Reflective Bible Study

As we move through our year focusing on Mark’s gospel, let’s jump over one of Jesus’ most famous miracles and focus in on a miracle that happened on a much smaller scale, but a miracle that may have stood out in the minds of the disciples a little more. Part way through Mark, chapter 6, we find Mark sharing the only miracle that all four gospel writers include. This is the miracle of the feeding a crowd of over 5,000 people.

After this miracle has taken place, we jump into our event that we’ll be focusing in on for our time together this episode. This means that our passage for this episode will come from Mark’s gospel (which is no surprise there), chapter 6, and we will read from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 45, Mark wraps up the miracle of feeding the 5,000 by telling us:

⁴⁵ Jesus quickly made his disciples get into a boat and cross to Bethsaida ahead of him while he sent the people away. ⁴⁶ After saying goodbye to them, he went up a mountain to pray. ⁴⁷ When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land.

⁴⁸ Jesus saw that they were in a lot of trouble as they rowed, because they were going against the wind. Between three and six o’clock in the morning, he came to them. He was walking on the sea. He wanted to pass by them. ⁴⁹ When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought, “It’s a ghost!” and they began to scream. ⁵⁰ All of them saw him and were terrified.

Immediately, he said, “Calm down! It’s me. Don’t be afraid!” ⁵¹ He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped blowing. The disciples were astounded. ⁵² (They didn’t understand what had happened with the loaves of bread. Instead, their minds were closed.)

Let’s pause reading here briefly because I want to point out what Mark has just told us. While Mark mentions that the disciples were astounded at Jesus and that the wind stopped blowing at the instant Jesus stepped into the boat with them, Mark also includes an interesting side note. Verse 52 tells us that the disciples didn’t understand what had happened with the loaves of bread because their minds were closed.

As I think about this side-note Mark included in his gospel, part of me wanted this verse to read that the disciples’ minds were closed because God wasn’t ready for them to fully understand the significance of what Jesus had done. However, nothing like this is suggested in this passage or in this context.

Instead, the context is the disciples fighting the storm and Jesus walking to them on the water. At the end of what had occurred that night, it wouldn’t surprise many people that the events of the miraculous feeding of a huge crowd was diminished in the minds of these disciples who were likely very sleep deprived while also making very little progress crossing the lake.

Part of me wonders if the disciples had closed off their own minds to Jesus and to the significance of this earlier miracle because they were simply overwhelmed with what they had just been through.

This detail reminds me of the truth that our current problems will always appear to be bigger than our past problems, and the further in the past a problem is, the less significant it appears. It is the same when we look at something that is far away. It always appears smaller than when we are right next to it. When we have a lot of distance between a problem we once faced and where we are today, that problem will always appear less significant than the challenges in our lives today.

While it is crazy to think about, someone who had been homeless for several months a decade or more ago might be more stressed out tomorrow morning about what they will wear from a closet of clean clothes then about their homelessness, even though their homeless state was significantly more stressful at that time of their lives.

With the disciples, while their stomachs had been satisfied through the miracle of food multiplication, they had moved on to the most immediate challenge and their minds were closed to the significance of this miracle.

If the disciples missed the significance of the miracle where Jesus fed the huge crowd, is it possible we too can miss what God is doing in our lives today?

Are our lives so full of distractions that we miss seeing all the amazing miracles that God is doing in the world around us?

Are our lives so focused on screens that we miss the beauty of creation?

While I cannot answer these questions for you, I can certainly say that God has been challenging me at this point in my life with busyness and intentionally staying connected with Him. I will be the first to say that I probably miss more than I should with regards to what God is doing in the world around me.

However, I know that passages like this and specifically challenges like this help me refocus my life onto Jesus.

Before ending this episode, I want to draw our attention onto what happened after Jesus and the disciples reach the far shore. Picking back up in verse 53, Mark tells us that:

⁵³ They crossed the sea, came to shore at Gennesaret, and anchored there.

⁵⁴ As soon as they stepped out of the boat, the people recognized Jesus. ⁵⁵ They ran all over the countryside and began to carry the sick on cots to any place where they heard he was. ⁵⁶ Whenever he would go into villages, cities, or farms, people would put their sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch the edge of his clothes. Everyone who touched his clothes was made well.

In these few summary verses, I get a clear reminder that even simple faith in Jesus is enough to work miracles in our lives. Those people living in that area had the faith that simply touching Jesus’ clothing would be enough to make them well. This is amazing faith, and it is also simple faith. I see this passage challenging me to step out of the busyness of my life and back into being better connected with God! Perhaps it can be the same sort of challenge for you too!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to place your hope, faith, trust, and belief in Jesus. Intentionally make time to step out of the busyness we all face and intentionally take the time to rest with God. God promised us regular rest in His daily and weekly cycle for our lives, and following His pattern for our lives is what ultimately works the best for our health and wellbeing.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. A strong relationship with God will help us face the trials that come into our lives, and a strong relationship with God helps our minds be open to seeing and understanding what He is doing in the world today.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

In our last podcast episode, we stopped before finishing a longer challenge Jesus gives to the crowd of people who found Him following the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus walking to the disciples’ boat as they were struggling to cross the lake.

In Jesus’ challenge, He begins by emphasizing what God wants most from His people. After the crowd challenges Jesus to give them a sign, which tells us something about the character of this crowd since they just experienced a sign when Jesus fed them in the wilderness, Jesus shifts to talking about the bread God gives, and how He is the Bread of Life.

Reading a few of the last verses from our previous episode to give this episode’s passage some context, let’s pick back up where we left off in our last episode. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 47, Jesus continued speaking, saying:

⁴⁷ “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 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.”

⁵² Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

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. 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.” ⁵⁹ He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Let’s pause reading here. What Jesus has just described is one of the most challenging things He says in the entire Bible, and on the surface, it sounds like Jesus is telling His followers to become cannibals.

However, the only way these verses about eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking Jesus’ blood make sense is when we understand them spiritually. In a literal sense, no one has eaten Jesus’ flesh or drank His blood. The single opportunity that people would have had would have been as He was being taken off the cross and buried, but nothing like this is even hinted at in any of the gospels. While Jesus was dying, most of the disciples were hiding for their lives, and it is only after Jesus is raised from the dead that they begin to venture out. After Jesus was raised from the dead, there was no way the disciples could literally eat His flesh or drink His blood because He appeared and disappeared at will.

Instead, the spiritual truth Jesus teaches His closest followers later on during His ministry, when they are eating the Last Supper together on the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested. In this Passover meal, Jesus takes bread and symbolically equates it to His body, and He takes wine and symbolically equates it to His blood.

However, at this earlier point in Jesus’ ministry while He is teaching this crowd, we don’t have any hint at this symbolism, only a strange literal-sounding declaration about becoming cannibals. Because of this, when we continue reading in verse 60, we see the response of the crowd. John tells us:

⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

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.

⁶⁷ “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “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.”

⁷⁰ Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” ⁷¹ (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

In this passage, and in its conclusion, we discover that Jesus subtly reemphasizes the spiritual nature of what He shared with these followers by saying in verse 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.”

This is the biggest clue that Jesus is speaking in a spiritual, symbolic sense, rather than literally. Remember eating Jesus’ flesh doesn’t make sense when Jesus tells us directly that the flesh counts for nothing.

So a better question for us to ask is why would Jesus press this crowd with this truth?

When I look at the broad event, I suspect that Jesus understood something that we did not. I suspect that Jesus understood that the larger the crowds were that followed Him, the greater the danger that this crowd would derail His mission into this world. This specific crowd presents an interesting challenge of its own. This crowd, prompted by emotion, had wanted to make Jesus their earthly king following His miracle of food multiplication, but this same crowd then demanded more signs from Jesus to prove He was from God.

This crowd reflects a decent portion of humanity who are ruled by their emotions, while claiming to be ruled by logic. This crowd was self-serving, only interested in Jesus for what He could do for them, and they likely would not have been satisfied for long with any miracle or sign Jesus would have provided to prove that He was from God. Less than 48 hours after an amazing miracle they were a clear part of, we see them demanding another sign. This crowd discounted every reason they were given to believe in Jesus, while claiming they wanted Jesus to give them reasons for them to believe.

Because of this crowd’s overtly self-serving attitude and focus on bread from God, I believe Jesus took this theme and pushed it to its extreme. Jesus did not lie, but Jesus shared a spiritual truth that was deeper and more direct than any of these people were willing to accept. Jesus shared how He was God’s manna from heaven, and how the manna foreshadowed His coming into the world.

This spiritual truth was so challenging, that it prompted many of His followers who were disciples to desert Him. While we think of disciples as the twelve men Jesus chose, John uses this term to describe a bigger group of regular followers of Jesus, and John describes the twelve closest followers in this passage as simply “the Twelve”. From how this passage frames the aftermath of Jesus’ message, it appears like Jesus took this huge crowd and pushed every person away until He was left with only the Twelve disciples. The bigger the crowds following Jesus got, the harder Jesus pushed them with spiritual truth.

However, while Jesus pushed those in the first century with hard spiritual truth, we are called to believe Jesus’ words, because Jesus’ words bring life and Jesus’ life brings eternal life. God has promised that those who believe and trust in Jesus will be given eternal life. Even if Jesus challenges us with some very difficult to accept challenges, His perspective is bigger than our own, and even when we don’t understand, we are called to believe and look forward to the day when all our questions will be answered when Jesus returns to bring us home.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to trust in Jesus even when He says some challenging words. Study into the challenging messages Jesus shares to discover some amazing spiritual truth that is worth applying into our lives. Remember, through Jesus, we are promised eternal life, and because of what Jesus did for us, we have the assurance of salvation.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow from God’s Word. God has preserved the Bible for thousands of years, and it has the power to transform lives when we let the Holy Spirit speak through it. No other book or collection of writing has the Holy Spirit behind it like the Bible. We can trust the Bible will give us an accurate picture of God when we look at it holistically and in context.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or fall away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue moving through Mark’s gospel, we come to a point where Mark includes a brief side-story that is not directly connected to Jesus, but one that gives us insights into a few comments that are mentioned later on in Jesus’ ministry leading up to a very uneventful meeting that took place on the morning Jesus was crucified.

However, the reason this event is significant is not because of how it leads into Jesus’ story, but instead it is significant because of how it ends the story of Jesus’ forerunner in ministry. Three of the four gospel writers include this event, and this tells us that this event was significant to those in the early church.

Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 14, Mark tells us that:

¹⁴ King Herod heard about Jesus, because he was now well known. Some people said, “He is John the Baptist, who has risen from the dead. That is why he can work these miracles.”

¹⁵ Others said, “He is Elijah.”

Other people said, “Jesus is a prophet, like the prophets who lived long ago.”

¹⁶ When Herod heard this, he said, “I killed John by cutting off his head. Now he has risen from the dead!”

¹⁷ Herod himself had ordered his soldiers to arrest John and put him in prison in order to please his wife, Herodias. She had been the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother, but then Herod had married her. ¹⁸ John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to be married to your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ So Herodias hated John and wanted to kill him. But she couldn’t, ²⁰ because Herod was afraid of John and protected him. He knew John was a good and holy man. Also, though John’s preaching always bothered him, he enjoyed listening to John.

²¹ Then the perfect time came for Herodias to cause John’s death. On Herod’s birthday, he gave a dinner party for the most important government leaders, the commanders of his army, and the most important people in Galilee. ²² When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and the people eating with him.

So King Herod said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I will give it to you.” ²³ He promised her, “Anything you ask for I will give to you—up to half of my kingdom.”

²⁴ The girl went to her mother and asked, “What should I ask for?”

Her mother answered, “Ask for the head of John the Baptist.”

²⁵ At once the girl went back to the king and said to him, “I want the head of John the Baptist right now on a platter.”

²⁶ Although the king was very sad, he had made a promise, and his dinner guests had heard it. So he did not want to refuse what she asked. ²⁷ Immediately the king sent a soldier to bring John’s head. The soldier went and cut off John’s head in the prison ²⁸ and brought it back on a platter. He gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹ When John’s followers heard this, they came and got John’s body and put it in a tomb.

One thing about this event that stood out to me as we read it just now is Herod’s reaction on hearing about Jesus and thinking He was a resurrected John the Baptist. While I will be the first to say I believe in a resurrection of the dead, it is interesting that Herod also believed in a resurrection of the dead.

However, a slightly disturbing but also a little funny picture enters my brain when thinking about Herod’s response. When Herod tries to rationalize Jesus stepping into history as potentially being John the Baptist risen from the dead, Herod makes the statement that he had beheaded John. This would make John’s head occupy a completely different location than John’s body. This passage finishes off by telling us that John’s followers came for John’s body and they buried his body, now headless, in a tomb.

I don’t know if Herod’s wife kept John’s head as a souvenir or as a trophy for her victory over this irritating preacher, but regardless of whether she kept it or eventually disposed of it, John’s head was not anywhere near his body from the details of our passage.

When speculating whether John had been resurrected, the somewhat strange picture in my mind wonders if Herod thought John had resurrected without a head, or if somehow, John’s head had regrown itself. From my reading of the miracles in the Bible, I don’t recall a resurrection miracle where the person being resurrected had been beheaded beforehand.

However, this brings up an interesting point about resurrection as a belief. While we don’t have any examples that I am aware of with resurrecting someone who was cut into more than one piece, the resurrection we are looking forward to does not need our current bodies intact. Instead, when Jesus returns, regardless of the state of the atoms that composed our original bodies, Jesus has in mind new bodies for us. It is possible our new bodies will be composed of atoms, but it is also possible that God has a completely new element in mind for our resurrected and re-created bodies.

However, what about the passage and event we are focusing on in this episode? What can we learn from what is shared about John’s fate in this passage?

Whenever I read about John’s ultimate end, two ideas come to mind. The first idea is that John could have spared himself a lot of hassle if he had simply kept quiet about his disapproval of Herod’s marriage to his brother’s wife. While nothing about this marriage was lawful from a Jewish perspective, I don’t ever get the impression that Herod cared what the Jews thought or believed. And, I also don’t get the impression that Herod was Jewish or cared about Jewish customs.

It is also possible that the context for this marriage was also condemned by Roman culture. I don’t know whether this was the case or not, but if so, then Herod might have cared a little more even if he didn’t care about breaking that custom.

This first big idea leads to the lesson that if we speak out against authority, don’t be surprised if we face consequences because that authority does not like to have their sins held up for display. While God might call us to speak out in tough situations, it is also possible that we are called to have wisdom and discretion with how we speak. Jesus did say some harsh words directed towards the political leadership in Judea while He was alive on earth, but I don’t recall Jesus ever condemning the lifestyle or choices of those in political power. Jesus simply had a different focus.

The second big idea is that sometimes God’s plan for our lives ends up being different from our preferred plan. Actually, this is usually the case. However, sometimes God’s plan for our lives has an end to our earthly lives before we might desire our end to be. While it is often impossible to know on this side of heaven why God allows some people to die while letting other people live, we can know and trust that God does have a plan.

I have a suspicion that if John lived past Jesus’ return to heaven, even confined to a prison, then he might have unintentionally hindered the start of the early church spreading the good news about Jesus to the known world. It’s possible that some of those who had been John’s followers who had become Jesus’ followers may have returned to John instead of seeking the Holy Spirit and spreading the gospel.

In our own lives, while we might not always understand why things happen the way that they do, we can trust and know that God has a plan for our lives. While our lives on earth may end before we think they should, God’s ultimate plan is for us to live longer than we can imagine and to live a recreated, resurrected life with Him for eternity. Even if trials and struggles come our way, we can hold onto the promise and the hope that God is bigger than the challenges we face, and eternity last longer than today’s trials.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first and place Him first in your life. Choose to trust Him even when things don’t make sense, and keep your faith and focus fixed on Jesus and the sacrifice He made for each of us. Know that through Jesus’ death, we can have a new life with God!

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to Jesus each and every day. Through prayer and Bible study, we open our hearts to God and we let Him into our lives.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Following Jesus feeding the crowd of over five thousand people, and then walking on the water to His disciples as they were struggling in their boat to cross the lake, we come to our passage for this episode. Leading up to this passage, Jesus had sent the people away following the miraculous feeding of food, and the following day they return looking for Him.

The crowd saw Jesus’ disciples leave without Jesus in their boat, but when they came back looking for Jesus, they could not find Him where that miracle had taken place. The crowd then travels to the other side of the lake looking for Jesus.

This background leads us into our passage for this episode, and a set of powerful truths we can learn from it. Actually, the teaching we are looking at in this passage is too long for one episode, and because of this, we will split this teaching into two parts.

Let’s read the first part of what Jesus shared, and discover some amazing things about how Jesus pushed His crowd of followers.

Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read it from the New Century Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 25, John tells us:

²⁵ When the people found Jesus on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Teacher, when did you come here?”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you aren’t looking for me because you saw me do miracles. You are looking for me because you ate the bread and were satisfied. ²⁷ Don’t work for the food that spoils. Work for the food that stays good always and gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give you this food, because on him God the Father has put his power.”

²⁸ The people asked Jesus, “What are the things God wants us to do?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “The work God wants you to do is this: Believe the One he sent.”

I must pause here to draw out this huge truth. In Jesus’ response, we have the clearest answer for the mission of Jesus’ followers on earth. Above anything and everything else, we are called to believe the One God sent. In other words, we are to believe Jesus and place our faith, our hope, and our trust in Him. When we believe someone, we trust their words and adjust our actions accordingly. When we believe Jesus, we trust His words and we align our lives into His will.

However, the crowd has another question. After Jesus tells them to believe the One God sent, we continue in verse 30, and read:

³⁰ So the people asked, “What miracle will you do? If we see a miracle, we will believe you. What will you do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the desert. This is written in the Scriptures: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

³² Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven; it is my Father who is giving you the true bread from heaven. ³³ God’s bread is the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ The people said, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵ Then Jesus said, “I am the bread that gives life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But as I told you before, you have seen me and still don’t believe. ³⁷ The Father gives me the people who are mine. Every one of them will come to me, and I will always accept them. ³⁸ I came down from heaven to do what God wants me to do, not what I want to do. ³⁹ Here is what the One who sent me wants me to do: I must not lose even one whom God gave me, but I must raise them all on the last day. ⁴⁰ Those who see the Son and believe in him have eternal life, and I will raise them on the last day. This is what my Father wants.”

⁴¹ Some people began to complain about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that comes down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “This is Jesus, the son of Joseph. We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

⁴³ But Jesus answered, “Stop complaining to each other. ⁴⁴ The Father is the One who sent me. No one can come to me unless the Father draws him to me, and I will raise that person up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. ⁴⁶ No one has seen the Father except the One who is from God; only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ I tell you the truth, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread that gives life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but still they died. ⁵⁰ Here is the bread that comes down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will never die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give up so that the world may have life.”

Let’s stop reading here and finish this passage in our next episode.

In this first portion of Jesus’ challenge to this crowd, I am amazed that they are this stubborn and unbelieving. It is as though this crowd is looking for reasons to not believe in Jesus than for reasons to believe.

This is the clearest to me when they directly ask Jesus what sign He would give them from heaven. I suspect you caught the irony like I did when the crowd uses the example of God giving the people manna in the desert. They quote scripture saying that God gave them bread from heaven to eat.

The irony in my mind is that these people just finished eating a clearly miraculous food miracle, where the only place for this bread to have come from is God. A boy supplied his meal big enough for one person, and Jesus multiplied it into food for over 5,000 with plenty of leftovers. After witnessing this miracle, likely less than 48 hours later, this crowd completely discounts the miracle of food multiplication, and they want a clearer sign instead of remembering back to what had just taken place.

Jesus redefines the source of the Bread from heaven, and in a symbolic way, Jesus takes the manna that the Old Testament Israelites ate, and He turns it into a symbolic prophecy about God sending Him into the world.

Jesus clearly tells this crowd in no uncertain terms that He is the symbolic bread that gives life. Jesus says in verse 35 that “Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Jesus is speaking on a spiritual level that many in this crowd do not understand, and those that do understand this are not willing to accept it.

Those in the crowd are unwilling to accept Jesus because many of them knew the family Jesus was raised in. Whether Mary and Joseph kept Jesus’ miraculous birth a secret, or whether they stopped trying to tell people because no one believed them, this crowd saw Jesus as simply being Joseph’s son and nothing more significant. The amazing miracles that God did through Jesus were not enough to break through to them that Jesus was more than simply a carpenter’s son.

However, we have an advantage, because three of the four gospels shed light on Jesus’ origins, and on how Jesus did in fact come from heaven. While this passage may be enough to cause some people to trip up in their faith like those in this first century crowd, the biggest truth I see included in this passage is Jesus’ repeated promise about His own task and responsibility.

In this first part of Jesus’ challenge to this crowd, He repeatedly tells them that He is the Source of eternal life, and that His responsibility is raising up all of God’s people on the last day. When we place our trust in Jesus, not only to we trust in His sacrifice to cover our sins, we trust that He is more than capable of raising us up personally when He returns on the last day.

Jesus’ promise is a promise pointing forward to resurrection, and it is a promise I firmly hold on to. Jesus conquered death, and I know He is preparing a place for all of us who have placed our faith in Him as we all together look forward to the day He returns to bring us home!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As always, continue seeking God first in your life and intentionally place your faith, your hope, your trust, and your belief in Jesus and what He did for you on the cross. Also place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus and His power to do exactly what He has promised for all of God’s people, which is raising each and every one of them up when He returns. It is Jesus’ responsibility to raise up God’s people and it is His responsibility to not lose even one of those who have given their lives to God. We can trust that even when we don’t know why or how, Jesus knows, He is trustworthy, and God is working in ways we likely cannot see yet.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to personally grow closer to Jesus each and every day. The Bible is the best way to discover Jesus for yourself, and prayer and study are the best ways to open your heart to Jesus and fall in love with Him like He has fallen in love with you!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!