Perfection

 

A Series on New Testament Stories
A Woman caught in Adultery
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
John 7:53-8:11 

[The Bible is mostly made up of stories. Stories about people’s lives, the struggles they faced and their faith, or lack of it. In this series we will be looking at some of those people in the Gospel of John. We’ll try to learn from their stories about who God is, how he worked in their life and how that applies to us today.]

  

There are two kinds of people in this world – those who keep their desk organized and those who don’t. I fall into the first category. An organized desk not only helps me to be organized, but also to stay focused. Everything has a place. It’s perfection in an otherwise imperfect world.

 

In today’s story, Jesus was in the temple where he had been teaching a crowd since dawn. Suddenly, the self-righteous, status-quo seeking religious leaders dragged in a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her before Jesus to find out if he thought she should be stoned to death according to the Law of Moses.

 

There was a great deal of drama. The tension must have been palpable. Imagine how it would have felt to be the woman? To be dragged into such a public arena with men gawking at you; judging you; condemning you; calling for your death?

 

With tensions running high, Jesus turned the tables on the religious leaders when he said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 

 

At this point, something amazing happened. One by one, they all left until it was only Jesus and the woman.

 

¹⁰ Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

¹¹ “No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”               NLT

 

We know very little about the woman. Whether she attended synagogue; if she had children; was she well respected in her circle of friends; what led her to the adulterous relationship.

 

But we do know that she wasn’t perfect.

 

What if you were in her shoes? What if the crowd knew about the worst sin that you ever committed? What if your friends saw you at your worst moment? What if people knew your innermost thoughts and feelings? Nobody wants that much transparency.

 

Perfection may be possible with a desk, but it’s impossible for you and me. 

The Good News is that Jesus forgives us of all our sins. He doesn’t judge or condemn us to death but promises us life. Then, despite our imperfection, he sends us into the world to share this Good News.

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

 

 

The Question

A Series on New Testament Stories
Healing of a Disabled Man
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
John 5:1-15 

[The Bible is mostly made up of stories. Stories about people’s lives, the struggles they faced and their faith, or lack of it. In this series we will be looking at some of those people in the Gospel of John. We’ll try to learn from their stories about who God is, how he worked in their life and how that applies to us today.]

  

The song, “Lookin’ for Love” was released in 1980 as a part of the soundtrack from the movie “Urban Cowboy”. It has all the earmarks of a classic country song.

 

I was lookin' for love in all the wrong places
Lookin' for love in too many faces
Searchin' their eyes
Lookin' for traces of what I'm dreaming of

 

The story about the healing of a disabled man takes place at the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. It was said that at “certain times”, an angel would stir the waters, and whoever first stepped into the pool would be healed of whatever disease they had.

 

Jesus had returned to Jerusalem from Galilee for one of the Jewish festivals. The city would have been packed. As he approached the pool, the scene is described as, “Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves”. 

 

Amongst them was a man who had been disabled for thirty-eight years! That’s a lifetime. As he laid there, he was helpless because he had no one to help him into the water when it was stirred.

 

There are two things that stick out to me in this story. First, is that the disabled man was hoping for a miracle. After thirty-eight years, he saw no other solution. He must have been so desperate to walk that he was willing to do anything.

 

Second, Jesus asked him a really dumb question. “Do you want to get well?”  Duh! Why else would he be there? But Jesus must have realized this. So why did he ask the question?

 

The man didn’t know who Jesus was. He hadn’t heard about the itinerant preacher who healed the son of a royal official in Capernaum or changed water into wine in Cana. He was too busy trying to get into the healing water of Bethesda.

 

It wasn’t until Jesus learned that the man had been disabled for a long time, that he asked the question. However, the question was rhetorical. Jesus was trying to redirect the man’s attention to a healing that was not only physical, but spiritual.

 

Like the disabled man, we all have disabilities. They may be emotional or spiritual, but they’re still a lifetime of disabilities.

 

And like the country singer, we tend to try to meet our needs, our disabilities, in all the wrong places. 

But Jesus will meet us at the point of our need. It may not be dramatic or immediate, but with small steps he will do it.

 

Have you heard him ask you the question?

“Do you want to get well?”

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

 

 

 

 

McDonald’s Diet Coke

A Series on New Testament Stories
The Samaritan Woman
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
John 4:1-26 

[The Bible is mostly made up of stories. Stories about people’s lives, the struggles they faced and their faith, or lack of it. In this series we will be looking at some of those people in the Gospel of John. We’ll try to learn from their stories about who God is, how he worked in their life and how that applies to us today.]

 

When you’re really, really thirsty, what quenches your thirst? For me, it’s a large ice cold, McDonald’s Diet Coke. There’s something about their Diet Coke that makes it better than any other restaurant. And that’s not just my opinion either. I’ve confirmed it with other McDonald’s Diet Coke drinkers.

 

Jesus had a very interesting conversation with a Samaritan woman. They were at Jacob’s well where all she wanted to do was get some water when nobody else was around. But Jesus was thirsty and asked her for a drink.

 

Her backstory was sordid. She had five failed marriages and was currently living with someone that she wasn’t married to. No doubt her reputation was in ruins. However, she was a survivor, and she did what she believed she had to do.

 

Although she had some religious beliefs, like the proper place to worship and the promised Messiah, they did nothing to provide for her needs or improve her life. Needless to say, God wasn’t a high priority for her.

 

In fact, she compartmentalized God. Living… was here and now. God… was out there somewhere untouchable. The two didn’t intersect. Did she pray? Did she go to synagogue? Maybe. But her day to day life was unaffected by her religious beliefs.

 

Jesus broke through her wall of compartmentalization. He saw her physical need for water, and translated it into her spiritual need for the Messiah. It was through his unconditional love, grace and forgiveness that he touched her life that day.

 

¹⁰ Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”         NLT

 

²⁶ Then Jesus told her, “I am the Messiah!”     NLT

 

During this brief, lunchtime-at-the-well conversation, she learned a lot about who Jesus was… the living water; the gift of God; the Messiah. Those truths are unchanged today for you and me.

 

There are lots of diversions that can derail our faith. For the Samaritan woman, it was a lifetime of failed relationships. For us, it could be the same. Or it could be our career, a desire for material possessions or financial security, or an addiction.

 

But the Good News is that no matter what, Jesus doesn’t give up on us. He keeps reaching out to us. Like the woman at the well, he keeps offering us the gift of living water; the gift of himself. He quenches our spiritual thirst.

 

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”              NIV

 

That’s way better than a large McDonald’s Diet Coke.

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

 

 

Cross My Heart and Hope to Die

A Series on New Testament Stories
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
John 3:1-21 

[The Bible is mostly made up of stories. Stories about people’s lives, the struggles they faced and their faith, or lack of it. In this series we will be looking at some of those people in the Gospel of John. We’ll try to learn from their stories about who God is, how he worked in their life and how that applies to us today.]

  

When I was a kid growing up, there was a saying that we would use when we really wanted to confirm our credibility. If we really wanted someone to believe what we said, we’d follow it up with, “Cross my heart and hope to die”. 

 

In Jesus’ day there was a similar phrase that was used to announce that an important truth was following, and that the listener should pay close attention. In the King James it is translated, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee”.

 

Today’s story is about a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, who happened to be a Pharisee and a member of the ruling council. Which is to say, that he was a part of the religious establishment who Jesus would often confront.

 

The first thing Nicodemus said was to concede that God was with Jesus. But from then on, Jesus ran with the ball… so to speak.

 

Three times Jesus prefaced what he said to Nicodemus with “Verily, verily”. And all three times Nicodemus didn’t get it. Basically, Jesus was trying to tell him how to find the kingdom of God.

 

On the third try, Jesus made a reference to the Israelites who had wandered in the wilderness following their escape from Egypt. At the time, they bitterly complained to Moses about the conditions of life… mostly the food.

 

Because of their sin, God sent venomous snakes into the camp. When an Israelite was bitten by one, they died. Seeing this, the others repented. So, God had Moses fashion a bronze snake on a pole, and if people looked at the snake, they lived.  

 

From the context of our culture, this is a pretty bizarre story. But, it was one that Nicodemus would have been familiar with and could relate to. Here’s how Jesus made the connection.

 

¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.                        NLT

 

Jesus often referred to himself as the Son of Man. So, he was telling Nicodemus that in order to enter the kingdom of God, all he had to do was look to Jesus. He then expounded on this truth with his now “football famous” words.

 

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. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.        NIV

 

Nicodemus’ story is as old as time, but as relevant as today. Who is this man Jesus that identified himself as both the Son of Man and the Son of God? No doubt Nicodemus was looking for the answer to that very question. However, the answer is not just for Nicodemus, but it’s for you and me also.

 

That’s the truth! Cross my heart and hope to die.

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams