn lots of information. I can replace any area of ignorance with facts and data. I can scrutinize and analyze....

But in matters of God and His Word, what He has said, what He IS saying, what He is doing....I do well to not teach myself.  I may accumulate some knowledge, but that knowledge will be useless unless it is brought to Life by The Holy Spirit of God. 

I purpose today to be taught by God. 

Endures....

Webster says "To last; to continue in the same state without perishing"

In John 6:27 Jesus says, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.."

What does that mean?  I echo the question of the crowd following Him that day. 

As I ponder on the situation recorded in scripture, I see a crowd of people following Jesus because of reasons like the free food and free medical help He was providing.

Why do I follow Him? 



I have learned that my greatest needs are not the immediate needs we all have.  While Jesus is indeed concerned with the needs of my flesh, (He knows about those....personally..), His desire is that I have my eternal needs met.

And those needs are needs that I am absolutely powerless to fill.....


How thankful I am that it is not my own work and labot, but the work of grace, that provides the eternal food that I would die without. 

Eternally....that is beyond a long time.

Recognize...

Webster says "To recollect or recover the knowledge of.."

I read (or heard) somewhere once, that you can't know what you don't know.  Duh..

While it is true that we can only know what we know....it is also true that we CAN know MORE than we know.


It may seem that I'm talking in circles or riddles.....but looking at the events of John 6, I see that Jesus' disciples did not 'recognize' Him.  I wonder...how often is it that I too, do not recognize Him?  

Did they not recognize Him because they did not expect Him to show up?

Or did they not recognize Him because He appeared in an unexpected way?

When the circumstances are stormy, am I frightened and unaware that it is Him approaching?

How do I expect Him to show up in my storm?

 And are those expectations broad enough to recognize Him in whatever way He chooses to show Himself to me in the middle of my own storm?

 "....they were terrified. But he said to them, "It is I; don't be afraid."
Then they were willing to take him into the boat..."(John 6:19-21)



 I purpose to know more than I know now....I want to know Jesus so intimately, that in whatever frightful situation I face, I will recognize Him in it, that I will know His Presence even before I see with my eyes or understand with my mind.

How thankful I am that His character and nature is one of love and assurance, that even when I do not recognize Him, He calls out to me at just the right moment, comes on board with me in my situation, and comforts me with His Presence.

Hallelujah.

Force...

Jesus could have forced anything He chose.

He could have forced the crowd to leave Him alone to rest. But He chose to calm them, difuse the situation, and feed their bellies.

He did force His disciples into a boat and onto the Sea of Galilee at night.  He told them to go to Bathsaida, and He went back up the hill for the quiet time with God that He had wanted before the interruption of the crowd.

After such compelling instructions, the disciples did as they were told.  Well, maybe...scripture says they set off for Capernaum.  (John 6:17) The two cities are near each other.  Maybe close is good enough....  ?

As I read thru all the gospel accounts of this event, I see that Jesus sent them off, didn't go with them, but saw them from where He was.  "He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them...."(Mark 6:48)

Were the disciples rowing hard in the wrong direction, not headed exactly where they were sent?


I can't know, either way.  But I realize from pondering on this story,  that when I am not in complete obedience to God's instructions, very often I find myself straining against a strong and forceful wind in my own life.

Perhaps the wind was sent to maneuver them back on track in the right direction.  Perhaps not.
Does He send a force of 'wind' to encourage me to stop going in the wrong direction?  I think so.

I know this... My will is mine. God can and will not force me. My choices are mine to make.

But I do well to accept the truth that He is always, always, always right. Whether I like it, agree with it, or understand it....He is right.

I purpose in my heart to go exactly where He instructs, exactly when.....and know that He is watching, always aware of my situation, and will show up at exactly the right time.

He is always, and ONLY, good.














(Mark 6:44-51)