Skip to main content
Then the servants came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, 
"Why didn't you bring him?"
The servants answered, "No man ever spoke like this!"
John 7:45-46 CSB
The crowd was divided, and now the staff are rebelling.
They were sent to bring Jesus in, but they heard enough of what Jesus had to say to put their jobs on the line, to tell their bosses that they're wrong, that it's time to listen to Jesus. 
Even today I can judge Jesus based on a Sunday school story, a song, a Christmas carol.
But the servants of the Pharisees here challenge us from down the centuries to hear Jesus for ourselves, to take off our cultural blinders and our own ideas, and let Jesus speak.
Living water is not something passive, it's active, rejuvenating, bringing goodness, change, life. It's restoring, blessing, building up.
It's cleansing, washing, purifying, making new.
The staff of the Pharisees were steeped in the rules, and the expectations of others. And they've heard the words of life, of freedom, and want to not arrest and stop Jesus, but step towards him.
May we do that today. 
From wherever we are, let go of some of the weight of others rules & expectations, & step towards Jesus, allowing his love and grace wash over and through us, speaking life!
#gospelofjohn
#speaklife

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,  for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see - such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. Colossians 1:15-16 NLT OK so this is an English translation of a letter Paul wrote to a church 2,000 years ago, but does it feel like Paul is wrestling with words and ideas to try and capture all of who Jesus is, of who God is, of how does it work that the walking around Jesus was also there before the beginning of the beginning of everything we can see and touch and know. Not only that but Jesus was somehow the agent of everything that has been made in the physical, social, and spiritual.  Jesus is at the centre of it all.  Walking around Jesus. Cooking fish for breakfast Jesus. Heart aching as he ...
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him.  "Listen," he said,  "we're going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law.  They will sentence him to die. Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked,  flogged with a whip,  and crucified.  But on the third day he will be raised from the dead." Matthew 20:17-20 NLT Jesus wanted his team, those closest to him, to know what was going to happen next.  It seems he wanted them to be prepared.  To be able to hold the hope of what's at the end as they go through the watching him be betrayed, sentenced, mocked, abused, and killed.  I wonder if Jesus needed to tell them, to let those he knew best what was ahead because he needed them with him. Jesus wanted community in the most difficult of times. It's no wonder that we do too.  We're in...
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. James 1:23-24 NASB For many people this is a time of year for a bit of introspection, thinking about the year that was, and what's ahead. James is encouraging us to live out God's Word. Whereever we find ourselves, whatever our circumstances. Its like looking at yourself. You don't forget who you are. The greek word here is "eimi" I am. We don't forget who we are. I am who I am in everything I do. And that's how James wants us to live out God's Word. It's not "hey just don't forget to live out what you've heard", the living out is inseparable from the hearing. #james #james1 #Godsgym #theWordjustliveit